Democratic Leader Schumer Fires First Salvo at Trump
The most powerful Democrat in Washington issued a stern warning to President-elect Donald Trump as Congress returned to work on Tuesday. Senator Chuck Schumer’s combative remarks on the Senate floor, his inaugural speech as minority leader, signal there will be little in the way of bipartisan cooperation under President Trump.
The veteran lawmaker from New York said Democrats were prepared to work with the new president and the Republican-controlled Congress on legislation that bolsters the middle class—such as new infrastructure investments and trade protections—but expressed skepticism that Trump actually intends to pursue such policies. He spent the majority of his remarks challenging the president-elect to lay out substantive proposals to meet all his vague, larger-than-life campaign promises.
“Throughout the campaign, the president-elect said he could push [gross domestic product] growth to 5 or 6 percent,” Schumer noted. “What does he think he can achieve in a year, two years, four years? What policies does he propose to achieve those goals?”
He continued: “Trump also said a great many things about rebuilding our infrastructure. A program of tax credits isn’t going to get the job done, no matter how large. We need significant, direct spending. How does the president-elect plan to get that done?”