February 4, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 21 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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THE STATE OF THE UNION; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 21
(Senate - February 04, 2019)
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[Pages S818-S819] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] THE STATE OF THE UNION Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, tomorrow, President Trump will belatedly report on the state of the Union before a joint session of Congress. The reason for the delay, of course, is the 35-day government shutdown that President Trump precipitated as an attempt to extract taxpayer money for a wall he promised Mexico would pay for, a pointless exercise, if there ever were one--a pointless exercise that punished hundreds of thousands of innocent public servants and took billions of dollars out of our economy. We are all glad that the government is back open and Federal workers are back on the job and getting paid, but the recent government shutdown speaks to the fundamental uncertainty about the state of our Union. Tomorrow, the President will say, predictably, that the state of our Union is strong, but the truth is that the state of the Trump economy is failing America's middle class, that the state of the Trump healthcare system is failing American families, that the state of the Trump administration is embroiled in chaos and incompetence, and that the state of the President's foreign policy is incoherent, inconsistent, and cynical in the extreme and has undermined American power and our national interests. In sum, the state of our Union is in need of drastic repair. Let's begin with the state of the Trump economy. Corporate America has cashed in on the Trump tax bill, but working America has been left behind. Since the tax bill passed over a year ago, corporations have announced plans to repurchase more than $1 trillion of their own stock--a practice that benefits corporate executives and wealthy shareholders but not many average workers. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the tax bill had no major impact on whether businesses made capital investments or hired more workers. The very wealthy--the big, powerful corporations--fed this line: Help them, and everyone will be helped. Our Republican friends swallowed that--hook, line, and sinker. The only good news about this tax bill that passed last year is that it showed what a false promise it was--$1 trillion for the wealthy through stock buybacks and other things and virtually nothing for American workers. The President promised--remember this?--that his tax bill would deliver a $4,000 raise to the average household. The reality is that wages for average workers have remained quite stagnant. Workers are still making less today than they did in 1973 after adjusting for inflation. The effect of the Trump economy has been a deepening of the inequalities and wealth disparities that threaten the future of the middle class and the future of the American dream. The rich are getting richer. The middle class is being hollowed out. That is the state of the Trump economy. How about healthcare? The state of our healthcare system is dire. Premiums are higher than they should be. Out-of-pocket costs are higher than they should be. The uninsured rate is, once again, rising. This is the result of a relentless sabotage by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans. The Trump administration expanded junk insurance plans. It supports a lawsuit that would end protections for Americans with preexisting conditions. It all but eliminated programs that help people find the right coverage for themselves and their families, and it continues to routinely propose and approve policies that cause people to lose coverage and cause health insurance markets to spiral into chaos. When any one of us goes home, one just has to be home for a short time before hearing of people with horror stories of how they had normal procedures and were told that this doctor was not covered, that this procedure was not covered, and that it would be several thousand dollars out of their pockets, which they can't afford. We are told of one horror story or another--of the cost of something like insulin, which is way through the roof, when it should be available because it does so much for those who have diabetes. We hear story after story, and those aren't isolated. That is the state of the Trump healthcare system. The past 2 years have been a wholesale assault by the Trump administration on Americans' healthcare. I doubt President Trump will mention that tomorrow, but if you ask American families of the No. 1 problem they face, it will be the cost of good healthcare, which seems more and more out of reach. So the state of the Trump healthcare system is dire. What is the state of the Trump administration? The state of the Trump administration is chaos. Underqualified staffers cycle in and out of our [[Page S819]] government's most powerful positions. Cabinet Secretaries are fired over Twitter. Hundreds of important positions are unfilled or are covered by someone in an acting capacity, including for the Chief of Staff, the Attorney General, the Defense Secretary, the Interior Secretary, the OMB Director, and the EPA Director. Hardly a week goes by without news of a high-profile firing or resignation from the White House. President Trump publicly belittles the people who are working for him. That is no way to incent people to work hard. An NPR study found that the Trump administration has had the most Cabinet turnovers of any administration in more than a century. Three Cabinet Secretaries have been fired or have resigned in scandal-- Price, Zinke, and Pruitt. One has resigned in protest--probably the best Cabinet member we had--General Mattis, who couldn't take Trump's zigzags on policy and his lack of sharing information. Another had his nomination pulled before it could be considered--Puzder--which is not altogether rare for this President. Since the start of the administration, more than 40 of President Trump's nominees have been withdrawn. They don't know how to vet. The President makes these off-the-cuff decisions based on how someone looks, and we all pay the price. Oh, yes, the state of the Trump administration and how he runs the government--chaos. The continuity and effectiveness of American Government has been deeply compromised by the turmoil and turnover at the White House. Finally, the state of the Trump foreign policy is woefully backward. From Brussels to Beijing, President Trump has alienated our allies and emboldened our adversaries. Russia, China, North Korea--three of the worst and least democratic countries on Earth, the countries that pose the greatest threats to America--are treated with kid gloves, while our allies, like those in NATO, get harsh words from this President. It is inside out. It is topsy-turvy. It is what his instincts and gut show, and they are totally wrong--without fact, without knowledge, and without understanding history. Too often, the President has, regrettably, failed to champion free speech, freedom of the press, humanitarian rights, and democratic values. Dictators and strongmen are ascendant in the President's circle while allies are pushed to the fringe. Yes, the state of the Trump foreign policy is woefully backward. Concerning the speech tomorrow night, the President will not talk like this, of course. What I expect the President to do is to ignore reality and spin his own fiction. A looming question is just how many falsehoods, distortions, and made-up facts will appear in the President's speech. How many times will he say something is fake news because it is true, and he doesn't like to hear the truth? Yet the Democrats are not focused on the President's rhetoric--his usual boasts or bluster or blame--that is so characteristic of this administration. We are going to continue fighting for American workers in this unequal economy, fighting for American families who are struggling to afford quality healthcare, fighting to bring accountability and stability to this government so in chaos, and fighting for rational foreign policy that promotes both our interests and our values. The state of the Union is sad. Let me just say that the No. 1 reason the state of the Union has such woes is the President. I hope he changes in the next 2 years. ____________________
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