Senate

Trump rips Democrats’ $3.5T spending plan: ‘It’s time to wake up!’

Former President Trump on Wednesday ripped Senate Democrats’ efforts to advance a $3.5 trillion spending package, calling it a “Communist Plan to Destroy America” and urging Americans to “wake up.” 

Trump issued the statement through his Save America PAC hours after the Senate voted 50-49 early Wednesday to adopt a budget resolution as a first step toward passing their spending plan without GOP support. 

The former president, who has used his PAC to signal his distaste in recent days over the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill officially passed by the Senate Tuesday, told his supporters Wednesday that “while you were all sleeping, the Radical Democrats advanced a plan that will be known as the $3.5 trillion Communist Plan to Destroy America.” 

“This legislation is an assault on our Nation, on our communities, and on the American Dream,” Trump argued.   

He went on to say that the plan “destroys our Borders and the rule of law by granting dangerous amnesty that will flood America’s beautiful cities” and “will overwhelm our schools, and make our Nation less safe.” 

“It raises taxes like we have never seen, while also making many things you buy everyday more expensive (gas, groceries, and much more),” he continued. “And don’t forget the crazy Green New Deal.” 

“America, you are being robbed in the dark of night,” he wrote. “It’s time to wake up!”

A memo sent to Democratic senators this week said that the spending package will include several top Democratic priorities, including immigration reform, combating climate change and free community college.

It is also expected to touch on funding for child care, health care, housing, education, job training and manufacturing, with Democrats proposing to pay for the bill in part though increased taxes on wealthy individuals and some corporations. 

While the budget resolution approved early Wednesday is a first step toward potentially bypassing the 60-vote threshold needed to approve most legislation in the Senate, Democrats may face obstacles to uniting their 50-member caucus in the form of pushback from more centrist members of the party. 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Wednesday that he had “serious concerns” about the spending package, citing the “current state of the economic recovery” amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has also said that she opposed the amount called for in the spending package, committing herself to reducing the price tag during negotiations in the coming weeks.