Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed on Friday that Democrats “will force votes” on President Trump’s tariffs after a subpar jobs report showed that fewer jobs were added during August than expected.
Schumer said in a statement that Friday’s jobs report, which showed that only 22,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, was “worse than the already low expectations.” He also labeled it a “blaring red light warning to the entire country that Donald Trump is squeezing the life out of our economy.”
“Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs, failed policies, and fake trade deals have slowed job growth and continually raised prices on American families. The pressure is pushing working families closer to the breaking point,” Schumer said.
“Hiring is down, prices are up, and families are paying thousands more a year because of Donald Trump’s tariffs,” Schumer continued. “The pain America is experiencing will only worsen as Republicans ignore the warning and continue cowering to Donald Trump. The first step is to admit the truth that Donald Trump’s economic experiment has failed and reverse course.”
“In the coming weeks, Senate Democrats will force votes to reverse Donald Trump’s damaging tariffs and we will see whose side Republicans are on,” he added. “I hope Republicans will choose wisely.”
Economists had expected a gain of roughly 75,000 jobs.
Senate Democrats have had mixed success at pushing back against Trump’s massive tariffs since he began laying them out in the early weeks of his term. In early April, the Senate rebuked Trump by passing a resolution aimed at ending the trade war with Canada, with four Senate Republicans voting alongside every Democrat.
Later that month, though, Democratic attendance issues doomed their chances of repeating that win as they sought to scrap Trump’s wide-ranging “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Friday’s report was also the first one unveiled since he fired former Bureau of Labor Statistics Director Erika McEntarfer last month after the July jobs report last month showed massive downward revisions.
