Democrats claim Trump’s travel ban is just a distraction so his spending bill can get through Congress

Democrats claim the travel ban announced by President Donald Trump is a way to distract people from his spending bill that will “steal from regular Americans.”

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said it was “not a coincidence” that Trump announced the travel ban Thursday as his spending bill is currently being debated in the Senate and accused him of “trying to distract us from the core story.” The president also announced an investigation into former President Joe Biden’s actions while in office.

The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan body in Congress that scores how much legislation costs, estimated that extending the tax cuts in the bill would raise the national debt by $3.8 trillion.

Murphy said the president’s massive domestic legislation bill, which includes extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, beefed up spending at the U.S.–Mexico border and major changes to the social safety net, would be the toughest on the poorest Americans.

“The actual agenda here is to steal from regular Americans in order to pad the pockets of the rich,” Murphy said Thursday on MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.

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“Nobody wants that. It’s super unpopular. So how do you get that done? You distract people by making them think that they’re at war with other Americans,” Murphy explained. “It is chiefly in service of trying to get us all talking about that or talking about the Biden investigation they launched today instead of talking about the centerpiece of the story, which is this bill to make the rich even richer at the expense of everybody else.”

The sentiment was backed by Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia of Illinois. “This travel ban won't make America safer or greater— instead it will isolate us and make people believe they have something to fear,” Garcia reacted in a post on X. “It's a distraction from the corruption of the Trump Administration.”

Actor Wendell Pierce, who spoke at last year’s Democratic National Convention, agreed. “Trump’s travel ban is a distraction from the $2.4 trillion deficit his tax bill adds to the budget,” he wrote in a post on X. “The 93% benefits to the 1% comes at a cost. Cutting Medicare, SNAP, and other benefits to the poor. The billionaire class are reaping the benefits of Trump’s criminal enterprise.”

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Dem strategist Sawyer Hackett, who worked for Obama, added: “A travel ban and investigation of Trump’s predecessor in one night? Someone’s clearly trying to distract from his signature legislation tanking.”

Trump unveiled the new policy Thursday night. Travel will be fully restricted from 12 nations from 9 June: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Partial restrictions will apply to seven others: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Other Democrats said Trump’s travel ban was reminiscent of the deeply controversial “Muslim travel ban” he introduced during his first term.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar slammed the “discriminatory policy” as “beyond shameful” on social media, while Senator Adam Schiff said: “Bigotry is not a national security strategy”.