The Daily Signal - Senate Dems Promise Shutdown, Inflation Cools, Dept. of Edu. Cuts Staff | March 13, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Senate Democrats pledged to block the continuing resolution passed by the House, inflation cools and we-talk tariffs, and Trump's administration cuts Department of Education staff and EPA regulations. I'm Tony Kinnett from the Daily Signals Tony Kinnett cast, syndicated nationally at 7 p.m. Eastern. It is Thursday, March 13, 2025. This is the Daily Signal's top news in 10. Senate Democrats under the leadership of Senator Chuck Schumer have pledged to block the continuing resolution which would fund the government until September. passed by the House. This would avoid a government shutdown if passed scheduled to occur tomorrow. Here's Chuck Schumer explaining why the Democrats are blocking the continuing resolution.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Mr. President, the Democratic leader. Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input from congressional Democrats. Because Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11th CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass. Though Schumer claims House Democrats were not consulted on this particular continuing resolution, that is not true. House Democrats were negotiated with

Starting point is 00:01:33 in the process of passing this continuing resolution, the House Democrats except one chose not to do so. Representative Golden from Maine, a Democrat, did vote in favor of the continuing resolution along with all Republicans except Thomas Massey of Kentucky. Inflation for the month of February has cooled. Under the Trump administration, the Consumer Price Index shows that inflation only went up

Starting point is 00:01:57 by 0.2% in the last month, and we are currently on track for a 2.8% increase inflation annually. Here's CNN talking a little bit more about the inflation numbers. Finally, we have some good news on the economy and really the number one issue for many Americans, the cost of living. So we just learned that consumer prices in February increased by 2.8% year-over-year, 0.2% month over month. Both of these figures were a step in the right direction and both were better than expected. So this is definitely very encouraging to see because it's going to, I think, relieve some fears that inflation was perhaps

Starting point is 00:02:36 re-accelerating because this actually breaks a streak of four straight months where I think you could see it on the chart all the way to the right where the inflation rate was going in the wrong direction, right? It was going higher and higher. Finally, we're seeing it dip. While a series of new polls show that the majority of Americans are in favor of how President Trump is handling things like illegal immigration, the majority of Americans between 60 and 65 percent, depending on the poll, are against the president's use of tariffs so far. We brought on E.J. and Tony last night from the Heritage Foundation onto the Tony Kinnettcast to talk about tariffs, inflation, and what Trump is doing regarding the economy. Check it out. Sure. So the tariff question has a lot of moving parts here.

Starting point is 00:03:16 What essentially Trump is doing is he's using the same tool for a host of different problems. So, again, very, very complicated, a lot of things in the mix, but here are some of the big ones. One is the fact that tariffs are a way to essentially shift the tax burden off of the American people and on to the rest of the world. When you put a tariff in place, it's not simply just the producer or just the consumer that has to pay that tax. And so you end up seeing the tax split, the proportions can vary, but you see the tax split between both one country and the other. So as other countries have put tons of tariffs on us, we have been paying some of those countries' taxes. for them. Trump is essentially trying to do the exact same thing. We forget, Tony, that for a lot of this nation's history, we didn't have an income tax. That's a relatively new invention. The Supreme

Starting point is 00:04:09 Court had actually ruled it unconstitutional. They had to change the Constitution in 1913 to have a personal income tax. So what did we do before then? We just had tariffs. The government funded itself essentially entirely by tariffs during the time that Trump keeps referring to as the original golden age, which was that period after the Civil War, basically until 1913. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is cutting a lot in terms of federal staff and in regulations. Regarding the Department of Education, the Trump administration has announced that they have plans to reduce the staff at the Department of Education by 50%. Here is Teachers' Union head Randy Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers telling you that she's really rather mad about it. is why so many people are so mad about it because they're just taking opportunity away from kids that don't have it so billionaires kids of billionaires they have it they go to private schools everyone else 90 percent go to public schools don't take away their opportunity so let's stay on the fact sorry no i'm really angry about this because i'm really angry i taught kids in clara barton high school in brooklyn new york secretary of education linda mcmann stated in a recent interoperated

Starting point is 00:05:25 that the goal of the Department of Education was, in fact, to shut down. This being something that she believed to be a mandate of the American voters in 2024. Now, is this the first step on the road to a total shutdown? Yes. Actually, it is because that was the president's mandate. This directive to me clearly is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we'll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished. But what we did today was to, take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat. And that's not to say that a lot of the folks, you know, it's a humanitarian thing to a lot of the folks that are there. You know, they're out of a job.

Starting point is 00:06:08 But we wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people and the good people to make sure that the outward-facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that come from Congress, all of that are being met. And none of that's going to fall through the crack. A common criticism from those on the left encapsulates what they believe will be. be a lack of aid for special education students in the United States. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana was prompted with this particular accusation. Here's his response. The Department of Education is tasked with protecting disabled students across America. And Jamie Raskin, for example, is all out there saying, how are you going to defend this?

Starting point is 00:06:43 So let me ask you. Well, I think it's simple. That will be done at the state level. A federal bureaucrat who's in Washington, D.C. can't protect schools, schools and kids In Indiana, that has to be done at the local level. And that's why getting the federal government out of the way and letting schools take care of these issues with those tax dollars that will be spent, more tax dollars spent at the local level,

Starting point is 00:07:10 will help that happen in a much better way than anything that happens in Washington. And Lee Zeldon, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, released a statement about all of the regulations. His department plans to cut to spur American economic growth over the next couple of years. Check it out. Today I'm pleased to make the largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history. The Environmental Protection Agency is initiating 31 historic actions to fulfill President Trump's promise to unleash American energy, revitalize our auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to the states. EPA will be reconsidering many suffocating rules

Starting point is 00:07:55 that restrict nearly every sector of our economy and cost Americans trillions of dollars. Our actions include the Biden administration's deeply flood clean power plan 2.0, mercury and air toxic standards, Quad OBC, particulate matter 2.5, light, medium, and heavy car and truck rules, Neshaps, and the so-called social cost of carbon. To advance cooperative federalism, EPA will partner with states that were universally rejected by the last administration's good neighbor rule.

Starting point is 00:08:34 Among many other actions, today's momentous day also includes the 2009 endangerment finding, along with all actions that rely on it. I've been told the endangerment finding is considered the holy grail of the climate change religion. For me, the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the law. this nation will be strictly interpreted and followed. No exceptions. Today the Green News scam ends as the EPA does its part to usher in the golden age of American success. Our actions will lower the cost of living by making it more affordable to purchase a car, heat your home, and operate a business. Jobs will be created, especially in the US auto industry and our nation will become stronger for it.

Starting point is 00:09:23 From the campaign trail to day one and beyond, President Trump has delivered on his promise to unleash energy dominance and lower the cost of living. We at EPA will do our part to power the great American comeback. Check the description below for the full interview with E.J. Antony and join us tonight at 7 p.m. for some awful tweets and Logan Hall of the Blaze. I'm Tony Kinnett and this has been The Daily Signals, Top News in 10.

Starting point is 00:09:50 Take care.

The Daily Signal - Senate Dems Promise Shutdown, Inflation Cools, Dept. of Edu. Cuts Staff | March 13, 2025

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