People’s Cabinet: Former Labor Secretaries Slam Trump’s Failing Economic Agenda
WASHINGTON, DC (APRIL 4, 2025) — In a press call with DNC Chair Ken Martin, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and former Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su called out Donald Trump’s reckless economic agenda. With Trump putting the economy on recession watch, it’s clear that Trump and his billionaire Cabinet – including his shadow president Elon Musk – will do nothing but hurt working families and tank economic growth with their reckless agenda.
This press call was part of the DNC’s recently-launched “People’s Cabinet” initiative, which features issue experts speaking to the American people about what’s really happening across the country as Trump fills his administration with unqualified billionaires, Fox News hosts, and mega-donors.
“A majority of Americans did not sign up for what they’re getting from Donald Trump. They didn’t sign up for an economic meltdown. They didn’t sign up to … have their health care, nursing homes, public schools and Social Security targeted,” said DNC Chair Ken Martin. “That’s why the DNC today is launching the People’s Cabinet, which is made up of experts, leaders, and everyday Americans from across the country who will cut through the noise and equip communities with the reliable, accurate information that they need and deserve.”
“We are in a crisis right now because of Donald Trump and his administration. They have created an economic crisis,” said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. “Not only do we have an employment report that shows that manufacturing jobs are almost stagnant in terms of where they’ve been and the Labor Department actually adjusted downward its figures for the last couple of months. … I’ve almost never seen something like this happen.”
“Donald Trump does not have a good track record on [manufacturing]. When he left office, manufacturing jobs were down 200,000 just within his first term … bringing back industry requires not just one blunt instrument, not just throwing out words like tariffs and doing them in a completely unstrategic fashion,” said former acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. “And so just watching an administration that has no real interest in governing, no real interest in making sound policy decisions, but rather just, you know, throwing out terms and words and hoping that people aren’t paying attention.”