Supporting American Allies Act

Mr. President, I rise to talk about President Trump's tariffs and how they are ruining confidence in our economy. They are raising prices on all of our families, and they are hitting our allies for no reason.

We all know that tariffs can be a useful tool to protect critical American manufacturing and combat our enemies. Targeted tariffs on adversaries like communist China or Iran can actually work to our advantage. And it is natural for us to have trade deficits with countries that have smaller economies because they just can't afford to pay for quality American goods. We are always going to buy more cheap goods from less wealthy countries than they are going to be able to buy from us. Even my Republican colleagues have acknowledged this.

This is why President Trump's blanket tariffs just make no sense. They have no legitimate economic basis. And the formula that he used to impose these blanket tariffs is nonsensical. We know this because President Trump has imposed tariffs on islands uninhabited by humans and on one of the United States' own military bases.

Probably the most egregious error in President Trump's tariff plan was punishing our allies, Israel and Ukraine. Both these countries are currently under attack. They need the United States to be standing with them, not hitting them with nonsensical tariffs that could cause them even more harm.

Meanwhile, our adversary and the initiator of the war in Ukraine-- Russia--is getting no tariffs. Our adversary North Korea is getting no tariffs. And while our ally Israel got slapped initially with a 17- percent tariff, even though we maintain a free-trade agreement with them, their adversary Iran got tariffed at a mere 10 percent.

I will admit, as I am sitting here right now, I just saw that Donald Trump changed his mind again and is telling countries around the world they now have to have a 10-percent tariff. He just made a major trade decision action via a tweet as I was sitting here to provide a stand with Israel and Ukraine.

Let me just say, those actions by this administration are just bad for our economy. It is outrageous, and it is bad for U.S. credibility. It is just clear there was very little thought put into President Trump's major, potentially catastrophic, gamble with the global economy. He did this without any advice and consent from Congress, and that was a mistake. It was a mistake that our allies in need of aid are paying the price for.

We have an opportunity to rectify a small part of this error right now and exempt Israel and Ukraine from these oppressive tariffs that could do significant damage to their already hurting economies.

Really, this shouldn't be a partisan issue. It is a national security issue. Let's come together and protect our allies who rely on our help from these harmful tariffs. I hope my Republican colleagues can join me.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1364; that the bill be considered read three times and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

I appreciate my colleague being here to object. I don't think he actually read the resolution. The real focus was on how we address tariffs against Israel and Ukraine.

I appreciate his partisan argument, but I think he also neglected to represent that there are Democrats that opposed Bernie Sanders' bill, and I was one of them. I think it is important we work in a bipartisan way to move this country forward.

I am also a Democrat that supports bringing manufacturing back to my State. You are welcome to come to Nevada anytime and see what we have done around the work that is essential.

I think what I am looking for in this time is common sense, working across the aisle where we see it to show the American public that, yes, we can still function and work together on moving forward. I think it is important we stand with Israel at all levels, including ensuring that they are not tariffed, there is no tariff against them.

It is very, very simple here. And I think targeted tariffs make sense. I don't quite understand the continued partisan conversation here. But at the end of the day, I am hopeful that many of my colleagues still want to work in a bipartisan way on issues that reflect not only who we are as a country but will still be working to address protection for our allies and, at the same time, protecting our economy. I am disappointed in the objection today.

I yield the floor.

Thank you. I have to stand up here and call my colleague out. He is trying to paint all the Democrats together. If he would look at my record in standing independent from some of my party's votes and the fact that I think it is important and know it is important that we work in a bipartisan way and have done just that in committee in my votes in a bipartisan way with my colleagues, I would

hope that he would be open to working with me in the future on some bipartisan legislation.

I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object, think about some numbers. I was 5 years old when I came to this country from South America, 18 when I became a citizen. Since that time, there have been 10 Presidents of the United States of America and only one that actually had the guts and the courage to stand up for working Americans.

We lost 90,000 factories in this country. If you take the logic of my colleague, let's shut down all of our factories and send manufacturing to the lowest wage countries on Earth that employ slave wages, that have massive government subsidies, and gut out what is left of the American manufacturing ecosystem.

Of course, that is completely illogical. But that is almost what we have done over the last four to five decades.

You drive through Ohio, Dayton was the computing capital of the world; you go to Toledo, it was the glass capital of the world; Youngstown, the steel capital of America; Akron, the rubber capital of the world.

Today, these cities are working to get past what they have gone through. But as I went on the campaign trail against a Democrat that always claimed to be on the side of the working men but then saw what their policies enacted, we beat him soundly.

I urge my Democratic colleagues to go back to your original North Star. The point of the Democratic Party for decades, as far as I knew, was that you were for the working men and women of this country. But that is not the Democratic Party today. They are the party of electric vehicle mandates, against tariffs, against fringe social issues.

If we want to talk about the specific resolution, look, there is no greater ally ever in the history of the United States of America with Israel than President Donald J. Trump. Every single Republican last week voted against Bernie Sanders' resolution to block arms sales to Israel. Fifteen Democrats voted to kneecap them while in the middle of a war. When we talk about Israel, they have already negotiated a situation with President Trump.

So let's talk about Ukraine. This is a country that both sides of the aisle--shockingly to me, quite honestly--have given hundreds of billions of dollars to this country of Ukraine when we have enormous needs in our country. What do we get in return? They impose a tax of 20 percent or more on our goods that we send there. Let me repeat that. We sent them hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, and then when we send them our products, they add a tax on our imports.

Look, President Trump is doing a masterful job of negotiating with countries and with companies to finally do what should have been done a long time ago, which is to rebuild this country from the inside out.

So for the reasons that President Trump laid out last week that we are going to rebuild this country with American hands, with American hearts, and with American pride, it is with that sentiment that I, therefore, object.

I actually read the resolution. Again, I will repeat it. There is no greater friend of Israel's in the White House, ever in the history of the United States of America, than Donald J. Trump.

He negotiated with these countries. We need to give him the latitude in terms of negotiating with these countries. In terms of bipartisan, go back through the record in the last 90 days and see almost the complete block voting on everything, including we have two votes coming up and another two votes at the end of the day. Let's see if there is one Democrat that doesn't vote in total unison with their party.

Look at the Republican side. We are much more freethinkers and we have differences of opinion and that comes out when we vote. When we talk about bipartisanship, I hope the Democrats get to a point where they are willing to work with us on common sense.

I had a bill that I presented to the floor about 3 weeks ago. Here is what it said: If you come into this country illegally, you can't claim asylum. And if you do, you invalidate your right for asylum for life, and you must only claim asylum at a designated port of entry. This is a 90-10 issue. Democrats blocked that.

I want to work in a bipartisan manner. I think the American public demands that we do. But when every Democrat votes in total and complete lockstep with their leadership every single time to block any progress, we are going to be unable to do that.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask the previously scheduled vote begin immediately.