Gregory Meeks: “I thank the ranking member for allowing me to speak. I thank the ranking member for all of his hard work because for…”

“I thank the ranking member for allowing me to speak. I thank the ranking member for all of his hard work because for sure what the President of the United States has done was lied to the American people and broke a promissory note. That promissory note was that he told the American people on day one, inflation would go down. Prices would go down on day one, he said. Instead, what the President has done is, unleashed an economic chaos on the American people. Recessions are normally caused by complex factors like oil price shocks, overleveraged financial markets, or global pandemics. This new economic disaster isn't caused by war or by an act of nature. It is the result of one man who lied to the American people. His name is Donald J. Trump. With no coherent plan, he is imposing the largest peacetime tax increase in American history. That is what tariffs are: taxes that will increase the cost of living, your food, the car you need to drive to work, your appliances, and your electronics. All of it will increase what the average family will spend by more than $5,000 a year. Trump has launched a trade war that has united our allies and our adversaries against us. I could go on and on about the absurd incompetence underpinning Trump's trade war: the pseudo emergency used as an authority, the nonsense methodology used to justify the tariff rates, or the ever-changing rationale about the reasons for starting this tariff tantrum.…”