[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 70 (Monday, April 28, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2590-S2591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FIRST 100 DAYS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the first 100 days. Well, this week, 
President Trump marks 100 days as President. It has been 100 days of 
hell for American families, for our economy, and for our democracy. The 
start of Donald Trump's second term has been the worst start of any 
President's in modern times. He now has the lowest approvals any 
President has seen through his first 100 days since they started 
polling 80 years ago.
  Tomorrow night, Senate Democrats will take to the floor to highlight 
the disaster of Donald Trump's first 100 days. We will expose his 
broken promises. We will expose his lies. We will expose the ways he is 
threatening democracy. So we will take to the floor and expose Donald 
Trump as a disastrous President in his first 100 days. We ask America 
to listen.
  On the day he became President, Donald Trump promised a golden age 
for America. Today, that seems laughable. Instead of a golden age, what 
Americans have gotten is one of the most chaotic, corrupt, and harmful 
starts to a Presidency in modern history. Before our very eyes, the man 
who occupies the Oval Office is destroying the foundations of our 
democracy.
  Federal law enforcement is arresting people with little due process, 
even going as far as arresting a judge in Wisconsin. At least four U.S. 
citizens--all of them children, two suffering from cancer--have been 
illegally deported. It is sickening. It is immoral. Arrest a judge to 
try to threaten and scare judges, which he has done before, saying he 
is about impeachment and other things? Freedom of expression and the 
rule of law are under attack. Government has been weaponized against 
the free press, against academic and judicial independence, against 
anyone who might disagree with Donald Trump.
  Donald Trump doesn't want to be President of a democratic republic. 
He has said he wants to be a King or some kind of dictator. He said: 
Let me be a dictator for one day. But his actions show he wants to be 
one for much longer.
  Meanwhile--meanwhile--billionaires like Elon Musk have been handed 
the keys to the Federal Government with little accountability.
  Donald Trump claims he is a better President than George Washington, 
but he takes inspiration more from the likes of Viktor Orban or worse.
  So 100 days into Donald Trump's second term, what exactly do 
Americans have to feel good about? Is it that Donald Trump's trade war 
has pushed our country to the brink of recession? Is it that his 
tariffs will cost families an average of $4,700 annually? Is it that 
CEOs and business owners are warning about rising costs, empty shelves, 
and an economic downturn? Maybe it is that the Dow Jones is on track 
for its worst April since 1932.
  The truth is, Donald Trump's Presidency is no golden age; it is a 
disaster--the worst start to a new administration in modern times.
  Americans are already fed up. Americans are already beginning to see 
that Donald Trump has betrayed them, that Donald Trump's campaign 
promises before he won election and his actions as President are almost 
in direct contradiction on issue after issue after issue. They are 
seeing that Donald Trump is not on their side; he is not on the side of 
working families. He is on the side of the billionaires, and we are all 
suffering for it.
  What happened during recess corroborated all of this. For the last 2 
weeks, my Democratic colleagues and I have seen Americans' frustrations 
firsthand. During the Easter recess, I traveled from one end of my 
State to the other. I visited six of seven congressional districts 
represented by Republicans in Congress in New York, and I spoke with 
small business owners, seniors, healthcare workers, veterans, local 
electeds, Republicans, Democrats, Independents--people from all walks 
of life. People are anxious about tariffs driving up their costs, about 
inflation eroding their paychecks, and are fearful for the future of 
Social Security.
  Last week, I met with the owner of a women's clothing shop in Suffolk 
County, a well-known woman in Suffolk County, the head of a very 
successful business, Tandy's clothes, and a longtime fan of the 
President. She said she proudly voted for him--right when I was 
standing there--but now she said her small business wouldn't be able to 
absorb the shock of a prolonged trade war, that her costs were already 
up 30 percent. This is a Donald Trump voter who is angry at these 
tariffs.
  No one I met over the last 2 weeks believed we were entering the 
golden

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age Donald Trump promised. Instead, I heard worry; I heard frustration 
from Republicans; I heard a lot of buyer's remorse.
  Republican Members from those districts I visited are nervous, 
worried, and scared as could be. They know their voters don't agree 
with Trump, but they are too scared to buck him. In the upcoming 
reconciliation, we will see what they do. Will they side with Trump 
against what Americans need and want or will they have a little 
courage? We are very, very worried about the future of this country 
with so much at stake.

                          ____________________