[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1691-S1692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, we are 50 days into Donald Trump's second 
term, and the American economy is already in free fall; prices are 
soaring, stocks are plummeting, and people are panicking about a 
recession. None of this was inevitable. All of this is Trump's own 
making.
  This week after Trump couldn't categorically rule out that his 
policies would lead to a recession, Nasdaq had its worst day in years 
while the Dow Jones dropped a whopping 1,300 points. But it is not just 
the stock market that is taking a hit; it is regular people everywhere.
  Consumer confidence is down by 7 points--7 points in 50 days--since 
Trump took office, and spending has dropped for the first time in 2 
years. The dollar is weaker, hiring is slowing, interest rates are 
unlikely to come down, and the GDP is expected to shrink this quarter 
for the first time in 3 years.
  You know, usually Presidents get too much blame or too much credit 
for the state of the economy but not this time. Trump is going out of 
his way to plunge the economy into chaos and make life harder for 
everyone. Whether you are buying groceries or trading stocks or hoping 
to retire next month, you are getting hit.
  When the Commerce Secretary was asked yesterday about a potential 
recession, he said: ``It's worth it.''
  ``It's worth it.''
  They actually think a recession would be worth it. And if the 
economic numbers coming in are bad, if they show that the economy is 
shrinking or the costs are rising, their solution is to cook the books 
to make them seem

[[Page S1692]]

better because when the data is bad, change it. Everybody knows that.
  Instead of getting to work on lowering prices on day one, like he 
said he would, the President has spent his days plotting the rebirth of 
a gilded age with tariffs and tax cuts. That was a time when the rich 
got richer while everyone else got screwed.
  Trump tells a different story.

       We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That's when we 
     were a tariff country. . . . We were a very wealthy country, 
     and we're going to be [that way again].

  So I just want to make clear, yes, I am a partisan. Yes, I think 
Donald Trump is screwing up the economy. But it is really important for 
us to understand they actually do have a theory of the case, and that 
is the golden age from 1870 to 1913. I didn't say that; the President 
said that. I didn't say ``Hey, these guys think a recession is worth 
it.'' They said a recession is worth it.
  It is true that in the gilded age, some people were very wealthy 
then. Robber barons and business tycoons built enormous empires on the 
backs of working people, who had little to show for it. Profits boomed. 
Billionaires emerged. Regular people suffered in tenements and on 
factory floors, and poverty was everywhere. But the gilded age is 
exactly what the President is trying to recreate.
  Whether it is tariffs on our largest trading partners that will jack 
up the price of our food or our homes or our cars or mass layoffs of 
the people who inspect our food or keep the skies safe or care for our 
veterans or the tax cuts for the richest people to ever exist, funded 
by slashing regular people's healthcare and hard-earned retirement 
savings, all of this is about taking money from people who don't have 
enough and handing it over to people who already have more than anyone 
has ever had.
  Whether you voted for Trump or not, whether you believed he would be 
good on the economy or not, whatever sort of side of the political, 
tribal, ideological, partisan, algorithmic divide that we are all 
experiencing in our little filter bubbles on Instagram and TikTok and 
Twitter and wherever else we get our disaggregated information, this 
economy sucks. People are paying too much.
  It is the intentional policy of the President's economic team to 
recreate a time when--until just about 50 days ago, everybody agreed we 
should never go back to that time. Kids working on factory floors, 
people working 70 hours and not able to feed their family, 
unprecedented disparity between the extremely wealthy and everybody 
else--that is what they are explicitly going for.
  This is not me putting spin on the ball. That is what they are 
saying. That is what the Commerce Secretary is saying. That is what the 
Treasury Secretary is saying. That is what the President of the United 
States is saying. This is their plan, and it is going according to 
plan.
  These people have the ability to short things and ride the volatility 
and monetize all of the craziness and make side deals and do crypto and 
park their assets here and there. They make money no matter what. But 
if you are retiring next month with a 401(k) or an IRA or a 403(b), you 
just got screwed. Trillions of dollars of wealth were eliminated.
  And the President sprang into action. Why? For what purpose? To help 
his buddy sell cars on the White House lawn. I don't have a preference 
for electric cars or nonelectric cars. I don't care. That is fine. But 
what a weird thing to spring into action about when everybody is 
getting kicked in the face economically except his buddies.