Democratic leader in
the Senate Chuck Schumer slammed President-elect Donald Trump for his twitter
habit, claiming that the United States can’t afford “Twitter
presidency”.
Schumer spoke on the
first day of the 115th session of Congress Tuesday.
“‘Making America
Great Again’ requires more than 140 characters per issue,” Schumer said in his
first speech as Senate minority leader on the day when the two-year 115th
Congress kick-started, referring to Trump’s well-known campaign slogan
“With all due
respect, America cannot afford a Twitter presidency. We have real challenges
and we need to get real things done,” said Schumer, also warning that the
incoming president will fail if he sticks with a “Twitter presidency”.
“Many Americans are
afraid, Mr. President-elect, that instead of rolling up your sleeves and
forging serious policies … for you, Twitter suffices.” he told the Senate
chamber.
“There’s nothing
wrong with using Twitter to speak to the American people,” Schumer said.
“It’s a good use of
modern media. But these issues are complex and demand both careful
consideration and action. We cannot tweet them away
“If President-elect
Trump lets the hard-right members of Congress and his cabinet run the show, if
he attempts to adopt their time-worn policies which benefit the elites, the
special interests, corporate America-not the working man and woman-his
presidency will not succeed,” Schumer said,
“Maybe not in the
first 90 days, but certainly not in the first two years.”
The Democratic
leader said that Trump’s tweet “bragging” about the 800 jobs he saved at the
Carrier plant in Indiana “doesn’t solve the underlying problem.” “While it’s
good the 800 jobs were saved … even at Carrier, 1,300 jobs are still leaving,
hundreds more at the nearby Rexnord plant that are going overseas, and most
importantly, thousands more each month leave our shores from every part of
America,” Schumer said.
“Tweeting about 800
jobs you saved is not a re-manufacturing policy. That’s not an economic policy.”
Democrats are “going
to hold the President-elect accountable for a real policy to stop jobs from
leaving the country,” Schumer said, adding that his party will work with Trump
and Senate Republicans to create more jobs and improve the country’s transportation
systems
Republicans will
have a 52-48 advantage in the Senate and a hefty 241-194 majority in the House.
The two mainstream
parties now represent two very different America across the Congress.
Eighty-seven percent
of House Republicans will be white men, who only account for 41 percent of
House Democrats, according to the independent Cook Political Report.
In sharp comparison,
the makeup of Democrats in two chambers is much more racially diverse and
largely metropolitan, including districts in and around cities and along the
two coasts of the United States.
Since most
legislation needs 60 votes in the Senate, Republicans still have to garner
bipartisan support to fulfil their major policy tasks such as reforming the
immigration system, passing spending bills, raising the federal borrowing limit
as well as repealing and replacing the whole package of Obamacare.
Intense partisan
wrestling are sure to set off across the new Congress. Though Democrats don’t
have the votes to block many of Republicans’ actions, they are lining up with
vows to fight against nevertheless.
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