‘WANNABE WARLORD’: Chuck Schumer Launches Fiery Broadside Against War Chief Pete Hegseth

Okay, thank you to Senators Whitehouse, Gillibrand, and Gallego. Now, before I begin, a quick update on our dear friend, Chris Murphy. I spoke with Chris this morning. I'm happy to report he sounds great, is recovering well, and we're looking forward to having him back with us soon. Now, we just came from an incredible lunch where 11 new Senator-elect joined us. We hope, we're hopeful there'll be two more in a little while. Thanks in no small part to these extraordinary new members. We are on the verge of the single largest landslide for Senate Democrats since the 50s. These people are smart, tough, capable, compassionate, and they ran remarkable campaigns. They defied the odds and earned the trust of the voters in their state where few thought Democrats could win. They represent the future of our caucus. They came to our meeting today. Even though they're not yet senators. And I couldn't be prouder to welcome them there. But winning the election is only the beginning. Now comes the important part. Delivering for American families. That's the most important part of all of this. Our number one priority is lowering costs. Making life more affordable. And showing Americans that Democrats are fighting for them every single day. Now on permitting reform. And I want to thank Sheldon Whitehouse for his great work there. Americans are paying far too much for energy. We have an opportunity to do something about it. Our broken permitting system has held back cleaner, cheaper energy, driven up costs, delayed good-paying jobs. We need to bring more affordable energy onto the grid. We need to make sure data centers pay their fair share and protect our land, our water, our communities. Whitehouse and Heinrich deserve huge credit for their hard work moving this forward. I still have some concerns with parts of this bill, and I intend to fight to address them through amendments. But Americans can't afford years of delay and higher energy bills. That's why I'm voting to move this debate forward. Let's get this bill right. Now, one more issue, which is impeachment of Hegseth. Trump's disastrous war in Iran will go down as one of the greatest foreign policy fiascos in all of American history. Eight months into the war, Americans are paying the price. Our service members are being put in harm's way. And this administration still, still has no plans to end it. Hegseth defied Congress, concealed the sacrifice of our service members, and showed himself to be utterly unfit to lead the Defense Department or to protect our soldiers. America needs a serious Secretary of Defense, not a wannabe warlord. Republicans need to listen to the American people, end this war, put Pete Hegseth on trial before the Senate. I support a trial in the Senate for Hegseth. And this is bigger than just party loyalty, bigger than allegiance to Trump. It's about our national security, our service members' security, and of course, our Constitution. It's time for Republicans to decide where their loyalty lies, with Trump or with the country they swore an oath to protect. End this war. Put Hegseth on trial, get him, and next is Senator Whitehouse. Thank you, Chuck, we are all fresh off an election in which affordability was the prime concern. And we have a bill that we have moved to proceed to that addresses energy affordability in a significant way. $10 billion a year in savings for American consumers. And then another $35 billion in savings from making sure that data centers pay their own way onto the grid. To vote against this measure is to vote a $35 billion handout to data center developers. As you all know, I'm also concerned that the climate upheaval that we are facing from fossil fuel emissions has a precursor, which is economic upheaval as insurance and mortgage and real estate markets collapse in the face of the uncertainties of climate risk. We are seeing the leading edge of that right now. We have to begin addressing the climate danger seriously. This bill operates at gigaton scale to reduce emissions. So we look forward to working very, very hard to make sure that Americans get the benefit of these savings and this safety. And with that, I'll turn it over to Senator Gillibrand. Last week's election was historic. It wasn't just a blue wave, it was definitely a blue tsunami. Voters across the country made it clear that they are ready for change. From rural New York to South Carolina to Texas, the Americans rejected President Trump's cost increasing chaos in favor of candidates who are committed to providing real relief for For Americans, costs and concerns. Last Tuesday, voters demanded change from the broken promises of the Trump administration. He promised no forever wars. He promised he would get costs down. He did neither. But now, The real work has to begin, we actually have to serve the American people, get things done and answer the question of this election. We have to lower costs by ending the war in Iran. That will immediately get fuel costs down, diesel costs down, transportation costs down, food costs down. We have to rein in President Trump's reckless tariffs, which has driven up the cost of everyday goods from groceries to construction materials to clothing. We have to restore access to health care. President Trump took so many people off of Medicaid. He has attacked Medicare at every step of the way. So bringing those health care costs down and restoring health care to the people who lost it. Common sense AI rails. You heard it across the country. People want accountability and they want guardrails. Protect our Social Security. We have our seniors who are terrified that Social Security will not be there in eight years and that will be cut. And finally, crack down on the corruption, including banning stock trading by members of Congress, this president and top officials. Last week, Americans voted for change, now is the time for Congress to actually deliver it. Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the OneIndia app now.