WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined Democrats in holding the Senate floor last night to slam the first 100 days of Trump’s second term. In his remarks, Senator Welch highlighted the myriad ways this White House has caused chaos, including Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, Trump’s attacks on institutions like USAID and the Administration’s push to freeze colleges’ funding for research and development to cure diseases, and Trump’s tariffs and trade war. He also shared stories from Vermont businesses affected by the tariffs. 

“It’s 100 days. It is time to assess. And whatever you may say about President Trump and the stated goals, there’s an obligation to act functionally to achieve those goals. Stating you want an outcome is a long way from implementing a plan and executing a plan to achieve it. And there is no plan,” said Senator Welch. “There is absolutely no plan.” 

“It is time for this Congress to make an assessment of our obligation to the citizens we represent. When is enough, enough? When has the Executive gone too far? When is it that all of us should heed the pleas of the businesses, the enterprises in each of our states about this chaotic and very destructive tariff policy? When is it we will say ‘no more’ to an Executive pushing his weight around with private law firms, private employers, with our universities, and telling them unless they do it his way, they’ll pay an enormous price in lost governmental funding or access to things that they need?” Senator Welch concluded. “In my view, 100 days of giving a lot of rope and a lot of license to the Executive is 100 days too many. But it’s not too late for us in Congress to stand up for the separation of powers, the balance of powers, and the prerogatives of the United States Senate and the United States Congress.” 

Watch his full remarks:  

Key quotes from Senator Welch: 

“Let’s talk first about DOGE. DOGE is about supposedly getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. There’s not a single member of this Congress who is in favor of waste, fraud, and abuse. But if you are going to do that, you look at a Department. What’s its goal?  How is it achieving it? Where is it coming up short? You do an assessment, and you do a plan. What DOGE did was essentially get the personnel list and then send out e-mails to every fifth or sixth person saying you’re fired because you did a lousy job. It is not at all on the level.  

“And, as a result, the real goal becomes revealed. It’s not to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. It’s to eliminate USAID. It’s to eliminate the Department of Education. It’s to eliminate the Social Security response team. That’s what’s going on. And the challenge for us—and this is bipartisan — is whether we as an independent branch of government want to look at what’s before our very eyes and address it or simply ignore it.” 

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“The tariffs…are going to be seen by historians as the absolute worst economic blunder in the last 100 years. Whether you’re a farmer in Vermont or in Utah or in the Dakotas, these tariffs are hammering you. Most of our farmers in the northern part of the country import fertilizer, import, in many cases, grain to feed our animals, from Canada. This tariff is going to hammer farmers who are already contending with what farmers every year have to contend with—very tight margins, the will of the weather. This is having real impact on them.  

“In Vermont, we had roundtables to hear ‘how are these tariffs going to affect you?’ Number one, ‘what tariffs?’ ‘What are they today?’ Supposedly they were 25% yesterday, then they’re suspended, then they’re back on. They apply to this part, but not that part. There’s no possibility of anybody making a plan in order to run their business.  

“By the way, these are folks who came in and are affected by the tariffs. They are not Republicans or Democrats or Independents. They are really folks just trying to make a living….What they’re talking about is the real-world impact of these crackpot tariffs that are on again, off again.  

“Small business owner Jason Levinthal, founder of J skis said, ‘This is essentially a tax on the consumers.’ Something the administration won’t acknowledge itself.  

“The president of Mad River Distillers, Mimi Buttenheim said, ‘Tariffs affect our manufacturing arm by raising the price of raw materials.’  

“Jen Kimmich, co-founder of the Alchemist Brewery: ‘We don’t know how they are going to affect us. We just know they’re going to affect us.’  

“John Lacy, CEO of Burton Snowboards, ne of the global enterprises founded in Vermont by Jake Burton and Donna carpenter: ‘How can you navigate the playbook when you don’t know what the rules of the road are?’ It’s a fair question. And it’s a question that President Trump feels he has no obligation to answer. This goes on and on.” 

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“Then there’s the next step—the overreach of power. The absolutely lawless abuse of Executive authority. What business is it of Donald Trump what are hiring practices are of an individual private corporation or firm? It is the business to enforce the law. But it’s not his business to be able to tell a law firm he’ll take contracts away. It’s not his business to be able to tell a law firm that [because they] had somebody who represented the government in a case against Trump or some Trump ally that they’re going to punish you…This is a complete overreach and extension by the president. Essentially to impose his own will, not enforce the law but to enforce his will as he arbitrarily wishes.  

“What sense does it make that because of his vendetta about higher education, that instead of addressing those concerns and having discussions, he literally takes away billions of dollars of research that has gone not just to Harvard, our oldest institution, but the University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina. People, to our benefit, have dedicated their lives to scientific research. The United States government has provided support for research and development, and we’ve had cures for terrible diseases. But if they don’t do what Donald Trump says, he’ll take away grants…destroying research, destroying development.” 

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