House Democratic leadership held their weekly press briefing on Tuesday.
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00:00more expensive than it was a hundred days ago. Trump's reckless tariffs are going to make high
00:06price of groceries, gas, housing, utilities, clothing, electronics, and other essential
00:13goods even worse. Companies are laying off hardworking Americans, and we are staring
00:19down at an impending supply chain crisis in a few weeks. Our national security is threatened
00:25by amateur individuals sharing classified war plans in group chats. Our communities are
00:33threatened because Trump released hundreds of criminals back onto the street. Our freedoms
00:38are threatened because the Trump administration abandons the rule of law and due process by
00:44deporting an innocent man and even American children. By every metric, Donald Trump is
00:50failing. But instead of trying to put out the fire that he's caused, he's pouring gasoline
00:56on by cutting $880 billion from Medicaid that will make health care more expensive and less
01:03affordable. He wants to take food off of the table of American families, children, and veterans.
01:11And he's doing this all for one simple purpose, to put into place massive tax breaks with his
01:17billionaire donor funds. The Speaker went to the White House yesterday to get his marching
01:22orders. But if House Republicans want to avoid tying themselves to this sinking ship, they need to
01:28vote against the Republican budget bill. You'll see House Democrats fighting back at every step of the
01:34way this week and next week as Republicans try to pass their dangerous and extreme budget.
01:40It's my privilege to introduce Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, Ted Lue.
01:44Ted Lue.
01:45Thank you, Chairman Aguilar, and an honor to be here with Representatives Mannion and Delaney.
01:51Donald Trump's first 100 days have been one of the worst first 100 days of any U.S. President in history.
01:58That's because his policies are harming America. And the American people have noticed. Multiple polls show Trump's approval ratings plummeting and associate
02:00press poll showed him at only 39 percent approval, 59 percent disapproval. And a recent Washington Post poll also shows him at only 39 percent approval, the lowest of any U.S. President in 80 years.
02:23One reason is because of tariffs. It's indiscriminate tariffs have increased prices. I urge all of you to look at a statement from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
02:37They put out a statement saying that the tariffs are crushing the working class with higher prices.
02:44And what's even worse is we don't even understand the rationale for these tariffs because the White House has put out two completely different rationales.
02:52One of them is we're imposing these indiscriminate tariffs to try to strike deals to go to a zero-tariff situation with other countries and have more free trade, reduce trade barriers.
03:04And then you have Donald Trump saying over the weekend, I'm doing these tariffs to create an external revenue service to use this as a permanent revenue source to take the money that consumers are paying and inject that into the federal government.
03:18Those are completely opposite rationales, and the White House can't even figure out why it's doing these tariffs.
03:25And then let me just conclude now about Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth.
03:28I know that he has recently spent taxpayer funds for a makeup studio.
03:34I hope it's going well and make him look better on TV.
03:38But in terms of his policies, they are completely awful, and especially his operational ability to handle sensitive information.
03:47You may have seen recent reporting showing that his phone number has now been all over the Internet.
03:52And if hackers have your phone number, there are a number of ways to surveil your phone.
03:57I ask reporters to look into whether he uses his personal phone overseas.
04:02There is a hack called the SS-7 attack.
04:06It stands for Stanley System Number 7.
04:07I was part of an investigation a few years ago.
04:10It doesn't matter how great your phone is.
04:12It's because of telecommunications providers you use.
04:15There's a flaw in there that they can surveil your phone, and they can do that in the U.S., even worse overseas.
04:20So you all should check out whether Secretary Hexeth compromises phone if you use it overseas.
04:25With that, it's my honor now to invite Representative Mannion to come speak to you.
04:32Before being in Congress, he was a public school teacher and a state senator from the great state of New York.
04:39Thank you, Vice Chair.
04:41Good morning, everybody.
04:42I'm John Mannion from Syracuse, New York.
04:45I'm a member of the Agriculture and Education Workforce Committees,
04:48and I represent New York 22, central New York in the Mohawk Valley.
04:53We're at 100 days into this second Trump administration,
04:58and what we've seen is chaos, confusion, confrontation, and fear.
05:04We're witnessing an extraordinary assault on our Constitution, on our norms, and our values, on our democracy,
05:13unlike what we've ever seen before, as we're watching in real time, the dismantling of governmental guardrails.
05:22One place where the damage is particularly clear is as it relates to our trade policy.
05:30Tariffs should be used with precision and purpose, but not as blunt political instruments.
05:38I believe now is the time for Congress to reassert the constitutional authority.
05:44It continues to cede to the executive branch, and terror policy is a good place for that to start.
05:51New York 22 has a long history of manufacturing, of innovation.
05:56We have a vibrant agricultural sector and world-class research institutions.
06:02We're home to the largest private investment in the history of this country,
06:07with Micron's historic $100 billion project to onshore semiconductor chip manufacturing in my district in Clay, New York.
06:19It's a transformative project that will create thousands of jobs
06:23and solidify our region's role in the global economy and the global tech economy.
06:29But just as importantly, it is about making sure that our national security
06:36and the resources that we use to preserve our national security is happening right here in our country.
06:45My district is a down-the-middle district.
06:48We have representatives at the state legislature and the counties that are both Republicans and Democrats.
06:54Chips and Science was a piece of legislation that required all levels of government,
06:58from both parties and stakeholders and experts in the field to negotiate it, get it right,
07:04so that we can make sure that we put our national security at a premium
07:09and the emerging threats as it relates to supply chains.
07:13We had to address that.
07:14We did address it.
07:15It was done in the last Congress, and as a result, that project is moving forward.
07:20When it comes to tariffs, you know, I've looked at maps with arrows that show the negative impact,
07:27and no arrow is bigger than the state of New York.
07:31I live less than 100 miles from the Canadian border.
07:35My mother grew up in a town called Shattagay, New York, which is five miles from the Canadian border.
07:41But you don't have to be five miles from the border to see the impact that already exists.
07:46Tariffs are necessary tools that can be used for national security,
07:54for protecting hardworking Americans and their jobs and to grow that.
07:59But the current administration's approach lacks strategy and nuance,
08:04fails to recognize beneficial relationships between our friends, our allies,
08:09and our business partners like Canada.
08:12In central New York and the Mohawk Valley, we rely heavily on trade with Canada for both imports and exports.
08:19Sometimes a product's production crosses the border multiple times.
08:26Sometimes within the same company, and still tariffs would be imposed on those pre-manufactured products.
08:35Materials come from Canada, and our products go to Canada.
08:41We have multiple industries that are being impacted in agriculture.
08:48Lumber, metal production, as I mentioned, are building materials for an important plant that is coming into my district.
08:59There are double and triple tariffs that are hurting the bottom line.
09:04They're hurting jobs.
09:05Contracts are being canceled.
09:07Contracts are not moving forward in the negotiation process.
09:11Costs are being driven up.
09:13It makes absolutely zero sense.
09:16So we have to get this right.
09:21The relationship between my district and Canada is so intricate, and it goes beyond just commerce.
09:30Canadians are our friends.
09:32They're often our family members.
09:34As I said, they're our business partners.
09:38And what newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Carney made remarks last night,
09:45and he called this the American betrayal.
09:50To hear stories of Canadians taking American products and turning them over so as to easily identify that product as American-made is unbelievable,
10:01something that I would not imagine in our lifetime.
10:04And it is an unnecessary act because of the unnecessary acts that have come out of this administration.
10:10The Prime Minister pledged to find new relationships and new agreements with reliable trade partners outside of the United States of America.
10:26And I do agree that describing this situation as a tragedy is accurate.
10:33My conversations with New York farmers, including dairy producers, owners of apple orchards, maple syrup producers,
10:41and other industries like lumber, the interconnectedness between New York State's economy and Canada is vital to our collective success.
10:50Items like fertilizer, potash, these come from Canada.
10:57Ninety percent of our potassium, not just in central New York, but all across this country, comes from Canada.
11:04So we must use precision when it comes to our trade policy.
11:10Tariffs are basically a tax on American consumers and businesses, continues to drive up costs.
11:16For essential items like groceries, fuel, agricultural supplies.
11:22Where I'm from, in central New York, we want policies that reflect the realities of our interconnected economy with our friend and ally, Canada.
11:33America, the people of New York 22, our farmers, we all need policies that make sense,
11:40not a whipsaw, on-again, off-again, tariff game that this current administration is playing.
11:47It's reckless.
11:49The impact will be massive.
11:51There will be waves of negative impact on multiple sectors of our economy.
11:57And that means it's going to hurt hardworking Americans.
12:00It's going to hurt small businesses.
12:01We must restore our standing as a reliable trade partner, not just with Canada, but with our other allies and trade partners around the world.
12:12Simply, we are hurting consumers.
12:15We're hurting Americans.
12:17We're hurting businesses because of a lack of a cohesive strategy.
12:22We need to be more thoughtful.
12:24We need to be more targeted.
12:25We need to strengthen our economy without placing undue burdens on hardworking Americans.
12:31So I ask that we have sanity to our trade policy and that we restore our country's standing around the world,
12:39not just as a reliable trade partner, but as the beacon of democracy around the world.
12:46I appreciate the opportunity to speak.
12:49And with that, I'll pass along the microphone to my colleague, Representative April McLean-Delaney.
13:02Good morning.
13:04I represent the 6th District of Maryland and, when elected, made a commitment to my constituents to seek common sense, common ground solutions.
13:15Sadly, the past 100 days, I've desperately been trying to find either common sense or common ground.
13:23And, in fact, the chaos that has ensued has hurt everyone within my district.
13:28My district is as economically diverse as any district in the country.
13:34It starts not far from here, in Montgomery County, where NIH researchers are curing cancer.
13:40And NIST employees are establishing parameters for AI innovation.
13:46And it goes all the way to beautiful Mountain and Western Maryland, where family farms are providing their bounty to our community.
13:54And it borders West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
13:57In my district, no one has escaped the harmful impact of Trump tariffs and isolation policy,
14:04or its indiscriminate cuts to federal workers.
14:07I represent over 35,000 federal workers at agencies such as NIH, the National Institute of Cancer, NIST, our fire academy, and Fort Detrick.
14:20Farmers are very concerned about selling their crops because of tariff impacts,
14:26but also because of markets drying up, markets they normally sold into, like through USAID or through SNAP programs.
14:34And cancer and innovation researchers and the surrounding biotech and tech private markets
14:41have been dealt a devastating blow, from government cuts to both agencies and research and innovation engines.
14:49Small businesses and consultants are cratering because of lack of business.
14:54And this, in turn, is hurting everyday smaller businesses, markets, salons, sole proprietorships,
15:01who depend on spending in their community.
15:04And this includes tourism, and this is linked to our seven national parks in this district.
15:10We are home to the C&O Canal, which gets as many visitors per year as Yellowstone.
15:17With respect to specific examples, last week I toured the Volvo factory in Hagerstown, Maryland,
15:24where they make Mack trucks.
15:25I was privileged to even get to drive one.
15:28They produce the engines and the axles for these vehicles and are pioneering some EV technology.
15:35But in the short term, they told me, they have 1,700 workers.
15:39But instead of reshoring and bringing innovation and investment into the United States,
15:47Volvo is projected to cut 50 to 100 workers due to tariffs and economic insecurity.
15:54They do not know how the market will react, and more cuts might come later.
16:00Moreover, I have met with each of my five county farm bureaus,
16:05Montgomery County, Frederick, Allegheny, Washington County, Garrett,
16:11and they're all concerned about crop market prices, SNAP,
16:15and reimbursement for investments they've made into their farms,
16:19which have not been reimbursed by government programs for which they were promised.
16:24It is a tsunami hitting them from every angle.
16:27And toppled with that are threatened cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
16:33And, of course, rural health clinics are really at risk in my district because of their dependence on Medicaid.
16:40These self-inflicted, nonsensical, penny-foolish, and pound-foolish policies are impacting our economic security,
16:50our U.S. competitiveness, and our national security, much more to say innovation,
16:56and our trust internationally in the U.S. and the U.S. economy and our U.S. dollar.
17:02Having said the above, I stand ready to work on common-sense, common-ground solutions and across the aisle
17:12to make a reality the things we all care about, including focusing on inflation, innovation, affordability,
17:20and fortifying our U.S. resilience, our U.S. competitiveness, and our national security.
17:25I thank you, and I look forward to taking any questions.
17:31I appreciate Representatives Delaney and Mannion sharing perspectives from their district with us.
17:38Questions?
17:41Mike.
17:42Good to see you, Chairman.
17:44Former President Trump told The Atlantic in an interview they published yesterday that he doesn't think Democrats have a leader
17:50or know what they're doing.
17:52Given your criticisms of the President's first 100 days, how do you respond to that,
17:56and do you see criticisms of the party lacking a leader as a challenge going into 2026?
18:02Not at all.
18:03Our strength of purpose and resolve is driven exactly by the constituents that Representatives Mannion and McLean Delaney are talking to.
18:15Our strength and our focus is on improving our communities in this country,
18:21and the chaos that we see from Donald Trump is not helping that.
18:26It's not helping the fact that he said he would lower costs on day one, the failed promises.
18:32This is just a deflection by the President for promises that he has been unable and unwilling to achieve.
18:41So it doesn't concern us that he wants to play politics because he can't deliver for the American public.
18:47Our focus is just that.
18:49We will continue to be guided by the strengths of our communities and the focus of our districts,
18:56lowering the costs that people are burdened by, increasing rents, increasing grocery costs, increasing costs of living.
19:05Those are the things that the American public is concerned about,
19:09and they don't see a leader in Donald Trump that is willing to do that.
19:13We're working every day, House Democrats, to lead with that example.
19:17We look forward to the opportunity when we have gavels, so we can carry forward policy that does just that.
19:25Yes, sir.
19:25Sure.
19:28Democrats, we respond to American people.
19:32American people are our bosses.
19:35Unlike many House Republicans who basically take direction from one person
19:40and completely flip their views just because Trump says something,
19:44most Republicans are free traitors.
19:47They would be aghast at indiscriminate terrorists.
19:51And now they remain silent just because Trump said it.
19:54Most Republicans understand Russia is a threat to the world and the United States,
19:59and many of them are now silent just because Trump has this bizarre relationship with Putin and he bends the needle.
20:04So Democrats operate differently with the people of America, we're from the ground up,
20:13and that's why part of the poll now shows Donald Trump has only 39 percent approval
20:17because American people don't like what one man is trying to do.
20:23Riley?
20:24Now that Congressman Connolly is stepping aside on oversight,
20:28can you walk us through the process of replacing him?
20:30Will there be an election?
20:32What's the timeline?
20:33And would that be a caucus-wide vote?
20:35There's no vacancy in the oversight.
20:37I mean, first of all, Jerry Connolly has spent 30 years representing Northern Virginia.
20:43He is an amazing public servant.
20:46He continues his work.
20:48We wish him the best.
20:49He's been incredibly honest and transparent about his battle with cancer.
20:55At this moment, as you mentioned, he will be stepping aside.
20:59We will be conducting ourselves in a way that he desires, that he and the committee desire,
21:05and that is for leadership to step up and help run the meetings as well.
21:11And we heard a presentation from Representative Lynch this morning on behalf of the oversight committee,
21:16but there's no vacancy at the committee if that's our position.
21:22Nick?
21:23I want to ask about the first 100 days.
21:26Leader Jeffries up here yesterday was talking about it being an all-hands-on-deck moment for Democrats.
21:32As you guys think about the next few weeks, can we expect to see more demonstrations,
21:37like what we saw from Leader Jeffries on Sunday, on the steps?
21:41Are you thinking of other perhaps unorthodox forms of protest around here?
21:45There will be public displays where we have our perspectives heard, but just reflecting on Sunday,
21:53I thought it was great that Senator Booker and Leader Jeffries, two people of faith on a Sunday,
22:00sitting and talking about the dangerous and reckless behavior of this administration,
22:06and how it is un-American and makes life difficult for members of our community.
22:14I thought it was organic and a good testament to the good trouble that they were trained under in John Lewis.
22:22And I think that House Democrats look forward to exercising our viewpoints,
22:26maybe creating a little bit of good trouble and making our perspectives heard,
22:31but doing it together as a caucus family.
22:35We'll be working with the Senate leadership as well,
22:39and we'll have plenty to say as a group moving forward in the next couple weeks.
22:45Yes, thank you.
22:48In the first hundred days, has the President done anything that rises to the level of impeachable offenses?
22:56What the President has done is he sought to erode the fabric of our country by stoking chaos, fear, division.
23:08And this is not unlike behavior he has done in the past, but right now we will deal with the tools in front of us
23:17and the policies that he and House Republicans have placed forward,
23:22which are reckless cuts to the health care system, to our supplemental nutrition,
23:29that is relied on by women and children and families across this country.
23:33Those are the policies that we're going to push back against,
23:37and those are the items that the American public is paying attention to.
23:44Impeachment is, at times, a tool that can be used.
23:48This President is no stranger to that.
23:50He's been impeached twice.
23:52But we don't have any confidence that House and Senate Republicans would do their jobs,
23:58and so this is not an exercise that we're willing to undertake.
24:01Have you had any contact with Congressman Norcross since he's been hospitalized?
24:08Any indication of when he might return or has he been out in conversations?
24:14I haven't.
24:15I know other members of the leadership team have.
24:18I don't have any updates on him.
24:20Vice President Harris is making a speech tomorrow, just around the 100-day mark.
24:26Anything you're looking out for in her speech?
24:28Anything you would like her to touch on?
24:31Vice President Harris is a leader,
24:33and I would expect that she's going to talk about the willingness of Americans and women
24:40to serve in higher office.
24:43Her perspective is something that is sought after,
24:47and what she has experienced in the highest offices in the land,
24:53to starting as a local DA, being a statewide officeholder.
24:57I think she has a lot to share about her experiences in an elected life,
25:02what lessons can be learned by others who are interested in taking that step.
25:07It is an incredibly difficult step, as our two new member colleagues understand.
25:13Taking on this burden of public service is such a blessing,
25:20and I think she has a lot to share that we can learn from,
25:24so I look forward to hearing the speech myself.
25:29I'm curious, in these first 100 days,
25:32how does Democratic leadership feel like Trump's presidency has shaped the Democratic Party,
25:38and how far into the soul-searching process is the party?
25:43Our party is focused,
25:45and we're focused on our members.
25:47House Democratic leadership is focused on 213 members of our caucus,
25:54with the two vacancies, taking our cues from our members,
25:59and the focus that they have, as the vice chair mentioned, of their districts and the experiences.
26:05The unease, the uncertainty, the burden that local farmers and businesses face in New York and Maryland,
26:12the difficult decisions that they're having to make, that guides our caucus.
26:18We feel that uncertainty, the uncertainty of seniors asking us in town halls whether Social Security is going to be there for them,
26:26whether Donald Trump and House Republicans are going to make life more unaffordable for them and their kids and their grandkids.
26:35Those are the questions, and that is our focus.
26:38So we have the leadership team in place.
26:41Leader Jeffries is doing an amazing job, guided by the focus of our members and using our committees to push back against these terrible policies.
26:51We're going to continue that work ahead.
26:53But Donald Trump is also, I would say, a galvanizing force.
26:59It's something that knights us because of how dangerous and careless he acts using the highest office in the land.
27:09Democrats are trying to help the American people not be hurt by Trump's harmful policies.
27:17I was talking to a small business owner.
27:19She makes plush toys.
27:20They're actually patriotic plush toys that represent different states and so on.
27:26And she had her shipment.
27:30They're made in China.
27:31And so the shipment was underwater.
27:33And then tariffs come in.
27:34And now all of a sudden she has to pay $40,000, $50,000 when they arrive in the United States.
27:41And those costs will pass on the consumers.
27:44But she's now come up with all of a sudden $40,000, $50,000 she never had before.
27:48And she would love to be able to make these toys in the United States.
27:52But guess what?
27:52She can't even get the materials here because America doesn't make the materials for plush toys.
27:57So you have a whole bunch of companies who, when they make products, they have all sorts of different components.
28:04And the White House has just a really stupid view of this.
28:06You can't just reshore something if that product relies on all these raw materials from other countries.
28:13It gets very, very complicated.
28:15They have this very simplistic version that you can just reshore these companies.
28:18You can't do that.
28:19And because you can't do that, what's going to end up happening is just going to harm American companies and American consumers.
28:25And we just want the administration to get rid of these indiscriminate terrorists for rationality, a vacuum economy, and a global crisis.
28:34Last question.
28:35The House report today includes language to block resolutions of inquiry until October.
28:41How does that hinder House Democrats' pushback against Trump?
28:44This is a pretty similar line that the Speaker and Republican leadership have taken.
28:52They have used rules to turn off our ability to fight back against dangerous terrorists.
28:58They are opposed to bipartisan solutions that would make our voices heard to end these national emergencies that Donald Trump is using to raise prices for families in our districts.
29:11So this is a tool that the leadership has chosen to use and to put off future votes, put off opportunities for us to work in a bipartisan basis.
29:23I'm not surprised by it.
29:24This is something that they have done and I would imagine will continue to do because they are afraid that both Democrats and Republicans oppose their dangerous and reckless policies.
29:36Thank you, Mr. President.