At a Senate Democratic press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about the Republican reconciliation bill.
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00:00Eye 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? No. I will.
00:47Okay. Okay. Member 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. Okay. Anyway, 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.
01:18So, let's do a simple review.
01:21In these 100 days, what has gone up?
01:24Cost of groceries? Up.
01:26Energy costs? Up.
01:28Cost of clothes, of homes, of cars? Up.
01:32What has dropped?
01:34Your retirement and 401ks? Down.
01:37The stock market? Down.
01:39The dollar? Down.
01:41And today, we saw the trend continue.
01:45Consumer confidence? Down.
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, and small businesses.
02:02They'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 do that.
02:12Businesses 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 experts, is so much greater than it was before.
02:24Americans are noticing the polls this week show Trump has the lowest 100-day approval rating since they started polling 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 us directly into a recession.
02:48So, over the last two weeks, all of us have been in our states.
02:52I went to, there are seven Republican districts in New York, I went to six, talking about Medicaid, talking 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 Clothes.
03:12She's well-known in Suffolk County.
03:14It's in a Republican district.
03:15And she's a Trump supporter, but 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 agenda.
03:36And up to now, they've been able to hide it, obfuscate, say they don't exactly know what it is, say who knows.
03:43Well, now that the Republican House has started putting out its reconciliation bills, they can't hide.
03:50They can't hide.
03:52So, 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.
04:05And that is emanating from the man who's in charge, Donald Trump.
04:10And Senate Republicans aren't just silent.
04:14They are complicit.
04:16They'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, your 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 100 days have been
05:03and about how our Republican colleagues are conspiring, co-conspirating to work to go along with Trump on things that the American people regard as very bad for them and their well-being.
05:17Senator Durbin.