[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S842-S843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           STATE OF THE UNION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, later this evening, in front of a joint 
session of Congress, President Trump will report on the state of our 
Union. As is tradition, the President will that say the state of our 
Union is strong, but the American people know the truth. Unfortunately, 
it is not.
  The American people know that the Trump economy is failing the middle 
class and those struggling to get there. In Trump's economy, 
multinational corporations and the already-wealthy were given a tax 
cut, while American workers were left behind. The Federal Reserve 
reports that over 40 percent of Americans would have trouble covering 
an emergency of just $400. Forty percent of working Americans, middle-
class Americans, are just one medical bill, one unexpected car 
accident, one missed paycheck away from financial uncertainty. The 
state of the Trump economy--failing the middle class.
  The President will say that the state of our Union is strong, but the 
American people know that the state of the Trump healthcare system is 
failing American families. After 2 years of relentless sabotage by the 
Trump administration and congressional Republicans, premiums are higher 
than they should be, copays are higher than they should be, and for the 
first time in 8 years, fewer Americans have health insurance than the 
year before. The state of the Trump healthcare system--failing the 
middle class.
  The President will say that the state of our Union is strong, but the 
American people know that the state of the Trump administration is in 
chaos. No administration has had as much Cabinet turnover as the Trump 
administration in over a century. Key positions are unfilled or 
uncovered or covered by individuals in an acting capacity--the Chief of 
Staff, the Attorney General, the Defense Secretary, the Interior 
Secretary, the OMB Director, and the EPA Director. Of the 705 top 
positions in the government, in close to one-fifth, the President 
hasn't even nominated somebody. The state of the Trump administration--
chaos.
  The President will say that the state of our Union is strong, but the 
state of the Trump foreign policy is woefully backward. It is inside 
out. Our allies are alienated and criticized. Our adversaries are 
emboldened and praised. Dictators and strongmen are given license by 
this administration, while our NATO allies receive harsh words. 
American values--free speech, free elections, freedom of the press, 
humanitarian rights, civil rights--go undefended in the dark corners of 
the world. The state of the Trump foreign policy--woefully backward.
  The state of the Union is not strong. The state of the Trump 
economy--failing America's middle class. The state of the Trump 
healthcare--failing American families. The state of the Trump 
administration--chaos. The state of the Trump foreign policy--woefully 
backward, inside out.
  These are not the total extent of our Nation's challenges, but even 
on these four metrics--the economy, healthcare, governance, and foreign 
policy--the state of our Union is in need of drastic repair. Still, 
knowing this President and his penchant for hyperbole, he will probably 
say that the state of our Union is stronger than it has ever been 
before in our Nation's long history, thanks to him. Knowing this 
President, he will rely on distortions and made-up facts to mislead the 
American people. The only question about the President's State of the 
Union is, How often will he distort? How often will he make up facts? 
How often will he resort to fear and divisiveness? And if past States 
of the Union are prologue, he will do that far too many times.
  Knowing this President, he will then make some bold new promises and 
not even make an attempt to fulfill them. The man has so little 
integrity that a promise he makes at the State of the Union means 
nothing the next morning. Allow me to mention just a few of the things 
the President said in previous State of the Union Addresses.
  Do you remember this one? In his first address to a joint session, 
President Trump said: ``Education is the

[[Page S843]]

civil rights issue of our time.'' It has been 2 years, and we have 
heard almost nothing from the President about an education bill.
  In the last State of the Union, just 1 year ago, the President said: 
``One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription 
drugs. . . . Prices will come down.'' But over the course of the last 
month, nearly 30 drugmakers have taken steps to raise the prices of 
their medicines.
  In the last State of the Union, the President promised that 
``[manufacturing] plants will be opening up all over the country.'' I 
don't know about you, Mr. President, but I haven't seen a 
remanufacturing policy from the White House. Meanwhile, Nissan has 
announced hundreds of layoffs in Mississippi, and GM has announced the 
closure of 5 factories and the loss of 15,000 jobs.
  In the last State of the Union, the President said: ``We will protect 
American workers and American intellectual property through strong 
enforcement of our trade rules.'' That is something I strongly agree 
with. Six months after the President said that, he decided to let a 
Chinese telecom giant, ZTE--a company that violated multiple trade 
sanctions and put our Nation's security at risk--off the hook and begin 
operating in the United States. Now, while some in the administration 
are pushing him to be tough on China, there are some who just want to 
sell out for a decrease in the trade deficit. That will not do the job 
the President always promised he would.
  In the last State of the Union, the President said: ``No regime has 
oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel 
dictatorship in North Korea. . . . We are waging a campaign of maximum 
pressure to prevent that from happening.'' After that, what happened? 
The President hosted a largely symbolic summit with Kim Jong Un and is 
already planning a second summit. North Korea has failed to dismantle 
its nuclear program--some reports say it is growing--and the United 
States is not engaging in a pressure campaign, maximum or otherwise.
  President Trump called for a compromise immigration bill that dealt 
with Dreamers and border security. Congress produced one along the 
lines he proposed, and then he threatened to veto it.
  In the last State of the Union, the President said ``It is time to 
rebuild our crumbling infrastructure'' and called for new legislation 
to spur investment. He said: ``Let's support working families by 
supporting paid family leave.'' He said: ``We will continue our fight 
until ISIS is defeated.'' What are the facts? There has been no 
infrastructure bill, although he promised one in the previous State of 
the Union; no paid family leave proposal, although he promised one in 
the previous State of the Union; and he is withdrawing from Syria even 
though he promised we would continue the fight until ISIS is defeated. 
And by all reports, including our own intelligence, it is not.
  I could go on. The list of broken or empty promises is long. The gap 
between the President's rhetoric and reality is cavernous. Every 
President uses the State of the Union to set goals, but few have done 
it so cheaply and indifferently. Many of those promises were discarded 
mere weeks after they were uttered.
  Forgive me, but if we Democrats and the American people have real 
doubt about any promise the President makes, real doubt about his 
following through or really meaning it, how can we not? In previous 
State of the Union Addresses, he has thrown around promises and not 
fulfilled them more than any other President I know.
  Perhaps even emptier than his policy promises are President Trump's 
calls for unity each year. It seems that every year the President wakes 
up and discovers the desire for unity on the morning of the State of 
the Union. Then the President spends the other 364 days of the year 
dividing us and sowing a state of disunion, whether that is using 
public servants as political pawns, the President's false equivalence 
after Charlottesville, his attacks on the Federal judiciary, the free 
press, and the rule of law, or his near-daily twitter provocations. The 
blatant hypocrisy of this President calling for unity is that he is one 
of the chief reasons Americans feel so divided now.
  So it is logical to believe, based on his past speeches, that the 
President's speech tonight will ignore the reality of his 
administration, the reality of our economy, the reality of our world, 
and instead weave a web of fiction. If past speeches are an indication, 
the President will be in his own bubble.
  Democrats are not focused on the President's rhetoric; we are focused 
on fighting for workers in this unequal economy, fighting for American 
families struggling to afford healthcare, fighting to bring a measure 
of accountability to this government, and fighting for a foreign policy 
that reflects both our interests and our values.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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