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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Well, the last thing the American people want or need is another war in the Middle East. But if you listened to Secretary Pete Hegseth's press conference this morning, one thing is crystal clear: America is at war.

In his own words, Hegseth said:

We are just getting started.

You hear that, America? Pete Hegseth says another war in the Middle East is just getting started. He says more of our sons and daughters will be shipped off to fight in a foreign land, more of our taxpayer dollars will be wasted abroad instead of invested at home.

Hegseth also said:

We are accelerating, not decelerating.

Hegseth said:

More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today.

What is Hegseth talking about? Are we putting boots on the ground? Are we depleting our strategic munition reserves? Is there a timeline or a limit to our engagement in Iran? We have no clue because Hegseth is more interested in sound bites than explanations.

And Hegseth said:

Death and destruction from the sky all day long.

This is not how an intelligent, prudent, sober-minded military leader speaks. Just the contrast between the serious tone of General Caine, who spoke next to Hegseth, and that of Hegseth, who was almost gleeful about going to war, is stark. What Hegseth said this morning is embarrassing and childish.

So to anyone around here who thinks we are not at war, listen to Hegseth's press conference. It is little more than microwaved cable news drivel. But what he is saying loud and clear is this: We are at war, and this administration is signaling more escalation ahead.

This is insanity. Americans just spent the last two decades fighting and dying in the Middle East, and Pete Hegseth says: We are back for more.

How many parents watched their kids ship off and fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan?

How many sleepless nights did families have over the last 20 years, worried about their loved ones? How many headlines did we watch over the decades of troops getting shot down and convoys getting attacked with wounded soldiers returning home, scarred by the horrors of war? How many billions of dollars were wasted? How much anguish, suffering, and grief did America endure?

And now, Pete Hegseth says he would be happy that we are going to do it all over again. He says: This new war is just getting started.

This is madness, and we don't even know what the administration's plan is. I just sat yesterday with my Senate colleagues for an all- Senators briefing, and let me show you how much clarity we got out of that briefing: Zero. Zero.

Even after the briefing, we walked away with zero clarity about what Donald Trump's goal in Iran is.

After my briefing this week and Hegseth's press conference this morning, it is clear they are widening the war in Iran, and I fear now more than ever that we are going to put boots on the ground, and that is precisely what the American people fear. We still don't know how long we will be there. We still don't know what Donald Trump is even trying to accomplish.

This is not how you conduct foreign policy. This is not how you conduct defense policy. And the fault for the chaos is entirely with Donald Trump.

Trump is manic. Whatever pops into his head, he says immediately. He picks one plan one day, then he picks the total opposite the other, and he doesn't think it through. He doesn't check the facts, and nobody around him has the guts to stand up to him and tell him: Mr. President, you are wrong. He is surrounded by yes-men. This is dangerous.

Just yesterday, as Trump launches America into a war with Iran, he goes ahead and slams and critiques Zelenskyy and calls him a name, the ``P.T. Barnum of Ukraine.'' This is insane. Donald Trump is manic, blasting one of America's friends as they fight for survival and are beginning to make gains against Russian forces--insane and certainly not how you conduct foreign policy.

Well, now, in this body, here in the Senate, we have a chance to say ``enough'' to Donald Trump's military insanity. Today, the Senate will vote to discharge a bipartisan resolution--led by Senators Kaine, Schiff, Paul, and myself--to put a halt to military activity in Iran without congressional approval.

The resolution is the Senate Republicans' chance to put pressure on Donald Trump's manic decision to drag us into war. Americans overwhelmingly oppose war with Iran, and Senate Republicans have a duty to stand up for Americans by forcing Donald Trump to reverse course.

Today, every Senator--every single one--will pick a side. Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted of forever wars in the Middle East or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?

To my colleagues: If you are tired of wars in the Middle East, support our resolution.

To my colleagues: If you don't want America to get dragged into another conflict that spirals out of our control, support our resolution, take a stand, do the right thing. Support this resolution. Trump Administration

Mr. President, now, on the high costs for the American people, which is what they really want Trump and his administration to focus on, and the food prices.

Last night, Americans once again turned out in record numbers to support Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. The enthusiasm is unlike anything we have seen in primaries. In ruby-red States, voters showed up and voted blue in levels we rarely see in a primary. And it is not hard to understand why voters are so enthusiastic: People are fed up with Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

Just this morning, the Wall Street Journal ran a harrowing story: More Americans are dipping into their 401(k)s just to keep up with everyday expenses. That is not what people want to do. The 401(k)s, which people put money in that they want to use for other things, but they knew they needed for their retirement, and now, because of high costs, they are getting so squeezed that they have to take the money out of their 401(k).

People hate doing that. People hate cannibalizing their financial futures just to survive the present. This is not the golden age Donald Trump promised. It is a travesty, and Americans deserve better.

Americans need focus on the high costs of food, not another war in the Middle East. That is why Democrats are going to do what Donald Trump refuses to do: put the affordability crisis front and center every day, all year long.

Tomorrow morning, I will be introducing legislation aimed at one of the core drivers of higher food prices: consolidation and monopoly power in the food industry.

Grocery prices are higher than ever. If you can't afford to pay for food, nothing else matters. If more and more of your paycheck is spent on paying for food instead of keeping up with the rent or filling up the tank or paying for daycare, you are trapped, and this is how Americans feel today. They feel trapped, trapped because Donald Trump promised to bring food costs down and instead they have gone up.

My bill does what Donald Trump hasn't: giving Americans a real plan to lower food costs by breaking the pernicious stranglehold of monopolistic corporate middlemen that have weakened our supply chains and price-gouged consumers at the grocery store.

And Democrats will keep going. We recently rolled out our agenda to tackle the housing crisis. Soon we will present our plan to lower the costs of energy and childcare and to fix our broken healthcare system that Republicans have sabotaged by letting premiums skyrocket.

Donald Trump and congressional Republicans had their chance. They promised to make life better for the American people and lower their costs, but here we are on the brink of yet another war in the Middle East, with families already stretched to the breaking point at home.

The American people deserve a whole lot better, and Democrats are going to fight for it.

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