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Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions members such as Charles Ellis Schumer.
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May 20, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it has been a hell of a bad week for Donald Trump and his Republicans, maybe the worst week they have ever had. Bogged down by Donald Trump's stunningly corrupt MAGA slush fund, Trump's billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded ballroom, and the recordbreaking gas costs as we approach the Memorial Day weekend, Republicans are having a terrible, terrible week—one that may even rival the week they had when they passed their so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which America hated. And it is only Wednesday. It is only Wednesday. But however bad this week is for Republicans—and, believe me, it is bad—it has been even worse for the American people.
First, on Trump's nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund—incredible depravity, disgusting selfishness—yesterday, Trump's Department of Justice expanded the settlement he made with himself, granting him and his family immunity from tax audits.
Did you hear that, America? Trump just gave his family a license to commit tax fraud to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more. He is using nearly $2 billion, America, of your taxpayer dollars that he has placed in a slush fund to enrich his MAGA loyalists. Trump doesn't have to pay his taxes, and meanwhile, he is using your tax dollars, America, to line the pockets of his family and his far-right cronies.
seen, is absolutely egregious. Only in Trump's Washington could a President sue himself, settle with himself, and somehow stick the American people with the bill. Who would have thought that even a man as depraved and low as Donald Trump, as dishonest and as selfish, would do something like this? Trump's slush fund is a heist where the robber owns the bank, runs the police department, and gets to pardon himself on the way out.
give it to: his billionaire cronies, convicted criminals, and the cop beaters who maimed our brave U.S. Capitol Police on January 6. Meanwhile, Trump is making a deal with himself, shaking hands with himself on a corrupt deal as he shakes down the American people.
force Republican Senators to vote on this slush fund on the floor in the upcoming reconciliation bill in the next day or two. Republicans will not be able to duck or hide.
fund—or are you against it? Are you going to bow down to Donald Trump when you know how egregious, how despicable, how nasty, how disgusting this slush fund is? Will you bow down to Trump? Will you vote for the slush fund or against it?
terrible, terrible week is the ballroom. Yesterday, Donald Trump defended his billion-dollar, gold-plated, taxpayer-funded ballroom, calling it “a gift to the United States of America.” A gift? Let's call Trump's ballroom what it is: a boondoggle, a vanity project, an insult to every American—especially those struggling to make ends meet right now. This ballroom is no gift to the American people; it is a congressional Republican personal gift to Donald J. Trump—right. It is the Republican Senators here in this Chamber giving Donald Trump the personal gift of a billion-dollar ballroom.
the ballroom is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer. Then why have Americans watched Republicans work around the clock on proposal after proposal to grant $1 billion to build Trump's ballroom, all at the taxpayers' expense? When Trump says it “is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer,” it is flagrant, shameless lying. He is very good at that.
ballroom through reconciliation, but rest assured the Senate GOP is working to take money out of your paycheck to finance Trump's palace, America.
now they are slow-walking the whole process. We still don't have a reconciliation bill on our desks.
reconciliation bill—and Democrats will keep fighting to ensure that it doesn't—Republicans have already showed America their true colors. While Democrats are fighting to lower Americans' costs,
things taxpayers do not want, do not need, and certainly should not be forced to pay for. That is true of the billion-dollar ballroom. That is true of the tens of billions of dollars the Republican bill would give to Trump's masked agents, who have gunned down Americans in the streets. It is true of the whole GOP entire agenda.
Republicans can change the pricetag of the ballroom. They tried to rewrite the text. They even attempted to hide this boondoggle in the bill, but we caught them. Republicans will not be able to distance themselves from this corruption. Democrats will make sure of that. No matter what happens, we will make sure the American people know where Republicans stand. We will make sure Republicans have to go on the record and show what they are really fighting for when we vote this week: Trump's gilded palace—not working families, not lower costs, not for the American people.
The American people want lower costs. They are giving money to the ballroom. They are giving money to the slush fund. How out of touch are they? How harmful are they to the average working family's interests?
the continuing increase in gas prices. As Americans pack up the car and fire up the grill ahead of Memorial Day, they are getting crushed by the skyrocketing costs of Trump's disastrous war in Iran.
With gas selling for over $4.50 a gallon, up nearly 45 percent—45 percent—since this time last year, many Americans are canceling their Memorial Day plans because they simply can't afford to drive.
the greatest increase in gas prices since the war are the battleground States of Ohio, Michigan, and Alaska. One report says those are the three highest. They are the battleground States.
This is peanuts.
Can you believe this guy? Donald Trump thinks the hundreds of extra dollars Americans are shelling out at the gas station each month are peanuts, a pittance.
What does he know? Does he ever fill up his own tank with gas? No.
and tell that to America's small businesses, which suffered their biggest decline in 2 years, last month, because of the surge in costs.
afford fuel for their tractors and agriculture equipment, after facing rising costs from tariffs and now increased costs of fertilizer.
advance our War Powers Resolution to end Trump's war. Our vote on our War Powers Resolution yesterday was an important step toward ending Trump's war, but we won't stop pushing and pushing and pushing until Republicans finally join us in ending this reckless war. Democrats are going to keep the pressure up.
week—for Donald Trump and Republicans, and it will get only worse for our Senate Republicans during vote-arama because Democrats are going to force Senate Republicans to vote on amendment after amendment about Trump's ballroom, Trump's slush fund, and the rising costs of Trump's war. They are not going to be able to hide.
parties. We are for working people. We are for getting costs down, going after corruption, ending the chaos. And yet they, by backing Donald Trump, make all three worse.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.