{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/latest-data-shows-trump-policies-causing-prices-to-rise-job-market-to-shrink-and-economic-uncertainty-to-spread", "Latest Data Shows Trump Policies Causing Prices to Rise, Job Market to Shrink, & Economic Uncertainty to Spread", "2025-10-24", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "www.reed.senate.gov", "jackreed", "https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC -- President Donald Trump\u2019s weak handling of the economy and costly trade wars are hampering American commerce and forcing consumers to pay more for groceries, medicine, cars, housing, and everyday goods and services. At the same time, Trump is forcing a much heavier economic burden onto working families and states by cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid and causing people to pay double or triple for health insurance. As a result, more Americans are about to be hit with price shocks, inflation is rising, the Trump economy is shedding jobs, and small businesses and big companies alike are paralyzed by needless economic uncertainty.\n\n\u201cPeople are really struggling. More Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And Donald Trump\u2019s chaotic and irresponsible economic policies are making things worse. President Trump and Congressional Republicans are raising costs, putting people out of work, and putting Main Street companies out of business because they\u2019re uncertain of what Trump will do to them next. President Trump bragged about giving a big tax cut to billionaires, but he's making everyone else poorer -- taking a bigger bite out of people\u2019s paycheck, making them pay more for essentials, and driving up inflation and the debt alike. The Trump Administration must change course before the president drives America into recession,\u201d said U.S. Senator Jack Reed.\n\nThe latest economic data released this week shows annual inflation hitting 3 percent -- a full percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve\u2019s target. And it comes amidst the backdrop of President Trump abruptly terminating trade negotiations with Canada, after the president got upset about a Canadian television advertisement featuring footage of former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs like the dubious ones imposed unilaterally by Trump.\n\nAccording to a new analysis by Moody\u2019s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, 21 states nationwide -- including Rhode Island -- are currently in or at high risk of entering a recession, while another 13 are classified as \u2018treading water.\u2019\n\nTrump\u2019s war on renewable energy and eagerness to halt shovel-ready and nearly finished projects that compete with his oil or coal backers is reducing energy supply -- causing America to fall behind on meeting its energy demands while increasing utility bills for homes and businesses alike. All Americans are paying more for Trump's backward energy policies which have caused electricity prices to surge and outpace inflation, increasing 10 percent in the past year.\n\nBusinesses are also hiring far fewer workers than in recent years, pushing unemployment higher and forcing millions of Americans into deeper financial pain. Businesses have also been negatively impacted by Trump's immigration policies. Some sectors, like housing, construction, agriculture, tourism, hospitality, and the restaurant industry have been hit particularly hard, and many more have been unable to find enough low-skilled workers. Additionally, Trump took a sledgehammer to the H-1B visa worker program, blocking high-skilled workers from overseas coming to American companies in fields such as sciences, medicine, technology, and biotechnology -- hampering innovation and economic growth and giving foreign competitors a leg up on the competition to win the future.\n\nAnd while Trump\u2019s unmoored and chaotic policies are making it harder for U.S. businesses to compete, Trump is handing out personal favors to prop up foreign friends, such as the President of Argentina. The Trump Administration provided Argentina President Javier Milei\u2019s government with a $20 billion U.S. taxpayer backed bailout earlier this month, which both Trump and his staff made clear was provided solely to help President Milei in October\u2019s elections. Argentina repaid President Trump\u2019s giveaway by promptly suspending certain export taxes and doubling its soybean sales to China overnight -- undercutting American soybean farmers who have been frozen out by China, normally their largest market, since President Trump\u2019s tariffs took effect earlier this year. Instead of learning its lesson, the Trump Administration is now offering President Milei another sweetheart deal; this time to buy more beef from Argentina at the expense of American ranchers.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s weak ego is damaging Americans in every state -- not for the betterment of the country, quite the opposite: He is being fiscally irresponsible and putting his own personal interests above the nation\u2019s to the detriment of hardworking Americans,\u201d said Reed.\n\nAmericans have taken notice: a new Quinnipiac University poll released this week shows just 38 percent of voters approve of Trump\u2019s handling of the economy.\n\nU.S. job growth has slowed from an average of 150,000 per month at the start of 2025 to just 25,000 by August, according to analysis from Elsie Peng, research economist at Goldman Sachs. More recent data from payroll company ADP found the private sector actually lost 32,000 jobs last month. Ms. Peng's report noted that uncertainty created by constant changes in trade policy appear to be dampening investment and holding companies back from hiring.\n\nSenator Reed noted that the United States has many economic advantages, America\u2019s economy can come roaring back, and that the United States must continue to be the world\u2019s most innovative nation. But that requires President Trump to change course, to start prioritizing the middle-class and Main Street, and to start behaving in a more balanced, strategic, and stable manner that puts America\u2019s interests above his own personal whims.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s economic policies are negatively impacting people\u2019s financial health and spiking health care costs at the same time. Hardworking Americans deserve relief. Instead, they are suffering while Trump proposes paying himself a quarter billion dollars courtesy of American taxpayers, sends $20 billion in U.S. tax dollars to Argentina, and builds himself a gilded palace ballroom that would make Marie Antoinette blush. And he is using dark money for the ballroom that he claims is \u2018donated\u2019 but refuses to tell anyone where the money is actually coming from, who provided it, and what favors he did in return to those who provided it. The American people want and deserve answers and Republicans in Congress need to stop hiding and join Democrats in providing real oversight,\u201d concluded Reed.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/latest-data-shows-trump-policies-causing-prices-to-rise-job-market-to-shrink-and-economic-uncertainty-to-spread"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9814260303974152, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}