[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 200 (Monday, December 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8412-S8413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE ECONOMY
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on an unrelated issue, last week, families
gathered around the table to give thanks and enjoy a plate or two of
turkey, mashed potatoes, casserole, cranberry sauce, and more. Except,
this year, the Thanksgiving feast cost more than last year--because of
what? President Trump's economic policies are driving up the prices of
groceries. The President claims the opposite, but that is not a fact.
In a social media quote, President Trump said, ``Prices for a
Thanksgiving Dinner is now down 25% . . . since 2024.''
``AFFORDABILITY,'' he said, ``is a Republican Stronghold.''
Does the President of the United States actually have any
conversations with families who are shopping for groceries?
Here is the truth: Costs are going through the roof because of
President Trump and his MAGA policies. The American people know this.
Recent polling from none other than FOX News shows that nearly two-
thirds of Americans blame President Trump for higher prices--FOX News.
Listen to my constituent Tria, who wrote to me from Chicago. After
experiencing the sticker shock at a South Loop grocery store, she said:
No matter if it's organic or not . . . it's still going to
be an arm and a leg for it. It's like you're spending your
soul on groceries.
Another constituent Esther said:
A loaf of bread costs us $4, and it looks like it's getting
smaller.
I know what she means. Tria and Esther are not alone in their shared
frustration. Working families across the country are feeling the
squeeze at the checkout counter and are having to cut back on spending
for the holidays.
This struggle has been exacerbated for several reasons, one of them
being the President's massive cuts to the SNAP program--used to be
known as food stamps--in his Big Beautiful Bill--not so beautiful--that
will reduce or eliminate food assistance for more than 22 million
families. This is America. This President gives 20 million bucks to
Argentina, but he can't find the money for American citizens.
Another is the administration's attacks on immigrant workers, which
is fueling a labor shortage, thereby hurting farmers in Illinois and
across the Nation, who are already struggling, and driving up prices on
the products they grow. Even President Trump's own Labor Department
agrees, saying that his war on immigrant workers is ``threatening the
stability of domestic food production and prices.''
Now let's get to the bottom line here and be honest about it. The
farmers in my State are great men and women, and I thank them for what
they do. When it comes to the political scene, after a lifetime of
dealing with them, I know that they are very courteous and kind, come
to see me with regularity, give me a lot of things to seriously
consider, and usually vote for the other party. I get it. They are more
conservative, and they just don't see things politically the way I see
them. But when you close the door and there is no press around and you
ask them what is going on, they are scared to death.
They see China stopping purchases of soybeans. Why is that important?
Illinois is the No. 1 soybean-producing State in the United States, and
it is a major cash crop for farmers all across the country. So when
China stops buying, what do we do? Unfortunately, our buyers, like
China, turn to other countries, and they use those countries as sources
when they used to rely on us. That worries these farmers behind closed
doors, but they don't say much publicly.
They don't like tariffs. They tell me that behind closed doors too.
They don't want to be open in public about their criticism of President
Trump, but the tariffs are taxes that they know are going to make it
difficult for them and their exporters and importers of important
goods.
In addition to all of that, they need workers on the farm. It is a
fact. Whether it is an orchard or a dairy farm or any other farm
operation, many of them need workers on the farm, and there aren't a
lot of local people volunteering for that job. The President's policies
against immigrants are not only denying them the source of these
workers, but they are also creating an attitude in other adjoining
countries that have served us in the past that it is too dangerous to
try to come and work in the United States. That is the reality.
Nationwide, for example, the costs of a lot of basics just keep going
up. Orange juice is up 29 percent compared to last year. Ground beef is
up 14 percent. Coffee is 26 percent more. None of these developments
have occurred in a vacuum. They are a direct response to the
President's chaotic tariff policies. He changes his mind every 15
minutes. Is it 10 percent? Is it 15 percent? Is it 100 percent? Wait a
minute. The Premier of Ontario just ran an ad during a baseball game.
Let's raise tariffs on products from Canada by 50 percent. Is that any
way to run a country? Already, families in Illinois have paid more than
$700 just this year, on average, because of these policies.
In a Supreme Court hearing last month on the legality of these
tariffs, Justice Sotomayor said to the lawyers defending the President:
You say tariffs are not taxes, but that's exactly what they
are.
Justice Sotomayor is absolutely right.
We are paying for Donald Trump's failed economic agenda--an agenda
which runs back and forth, helter-skelter, day by day. The President
recognizes it too, really. That is why a few weeks ago he watered down
his own economic proposal when he suspended certain tariffs on bananas,
coffee, beef, and clothing. You just can't keep up with him. Why
backtrack? Because he knows that the voters and consumers in America
are fed up with rising costs and place it by a factor of 2 to 1 at his
feet. My source again? FOX News. The President sees the writing on the
wall, and he is scrambling to undo the damage he has caused, but it is
too little, too late, unless he moves quickly and changes dramatically.
The damage goes beyond food prices. Thanks to this President,
Americans are now confronting higher utility bills. Just ask them. On
the campaign trail, the President promised to slash electricity prices
in half. ``Drill, baby, drill'' will take care of everything. It ain't
working. On average, Illinois households are paying more than $1,500
annually for lights and heat in their homes--up more than 15 percent
from last year. Cause and effect.
Under President Biden, with the support of a Democratic Congress, we
signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act. This historic law provided
tax credits to help households and businesses install energy-efficient
windows, insulation, HVAC, and solar panels to lower their bills. I
know because I put solar panels on my home in Springfield. Our monthly
electric bill was cut dramatically because of that policy decision from
the Biden administration.
Earlier this year, President Trump and congressional Republicans
scrapped these credits for solar energy with their so-called Big
Beautiful Bill. So while utility bills go up, people who want to go to
cheaper forms of sustainable energy, such as solar, are told the tax
incentives are no longer there, which is just the opposite of what we
should be doing. Then they went further, eliminating incentives for
wind and solar projects, meaning fewer jobs and less power to the grid.
It is supply and demand. Less power equals higher prices. And the
consequences of these policies are already taking effect.
According to the Century Foundation, past-due utility balances have
jumped 10 percent this year. They are 10 percent more than they were
the year before. People can't afford to pay these utility bills.
[[Page S8413]]
Just like SNAP cuts, Trump's energy policies harm those who are
already struggling the most. One example is his budget proposal that
calls to eliminate LIHEAP--a program that helps millions of low-income
Americans pay their energy bills on time.
Between the sky-high cost of rent, groceries, and utilities,
Americans are being hit from all sides.
The President has recently floated $2,000 tariff rebate checks as an
idea. Not only are these checks unlikely to see the light of day, but
the hole he has put American families in is far greater than 2,000
bucks. The American people see right through the dumb scheme, and they
know that the sole reason they are facing higher prices is because of
his policies.
While Republicans ignore higher costs at their own peril, Democrats
are still going to keep fighting to lower costs for the American
people. We know that there is an opportunity that is going to come
before the Senate in just a few days to do something about the high
cost of health insurance premiums. I am hearing it back home. People
understand what is happening. They are getting notices about what these
premiums are going to be as of the first of the year. Some 24 million
Americans are affected by the ``Big Beautiful Budget Bill'' of Donald
Trump and the elimination of these tax credits.
It is time for us to do something for American families that makes a
difference. Help them pay their health insurance. For goodness' sake,
that should be a high priority not only for the Senate but because it
is a high priority for every family.
I hope we can work on a bipartisan basis to extend these tax credits
and to make sure the American people understand that both Democrats and
Republicans can work together to solve this problem. I think some want
to on the other side of the aisle. We should do that in the spirit of
bipartisanship.
The last point I want to make is almost impossible to understand or
explain. Can you imagine that the former President of Honduras--his
name is Juan Orlando Hernandez--was prosecuted by the Federal
Government of the United States for his involvement in the trade of
narcotics? He was found guilty of having been involved and was
sentenced to some 45 years in prison as a result. He once boasted as
President that he would ``stuff the drugs up the gringos' noses.'' He
accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo--one of the leaders of
narcotics international--to allow cocaine shipments to pass through
Honduras that were destined for the United States. This former
President Hernandez had a man killed in prison to protect him.
Honduras has become a bastion of the global drug trade. This former
President Hernandez orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that
prosecutors said raked in millions of dollars for cartels while making
Honduras one of Central America's poorest, most violent, and most
corrupt countries.
So they prosecuted him and found him guilty of being involved in
selling narcotics through these cartels in the United States. Can you
think of anyone more reprehensible than that--selling drugs to this
country--and finding more victims by the day, many of them children,
who become addicted to cocaine? Well, of course, it is terrible. It is
so terrible that he was found guilty and sentenced to 45 years in
prison.
Then what happened? Well, you won't believe it. Donald Trump pulls
out his pardon pen.
[O]n Saturday, Mr. Trump said in a statement to the New
York Times that ``many friends'' had asked him to pardon Mr.
Hernandez. ``They gave him 45 years because he was the
President of the Country.''
Then Donald Trump said:
``[Y]ou could do this to any President.''
I won't go into President Trump's own criminal convictions, but I
will tell you this: When this man who was President of Honduras was
facilitating the sale of narcotics in America, we thought so much of
the effort to prosecute him that we assigned an assistant U.S. attorney
by the name of Emil Bove. Ring a bell? Emil Bove was chosen by
President Trump to serve on the circuit court of the United States. He
was approved by this Chamber. I was at the hearing where he was
considered, and I will tell you this: He was proud of the fact that he
was tough on crime--so tough that he helped prosecute Hernandez and
ended up seeing him sent to jail for so many years.
Then along comes President Trump with his pardon pen, and he releases
Hernandez from jail. He releases him after years and years of
prosecution, evidence, and hard work in stopping this man who was
facilitating the sale of narcotics in the United States.
Once he started serving the prison sentence, President Trump said
that ``many friends'' had asked him to pardon Mr. Hernandez. ``They
gave him 45 years,'' President Trump said, ``because he was the
President of the Country--you could do this to any President.'' And he
then pardoned him.
Hard to imagine, isn't it? But it isn't hard to imagine if you were
here on January 6 and saw the insurrectionists come roaring through
this Capitol, storm this Chamber, and drive the Senate into recess as
we went to an adjoining building so that law enforcement could take
over the situation. There were 149 law enforcement officers who were
seriously injured, and several died as a result of that experience. It
was a terrible day in the history of the United States and a terrible
day in the history of this magnificent building I am honored to serve
in.
What did Donald Trump do as soon as he was reelected President? He
issued a full and unconditional pardon to all of the people who stormed
the Capitol.
So it comes as no surprise when it comes to drug kingpins like former
Honduran President Hernandez. He got his pardon pen, and he decided--
because he had heard from so many friends, the President said, he
decided to pardon Mr. Hernandez and release him.
This is not an action by a President who is trying to keep America
safe from narcotics. It is a strange understanding of his power that he
would use this and not end up penalizing those who are responsible for
the narcotics coming into the United States.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Britt). The Senator from West Virginia.
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