Trump Administration

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, instead of improving lives or lowering prices for Americans, we are seeing policies in the Trump administration do exactly the opposite.

The President has spent his time trying to systemically dismantle the Federal Government, creating riffs with our closest allies and now imposing restrictive tariffs on our biggest trading partners. The tariffs that he has unleashed--25 percent on Canada and Mexico as well as an additional 10 percent on China--will hurt American consumers and supply chains and undermine American manufacturing.

Illinois is the fourth largest exporter in the Nation. In 2023, our exports to Canada totaled more than $21 billion--billion. These tariffs will hurt Illinois farmers, workers, and manufacturers, not to mention consumers. Additional tariffs on our three biggest trading partners will add to the economic strain that is already beginning to show under the new administration.

A survey of consumer sentiment published last month recorded this largest month of decline in 4 years due, in large part, to concerns about trade and tariffs. Tariffs are taxes. They are taxes the consumers of America will have to pay. These levels of concern have not been seen since the trade wars in President Trump's first term.

As Americans already struggle under the weight of high housing costs, these tariffs will make things worse. Much of the lumber used to build new homes in the United States comes from Canada, and more than 70 percent of the imports of two essential materials that homebuilders rely on, softwood lumber and gypsum, come from Canada and Mexico. With a 25-percent tariff on imported goods from those two countries, American homebuilders will need to pay more and so will the consumers.

While the President claims that foreign countries will pay for U.S. tariffs, that isn't the truth, and we know what the truth is: The burden of tariffs is carried by American companies and passed on to American consumers.

Indiscriminately slapping tariffs on the goods American consumers need means higher costs, higher costs on groceries, gas, cars, while inspiring retaliatory tariffs and even boycotts on American-made products, further hurting our economy.

I understand we are probably having a rollcall. I see a number of Members coming to the floor.

But President Trump's economic chaos isn't just happening overseas. You see, right now, Congress is in the midst of doing its most basic and essential job: Funding the government. But under the direction of President Trump, instead of coming to the negotiating table to pass a serious, full-year spending bill that serves the interests of everyday Americans, Congressional Republicans are bargaining away the well-being of working families to pay for tax breaks for billionaires.

And what is the most egregious example of this? Their plan to slash health coverage for millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid.

House Republicans have proposed $880 billion in cuts to the Medicaid program, and Senate Republicans have similarly put this health program in the crosshairs. Why? Not because they want to lower health care costs or improve our health care system, but because they want to use Medicaid cuts as a piggy-bank for tax breaks to billionaires.

The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, can dance around on stage with a chainsaw, cheering cuts to basic health care programs, but let me explain to you what that means for working families. Medicaid covers 30 million children--nearly half of all children in America--60 percent of seniors in nursing homes, and is the largest funder of addiction and mental health treatment.

In Illinois, 3.4 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, including 1.5 million children. Under Republican plans to slash Medicaid, 775,000 adults who gained health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act could lose coverage almost overnight. And for other children, elderly, or disabled Illinoisans who depend on it, they may no longer be able to access lifesaving medical treatment.

Republicans are ignoring the obvious: Medicaid is a lifeline for children's hospitals and rural hospitals in their communities. In Illinois, 60 percent of our 102 counties are rural. Rural hospitals are the backbone of communities in central and southern Illinois. Rural hospitals anchor the local economy--they often are the largest employer in town. And they are a critical access point for health care. If you suffer a farm accident or face a complication with your birth, you cannot afford to drive hours to the nearest hospital.

That's why I have worked for years to improve access to health care in rural areas--working to strengthen rural hospitals and recruit more doctors, dentists, and nurses. But rural hospitals in Illinois and nationwide could be at risk of closure if Republicans put Medicaid on the chopping block. Already, half of rural hospitals in America operate in the red. And for many rural hospitals, Medicaid covers a large percentage of their patients and accounts for a large portion of the hospital's budget.

For HSHS St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield, IL, Medicaid pays for 53 percent of the hospitalizations. For OSF St. Clare Hospital in Princeton, IL, Medicaid pays for 45 percent of hospitalizations. It is 42 percent for SSM St. Mary's Hospital in Centralia, IL.

Do you see the picture? Cuts to Medicaid put rural hospitals in jeopardy. And if rural hospitals close because of Republican budget cuts, communities will suffer. Children seeking cancer treatment won't be able to access the local care they need. Pregnant women will have to drive further to deliver their babies. And your grandparent will have to wait months to get in to see that diabetes specialist.

If Republicans push forward with their cruel and unpopular funding plan, working families will lose and billionaires will win. It is simple and devastating math. If Americans cannot access health care because funding was slashed to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, if they cannot afford groceries because of an ill-conceived trade war, know that it is because President Trump is the billionaire's president.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source