- 5/22/2025
During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) blocked Sen. Ed Markey's (D-MA) to exempt small businesses from President Trump's tariffs.
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00:00Senator from Massachusetts.
00:02Thank you, Mr. President, very much.
00:04Mr. President, today I rise to advocate to my colleagues in the Senate for my Small Business Liberation Act.
00:17And I do so with Leader Schumer and Senator Hirono, who have each already spoken on this very important issue.
00:26Here's what the bill would do.
00:28The bill would give relief from President Trump's disastrous, destructive, small business-killing tariffs that have been turning Main Street into Payne Street all over our country for the last seven weeks.
00:48I would also provide, with my bill, certainty to the constant whiplash and chaos that is President Trump's tariff policies
01:00by exempting small businesses from the baseline 10% tariffs and the tariffs that have been on a 90-day pause since April 9th.
01:14So let me just explain what I'm talking about.
01:18On April 7th, April 2nd, rather, President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on pretty much the whole world.
01:30In other words, a 10% tax on anything coming into the country, 10%.
01:38He also imposed an additional, called reciprocal tariff, on April 2nd as well.
01:48And those tariffs, for example, were an additional 20% on the EU, or an additional, we'll just say 32% on Fiji, for whatever reason.
02:04So, that was an incredible additional tax on top of the 10% tax, which he imposed on the same day.
02:11So, on April 9th, the President said, well, we'll wait, we'll wait 90 days on those additional tariffs,
02:20on the EU for 20%, the 32% for Fiji, the 24% additional for Japan.
02:29We'll put that aside, but we're going to keep the 10% on.
02:34Now, for a big company, maybe they can figure that out.
02:38They can ride that out to 10%.
02:40However, if you are a small business in our country,
02:45and all of a sudden there's a new 10% tax you have to pay on all of those goods which you're bringing into our country,
02:52and then there's a kind of a sort of Damocles sitting out there as well,
02:56that there could be, in July, which is only six weeks away, an additional 20% if those products come in from Europe,
03:05well, you're going to have a chilling effect that is placed on your business decisions, without question.
03:12They don't have the leeway to be able to make the kind of whiskier decisions that perhaps a big business could,
03:21to just ride through all these tariffs.
03:24So all across every Main Street in our country, these small businesses are getting paralyzed by the Trump actions.
03:31And again, we're going to start with this.
03:33There's a 10% tariff tax already in place right now since April 2nd on every good coming into our country.
03:41So this is a very dangerous place to put the small businesses of our country.
03:48And even as the vast majority of small businesses are seeing massive tariff-induced cost hikes,
03:57this administration is offering exemptions, exemptions for billion-dollar corporations.
04:04If you can get a dinner invitation to Mar-a-Lago, like the heads of Apple and Google,
04:09you can secure an exemption for your industry.
04:12Now, in almost every instance, that is preceded by a big, big multimillion-dollar contribution
04:20to some entity that the Trump administration would like you to give that money to.
04:27And then Apple's out. Google's out. They're not any longer affected by the tariffs.
04:33But no one on Main Street can afford to go to Mar-a-Lago to give the president a million dollars.
04:37That probably exceeds the total worth of their business.
04:40So that's the problem with where we are.
04:43And by the way, it's also why the National Chamber of Commerce says that small businesses should get an exemption.
04:52It's not me. It's the National Chamber of Commerce that says that they should get an exemption.
04:58And 97% of all companies that do business on an international basis are small businesses.
05:06And they constitute 30% of all trade.
05:09The National Chamber of Commerce is saying they should all be exempted.
05:13That's what my bill does.
05:15It says, exempt those 97% of all businesses that constitute 30% of trade from these tariffs.
05:23From the 10% tariff.
05:25From the upcoming six weeks from now.
05:29Upwards of 20%, 30%, 40% more tariffs that are being imposed on countries around the world.
05:35While we're waiting for the president to negotiate bilateral agreements with each one of these entities.
05:40Well, so far, after a month and a half, he's up to exactly one agreement with the United Kingdom.
05:46That's it.
05:47He's got dozens and dozens to go and no time on the clock.
05:52And that's what small businesses look at.
05:54They're looking up at the clock.
05:56They're saying, how long can I last?
05:58I survive week to week.
05:59I survive month to month.
06:00I can't afford to be paying these tariffs.
06:02I'm wondering if there's a new tariff which is coming in.
06:05And all across our country, these numbers are unbelievable.
06:09In Massachusetts, we have 7 million people.
06:11We have 700,000 small businesses.
06:13Well, the same thing is true for the country.
06:15There are 330 million Americans and there's 33 million small businesses.
06:21There is a small business in America for every 10 people.
06:24And that person right now is looking on with fear that their future has a cloud over it.
06:35And those small businesses, they account for two out of every three jobs added to our economy in the last 25 years.
06:42They are our engine of growth.
06:45So I've heard from small businesses all across Massachusetts, all across our country, about how they're forcing those businesses to lay off employees, scale back benefits, or even shut their doors in some cases.
07:00And I spoke with Brandel Randolph, founder of 1854 Cycling Company, an electric bike manufacturer based in Massachusetts.
07:11And here's what Brandel told me.
07:13He shared the story that his company finally, finally, after years of work, recovered from the $45 million which they lost during COVID, only to now be forced to decide whether or not they can weather this new tariff disaster hanging over their head.
07:33So they've moved from COVID to tariffs.
07:38None of this having been in any way instigated by the small businesses of our country.
07:43They don't have anything to do with it.
07:44They just keep coming into their lives.
07:46And the messages from 1854 and other small businesses across the country is clear.
07:53These tariffs are going to threaten to put them out of business.
07:58Small businesses are not Democrat.
08:00They're not Republican.
08:02This should not be a partisan issue.
08:04And I am disappointed that President Trump continues to ignore the outrage and the opposition of his irrational and ill-advised tariff policy.
08:13It's time for the Senate to stand up and exempt small businesses in our country.
08:19There's a trade war going on.
08:22We should allow small businesses not to be drafted into this war because they are the ones that will be the casualty.
08:28So, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of S-1593,
08:38and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration that the bill be considered read a third time and passed,
08:45and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
08:54Is there an objection?
08:56Mr. President?
08:57Senator from Ohio.
08:58Reserving the right to object, and if my Democrat colleague could just yield for a very brief question for clarification,
09:04I think for those listening, how do you define a small business?
09:08Well, a small business is defined in the small business administration definitions,
09:19and those are the businesses which we would exempt, and it can be different depending upon the industry or its status.
09:31But in general, what we're using is the definition used by the Small Business Administration.
09:36And just for clarification for my colleague, that's actually 500 employees or less.
09:42So I think when we're talking about small businesses, I just want to clarify that we're talking about 500 employee businesses.
09:49So, first of all, I also want to actually thank my colleague for caring about small businesses.
09:56Certainly as a small business owner up until four months ago, I think we should have much more passion here in this chamber around small businesses.
10:05So I truly commend you for that.
10:08I also commend you in a very big and meaningful way for the vote you took 25 years ago,
10:13where you voted against giving China normalization status to the United States.
10:18I think that was a courageous vote.
10:19You were on the right side of history.
10:21That disastrous situation has led China to grow its GDP from 1.2 trillion back then when you voted to 25 trillion today.
10:31So the fact that you went against some of your colleagues and took that vote shows that you're somebody who's independently minded and understands what businesses go through.
10:41Truly, truly commend you for that because there is no worse bill in American history than that act.
10:49That act destroyed companies, not just in all over America, but specifically, Mr. President, in your state and in my state.
10:57We see it every day, don't we?
10:59When we go on a campaign trail, when we're driving around Missouri or we're driving around Ohio, we see the remnants of companies that once existed.
11:07But let's talk about how we can liberate small businesses and maybe we can agree on these plans.
11:13Number one, in the 2017 tax reform, the 2017 Tax and Jobs Cuts Act.
11:23What's interesting to me as a small business owner is that very large companies had their taxes made permanent,
11:31but it was small businesses that those tax rates expired.
11:36In fact, they expired this year.
11:39And the bill that we're looking to advance here in the Senate is a bill that would make those tax rates permanent.
11:47Let me just repeat that.
11:48We're not looking to cut taxes because that's what you hear from my colleagues quite a bit.
11:53We're looking to make the 2017 tax reform permanent, not for big companies, not for the massive companies that are headquartered in Massachusetts,
12:02but for the small businesses in Ohio and Missouri and other places around the country that are going to see a massive increase in their taxes if we don't take action.
12:13To put it in numbers, it's a $4 trillion tax increase for businesses.
12:18So we're going to liberate small businesses.
12:21Join me in calling for the 2017 tax reform to be made permanent.
12:27Let's reform onerous regulations, especially in the banking sector.
12:33If you were a small business over the last four years, it was really hard to get access to banking because banks were basically shutting out small businesses from lending.
12:44The big banks kept getting bigger. Community banks, which is what small businesses rely on, were getting absolutely tortured.
12:52We need better energy policies.
12:54What that means is certainly not banning coal, which is important in my state, natural gas, which we have a thousand years of reserve.
13:02And I've offered to my colleague, we'll build a big, beautiful pipeline right to Massachusetts.
13:06You'll never need energy again from Canada or any other place.
13:10You can get it right from Ohio.
13:12Better workforce policies.
13:14Ending the incredible amount of onerous over-litigation.
13:19Those types of policies will liberate small businesses.
13:22How do I know it?
13:23Because I've been a small business owner my entire life.
13:27So let's talk about the subject at hand and tariffs.
13:31Tariffs are exactly intended to help these kinds of companies.
13:36When a Mexican company came in and bought Republic Steel in Canton, Ohio, the first thing they did was take all the equipment that was valuable, ship it to Mexico,
13:48massively laid off the employees, sucked all the cash out of the business, and left a 258-acre environmental disaster in the heart of Canton, Ohio.
13:57Now that same steel is made in Mexico, and they wanted to ship that steel into the United States completely tariff free.
14:04What was the impact on small businesses around that steel mill, the restaurants, the hairdressers, the grocery stores, the doctors, the dentists who relied on those employees?
14:15Devastation. Devastation reigned.
14:17In Lordstown, Ohio, we once had a General Motors facility that employed 10,000 people, 6 million square feet, made the highest quality products of any facility in America.
14:32Production was shifted to Mexico.
14:34Now that facility sits basically idle.
14:37What was the impact on the small businesses in Lordstown, Ohio?
14:40Total and complete devastation.
14:43So while I appreciate my colleagues' desire, I really, really do.
14:48I've had a chance to meet you in your office. I think you're a good man.
14:51I really say that with total earnestness on my part.
14:54But let's actually liberate small businesses.
14:57Let's give them certainty on taxes.
15:00Let's keep their tax rates permanent, just like the big guys got.
15:04Why do the big guys get permanency and the little guys who don't have access to the halls of Congress,
15:10why do they get the tax rates to go up?
15:13Let's give them better energy policies that allow them to have energy costs down.
15:18Let's give them better workforce policy.
15:20Let's end the reign of terror of litigation that hits small businesses that drives up insurance costs.
15:27And let's give them good workforce policies.
15:30And let's support. Let's unite as a country.
15:34As President Trump tries to undo, Senator, what you tried to do 25 years ago.
15:3925 years ago, you wanted this country to stand up to China and say,
15:44no, we will not give you normalization, because if we do, you'll destroy our economy.
15:49And they have.
15:50Let's rally around President Trump.
15:52It's been just over a hundred and some odd days.
15:55He's trying to reverse 25 years of bad behavior.
15:59We should be in this chamber saying, look, go out and do that.
16:02Negotiate.
16:03We have your back.
16:04Fight for America.
16:06Fight for American workers.
16:07Fight for American small businesses.
16:09That's the message other countries need to hear.
16:12They shouldn't be hearing from this chamber that we're not united as Americans
16:16and making the best deal for American workers.
16:19And with that, and therefore, I object.
16:22The objection is heard.
16:24Mr. President.
16:25The Senator from Massachusetts.
16:26Thank you, Mr. President.
16:27First of all, I want to say that I appreciate the comments of the gentleman from Ohio.
16:34But here's the bottom line.
16:37This isn't just about China.
16:40The President hasn't targeted just China.
16:44He hasn't explained his just China strategy.
16:48He's imposed these tariffs all across the world.
16:53All across the world.
16:54Every country.
16:55And yeah, the legislation that we have, it doesn't touch the steel tariffs that are imposed.
17:03We don't touch those.
17:05They can stay in place.
17:06We don't touch them.
17:07But here's the bottom line.
17:10You can't make silk for U.S. ties in the United States.
17:15You can't grow coffee in the United States.
17:18I could go on and on and on and on and on.
17:21Product after product after product that's sold on Main Street in America.
17:26Putting a 10% tariff on, and then on top of that, a potential additional 20%, 30%, 40%.
17:33Well, it's not going to do anything for the person on Main Street with the small business.
17:39It's just going to make it almost impossible for them to import those goods that they need
17:44to sell in their stores on every Main Street in America.
17:48That's what they're saying to us.
17:50And this 10% tariff is still going to stay on.
17:53We're only six weeks from having the sort of Damocles of 20% more for the EU.
17:58And countries all around the world, Japan, Israel, you name it, India.
18:05It's just dozens and dozens of countries, you know, that aren't China.
18:11But there's no plan.
18:12The President's making it up as he goes along.
18:14But the people who are going to suffer are going to be the small business people.
18:18If you import toys, and there's maybe 20 different countries from which you import your toys
18:23to put on the shelves of your stores on Main Street everywhere,
18:27and then parents can go in to buy the present for their child, I just think it's unrealistic.
18:34The President's saying, well, maybe the kids can get by with three dolls instead of 30.
18:38No, that's not how it's going to work.
18:40The store's going out of business.
18:42The store has a certain predictable business model in terms of how much revenue they're going to have per year
18:49based upon what they can import.
18:51If the President had a plan, I'd like to hear it, but I don't.
18:55I haven't heard him talk about how he is ultimately going to get a deal with dozens of countries in six weeks.
19:02There's no likelihood of that happening.
19:04But a small business person can't take that risk.
19:07So that's why, again, this short-term pain that the President keeps talking about for long-term gains,
19:16well, honestly, in the short run, these businesses are going under, the small businesses.
19:25And there may be some posthumous vindication of the President's theory about these tariffs,
19:31you know, two years, three years, five years from now,
19:34that won't really do these small businesses any good.
19:37So let the big businesses fight it out.
19:40And don't allow the Googles and the Apples to buy their way out of it.
19:46You know, in the Civil War, there was an old saying.
19:48It was a rich man's war, but a poor man's fight.
19:51Meaning the rich men could buy their way out of the draft.
19:57Rich man's war, poor man's fight.
20:00So big business of war, but it's going to be fought by small businesses on Main Street
20:09who are going to be the victims.
20:10Those are always the casualties.
20:12And they've been drafted into this battle of big businesses.
20:15So, again, I appreciate the comments of the gentleman from Ohio.
20:19I think he's wrong.
20:20I think we should exempt small businesses and let them know
20:24that they are not going to be driven out of business by this still unplanned guided missile
20:35heading right towards every Main Street in our country that's going to be destructive
20:39of the hard-earned success those small businesses have had.
20:44And with that, Mr. President, I yield back.
20:49Senator from Ohio.
20:51Real quickly and again, I truly respect my colleague and his point of view.
20:57I want to remind him that there was a great Massachusetts resident's family that hasn't felt.
21:03You know what they used to do, or they still do.
21:05The brothers created a company called Hasbro.
21:08Those toys used to be made in the United States of America.
21:11They were employing lots of American citizens, and they shipped all that production to China and elsewhere.
21:18And communities suffered as a result.
21:21As I said, and if you notice, my colleague did not address any of the points that I made.
21:26Because if you talk to any small business owner, you'll tell them the number one priority right now is for us to make their tax rates permanent.
21:32It's not a tax cut.
21:33No matter how many times my colleagues will say it's a tax cut for billionaires, it's objectively not true.
21:39This is permanency of the current rates.
21:42Only in Washington DC, by the way, would keeping things the same be considered a tax cut.
21:50It's ludicrous, and it makes no sense.
21:52And since you asked for the plan, here's the plan.
21:55We're going to make America the best place to do business.
21:58We're going to give American companies and American citizens the best tax rates so they can grow and thrive here.
22:04We're going to give them a regulatory environment that's not overbearing, that doesn't kneecap companies.
22:09We're going to make certain we protect critical industries, like steel, which I appreciate that.
22:14I think we should put, by the way, a full tariff on all major steel products, like for example, appliances.
22:21This country was once the epicenter of appliance manufacturing.
22:25And now there's only one company, Whirlpool, which I'm proud makes their appliances primarily in Ohio.
22:31And yet they have to compete with cheap appliances coming in from China.
22:36We have a plan. The plan is very simple.
22:39We're going to have fair and reciprocal trade.
22:41And you're right, it's not just China.
22:43It is Japan that charges us tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
22:47And we allow them to bring their products here.
22:50South Korea, not only is that the case, but we also pay to defend them.
22:55Australia, great ally, great people.
22:57They tariff our meat, their meat can come in tariff-free.
23:01Canada and Mexico, great allies, large trading partners.
23:05But they've allowed their borders to be opened.
23:08They've allowed hundreds of thousands of Americans to die of fentanyl.
23:13I'm ecstatic that we have a President of the United States that says,
23:18no, we will not allow that to continue.
23:22And if you want to have a relationship with the United States of America,
23:26you're going to secure your borders.
23:28And you're going to make darn well necessary to secure your borders to protect American citizens.
23:34So that's the plan.
23:36The plan is to usher in a golden age for this country,
23:39where working-class Americans have the ability to live a good life,
23:44have a good job where a mom or a dad can provide for their kids,
23:49afford a home, afford a car, go on vacation every once in a while, and retire with dignity.
23:54That was once the dream of the Democrat Party.
23:57This is what we should unite around and rally around
24:01and make certain that all of our policies are pointed straight in that direction.
24:06So again, I appreciate the comments from my colleague.
24:10Hopefully, I think we can work together on some initiatives, as I laid out,
24:14good tax policy, good regulatory policy, good workforce policies
24:19that allow small businesses to thrive.
24:21Because as somebody who did that five months ago for my whole entire life,
24:26I am happy to hear that conversation happening here in the United States Senate.
24:32And with that, I yield the floor.