Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Excoriating Trump For Continuing To Put His Vanity Projects Over The American People

Washington, D.C. – Today, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor condemning Donald Trump for pushing his costly “Golden Fleet” of “Trump-Class Battleships,” as he continues to prioritize his personal interests over the American people. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

While American families can’t even keep their heads above water, Donald Trump is spending his time building himself a “golden fleet” of battleships the Navy doesn’t want.

Just get a load of this headline: “Cost of Trump’s Namesake Warships Likely to Rise by 50 Percent or More.” Cost to rise by 50 percent or more. As the article in the New York Times says, his goal of building a golden fleet of 15 battleships could cost $275 billion. Frankly, when Americans hear this, they have no idea whether they need the battleships. They know the only thing Trump cares about is having his name on things, so the fact that there is a fleet of Trump battleships, [shows that] costs doesn’t mean anything. Necessity doesn’t mean anything. That people are suffering and need help feeding their families, paying their electric bills, [and] paying the cost of gasoline, means nothing to him. Having his name on a bunch of battleships, expensive battleships, is all he cares about.

Trump couldn’t handle renovating a reflecting pool or building a ballroom, now he thinks he’s ready to design and construct 15 “Trump-class [battleships]”. I mean this guy, he knows no limits. Trump-class battleships that will cost more than a quarter of a trillion taxpayer dollars. A quarter of a trillion dollars. He’s had a lot of vanity projects, they’ve been very expensive. This is the most costly vanity project yet.

The Navy never wanted these ships. The American people never asked for these ships. The only person who wants these “golden” ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them.

Trump’s willingness to drop $275 billion dollars on another vanity project but not a single penny to lower costs for working Americans just confounds the imagination.

Trump could use the money for these battleships to offset the entire nearly two-hundred-billion-dollar cut he made to SNAP. Feeding hungry kids or creating an unnecessary class of battleships to put your name on them, which is more important to America? The answer is a lot different than what Trump thinks.

But no, Trump would rather feed his own ego than feed the American people. He’d rather feed his own ego than feed the American people by putting his name on a $275 billion, 15 ship outlay.

The ballroom, the reflecting pool, the arch, and now the battleships – these are the reasons why more than seven in ten Americans think Trump is not focusing on the top issues facing the country.

Donald: the American people don’t need a fleet of golden Trump-class battleships right now – they need a life-raft.

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