[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 129 (Thursday, August 6, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on the Trump battleships, while American 
families can't even keep their heads above water, Donald Trump is 
spending his time building himself a ``golden fleet'' of battleships 
the Navy doesn't want.
  Just get a load of this headline: ``Cost of Trump's Namesake Warships 
Likely to Rise by 50 Percent or More.''
  Costs to rise by 50 percent or more.
  As the article in the New York Times says, his goal is building a 
``golden fleet'' of 15 battleships that cost $275 billion. Frankly, 
when Americans hear this, they have no idea whether they need the 
battleships. They know the only thing Trump cares about is having his 
name on things. So the fact that there is a fleet of Trump 
battleships--cost doesn't mean anything; necessity doesn't mean 
anything; that people are suffering and need help feeding their 
families, paying their electric bills, and paying the cost of gasoline 
means nothing to him. Having his name on a bunch of battleships--
expensive battleships--is all he cares about.
  Trump couldn't handle renovating a reflecting pool or building a 
ballroom, and now he thinks he is ready to design and construct 15 
``Trump-class''--I mean, this guy, he knows no limits--``Trump-class'' 
battleships that will cost more than a quarter of a trillion taxpayer 
dollars--a quarter of a trillion dollars. He has had a lot of vanity 
projects. They have been very expensive. This is the most costly vanity 
project yet.
  The Navy never wanted these ships. The American people never asked 
for these ships. The only person who wants these ``golden'' ships is 
Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them.
  Trump's willingness to drop $275 billion on another vanity project 
but not a single penny to lower costs for working Americans just 
confounds the imagination. Trump could use the money for these 
battleships to offset the entire nearly $200 billion cut he made to 
SNAP.
  Feeding hungry kids or creating an unnecessary class of battleships 
to put your name on--which is more important, America? The answer is a 
lot different than what Trump thinks. But no. Trump would rather feed 
his own ego than feed the American people. He would rather feed his own 
ego than feed the American people by putting his name on a $275 
billion, 15-battleship outlay.
  The ballroom, the Reflecting Pool, the arch, and now the 
battleships--these are the reasons why more than 7 in 10 Americans 
think Trump is not focusing on the top issues facing the country.
  Donald, the American people don't need a fleet of golden Trump-class 
battleships right now; they need a life raft.