At a House Democratic press briefing on Tuesday, Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) spoke about the economic policies of the Trump Administration.
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00:00I appreciate the opportunity to speak, and with that, I'll pass along the microphone to my colleague, Representative April McLean-Delaney.
00:15Good morning. I represent the 6th District of Maryland, and when elected, made a commitment to my constituents to seek common sense, common ground solutions.
00:28Sadly, the past 100 days, I've desperately been trying to find either common sense or common ground, and in fact, the chaos that has ensued has hurt everyone within my district.
00:41My district is as economically diverse as any district in the country.
00:46It starts not far from here, in Montgomery County, where NIH researchers are curing cancer, and NIST employees are establishing parameters for AI innovation.
00:59And it goes all the way to beautiful Mountain and Western Maryland, where family farms are providing their bounty to our community, and it borders West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
01:10In my district, no one has escaped the harmful impact of Trump tariffs and isolation policy, or its indiscriminate cuts to federal workers.
01:21I represent over 35,000 federal workers at agencies such as NIH, the National Institute of Cancer, NIST, our fire academy, and Fort Detrick.
01:32Farmers are very concerned about selling their crops because of tariff impacts, but also because of markets drying up, markets they normally sold into, like through USAID or through SNAP programs.
01:47And cancer and innovation researchers and the surrounding biotech and tech private markets have dealt a devastating blow, from government cuts to both agencies and research and innovation engines.
02:02Small businesses and consultants are cratering because of lack of business, and this, in turn, is hiring everyday smaller businesses, markets, salons, sole proprietorships, who depend on spending in their community.
02:16And this includes tourism, and this includes tourism, and this is linked to our seven national parks in this district.
02:23We are home to the C&O Canal, which gets as many visitors per year as Yellowstone.
02:30With respect to specific examples, last week I toured the Volvo factory in Hagerstown, Maryland, where they make Mack trucks.
02:39I was privileged to even get to drive one.
02:41They produce the engines and the axles for these vehicles, and are pioneering some EV technology.
02:48But in the short term, they told me, they have 1,700 workers.
02:52But instead of reshoring and bringing innovation and investment into the United States, Volvo is projected to cut 50 to 100 workers due to tariffs and economic insecurity.
03:07They do not know how the market will react, and more cuts might come later.
03:14Moreover, I have met with each of my five county farm bureaus, Montgomery County, Frederick, Allegheny, Washington County, Garrett, and they're all concerned about crop market prices, SNAP, and reimbursement for investments they've made into their farms,
03:32which have not been reimbursed by government programs for which they were promised.
03:37It is a tsunami hitting them from every angle, and toppled with that are threatened cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
03:46And, of course, rural health clinics are really at risk in my district because of their dependence on Medicaid.
03:53These self-inflicted, nonsensical, penny-foolish, and pound-foolish policies are impacting our economic security, our U.S. competitiveness, and our national security, much more to say innovation,
04:09and our trust internationally in the U.S. and the U.S. economy and our U.S. dollar.
04:15Having said the above, I stand ready to work on common sense, common ground solutions, and across the aisle to make a reality the things we all care about,
04:29including focusing on inflation, innovation, affordability, and fortifying our U.S. resilience, our U.S. competitiveness, and our national security.