00:00I want to thank Senators Klobuchar and Merkley for being here with me.
00:04So, political payouts, personal perks, and vanity projects,
00:10and now a get-out-of-jail-free card for Trump and all his family on tax matters,
00:16that's what the GOP under Trump's leadership stands for right now.
00:22We've learned that Trump's funneling nearly $2 billion in taxpayer dollars into a slush fund.
00:30For his friends, his far-right loyalists, and January 6th insurrectionists.
00:36He made a deal with himself.
00:38First, unbelievably, he sues the government for $10 billion.
00:42Then he says, with his other hand, I am the government, I'll settle for $1.7 billion.
00:48And the money goes to all kinds of assorted characters who don't deserve it.
00:54Probably Trump himself.
00:57Trump could care less that the Americans are struggling to put food on the table
01:02and pay higher prices at the pump.
01:05He cares only about enriching himself.
01:08And as I said, his corruption knows no end.
01:13His new slush fund contains a provision
01:17that there should be no prosecution or investigation of Trump or his family members on any tax matter.
01:25A get-out-of-jail-free card that he negotiated with himself.
01:31What kind of America is this?
01:33What kind of man is this?
01:37Where are the Republicans on this kind of stuff?
01:40Well, let me tell you.
01:41They sure as hell aren't standing up to the taxpayers,
01:45standing up for the taxpayers, or standing up to Donald Trump.
01:49While working families are getting crushed by the cost of rent and groceries and gas and health care,
01:55ballroom Republicans are working through the night to salvage their plan to force taxpayers to foot the bill
02:03for Trump's gilded palace.
02:06How out of touch can they be?
02:09Senate Democrats fought back.
02:11We derailed their first attempt to grant Trump his billion-dollar ballroom wish.
02:17Right now we're waiting to see ballroom Republicans' next move.
02:20But let me be clear.
02:22I don't care if the Republicans ask for a billion dollars, a million dollars, or a single dollar.
02:28Every penny of taxpayer money for Donald Trump's vanity project is a penny too many.
02:35Senate Democrats will continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure not a dime of taxpayer funds go to it.
02:41And as we fight this billion-dollar ballroom,
02:44we're not standing down on stopping the tens of billions of dollars more that Republicans want to pour
02:51into Trump's secret police force and violent ICE raids.
02:55In the birdbath and on the floor, we'll force Republicans again and again to show what they are fighting for.
03:04They are fighting not for hard-working Americans.
03:07They're fighting for their billionaire boss's palace.
03:11On the war powers vote, later this afternoon, Democrats will force another choice on Republicans.
03:17For the eighth time, Democrats are going to force a vote on our war powers resolution
03:23to withdraw troops from hostilities with Iran.
03:28Trump just said this morning, quote,
03:30we may have to give them another hit.
03:33Talking about Iran.
03:35Yesterday, he went from threatening to blow Iran into oblivion
03:38to a few hours later saying a peace deal was imminent.
03:42How can we stand this kind of liar as president?
03:45He just flips.
03:46Truth matters at nothing to him, at nothing.
03:50Is it Groundhog Day?
03:52That's what it seems like with Trump when it comes to Iran.
03:56Senate Republicans need to be honest with themselves.
03:58Trump is no closer to ending this war,
04:02and all the while, Americans are struggling
04:04under skyrocketing costs, and our troops remain in harm's way.
04:08Last week, we got one more Republican to join with us.
04:12Republicans, it's time to break the cycle.
04:14Support our war powers resolution.
04:17No president, no president,
04:19should be able to drag this country into war alone,
04:22and what seems to be on almost a whim.
04:25Senator Klobuchar.
04:29I'm going to start with, I know what is on everyone's mind,
04:32and that is it.
04:32Yes, Minnesota was awarded the NFL draft for 2028,
04:36so they went purple, as did I.
04:39We're pretty excited about this.
04:40After everything our state's been through in the last year.
04:45Other issues.
04:46Right now, families are getting stuck with skyrocketing costs.
04:51Electricity bills are through the roof.
04:53Housing is up.
04:54Prices are so high.
04:56For the first time in years,
04:59they've wiped out the wage growth Americans have earned.
05:02Gas in Minnesota tends to be a little under the national average,
05:06but right now it is over $4.40 a gallon.
05:09Diesel is up over $5.50.
05:13Farmers were already hit by tariffs,
05:15and now they've got the cost of fertilizer,
05:17with 50% of urea going through the Straits of Hormuz,
05:2130% of ammonia.
05:24And anyone in the checkout line, you don't need all these numbers,
05:28could tell you what's happening.
05:29They know beef prices are up 14.8%.
05:33Vegetables are up 11.5%.
05:36Coffee is up 18.5%.
05:40And so while Trump wants to pay for his ballroom
05:43and throw that into a bill where he could be helping people with health care
05:48or paying for local police officers,
05:51we now find out they've also started a slush fund
05:54and, as Chuck noted, have decided that he, all of his companies,
06:00his family, their subsidiaries,
06:02are immune from any tax examinations or prosecutions.
06:07So he is looking out to protect his corporate interests
06:11and his family while Americans are left with a Memorial Day picnic
06:16that they can hardly afford.
06:18The American people are fed up.
06:20New York Times poll out yesterday
06:22found the administration's approval on the cost of living is at 28%.
06:26Literally, these polling organizations
06:28do not have the lines on their graphs to go that low.
06:32A majority of Americans oppose the additional funds
06:35for ICE and Border Patrol.
06:37Yeah, they want order at the border,
06:39but they are not in favor of creating an agency in ICE
06:42that is now bigger than the Marines or bigger than the FBI.
06:46But instead of focusing on bringing down costs
06:50or helping the American people,
06:52our colleagues, unfortunately, on the other side of the aisle
06:55are talking about ballrooms and debating about that
06:58and more money for ICE.
07:00The $70 billion in that bill, the additional funds,
07:05what would that do?
07:06You could hire 200,000, 200,000 local police officers
07:11extend the health care premium tax credits for two years,
07:16just as we've learned that one out of five Americans
07:18have dropped their coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
07:22It would provide seniors with dental, hearing, and vision
07:25for a year, building 700,000 more homes.
07:28I think if you said to Americans,
07:30would you like to give $70 billion for ICE
07:32or do you want to build 700,000 more homes?
07:35We know what they would say.
07:36Or we could say, do you want to put $70 billion more into ICE
07:40or do you want to provide child care
07:42for 3.5 million American children?
07:46So that's the question.
07:48Those are the value judgments.
07:50Those are the cost judgments.
07:52And they're the ones that are not focused
07:54on bringing costs down for the American people.
07:57And with that, Jeff.
07:59Jeff.
08:00Gold-plated, billion-dollar,
08:03ballroom boondoggle.
08:04Try saying that fast.
08:06Gold-plated, billion-dollar, ballroom boondoggle.
08:09It's hard to say.
08:11It's even harder to swallow.
08:15A Louis XIV massive building
08:20that turns the White House
08:22into a little auxiliary dwelling unit.
08:25A ballroom.
08:28Symbolic of an authoritarian
08:31in a strongman state
08:34destroying the East Wing,
08:36the people's house.
08:39In reconciliation, we won a round.
08:44We pursued all the arguments
08:46under the birdbath.
08:48And the ballroom for the moment is out.
08:50But we understand our Republican friends
08:54are trying to do exactly what Trump wants
08:58and find new language to put in.
09:00So stay tuned.
09:04And then we're looking at this extraordinary impact
09:09on the American families in costs
09:11that my colleague from Minnesota has so well expressed.
09:16So much of those costs we're seeing being driven
09:19by the war in Iran.
09:21We're seeing the cost at the pump.
09:24We're seeing the cost of the fertilizer
09:26that can't get through.
09:27We're seeing the 3.8% inflation rate.
09:30These are factors from the war.
09:32Project epic fury
09:34has become project epic failure.
09:39We will see where the next rounds
09:41of the birdbath go.
09:44But not one penny,
09:47not one penny in this reconciliation bill goes
09:50to address the challenges
09:51that American families are facing
09:53on health care, on housing, on education,
09:57or invest in American infrastructure.
10:00Not one penny for families.
10:03But a massive amount of money
10:06for ICE and CBP
10:08and realize none of it's needed.
10:12Why do I say that?
10:14Because they're already sitting
10:16on $103 billion of unobligated funds.
10:21The normal budget for those two agencies
10:23is about $20 billion a year.
10:25They're sitting on five years plus
10:27unobligated funds from last year's bill.
10:30What we saw last year
10:32in the big, ugly betrayal of a bill
10:35was billionaires win
10:37and families lose.
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