{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/icymi-sen-schiff-says-trump-owns-status-quo-while-democrats-are-focused-on-affordability-at-politico-california-summit/", "ICYMI: Sen. Schiff Says Trump Owns \u201cStatus Quo\u201d While Democrats Are Focused on Affordability at POLITICO California Summit", "2026-08-19", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Adam B. Schiff", "S001150", "www.schiff.senate.gov", "schiff", "https://www.schiff.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Sacramento, CA \u2013 In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spoke at the POLITICO California Summit on his priorities for tackling the affordability crisis, including by addressing the housing shortage. Schiff also emphasized that Democrats should continue pushing a legislative agenda that focuses on making our economy work for all Americans.\n\nSchiff, in conversation with POLITICO\u2019s Dasha Burns, highlighted how Trump and Republicans represent the failed status quo as Americans are facing higher prices on their watch as a result.\n\nView the full interview here.\n\nKey Excerpts:\n\nOn Republicans and President Trump owning the status quo:\n\n[\u2026] Donald Trump, Mike Johnson represent an ugly status quo. A status quo in which people can\u2019t afford the price of gasoline, they can\u2019t afford the price of housing, they can\u2019t afford childcare. We\u2019re involved in yet another foreign war that the president doesn\u2019t know what to do about. They are the status quo.\n\nAnd much as they try to change the topic and make a handful of Democrats the subject, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to work because people are asking themselves, \u201cIs my life better? Did the president and Republicans keep their word?\u201d And the answer is no. The president promised he would keep us out of foreign wars. He promised he would address rising prices. And what has he done? In addition to getting us involved in this terrible war, he has told the country that the cost-of-living affordability is a hoax.\n\nOn building an economy that works for everyone as AI transforms the economy:\n\n[\u2026] What most Americans really have on their minds, and that is, they\u2019re working their ass off, and they\u2019re still struggling to get by. They feel very little security in their retirement. They are afraid of getting sick because their health insurance isn\u2019t going to cut it. They are terrified.\n\n[\u2026] We are in the midst of another transformation. I think it is the fault of policymakers that we have not adapted to a workplace that is so different than the workplace my parents worked in. Where so many people stayed with the same company their whole career and had health care and retirement through their work. And we\u2019re going to have to, with the advent of AI, think even more broadly now about how do we ensure that people have gained full employment and dignified employment and secure retirement. What does that look like in the era of AI and globalization and automation? So, this is, I think, going to be the cardinal challenge for both parties. And I\u2019d like to see the Democratic Party leading the way.\n\nOn taxing the ultra-wealthy and making the tax code fairer for working Americans:\n\n[\u2026] There should be a wealth tax at the federal level. There should be a much more progressive tax code than the one we have. And one thing that has become so abundantly clear is this concentration of wealth we see now is operating to perpetuate itself. And you have individuals now that have such a massive say in our electoral process that they can pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a single campaign if they choose to. We have a broken campaign finance system that allows them to do that.\n\nAnd I think if we don\u2019t bring determination to solving that problem, also, this income inequality, wealth inequality gap is just going to get worse. And it is, I also think, deeply destabilizing. The combination of the disruption of the workforce through AI, the vast concentration, and the arrogant use of wealth by some who have amassed it, is going to be hugely disruptive for society. It\u2019s bad economics. I think it\u2019s immoral, and I\u2019m working on federal solutions to try to address that.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-20T05:28:41Z", "2026-08-20T05:29:58Z"]], "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.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/icymi-sen-schiff-says-trump-owns-status-quo-while-democrats-are-focused-on-affordability-at-politico-california-summit/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5837019309401512, "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"}