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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning, America received another gut punch about the rising costs that they have to pay because we learned that inflation rose to 3.5 percent in March--the highest rate in almost 3 years. Do you know what that means? A 3.5-percent increase in inflation means Americans are paying more and more and more; and it means, at a time of rising costs that people hate, Donald Trump is making things worse, not better.

The historic blunder in Iran is compounding the increase in prices. There was an increase in prices before this bad war that Trump never should have called to begin with. Prices were going up for groceries. Prices were going up for electric rates. Prices were going up for healthcare. Prices were going up for childcare. Prices were going up because of tariffs--and then the war. Gasoline is over $4 a gallon, higher than it has been. The price of crude oil is higher than it has been in a very long time, all because of a war where Trump seems to have no direction, no aim, no purpose, no conclusion.

Let me repeat: Inflation rose 3.5 percent. There are higher costs on everything. There are higher costs on groceries, on household essentials, on everything Americans need just to get by. When oil costs go up, so does fertilizer, so does food, so does anything that travels by truck or train. So these costs are hurting everybody, and it is getting worse.

Donald Trump, do you see what the inflation number means? Costs are getting worse. Affordability is getting tougher. People are paying more, all because of you, Donald Trump.

Trump said he would bring costs down on day one. Well, here we are-- 15 months after Trump took office--and costs are skyrocketing so fast they are breaking records. As to the war, which is compounding the increases in inflation, Trump has no plan to show us how to get out of this quagmire just as he had no plan when he got us into this mess.

After weeks of leaving Congress in the dark about the state of Trump's disastrous war, Hegseth came to the Capitol to testify yesterday. What he said was disgraceful.

Here is what he said:

The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.

Give me a break. You caused the war and your boss Donald Trump. You got us into this mess, and you can't get us out of this mess, so you try to point a finger. People don't buy that. Maybe a few MAGA listeners of FOX News do but not anybody else.

So I say to Hegseth, take a look in the mirror.

Our greatest challenge in Iran is Donald Trump and Secretary Hegseth, and Americans know it. The war is unpopular. They blame Trump for it, of course. The greatest obstacle to peace is the incompetence of the Secretary of Defense and of the President of the United States.

Hegseth said the war has been an astounding victory and that the American people support it.

Your intel is off, Secretary Hegseth. Fewer than one in four Americans thinks this war has been worthwhile. Let me repeat that to you: Fewer than one in four Americans thinks this war has been worthwhile, and a huge number of Republicans and Independents, not just Democrats, agrees. So stop being partisan. Stop pointing fingers. Roll up your sleeves and come to an end with this mess, this quagmire.

As for an astounding victory, of course, our servicemembers perform impressively--they always do--but they are saddled with the bad decision making of this President and his Cabinet, as 13 American servicemembers have been killed, nearly 400 have been wounded, and the Pentagon says it has spent at least $25 billion on this war so far. Meanwhile, American families are hurting every time they go to the gas station or grocery store, all with no strategic aim.

Is that what Pete Hegseth thinks is an astounding victory?

Are you going to take out a brass band and salute that inflation is up 3.5 percent? salute that the Strait of Hormuz is still closed? salute that we still haven't found the nuclear facilities and potential weaponry that Iran has?

None of that has been advanced. So this is not an astounding victory.

It is past time that Senate Republicans joined Democrats on our War Powers Resolution. We have forced votes on our resolutions five times and we are going to force it a sixth time today and it is going to come back week after week.

Republican Senators, you can't escape this. You are culpable. You are preventing an end to this war, and Americans want to see an end to the war.

Tomorrow marks 60 days since Donald Trump officially notified Congress about his attack on Iran. After we cross that 60-day threshold, there can be no more doubt that he is violating the War Powers Act. Republicans are out of hollow excuses. They are out of hiding places.

End this war, Republicans. Bring our troops home. Stop bleeding taxpayers dry. Support our War Powers Resolution.

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