Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Failures Of Donald Trump’s First 100 Days In Office
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the chaos and damage inflicted on American families by Donald Trump and his administration as he passed 100 days in office. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Americans woke up this morning to some very troubling news: the economy shrank in the first quarter of 2025 by .3%. It shrank – it was growing until now. It’s the worst quarter in years. Businesses, families, and consumers are bracing themselves for the hammer blow of Donald Trump’s tariffs and its sending the economy into a tailspin.
Today’s GDP number shows that Donald Trump is running America the same way he ran his businesses – straight into the ground.
Before our every eyes, Donald Trump’s policies of tariffs and tax hikes are strangling the economy.
Donald Trump’s first hundred days have been defined by one big F-word: failure.
Failure on the economy
Failure to lower costs.
Failure on foreign policy.
Failure on democracy.
Failure everywhere you look.
Donald Trump must admit his failure and reverse course, and immediately fire his economic team. Otherwise, we will see more of the same: failure and chaos and total incompetence.
His tariff strategy? Total failure.
China is not coming to the table. Manufacturing is not racing back towards our shores. There’s no strategy – only chaos. Every day, he changes his mind: one day he says yes to tariffs, then no to tariffs, One day this country is on the list, the next day that country is on the list. Then double the tariffs, on and on and on. And as he’s doing this, his policy advisors all have different explanations for what he’s doing and why he’s doing it.
Businesses pay the price for Donald Trump’s failed policies. When businesses don’t know what the president will do next, they can’t plan for the future. They’re not going to hire workers. I've talked to business leaders, small business, medium-sized businesses and big businesses in New York. I'm sure this is true around the country. They're holding off on any new spending because they don't know what Donald Trump will do next.
His chaos is just totally impeding our economy. We're seeing it happen in real time. And because the tariff policy has been such a mess, such a failure, later today, Senators Wyden, Kaine, and I will force a vote here in the Senate to stop Donald Trump's trade wars.
Our Republican colleagues have an opportunity to stop Donald Trump.
Our resolution presents Republicans with a choice: stand with Donald Trump, or stand with American families. The GDP numbers today should be a wakeup call to Republican Senators now more than ever.
Four voted with us last time on tariffs about Canada, many more should vote with us this time given the new numbers and given that this resolution covers all of the countries that Donald Trump has failed with on tariffs.
Senate Republicans know deep down that Donald Trump’s tariff policies are awful for their states, so they have to choose today: stick with Trump or stand with your states.
But the failures don’t stop there, just at tariffs.
What about his promise to bring down costs?
Again, failure. Failure to bring down costs.
Grocery prices are up. Rent and housing are up. The price of a new car is up. Household appliances are up. Big retailers are waning that Donald Trump’s trade war will make the problem far, far worse.
And foreign policy? Total failure.
Putin is emboldened. China is not coming to the table. Our allies are losing our trust. He's ready to break up the European alliance over Ukraine.
DOGE? Total failure. Elon Musk talked a big game on cutting waste, reducing fraud. But DOGE is attacking Social Security. Attacking veterans care. Attacking cancer research. That’s not cutting waste, Mr. Musk. That doesn’t make government more efficient. That puts a dagger to the programs that America needs, which make our country strong.
The list goes on. Rooting out corruption? Failure. Transparency? Failure. Rule of law? Failure. Economic optimism? Failure.
It’s one big F-word: failure.
And while our economy sinks in real time, while consumers get saddled with Donald Trump’s tariffs, Republicans are complicit. They are his co-conspirators.
They are aiding and abetting Donald Trump as he cuts taxes for billionaires.
They are aiding and abetting Donald Trump as he wants to obliterate Medicaid.
They are aiding and abetting Donald Trump as he wants to add $52 trillion to the national debt.
They want to help the richest of the rich, while telling working people to get lost.
The Republican agenda boils down to five dismal words: billionaires win, American families lose. This is a recipe for failure if there ever has been one.
Finally, as Donald Trump destroys our economy, the American people cannot – and will not – stand by as he also tries to destroy our democracy.
Donald Trump is everything the founding fathers worried about when they wrote the Constitution.
They feared a man who sees the rule of law as a nuisance, who considers the truth as an inconvenience, and who regards his fellow citizens as little more than subjects. Either kiss the ring, bow before the throne, or watch your back: that is the ethos of Donald J. Trump.
Republicans howled at the moon for years about weaponizing government, but no president in American history has weaponized the government like Donald Trump has in 100 days.
The Department of Justice has become his personal henchmen. He is assaulting freedom of the press. He is assaulting our education system and institution of higher learning.
His deportation force is expelling American citizens with no due process. Let me repeat that: Donald Trump is deporting American citizens with no due process. And the American people don’t like it.
One of the traits of a dictator is someone hostile to all forms of accountability, to all forms of criticism. That is Donald Trump to a tee: he is scared of debate, he is scared of opposition, he can’t stand the idea of others disagreeing with him, so instead he tries to crush anything he views as opposition. That is not strength – that is a sign of deep, deep, deep insecurity.
The more Donald Trump tries to take America down this ominous road, the more he will face resistance: Democrats will oppose his agenda, the courts will oppose his attacks, and most of all, the American people will resist his hostile takeover of our democracy.
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