[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S558-S560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       State of the Union Address

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, tonight the President will address a 
joint session of Congress in his first official State of the Union. I 
want to talk about what I expect the President to say and also what I 
suspect he will not.
  The President will be eager to defend the accomplishments of his 
nascent administration and take credit for a healthy American economy, 
pointing to low unemployment, job growth, and a soaring stock market, 
but the truth is, these trends were present before Donald Trump took 
office. President Trump was handed an already healthy economy by his 
predecessor. Like many things in his life, he inherited the healthy 
economy.
  Here are two words we will not hear President Trump say tonight about 
the

[[Page S559]]

economy--thanks, Obama--because much of the growth in 2017 was created 
by President Obama's policies and, by many measures, the growth under 
President Obama was better than under President Trump.
  Under President Obama, employment was driven from over 10 percent 
down into the fours. The tightening of the labor market finally started 
to reverse the stagnancy of median income. The stock market President 
Trump often touts on Twitter was booming under President Obama as well.
  In President Trump's first year, the economy created 2.06 million 
jobs. That is less than the 2.24 million jobs created in 2016, the last 
year of Obama's term.
  Again, President Trump, President Obama created more jobs in the last 
year of his term than you created in the first year of yours. So if you 
are going to pat yourself on the back, give a shout out to Barack Obama 
because he did even better than you in job creation.
  In 2017, under President Trump, average monthly job growth was lower 
than in 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011, all under President 
Obama.
  Again, President Trump, job growth in the first year of your term was 
less than in each of the last 6 years of President Obama's term.
  How about the stock market. In the first 6 months of 2017, the 
percentage growth of the S&P 500 was lower than during the first 6 
months of President Obama's term. In the first year of the Trump 
Presidency, the percentage growth of the Dow was lower than during the 
first year of President Obama.
  So, again, here are two words we would like President Trump to say 
tonight about the economy: Thanks, Obama. We may never hear President 
Trump say those words, but he ought to.
  I also expect the President to speak about bipartisanship. President 
Trump understands there is a very low bar when it comes to the topic. 
His first year in office has been so divisive, even a mere appeal to 
bipartisanship sounds like progress, but the proof will be in the 
pudding. Will President Trump pursue real bipartisanship through his 
actions or will he fall back on empty rhetoric? When it comes to 
bipartisanship, President Trump has to walk the walk, not just talk the 
talk intermittently. Mr. President, when it comes to bipartisanship, 
actions speak a whole lot louder than words.
  I would remind President Trump that this has been one of the most 
partisan administrations many of us have ever worked with. I have 
worked under President Reagan, President H.W. Bush, and President W. 
Bush--all Republicans. All of them were legions more bipartisan than 
President Trump's first year.
  What have we seen? An assembly line of partisan CRAs designed not to 
need a single Democratic vote; a Supreme Court Justice picked by the 
hard-right Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society, no consultation, 
not a consensus nominee; a partisan healthcare bill that failed under 
reconciliation, specifically designed not to include Democrats; a 
partisan tax bill that ultimately passed, also under reconciliation--no 
consultation with Democrats, not a single Democratic vote.
  The reason these don't get Democratic votes is President Trump and 
his administration don't talk to us. They don't ask us what we might 
suggest. They don't try to create a bipartisan meld which great 
Presidents have done from the time of George Washington; they just act 
in a narrow, partisan way, and the American people know it.
  There has been hardly a shred of bipartisanship in the Trump era, 
despite our many appeals for it. The President and congressional 
Republicans seem to think that bipartisanship happens when one side 
puts together a bill, pounds the table, and demands the other side 
support the bill, with no negotiation, no compromise.
  They are missing the step where they consult with the other side and 
work with the other side to earn their support. That is the hard work 
of legislating in our democracy, but this administration eschews hard 
work. The Republican majority and the White House have been content to 
craft legislation on their own, demand Democrats support it, and then 
label us obstructionists when, without consultation, without 
compromise, we don't. That dynamic is the root of the ineffectiveness 
and gridlock in Congress. I sincerely hope that changes.

  If the President calls for bipartisanship tonight, I welcome it. But 
we eagerly await action, not just a sound bite in a speech. We await 
the honest debate, the good faith give-and-take, and the eventual 
compromise that are the actual hallmarks of bipartisanship. If those 
things arise, even though they haven't in the first year, Democrats 
will gladly work with our Republican colleagues and the White House to 
get things done for the middle class. But we need to see it to believe 
it. Mere words in a speech tonight will not create bipartisanship; 
actions will.
  Finally, here is something that President Trump should discuss 
tonight: Russia sanctions. He ought to impose the sanctions, as 
Congress voted for in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, or at least 
explain why he hasn't done so yet. We call on President Trump in the 
State of the Union to tell Americans that he will support the sanctions 
90 percent of America supports or tell us why he will not.
  Over a year ago, the U.S. intelligence community concluded that 
Russian President Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at 
the U.S. Presidential election. That is a fact. That is a fact that is 
shocking. A hostile foreign power interfered with an American election 
and likely influenced it in measurable ways. The Founders of our 
country feared this very possibility. They knew that for a democracy to 
work, the election of the people's representatives must be free, fair, 
and legitimate, and that foreign powers, even back then, would try to 
corrupt the process. They wrote safeguards into the Constitution to 
protect it.
  Last year, the American people were the victim of such an attack by 
an antagonistic foreign power: Russia. I call on President Trump 
tonight to use his State of the Union to tell Americans what he plans 
to do about Russian attacks on our democracy.
  Implement sanctions, President Trump, or at the very least tell us 
why you haven't.
  Today is the day the President is supposed to obey the sanctions 
issue Congress voted on overwhelmingly a while back. There is no 
subject more worthy of a thorough and unbiased investigation than the 
Russian interference in our elections. Yet the President and his allies 
have waged a scorched-earth campaign to discredit the investigation in 
any way possible--by assassinating the character of career civil 
servants, assailing the credibility of the media, attacking our own law 
enforcement agencies and officers, even denigrating the institutions of 
American Government.
  The White House and congressional Republicans' attacks on Mueller and 
his investigation make you believe it was taking place in a banana 
republic, Erdogan's Turkey, or Putin's Russia, not in the United States 
of America. What has been done by House Republicans and gone along with 
by just about the whole Republican establishment is not worthy of this 
democracy. It makes us look like a banana republic, and it is shameful.
  A different kind of President would be encouraging Special Counsel 
Mueller's investigation and shouting down those forces who tried to 
interfere with it. A different kind of President would want to know how 
precisely Russia meddled in our election and would have severely 
punished Putin for it to discourage him from ever trying it again.
  Here we are, 180 days since the President signed the historic Russia 
sanctions bill passed by this body by a vote of 97 to 2, and he hasn't 
even implemented those sanctions. He is supposed to do it today, the 
day of the State of the Union.
  Again, Mr. President, implement the sanctions tonight, or at least 
tell the American people why you are not, opening an invitation to 
Russia to do it again.
  Why won't Donald Trump use the power given to him by a near-unanimous 
vote in Congress to hold Russia accountable?
  The administration refused to implement secondary sanctions against 
the Russian defense and intelligence sectors. Last night, the 
administration released a mandated report of Russian

[[Page S560]]

oligarchs that seems to match a list already put together by Forbes 
magazine. This is a reflection of the lack of seriousness with which 
they took up this task.
  When it comes to sanctions, the White House has engaged in a 
dangerous Kabuki theater that tries to show strength when in fact there 
is none. These actions are not good enough. They are for show.
  Why is the President so afraid to sanction Putin, his associates, or 
other corrupt Russian actors and officials? Why is President Trump 
giving Putin a free pass after he attacked our democracy? What is he so 
afraid of? The American people are asking that question, and they have 
their answers.
  Only a year after a hostile foreign power shook the very bedrock of 
our democracy, any other President would spend his first State of the 
Union talking about efforts that were underway to punish the abuser and 
prevent such an attack from ever recurring. Why not this President?
  If President Trump wishes to save his Presidency from the shame of 
having failed to address one of the gravest threats threatening our 
country, he will announce this evening in no uncertain terms that he is 
sanctioning President Putin. Any other President would have already 
made it their priority to take decisive action in their first year, but 
this President is paralyzed when it comes to Putin and his cronies in 
Russia.
  Here are two words the President may not say tonight: ``Russia 
sanctions''--but he ought to.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.