[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. President, now on costs, lowering costs for average families in 
the budget resolution. Well, my colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, my 
fellow Americans, welcome to the age of Trumpflation--Trumpflation. If 
there was one mandate that Donald Trump had after winning the election, 
it was to fight inflation. Remember what he said on the campaign trail? 
He said:

       When I win, I will immediately bring prices down starting 
     on Day One.

  Starting on day one, he said he will bring prices down. Well, today 
is day 25, and inflation is not down but actually up by 3 percent--
higher than what economists were expecting. At the grocery store, the 
price of pork and chicken and beef are all up. Eggs are up 15 percent 
from last month. Gas prices are up 2 percent from last month. Used cars 
are up. Auto insurance has become more expensive. And what is Donald 
Trump doing about all this? He is making the problem worse by 
threatening trade wars with our own allies.
  Here is what the CEO of Ford Motor Company said yesterday. The CEO of 
Ford Motor Company warned yesterday that ``a 25 percent tariff across 
the Mexico and Canada borders would blow a hole in the U.S. industry 
that we've never seen.'' That is the head of Ford Motor. That is not 
some liberal Democratic economist. The head of Ford Motor says that 
tariffs will blow a huge hole--a hole in the U.S. auto industry.
  What he is doing on tariffs is, again, sort of like everything else. 
It is sort of a meat-ax approach, a slash-and-burn approach, not 
looking at each individual case and seeing what is good and what is 
bad.
  Inflation is the No. 1 issue on people's minds. It was the biggest 
issue during the election. And already, Donald Trump is breaking his 
promise to do something about it. The American people are starting to 
take notice already, even though we are only on day 25 of Trump's term. 
A recent CBS poll showed that 66 percent of voters do not think Trump 
is focused enough on lowering prices. Sixty-six percent of voters do 
not think Donald Trump is focused enough on lowering prices. And do you 
know what? They are absolutely right.
  In the 3 weeks that Donald Trump has been President, he has been 
focused on pretty much everything but fighting inflation, which is the 
No. 1 thing people care about. We have seen this maneuver so many times 
before from Donald Trump. He knows that he has no real answers to 
fixing inflation, so what does he do? He distracts. He distorts. He 
says ridiculous and wild, strange things hoping to distract the country 
from the fact he is not doing his job. It is why he talks about things 
like renaming the Gulf of Mexico. It is why he is talking about hotels 
in Gaza. It is why he is talking about annexing Canada. None of these 
things have anything to do with the thing that matters most--lowering 
the cost of living for average American families.
  Meanwhile, what are the Republicans doing here in Congress? What are 
my Senate Republican colleagues doing? Are they fighting inflation 
maybe? No way. No way. Republicans are full steam ahead with cutting 
taxes for the ultrarich, paid for on the backs of working- and middle-
class families.
  Just look at the gargoyle-like budget proposal that the House 
Republicans released yesterday. Republicans want to make billionaires 
even wealthier by raising costs for working people. The Republican 
budget slashes nutrition programs that help 40 million Americans put 
food on the table. The Republican budget proposes massive cuts to 
Medicaid, threatening healthcare for tens of millions of people. It 
will make food, healthcare, energy, and housing more expensive--all to 
cut taxes for the ultrarich, hurting the middle class, raising costs 
for the middle class to help the ultrawealthy. The Republican budget 
plan can be described in one word: ``radical.''
  Republicans should remember well what happened the last time they cut 
taxes for the ultrawealthy. It backfired with the rest of America. If 
Republicans try to cut taxes for the ultrarich again, history is going 
to repeat itself, and it will cost them dearly at the ballot box.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Mullin). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.