“Last year we cut taxes. Many people kept more money. People on Social Security kept more money. People who work overtime kept more money. People who work for tips kept more money. Democrats wanted all those people to pay more in taxes. Democrats want to raise your taxes. It's part of their DNA. People are sick of their money being wasted. We are fighting to let people keep more of their money. We've done a lot in 18 months. We passed a big tax cut. Many Americans are benefiting from the new tax law. Many children have investment accounts now. We are enforcing immigration laws. Zero illegal immigrants have been released in the U.S. in over 14 months. We arrested many criminal immigrants. We made it easier to build houses. We want the President's team in place. Democrats are trying to tear down the country. We are stopping them. They have a manifesto to destroy America. They want to raise your taxes. They want to open the borders. They want to defund the police. They want to get rid of prisons. They want to get rid of ICE. They are extreme. They are dangerous. They are scary. We must fight for freedom and liberty. We must fight against the radicals who want to destroy our country. We must fight for American greatness. That is the future people want and deserve.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. President, I come to the floor today because yesterday I heard the minority leader on the floor speaking about the economy. He sounded upset, sounded upset to hear that Americans were keeping more of their hard-earned money. He actually called it ``disastrous.'' Ninety-seven percent of Americans benefited from the Working Families Tax Cuts law. This is a benefit. This is not a disaster. What I see as disastrous is the Democrats' demand to raise taxes. They want to raise taxes on hard-working Americans all across the country. Democrats continue to think that they know how to spend your money better than you do. I think it has been a lifelong obsession with them. It is part of their DNA. It has been going on for years. Tax rates fell significantly this past year, and it is because Republicans cut taxes. So who are the people that benefited the most? Well, they are people with families that made less than $200,000 a year. That is where the benefits really hit home. It happened all across the country, from Connecticut to California, even though those States are represented by Democrats. People all across the country benefited. Families kept more of what they earned, and then they could make their own decisions about what to save, what to spend, what to invest. You know who knows it? People on Social Security know it. They got to keep more of their hard-earned money. People who work overtime know it because of no tax on overtime. People who work for tips know it because their tips weren't taxed. People understood and felt the improvement. One resident of Nevada recently said: I received the largest tax return in my entire life this year. Why? No tax on tips. Every single Democrat in this Chamber voted against these things. They wanted people who work on tips to pay more in taxes. Democrats wanted people on Social Security to pay more in taxes. Democrats wanted people who work overtime to pay more in taxes, and that is a defining difference. American people clearly understand this, and the American people are tired and sick of seeing their money, their taxpayer money, wasted on fraud, abuse, and corruption, and we are seeing those things across the country. People want to keep more of what they earn, and they know they are the best to judge how to spend it. That is what Republicans are fighting for. We are going to continue to fight for that. That is the direction our country is headed. And in November of 2024, people made a clear choice: They chose to vote for Republicans because they wanted America to be safer, stronger, and more prosperous. And we are today. Over the past 18 months, Republicans have upheld that commitment. We have delivered for the American people. We are making sure people keep more of what they earn. More than 60 million Americans benefited from the new tax benefits since Republicans passed the Working Families Tax Cuts law. Let me remind you about the Trump Accounts. More than 7 million American children are now signed up this year for this special new investment account. It is an astonishing thing. Families, friends, community groups, and even businesses are already investing in them. This is clearly strengthening the American dream for the next generation. I also want to talk about the border because today our Nation's immigration laws are being strongly enforced. National security begins with border security. Absolutely zero illegal immigrants have been released into our country in over 14 months--absolutely zero--because Republicans have ended the reckless Joe Biden catch-and-release program. And what a disaster that was. Hundreds of thousands of illegal-immigrant criminals have now been arrested and deported since President Trump took office, and we are seeing the most secure border and the most successful deportation operation in all of American history. This year, Republicans also passed the Secure America Act. This law ensures that immigration officials have the resources that they need to keep our country safe and to keep our communities safe for years to come. I just want to mention affordability because today Congress is making it easier to build and easier to innovate. The largest housing reform bill in history is now the law of the land. We eliminated burdensome regulations, regulations that made it too costly to build a new home in America. And we are unlocking the American dream of home ownership for a new generation of Americans. Congress also passed the first major digital asset bill in American history; it is called the GENIUS Act. My colleague Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming has been a leader on the issue. It is time for the Senate to build on that by passing the Clarity Act. America is safer and stronger when we innovate. I also want to talk about some of the things we are doing here to make sure the President has his team fully in place, and those are confirmations. Today, Republicans are getting the President's team fully in place. Very soon, we will confirm an additional 74 nominees. Well, this will be clearly 600 people confirmed in the second Trump administration. Those are 60 more nominees than he had at this point in the first Trump administration, and we have done it in the face of historic obstruction by the Democrats. Now we see these same Democrats are trying to tear down our country, and they are trying it all across the Nation. The Democrats' agenda is not for a better America, not for a better future for our children, no, no. It is not even an agenda; it is a manifesto. The Democrats have come up with a ``manifesto''--that is their label for it, not mine, their label, the Democrats--the manifesto, and I see it as a roadmap to destroy America from people that hate America. When you listen to many of their candidates, it certainly doesn't seem like the thing that most Americans would want to see in their future. These people and their manifesto--it is radical; it is extreme; it is dangerous; it is scary. That is what our Nation is facing today. The Democrats, every one of them, wants to raise taxes on American families. The Democrat mantra calls for opening the borders. Their manifesto wants to defund the police. The manifesto wants to abolish prisons. The manifesto wants to release convicted criminals into our communities all across the country. The Democrat manifesto wants to eliminate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Under the extreme Democrat manifesto, the American people would be forced to pay more, earn less, and be less safe and secure. That is what we are facing now. Democrats have turned from a party of the extremists now to the party of radicals. Republicans are going to continue to be the party of results. That is the choice people are facing. What do you want? Results? Safety? Security? Prosperity? Radicals opening the prisons? Opening the borders? Raising your taxes? Republicans work fiercely to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. Republicans are going to continue to fight for freedom, for liberty, and a continuation of American greatness because that is the future that I believe the American people want and deserve. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
View on ourcommons.ca ↗
