President Donald Trump summoned Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to the White House for a discussion on a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project, only to watch the New York Democrat pivot into a familiar litany of complaints about funding, Obamacare, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As reported by Western Journal, the Thursday session marked the first face-to-face meeting between the two since last years government shutdown, and was ostensibly convened to address the stalled Gateway Tunnel Project, a massive $16 billion undertaking in New York that the president has resisted funding after Democrats forced the shutdown.
According to Western Journal, had Schumer confined himself to debating that controversial price tag, the exchange might have remained a straightforward policy dispute, but he instead used the opportunity to press for more government-subsidized health care and to attack federal immigration enforcement.
Schumers office issued a statement insisting, Leader Schumer told the president ICE raids are terrorizing communities. He further pushed for expanded Obamacare tax credits and, per Axios, urged that ICE withdraw from U.S. cities altogether, a position that aligns neatly with the lefts broader effort to weaken immigration enforcement while expanding federal entitlements.
The senators rhetoric intensified in the wake of the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, who allegedly rammed an ICE agent with her vehicle before being shot. Schumer labeled the incident horrific, adding that you feel like a punch in the stomach, and then escalated his critique of ICE by declaring, We should not have ICE agents patrolling our streets. Theyre not needed, they create chaos. And they even create deaths.
If Schumer truly believes that federal agents enforcing immigration law create chaos, then President Trump is well within reason to respond that still more government spending is not needed. The real horror, conservatives would argue, is a political class that treats taxpayer dollars as an endless spigot while undermining the very agencies tasked with protecting American communities from illegal aliens, including convicted murderers and child rapists.
With the national debt hovering around $38 trillion, many taxpayers already feel like theyve been punched in the stomach by Washingtons reckless spending habits. Schumers priorities pouring more money into his home state while working to hamstring ICE reflect a worldview that prizes government expansion over public safety and national sovereignty.
If the minority leader is determined to spend, fiscal conservatives contend that those resources should advance the agenda that 77 million Americans voted for, not the preferences of progressive activists. As the 2026 midterms approach, lavishing federal dollars on blue-state projects while shielding illegal aliens from enforcement is unlikely to resonate with voters who want secure borders, responsible budgets, and a government that finally remembers whom it is supposed to serve.
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