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Floor Speech
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Mr. REED. Mr. President, if you look clearly at the facts as they are today, by any measure, Donald Trump's first 100 days have been disastrous--not a success--for regular Americans and our Constitution.
His administration has been marked by mismanagement, poor leadership, prickly egos, and policies that punch down rather than offer a hand up. In fact, that is reflected in the polls--not in January but today-- where his approval rating is the lowest of any President at the 100-day mark, I believe, in the history of this country. And as a result of these policies, America's economy and our standing in the eyes of our allies have fallen significantly.
He has granted Elon Musk free reign to enter any Federal Agency and ferret through the data and files and personal information of every American citizen. And my impression of Mr. Musk: He doesn't do anything unless there is a profit connected to it.
Musk and DOGE are rifling through our IRS and Social Security records. Meanwhile, Americans can't get their questions answered about their Social Security benefits because Mr. Musk and DOGE and President Trump have cut staff and administrative funding. They have even tried to cut the phone lines for basic services. And Trump officials just laugh it off.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, a billionaire--which is not unusual in the Trump circuit--said on a podcast:
Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.
Well, that is very easy for a billionaire and his family to say: I don't think they would miss their Social Security check. But for working Americans who depend on Social Security, their retirement benefits, their disability benefits--just to make ends meet, to have food on the table--they would certainly miss the delay of a Social Security check.
And it is not just the Social Security Administration. We also know President Trump has purged Federal employees by the thousands, without regard for their job performance or the importance of their work--every agency, from the office that runs the LIHEAP program to the National Weather Service, to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
LIHEAP is essential to my constituents in the wintertime. That is how they stay warm. That is how they are able to live.
The National Weather Service is renowned for its incredibly accurate and detailed and scientifically based forecasts. In fact, we all depend upon it and, I am told, particularly farmers in the Midwest, because if you are trying to figure out the day to plant your crops, you better know what the temperature is going to be in the morning and at noontime and in the evening.
And the National Nuclear Security Administration is critical to protecting our nuclear weapons and developing them. I was in the airport in Providence, RI, and a young woman came up to me and said: Excuse me, Senator, but, 5 days ago, I was fired from the NNSA because I was a provisional worker. I got a call last night to get back as soon as possible--because the ability to protect and to develop our nuclear weapons could not be sustained without the presence of that lady and many others.
And yet, given all of these issues, he has populated his administration with leadership that, at best, is uninterested in the challenges facing average Americans and, too often, unqualified to do the jobs they were hired to perform.
He has withheld funding that was legally and constitutionally appropriated by Congress. He, in fact, has ignored the Constitution and Congress. One of his first acts was to fire the inspectors general throughout the government. Such a measure, by law, requires notice to Congress and 30 days' wait. He ignored that. And why? Well, if you are going to systematically break the law, you might as well get rid of those people who are checking on whether the law is properly enforced.
He is defunding libraries and Head Start centers and halting critical medical research.
He has closed the Agency for International Development and even withheld funding to feed starving children here in America and across the globe, and he has done incredible damage to our standing in the world.
And as a result of his efforts to completely undermine the USAID, what is happening? Well, I will tell you what is happening: China is moving aggressively to take our place. And so, to people across the globe, when they look around and ask: Who is our friend? China?
That is not good for us, and that is not what we, as Americans, have done for many, many years.
He has also essentially extorted law firms to represent him and his causes for free.
He has attempted to dictate how our colleges and universities are run, whom they hire and what they teach, essentially changing a prosperous knowledge-based economy--that is what we were talking about. That is how we would compete in the world. We are the knowledge-based economy. We are the innovators. We are changing everything. When you destroy our university systems and our health research systems, you turn a knowledge-based economy into a failing, ignorance-based economy.
He has deported American citizens, threatened to annex Greenland, boosted Russia, and somehow found a way to alienate Canada, our neighbor and ally.
Each of these items on its own would be a cause for outrage, but Trump hopes that he will overwhelm Americans by ``flooding the zone'' with one stunt after another. But the inescapable fact is, his policies are hurting the American people, and they see it--not last January at the inauguration but today when they are looking at prices that are still too high; when they are evaluating his promise of ending inflation on the first day and solving the Ukrainian crisis on the first day. They see it in the prices they pay at the grocery store, in the cost of a new car or a new home.
Sadly, it looks like it is going to get worse for American families. Researchers at Yale University estimate that Donald Trump's current tariff regime--not including the tariffs he announced then backed away from--the current tariffs in place today will raise costs by $4,900 for families this year while increasing inflation as high as 5.5 percent and cutting economic growth.
Other analysts project new car prices will rise by as much as $12,000 and new home prices by more than $9,000. I have spoken to multiple Rhode Island companies whose suppliers are already sending them higher quotes for their goods.
Goldman Sachs estimates that the President's baseline 10-percent tariff on all imports would lead to fewer--not more--American jobs. Goldman estimates that this tariff will lead to roughly 400,000 fewer jobs nationwide.
Markets continue to move wildly as he erratically threatens schemes like doing away with the independence of the Federal Reserve, firing the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and trying to seize the power to lower interest rates themselves, manipulating interest rates themselves and future tariffs. We are still in this uncertain period because he just suspended them for 90 days. If these future tariffs come back, it would rock the market again.
And by the way, when the market was collapsing after his grand announcement, where was he? He was in Florida at his golf course where the Saudis and others have sent millions of dollars to him so they could host a tournament, and he could play golf with them. That is not the definition of Presidential leadership.
Before Trump undertook his campaign of economic chaos, the economy was on a good trajectory. In fact, that chart illustrates the trajectory. These Trump tariffs have been a huge blunder. Instead of implementing a thoughtful policymaking process to boost key domestic manufacturing, the President has chosen a blunt, blanket-tariff approach. In doing so, he has treated allies like enemies and driven global partners into the arms of China.
What we are seeing now and what we will experience in the coming months: higher prices for families, fewer jobs, smaller retirement accounts, and a weaker economy. And it is entirely on the shoulders of the President. It is a self-inflicted wound on the economy and the American people.
But it appears that the President isn't done. He wants a ``big, beautiful bill.'' And what is in that ``big, beautiful bill?'' Big cuts for Medicaid and SNAP, which feeds children and disabled Americans, and big giveaways to the donors who financed his campaign and populate his administration. The American people see it, and survey after survey proves they do.
The question is whether my colleagues, Senate Republicans, will go along with that. Will they listen to the people of America or will they still be under the thrall of Donald Trump?
Americans deserve better than cuts to Medicaid. They deserve an economy headed upward, not backward. And they deserve a President who respects the Constitution and the rule of law that made our society and our economy the ``shining city on the hill,'' as President Reagan once said.
The first 100 days of chaos and self-inflicted damage must end. It is time for America's business leaders and congressional Republicans to stand up and join us all in saying enough is enough.
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