Political Quotes

“I rise to speak, and I thank my colleague, the lead Democratic Senator from the Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, for his passionate advocacy. And I join him in this effort to get colleagues in the Senate to vote for the resolution that will be pending before us to eliminate Donald Trump's global tariff regime announced in April. This is a regime that, together with the other tariffs that he has announced, is leading to serious harm in Virginia, as I have laid out the last few days: higher prices, fewer jobs, and slower growth. The IEEPA statute, as I have laid out, allows a President to declare an emergency when there is an extraordinary and unusual event posing a serious threat to American national security, foreign policy, or the economy. What was that extraordinary and unusual event that Donald Trump used as the justification for this unilateral tax increase affecting consumers and businesses? The threat that he declared was the existence of trade deficits with many nations around the world. Let me dig into the nonsensical nature of the President's declaration and the use of trade deficits in the way he has calculated them. First, the President and his team imposed tariffs based upon trade deficits in goods. We don't live in the 19th century anymore. We have an economy that is not just about goods. It is about goods and services.”