As Democrats on Capitol Hill slam President Donald Trump’s tariffs and forecast a coming “Trump recession,” Republicans say it is time to double down and deliver on the new administration’s agenda.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-TX, describes the last four years under the Biden administration as a “war on American energy” whose effects continue to impact Americans daily.
To undo the damage, he believes the Senate needs to work “hand in hand” with the Trump administration to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“The Biden administration did enormous damage to our economy. They waged war on American energy, and in particular on Texas oil and gas,” he told Fox News Digital.
“That war on American energy ended on January 20th,” he added, referring to Trump’s return to the White House.
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“I think we have a mandate coming out of the election, a mandate to secure the border and mandate to unleash American energy, a mandate to extend the 2017 tax cuts and a mandate to fight for small businesses and jobs,” he said.
“I believe we’re going to do all of that working hand-in-hand with President Trump,” he explained, adding, “It’s been an incredible first 50 days. We’ve got a lot more work to do.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing hard on the message that Trump’s tariffs – which include 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and a sweeping 25 percent tariff on aluminum and steel from around the world – are behind the high prices Americans are seeing in stores and gas stations.
Senator Jeff Merkley, D-WA, believes that Trump is intentionally creating chaos to assert more control over the federal government and country.
“The Trump recession is on its way,” Merkley predicted.
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“He’s firing people left and right with no thought about what works and doesn’t,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s not about efficiency; it’s about tearing down and replacing professionals with lackeys.”
“Trump is driving us into a recession,” he continued. “He is doing it deliberately, cultivating complete chaos in everything he does. These tariffs are on, these tariffs are off, stock market is diving, people don’t know where and how to invest.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, suggested that; “Trump could stop being so irresponsible about the economy and make sure we’re driving costs down instead of up and stop the trade wars with indiscriminate sweeping tariffs.”
Though Americans continue to face high prices, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the country is “in a period of transition” in which Trump is “implementing the formula that we know works.”
“Look at President Trump’s results in his first term,” said Leavitt. “If people are looking for certainty, look at the record of this president, that’s why the American people re-elected him back to this office.”
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Sen. Ed Markey, D-MA, however, said that Trump “has to avoid his indiscriminate ham-handed tariffs that are absolutely frightening the markets and frightening small businesses all across our country.”
He also bashed the changes brought about by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
“He has to just stop with his indiscriminate cuts to programs, which actually provide the economic incentive for the creation of jobs in our society,” he said.
Asked what can be done to avoid a recession, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, answered simply: “Don’t have tariffs.”
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Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-CO, said that “we better get cracking” to reverse course.
“I think we should do less tariffs. I think we need to recognize that government plays a role in the economy, but I certainly hope that we can make positive steps to make sure we don’t get a recession, the last thing anybody needs,” he said.
Speaking with Fox News Digital at a healthcare protest just outside the Capitol building, “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, refused to answer whether the U.S. was heading into a recession, instead insisting “we should talk about Medicaid.”
“Medicaid is one of the most important things,” said Tlaib. “It’s actually very American. Most American thing you can ever like support because people don’t plan to get sick. We got to protect Medicaid.“
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. John Husted, R-OH, told Fox News Digital that Trump’s “early aggressive approaches” will “cause a little disruption, but in the end, I’m hopeful we’ll get through those.”
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“The Biden administration did put us in a terrible box with their policies on immigration, the runaway government spending that led to inflation, their anti-energy policies that really made the cost of energy inputs in every product higher. The president’s trying to unravel that,” said Husted. “That will lead to some stability going forward, that will help create jobs and get the American economy moving forward.”
Freshman Sen. Jim Justice, R-WV, meanwhile, said he does not think the U.S. is recession-bound.
“I really don’t think we’re headed into a recession. I don’t think that at all,” he said. “[But] the Senate stands ready to work with President Trump in every way [and] I surely stand ready to work with him on everything.”
Come what may, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, said that the best way to avoid a recession is to “implement the president’s agenda” and help working families.
“Under Joe Biden, their wages went down, the prices went up,” he said. “We need to pass tax relief for working families and get more of their hard-earned money, put it back into their pockets. It’s vital.”
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“What can we do?” he continued. “Open up American energy production, we can get fair and equal trade deals, we’ve got to get wages up for our people, we’ve got to get manufacturing back into this country.”
“The president is doing both of those things. He’s going to stop the trade cheating. He’s going to get prices down,” he said. “I mean, the president knows what to do. He did it in the first term. He gave us the best economy in my lifetime, his lifetime. So, we’ve got to go full throttle on that.“
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