Senate Democratic leadership held their weekly press briefing on Tuesday.
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00:00I chart to test your vision. What is the top number? I just went to the eye doctor, so I'm into that.
00:08Okay, well, first let me say I don't envy the Republicans having to come here and defend Trump's 100 days.
00:18It's not easy and they had a lot of trouble with it. But I'm proud to be joined here by Senator Durbin.
00:25This is the first time Senator Durbin is coming to one of these gatherings since he announced that he was not going to run again.
00:32And you know how much we love him and going to miss him, but know he's going to do great things in the next year and a half as well.
00:39So, Dick, is the press allowed to applaud Dick Durbin?
00:42No.
00:44I will.
00:47Okay.
00:49Okay.
00:52Member Sid Caesar, have any of you heard of Sid Caesar?
00:55When he'd get applause, he'd go, no, please, no.
01:00Okay.
01:00The sound of one hand clapping.
01:02Right, yes.
01:03Okay.
01:04Anyway, this week, as you know, marks the 100 days that Donald Trump has been in office.
01:10It is 100 days of chaos.
01:14From one end of the government and one end of the country to the other.
01:19So let's do a simple review.
01:20In these 100 days, what has gone up?
01:24Cost of groceries?
01:25Up.
01:26Energy costs?
01:27Up.
01:28Cost of clothes, of homes, of cars?
01:31Up.
01:32What has dropped?
01:34Your retirement and 401ks?
01:36Down.
01:37The stock market?
01:39Down.
01:39The dollar?
01:41Down.
01:41Down.
01:42And today, we saw the trend continue.
01:45Consumer confidence?
01:46Down.
01:47And that's not just a statistic.
01:50Consumers, when they don't have confidence, don't buy things.
01:54Businesses, when they see chaos, freeze.
01:57I have talked to business people, some of the biggest businesses, medium-sized businesses,
02:01and small businesses, they're all frozen.
02:04Even if Trump were to drop the tariffs, and who knows what the hell he'll do, I doubt he'll
02:09do that, the businesses don't know what he'd do two weeks later, so they're frozen.
02:15And that's why the chance of recession, not according to us, but according to banking
02:21experts, is so much greater than it was before.
02:24Americans are noticing.
02:27The polls this week show Trump has the lowest 100-day approval rating since they started
02:33polling 80 years ago.
02:34The lowest.
02:36Even worse, 72% of Americans think it's likely that Trump's handling of the economy will walk
02:44us directly into a recession.
02:48So, over the last two weeks, all of us have been in our states.
02:53I went to, there are seven Republican districts in New York, I went to six, talking about Medicaid,
03:00talking about Social Security, talking about tax breaks for the wealthy, talking about veterans.
03:05And the reaction was amazing.
03:07Republicans came from all over.
03:08On Long Island, I was at a place called Tandy Close.
03:12She's well-known in Suffolk County.
03:13It's in a Republican district.
03:16And she's a Trump supporter.
03:17But she said, my costs are going up 30%.
03:20I'm just furious at what Trump is doing.
03:24And that's happening over and over again in every place we go.
03:30The Republican senators and congressmen know that they've got real trouble with this Trump
03:35agenda.
03:36And up to now, they've been able to hide it, obfuscate, say they don't exactly know what
03:41it is, say who knows.
03:43Well, now that the Republican House has started putting out its reconciliation bills, they can't
03:49hide.
03:49They can't hide.
03:51So, this has happened all across our state.
03:56I won't get into the details there.
03:58But there's a feeling of incompetence, of indecision, and chaos eating away at much of the country.
04:04And that is emanating from the man who's in charge, Donald Trump.
04:10And Senate Republicans aren't just silent.
04:14They are complicit.
04:15They're going along with all of this.
04:18They are complicit.
04:19They are co-conspirators with Trump's horrible, horrible decisions for the country.
04:29Let's remember what Donald Trump said again and again and again on the campaign trail.
04:36He said, starting on day one, quote, we will end inflation and make America affordable again.
04:41A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.
04:44Your energy costs and grocery prices will come tumbling down.
04:47And we'll bring back the American dream bigger, better, and stronger than before.
04:52Yet here we are, and Americans know the reality.
04:56Democrats will be taking to the Senate floor all night tonight to talk about how bad the
05:02100 days have been and about how our Republican colleagues are conspiring, co-conspirating to
05:09work, to go along with Trump on things that the American people regard as very bad for
05:16them and their well-being.
05:17Senator Derby.
05:19Thanks, sir.
05:23Let me start off by congratulating Donald Trump for being such a powerful, unifying force.
05:31In only 100 days, he took a divided nation and tipped the balance decisively.
05:37With his embarrassing, insulting, petty, and outrageous attack, Donald Trump has given Canada a new national
05:46resolve.
05:47He single-handedly revived the Liberal Party in Canada and spurred them to an historic victory
05:53yesterday.
05:53Now, if he could just be a positive, unifying force in the United States.
05:57Instead, for 100 days, Trump and his administration of billionaire buddies have caused chaos, wreaked
06:05havoc, and sowed division.
06:07He's undermined the Constitution, our system of checks and balances, and the rule of law.
06:13And through it all, my Republican colleagues have remained silent.
06:19Take Donald Trump's ill-conceived mindless tariff-tax war, which caused global markets to plunge, wipe
06:27trillions of dollars of wealth from the stock market, and will cause Americans to suffer
06:31from higher prices and smaller exports.
06:34While their constituents saw their retirement funds drain and grocery bills skyrocket, Republicans
06:40remained silent.
06:44Rinse and repeat this cycle.
06:46Donald Trump threatens to withhold federal funds from higher education institutions, to coerce
06:51them to give up their constitutional rights.
06:54Republicans remain silent.
06:57The Secretary of Defense violates national security protocol and shares classified war plans
07:02in signal chat that mistakenly includes a journalist.
07:06Republicans remain silent.
07:10Unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his Doge brothers gut the federal government, leading
07:16to cuts to life-saving medical research, Americans unable to get their Social Security benefits, and
07:21threats to Medicaid.
07:23You guessed it.
07:24Republicans remain silent.
07:27Never in our nation's history has a co-equal branch of government so willfully rolled
07:32over and ceded their power.
07:35It is the silence of the lambs.
07:38The President is testing and violating the bounds of our Constitution, amassing power for
07:43himself as he tanks our economy, violating the rights of Americans, and destroying our image
07:48abroad.
07:49My congressional Republican colleagues have the power to stop it.
07:53They have majorities in both chambers.
07:55And in private moments, many of them express to us similar outrage and horror at what Trump
08:01is doing.
08:02But as the constituents suffer, out of fear of retaliation, Republicans remain silent.
08:09When we're elected members of Congress, our oath is to the Constitution, not to the President.
08:16Very good.
08:17Well, if you wondered what the great Senator Durbin's going to do for the next year and a
08:21half, you just saw it.
08:23Devoted to progress and devoted to taking this on.
08:28So, like so many of our colleagues, I spent the last two weeks in my state, 19-county tour.
08:38And here are two things that I learned that are highly relevant to what's going on here.
08:42Because as we have said, corruption is up, chaos is up, and costs are up.
08:48What did I see?
08:49I saw regular people, farmers showing up in small towns, populations of under 1,000, and
08:56sitting next to what we're probably best to find as activists.
08:59One memorable moment, someone had a sign that said, this is not normal, who is an activist.
09:03It showed up.
09:04You've all seen those signs at these town halls.
09:07Next to a farmer who looked at her and said, what does that mean?
09:10I'm normal.
09:12What that meant to me was he wasn't part of this big town halls, but he was showing up
09:18because of what was happening to him.
09:20Soybean farmer.
09:21He was just living on the edge because of his input costs, because of weather events,
09:27because of some of the things we're seeing out there in farm country for costs and consolidation.
09:34And now what you add to it are these tariffs.
09:37His soybean market is going to dry up in China.
09:40But guess what?
09:41He wasn't invited to the White House like Tim Cook was.
09:45I'm glad Tim Cook saved his phones.
09:47But this guy, the soybean farmer, he doesn't have that phone number.
09:51He can't call to get an exemption.
09:53Or the woman who runs Busy Baby.
09:56Maybe you haven't heard about it, but she was Minnesota Entrepreneur of the Year.
10:00She's got a business innovative with things for high chairs so the stuff doesn't fall off the high chairs.
10:06Guess what?
10:06She came up.
10:07She is dying right now.
10:09She can hardly make it.
10:10She didn't get invited to that Wall Street meeting with Secretary Besant, with J.P. Morgan.
10:16She didn't know how to get into that thing.
10:18She doesn't got the insight.
10:19So who is the roadkill when it comes to this economy that Trump has wrought?
10:26It is the small businesses.
10:28It's the small farmers.
10:30It's the consumers who are facing a $4,000 tariff tax.
10:33It is the people that can't reach their Social Security contacts.
10:39Their spouse dies.
10:40They can't figure out what's going on.
10:41They're trying to do it online.
10:43Then they're asked for an ID.
10:44Then they're trying to make a call.
10:46Can't get through.
10:47Field office is closing.
10:48That's what's happening right now in this country.
10:51So I'm worried about the whole economy, but I'm mostly worried about the immediate.
10:55And that is the people that don't have the means to take this on, aren't invited by Trump to the White House, aren't invited to the Treasury meetings.
11:02That's what we're seeing in this country right now.
11:05And when people say, how are you fighting it?
11:08We're fighting it in the courts, over 100 cases now, where they found what he is doing illegal or unconstitutional.
11:15Democrats are fighting it in Congress.
11:17You saw it with the vote that we did on the Canadian tariffs.
11:21You're going to see it this week again on that front.
11:24And then we're fighting it with our constituents on our side.
11:27And we are sick and tired of this rubber-stamped Republican Congress.
11:31It is time for four Republicans to stand up in the Senate and four Republicans to stand up in the House.
11:39And the results will be different for the American people.
11:41But this is the state of the economy in the 100 days since Donald Trump has been in here.
11:47And never have I ever seen an anniversary.
11:49We always do this stuff.
11:50You guys are used to it, 100 days, 100 days, 100 days.
11:53Look at the polls.
11:54Look at the change.
11:55Look at the drastic effect it's having on Americans.
11:58That's his 100 days, and he owns it.
12:00Senator Booker.
12:02So first, allow me a point of personal privilege to say a word about my chairman, Dick Durbin.
12:08I came to the Senate about 13 years ago.
12:13And in Dick Durbin, I found a mentor, a friend, and a true leader.
12:18There are a lot of bills that I lead in the Senate that are associated with me that actually were bills that Dick Durbin gave me to lead.
12:26And I will tell you this, the mark of a great leader, in my opinion, is not somebody who says, follow me, but that empowers other people to be leaders as well.
12:35He has 18 months left, but I wanted to take this opportunity to tell him again publicly how great he is in my eyes and how grateful I am for him shaping my career.
12:44So thank you very much.
12:46So, 100 days.
12:48I do not need to speak.
12:50Schumer does not need to speak.
12:51The truth of the matter is, the American public has already rendered their verdict.
12:56This is the most failing failure, fantastically, of any president in four generations.
13:03The American public has already made it clear, Donald Trump, you have failed us.
13:06He has the lowest approval rating of any president in 80 years.
13:12And why?
13:14Because he has consistently said one thing and done another.
13:17He has lied to the American people and betrayed those people who put their act of civic trust, their vote for him.
13:24How so?
13:25Well, first and foremost, he said that he would manage the economy better.
13:29He said that he would lower people's cost on day one.
13:33Across the board, across the board, we see Americans' prices for home goods, for baby carriages, for groceries going up and up and up.
13:44And he has so tanked the economy that there are thousands of Americans right now who thought they would retire this year because their 401ks had enough resources for them to do that that are putting off their retirement.
13:56Number two is he said he would drain the swamp.
13:59Well, this is a staggering lie.
14:03This president has literally brought in the greatest corruption in the White House ever.
14:08Exhibit one, frankly, is this meme coin that he created.
14:13He has literally done something that is so unconscionable that he is selling attendance at the White House to people who buy his meme coin,
14:22which is a way for people just to deposit money.
14:24Number three, this president has already grifted millions and millions of dollars from his position while costs are going up.
14:32This president has eviscerated people like inspector generals who were put into place to call out corruption.
14:40Number three, this president has been a foreign policy failure.
14:45He, again, told the American public, I will bring an end to the Ukrainian war on day one, to the invasion of Ukraine.
14:55And what he has done instead is he has called a hero a dictator and coddled up to the dictator in Putin.
15:03In addition to that, he has alienated our allies, said in the most demeaning and degrading way that he was going to make Canada a 51st state,
15:15and gave license to China to have influence across the globe as we, through our cuts in USAID, have retreated.
15:23We had sent a few people over after the disaster in Myanmar, who got fired while they were doing the job,
15:30while the Chinese stepped up and brought millions and millions of dollars of resources to people in Asia.
15:35That used to be America.
15:38He lied.
15:39He said he was going to be a champion of free speech, and now he is attacking college campuses,
15:44cutting resources that we need for scientific investment,
15:48going after private businesses like law firms, and making them heal in front of him,
15:53or he will unleash economic peril in a way that is unconstitutional and illegal.
16:00And finally, this president is trashing our Constitution.
16:04Again, don't listen to us here in Congress.
16:06Listen to the Supreme Court itself.
16:09When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
16:12does the rare thing to rebuke a president
16:17who called for the impeachment of a judge because he didn't like his decision.
16:24He is not respecting the separation of powers and the equal power of each branch.
16:30But more than that, the way he intimidates and trolls judges
16:34has seen threats on our judges go up as he has singled people out and targeted them online.
16:41This is the president that now has no respect for our Constitution or our constitutional traditions.
16:47And so again, the American people have spoken.
16:50He has set a record in my lifetime and beyond
16:53for fantastic failing in a way that truly has even Republicans
17:00standing now against him on his policies.
17:03We are in a crisis moment.
17:06This president is out of control.
17:09And the question is not what Democrats are going to do,
17:13but what the Republicans in Congress will do.
17:15They know it is wrong, this tariff war he has unleashed on the globe.
17:20They know it is wrong when the Secretary of Defense
17:23violates our national security with his use of a public act.
17:28He knows that the Republicans here know what is wrong,
17:30what he is doing in undermining bipartisan spending plans.
17:37They know what is wrong when he is impounding dollars that go to help local communities.
17:41The question is, what will, after 100 days, Congress people do,
17:45as we now see a bill in this work period that is threatening to cut health care
17:49for millions and millions of Americans?
17:52Why?
17:52Why gut Medicaid, which he promised he would not do?
17:55Why is he pushing to do that?
17:58Because he wants to give more tax cuts to the wealthiest in our country.
18:01It is time for more people to step up and say,
18:04this is not left or right, it is right or wrong.
18:09This is not about party, this is about patriotism.
18:11It's time for a call to conscience of all Americans,
18:14Republican or Democrat, to say, no, stop the lies,
18:18stop the corruption, and do not keep your hands off
18:22the Medicaid of millions and millions of Americans.
18:26What do you think is the difference between Republicans
18:34and how they responded to President Trump during his first term
18:38and what you see now?
18:39Well, I think they are much more afraid of him now.
18:42He has done much more in terms of threatening them,
18:45both privately and even publicly.
18:47And I think they're also far more, they're squirming
18:52because they know his policies are so unpopular,
18:55so they don't know what to do.
18:56They're between a rock and a hard place.
18:58On the one side, Trump's threats.
19:00On the other side, the American people who hate what Trump is proposing.
19:04Yes.
19:06There's a poll out today that has your approval rate
19:09lower than any other congressional rate, 17%.
19:13Are you concerned that you may be a liability for your vote?
19:15Polls come and go.
19:16Our party is united.
19:18We're on our front foot.
19:19We're stepping forward and going after Trump
19:21and having real success.
19:23Mr. Schubert, thank you very much.
19:25On border security, the White House and the Republicans
19:28are touting the claim that illegal crosses are down by 95%.
19:32Godways, as they call them, are down by 99%.
19:35And only nine plus four nations are released into the country
19:39compared to many more under the Biden administration.
19:43Is that not a sign that the Republicans...
19:45I'd say one thing to you.
19:47I don't trust Trump's numbers.
19:49Okay, last one, because it's 3 o'clock
19:51and we have the gold medal ceremony.
19:54Your colleague, referring to the mean points
19:56that Senator Booker was just talking about,
19:58your colleague Senator Ossoff suggested
19:59that President Trump has committed impeachable offenses last week.
20:02Do you agree with that?
20:04Do you think that he has done that?
20:05That's far down the road.
20:07Far down the road.