TRANSCRIPT: While Trump And Republicans Skyrocket Costs And Dismiss Affordability, Leader Schumer And Senate Democrats Launch 2026 Cost-Cutting Initiative

Washington, D.C. – Today, at a media availability at the U.S. Capitol, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced the launch of Senate Democrats’ 2026 initiative focused on lowering costs for American families. President Trump and Senate Republicans have created a crisis of affordability with their barge of tariffs, erratic economic decisions, and harmful legislation. Below are his remarks which can also be viewed here:

Today, Senate Democrats, we’re launching our 2026 initiative focusing on the number one issue that the American people face, skyrocketing costs. They just can't pay the bills. They just don't have enough money in their pockets to pay the bills, to buy the medicine they need. When your car breaks down—to get it fixed and then you'd have no way to get to work, to get the kind of groceries you want for your families. Costs are skyrocketing and Democrats in 2026, you'll be hearing from us about costs over and over and over again.

On the contrary, Donald Trump tonight is going to try to talk about his accomplishments but it's going to be a very short speech because Donald Trump calls affordability a hoax. He gives himself an A++++ on the economy. As Professor Warren said, everyone would like to self-grade in her classes too. But if they were an objective grader, it would be F on energy, F on housing, F on groceries, F on health care, F on tariffs, which leads to a final grade of F. The facts are Americans are telling a lot different story than Trump's own self-grade. He promised he'd bring costs down on day one. That was his number one promise. That was the number one reason he won the election. And costs are going up and up and up. It's been 331 days since he was sworn in, and the American people are still waiting for his promise to be fulfilled but it hasn't been. He just lies about it. He just lies. He makes it up.

Grocery bills haven't gone down, electricity costs haven't gone down, housing costs haven't gone down, the kinds of things you buy at stores haven't gone down, and health care hasn't gone down. All of it has gone up. The truth is, for too many Americans, costs are just too damn high. The cost of living, the affordability crisis, you can call it whatever you want. But in Trump's America, people are being squeezed in every direction.

I just finished my 62-county tour in New York State. I always do it every year. The number one issue in every corner of my state was how hard it is to afford things that you need. Whether it's rural areas, suburban areas, urban areas. Whether it's red, blue, or purple. It's the number one issue that is on people's minds and Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies just don't get it. Trump just last week, you know what he said? People should buy fewer toys for Christmas. What kind of bubble is this man in? Does he ever go to the grocery store and have to buy meat? Does he ever have to pay his own electric bill? No. None of these things.

Our senators are going to focus on key issues now. Today begins it, but all year long, we've been doing this all along. But now in 2026 it is our main focus. Senator Klobuchar has been doing a great job as our DSPC Chair working with me on these issues. Senator Warren will focus on housing costs. Senators Cantwell and Luján on food and household costs. Senators Heinrich and Whitehouse on energy costs. Senators Wyden and Sanders on health costs. Senators Markey and Warnock on tariffs. We're focusing on the five major areas that are making life so much harder for American families. Health care, energy, housing, groceries, and tariffs. So, on all of these issues, I could go into the specifics, but I'm going to let my colleagues do that and just say we believe that the cost of living shouldn't be a constant crisis. It should be something that the American people can live with and contain.

And while we don't know what 2026 will bring, I can promise you this, Democrats will fight, making costs our highest priority. I've been in great touch with Hakeem Jeffries and our House Democratic team, and they are on the same page. And we're all going to be focused like a laser on this. Republicans are ignoring the affordability crisis. Democrats are fighting to make things more affordable.

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Reporter: The president has been traveling around this month talking about affordability, but he's been almost exclusively blaming President Biden. Do you think that’s a –

Leader Schumer: No. People want their costs to go down. They don't want it finger pointed at what happened months or years ago. We are here to say we are ready to take charge and have those costs go down. We're ready to work with Republicans if they'll help us get costs down. Trump's in a bubble. He doesn't get it.

Reporter: Senator Warnock talked about how Congress could roll back these tariffs. We know about the IEEPA emergencies that the Senate did pass, the House sat on, and of course it wouldn't be high enough because you need more Republicans to have it be veto-proof to really roll back those tariffs on Canada, the reciprocal tariffs, and so on. I want to ask about the plans to try and bring more Republicans to reassert Congress's role in tariffs. There's also the bill that Senator Grassley and Senator Cantwell put together that would give Congress a veto on 232 tariffs, which are the housing, the cabinets, and the 2x4s. Also, cars from Canada, minivans from Canada, you know, 25% more expensive. So, could you talk about –

Schumer: You can come up here and join us.

Senator Raphael Warnock: Look, look, let me just say that we are ready to work with our Republican colleagues. And I think they would make a better decision, a different decision, if they were talking to their own constituents. This is in the wheelhouse of Congress. I'll tell you—look, I came to this business later into my career, I've spent most of my life as a pastor. I can tell you that it was not easy getting elected to the Senate. I don't understand why you would go through all the things we have to go through to get this job just to give your power to somebody who wants to be a unitary executive.

Schumer: Not a Unitarian.

Warnock: Not a Unitarian. We like Unitarians. And Pentecostals and –

Senator Amy Klobuchar: That’s all fine. As you all know, we actually have passed three bills out of the Senate when it comes to the tariffs with getting Republicans to join us. Some because they are states. Senator Kaine and I and Rand Paul led the Canadian one. Two senators whose states border Canada, and then two states who care two senators who care a lot, even though they don't agree with each other on much—Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell—but they do care about Kentucky Bourbon taking off the shelves in Canada. We also passed the bill on Brazil out of here. We passed the bill, Senator Wyden's bill that was an across-the-board bill with Republican support. But now it is sitting over in the Speaker's candy jar with the way too expensive candy. So that's what's happening right now because we have acted in the Senate. We're waiting on the House to act. Obviously, the President would probably veto these bills, but at some point, our colleagues, as Senator Warnock explained, are going to have to say: who are they here to represent? Are they here rubber-stamping Trump, or are they here for their constituents? And finally, we wait on the court case, where we hope the decision will come out before the end of the year.

Schumer: I think seven Republicans co-sponsored the Cantwell bill with Grassley, seven or eight. So, look, we just need the House and the Senate Republicans to join us and buck Trump and do what's right for their constituents. It's that simple. It does.

Reporter: Leader Schumer, can you talk a little bit about how all of this might factor into the amendment strategy the Democrats are going to undertake as part of the minibus funding bill that is going to be—

Schumer: Look, costs are going to be one of the main issues. You'll see many good amendments that deal with these issues. We'll see where our Republican colleagues are. But costs is going to be one of our main thrusts. Anytime pieces of legislation come up. In everything we do, our focus is going to be on costs, whether it's legislation on the floor, whether it's in the courts, whether it's our spotlight hearings, whether it's what we talk about when we go on the shows. Costs, costs, costs. The prices people need to pay for essentials is too damn high, and they know it. And they want somebody, they want some people to do something about it.

Reporter: Leader Jeffries seemed to allude in regards to health care and the enhanced ACA subsidies that January 15th is a day that you might still be able to do something, or do you see it as –

Schumer: Look, once January 1st occurs, as I've said over and over again, the toothpaste is out of the tube. January 1st, it expires. Once that happens, millions will be without health care. There'll be no ACA credits. Tens of millions more will have since changed their policies that are much worse for them, higher deductibles, higher co-pays. A lot of people are going to have to change their doctors. You know how heartbreaking it is? If you've ever had a relative, a child, a parent who's had a great doctor, and then they're gone, they can't treat you anymore because the health care costs have changed, it's heartbreaking because you put your faith and trust in this doctor. That's going to happen millions of times in America after January 1st.

Reporter: On health care, we now know there will be a discharge petition, there will be a vote in the House on the ACA subsidies. Obviously, a similar bill already failed to reach 60 votes in the Senate. I guess, what conversations have you had with Senate Republicans with those who have to try to change that in the new year?

Schumer: It's up to Senator Thune. I hope it passes the House. They did get, I think, [four] Republicans as of now to sign it. I hope first, I hope that Johnson won't play little games that he sometimes can do with the discharge petition. But if they send it to us, we already had every Democrat vote for the three-year clean extension. We hope Thune would put it on the floor and let it pass.

Thank you.

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