During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) spoke about President Trump's first 100 days in office.
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00:00Rhode Island. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
00:04If you look clearly at the facts as they are today, by any measure, Donald Trump's first 100 days have been a disaster, not a success, for regular Americans and our Constitution.
00:18His administration has been marked by mismanagement, poor leadership, prickly egos, and policies that are punched down rather than offer a hand up.
00:27In 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.
00:42And as a result of these policies, America's economy and our standing in the eyes of our allies has fallen significantly.
00:51He's granted Elon Musk free reign to enter any federal agency and ferret through the data and files and personal information of every American citizen.
01:02In my impression of Mr. Musk, he doesn't do anything unless there's a profit connected to it.
01:09Musk and Doge are rifling through IRS and Social Security records.
01:14Meanwhile, 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.
01:28They even tried to cut the phone lines for basic services.
01:32And Trump officials just laughed off.
01:34Well, Secretary of Commerce, Howard Ludnick, a billionaire, which is not unusual in the Trump circle, said on a podcast, quote,
01:44Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month.
01:49My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain.
01:52She just wouldn't.
01:54She'd think something got messed up and she'll get it next month.
01:58Now, a fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining.
02:03Well, that's very easy for a billionaire and his family to say.
02:09I don't think they would miss their Social Security check.
02:12But for working Americans who depend on Social Security, their retirement benefits, their disability benefits,
02:21just to make ends meet, to have food on the table, they certainly miss the delay of a Social Security check.
02:30And it's not just the Social Security Administration.
02:33We also know President Trump has purged federal employees by thousands,
02:39without regard for their job performance or the importance of their work.
02:43Everything that exists from the office that runs the LIHEAP program,
02:49to the National Weather Service, to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
02:54LIHEAP is essential to my constituents in the wintertime.
02:57That's how they stay warm.
02:59That's how they are able to live.
03:02The National Weather Service is renowned for its incredibly accurate and detailed and scientifically-based forecast.
03:11In fact, we all depend upon it.
03:15And I'm told, particularly farmers in the Midwest,
03:17because if you're trying to figure out the day to plant your crops,
03:21you better know what the temperature's going to be in the morning and at noontime and in the evening.
03:26And the National Nuclear Security Administration is critical to protecting our nuclear weapons and developing them.
03:36And I was in the airport in Providence, Rhode Island,
03:38and a young woman came up to me and said,
03:40excuse me, Senator, but five days ago, I was fired from the NNSA because I was a provisional worker.
03:48I got a call last night to get back as soon as possible because the ability to protect and to develop our nuclear weapons
03:58could not be sustained without the presence of that lady and many others.
04:04And yet, given all these issues, he's populated his administration with leadership that is best uninterested
04:13in challenges facing average Americans and too often unqualified to do the jobs they were hired to perform.
04:21He's withheld funding that was legally and constitutionally appropriated by Congress.
04:27He, in fact, has ignored the Constitution and Congress.
04:34One of his first acts was to fire the inspector generals throughout the government.
04:40Such a measure by law requires notice to Congress and 30 days.
04:46Wait, he ignored that.
04:50And why?
04:51Well, if you're going to systematically break the law, you might as well get rid of those people
04:56who are checking on whether the law is properly enforced.
05:00He's defunding libraries and Head Start centers and halting critical medical research.
05:05He's closed the Agency for International Development
05:08and even withheld funding to feed starving children here in America and across the globe.
05:14And he has done incredible damage to our standing in the world.
05:23And as a result of his efforts to completely undermine the USAID, what's happening?
05:36Well, I'll tell you what's happening.
05:37China is moving aggressively to take our place.
05:41And so people cross the globe and they look around and say, who's our friend?
05:46China?
05:48That's not good for us.
05:49And that's not what we as Americans have done for many, many years.
05:55He's also essentially extorted law firms to represent him and his causes for free.
06:02He's attempted to dictate how our colleges and universities are run, who they hire and what
06:08they teach, essentially changing a prosperous, knowledge-based economy.
06:14That's what we were talking about.
06:15That's how we would compete in the world.
06:17We're the knowledge-based economy.
06:19We're the innovators.
06:20We're changing everything.
06:21Well, when you destroy our university systems and our health research systems,
06:26you turn a knowledge-based economy into a failing, ignorance-based economy.
06:32He's deported American citizens, threatened to annex Greenland, boosted Russia, and somehow
06:40found a way to alienate Canada, our neighbor and ally.
06:46Each of these items on its own would be a cause for outrage.
06:50But Trump hopes that he'll overwhelm Americans by flooding the zone with one stunt after another.
06:58But the inescapable fact is that his policies are hurting the American people, and they see
07:04it, not last January at the inauguration, but today, when they're looking at prices that
07:11are still too high, when they're evaluating his promise of ending inflation in the first
07:17day and solving the Ukrainian crisis in the first day.
07:21They see it in the prices they pay at the grocery store, in costs of a new car or a new home.
07:28And, Mr. President, sadly, it looks like it's going to get worse for American families.
07:33Researchers at Yale estimate that Donald Trump's current tariff regime, not including the tariffs
07:40he's announced and backed away from, the current tariffs in place today will raise costs by
07:47$4,900 for families this year, while increasing inflation as high as 5.5% and cutting economic
07:55growth.
07:56Other analysts project new car prices will rise by as much as $12,000 and new home prices
08:04by more than $9,000.
08:06And I've spoken to multiple Rhode Island companies whose suppliers are already sending them higher
08:12quotes for their goods.
08:14Goldman Sachs estimates that the president's baseline 10% tariff on all imports would lead
08:21to fewer, not more, American jobs.
08:25Goldman estimates that this tariff will lead to roughly 400,000 fewer jobs nationwide.
08:33Markets continue to move wildly as he erratically threatens schemes like doing away with the independence
08:40of the Federal Reserve, firing the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and trying to seize power
08:46to lower interest rates himself, manipulate interest rates himself, and future tariffs were
08:54still in this uncertain period because he just suspended them for 90 days.
08:58If these future tariffs come back, it would rock the market again.
09:03And, oh, by the way, when the market was collapsing after his grand announcement, where was he?
09:13He was in Florida at his golf course where the Saudis and others had spent millions of dollars
09:19to him so that they could host a tournament and he could play golf with them.
09:24That's not the definition of presidential leadership.
09:29Before Trump untook his campaign of economic chaos, the economy was on a good trajectory.
09:35In fact, that chart illustrates the trajectory.
09:38These Trump tariffs have been a huge blunder.
09:41Instead of implementing a thoughtful policymaking process to boost key domestic manufacturing,
09:47the president has chosen a blunt, blanket-tariff approach.
09:52In doing so, he has treated allies like enemies and driven global partners into the arms of China.
10:00What we're seeing now and what we will experience in the coming months,
10:04higher prices for families, fewer jobs, smaller retirement accounts, and a weaker economy.
10:12And it's entirely on the shoulders of the president.
10:15It is a self-inflicted wound on the economy and the American people.
10:20But it appears that the president isn't done.
10:23He wants a big, beautiful bill.
10:26And what is in that big, beautiful bill?
10:29Big cuts for Medicaid and SNAP, which feeds children and disabled Americans,
10:36and big giveaways to the billionaires that financed his campaign and populated his administration.
10:42The American people see it.
10:45And survey after survey proves they do.
10:49The question is whether my colleagues, Senate Republicans, will go along with that.
10:56Will they listen to the people of America or will they still be under the thrall of Donald Trump?
11:03Americans deserve better than cuts to Medicaid.
11:06They deserve an economy headed upwards, not backwards.
11:09And 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.
11:22Mr. President, the first 100 days of chaos and self-inflicted damage must end.
11:29It's time for America's business leaders and congressional Republicans to stand up and join us all in saying enough is enough.
11:38With that, Mr. President, I would yield the floor and I would note the absence of quorum.
11:44The clerk will call the roll.
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