Terminating the National Emergency Declared to Impose Global Tariffs

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, yesterday did indeed mark the 100th day of President Trump's second term, and I think, if you were to pick four words that really describe his first 100 days, it would be promises were made, and promises are being kept. That is precisely what he has done.

If you want to go through some of these, let's start at the southern border.

Under President Biden, criminals, terrorists, and traffickers were flowing across that border, but because President Trump on day one took Executive action to secure that border, illegal crossings are at their lowest level in decades. This is something the American people wanted to see done.

In March, those crossings were down 95 percent from the last administration. I understand that this past weekend, they had the lowest number ever--a 99-percent reduction. They had three people who were apprehended.

When you look at deportations, the Trump administration has already removed more than 100,000 criminal illegal aliens. This number has included suspected terrorists, members of violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, and we know that more of those deportations are going to take place.

President Trump is fulfilling the promise he made to make this Nation safe again, to make our communities safe again, and to get these violent gangs and criminals off our streets.

Now, even though these efforts have been very successful and are widely supported by the American people, we have seen some powerful institutions in our country try to block the will of the people and what they wanted to see done. This includes some of our Nation's social media companies. According to reports, Facebook is allowing a black market to thrive on its platform where illegal aliens can buy ride share and delivery driver accounts from credentialed users. In effect, what this black market does is help illegals avoid background checks and be able to work in our country illegally using someone else's name and credentials.

This is not something that is a new problem. Last year, I led a probe into the account security of food delivery services after we had received reports that showed illegal aliens were buying access to the accounts of legitimate users. Thankfully, companies like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub implemented stronger driver verification processes after we began this investigation, but Facebook's black market really helps illegals to bypass those protections.

There is one Facebook group that has been out there, and here is the name of it: ``UBER ACCOUNT FOR RENT WORLDWIDE.'' This account tallied 22,000 members who bought and sold delivery credentials.

While the social media platform has taken that specific group down, what we did find is there are now 80 similar groups that are active on Facebook.

This black market not only runs afoul of the law, but it also poses a serious public safety threat, especially for women, children, and the elderly. Just in February--and this is a case in point--there was a lady in Massachusetts. She was allegedly raped after ordering an Uber Eats delivery to her home. The app indicated that a woman would be delivering her order. Instead, an illegal alien with horrific intentions is who showed up on her doorstep.

Last week, I sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding answers about what his company is doing to eliminate this black market from Facebook. He has until May 6 to respond to the questions.

I will continue to press this issue of accountability and public safety with the big tech giants.

While President Trump has worked to secure our border and our communities, he has also focused on making our economy stronger than ever before. In the last 100 days, he has slashed Democrats' far-left regulations, has unleashed American energy production, and has secured trillions of dollars in investment to support American workers and industry.

Now, in Tennessee, we have seen some of the benefits of that, and we have seen millions of dollars in investments. The candy company Charms is investing nearly $100 million to expand its production plant and distribution center in Covington, TN. Mount Juliet was included in a $700 million nationwide investment by Schneider Electric to boost domestic manufacturing and energy infrastructure. Electronics company ABB is investing $80 million in Selmer, TN, to expand manufacturing and to create new jobs.

Later today, I am going to be joining President Trump at the White House as he welcomes many CEOs of these companies that are making these investments in our Nation.

As the President works to usher in a new golden age, we are already seeing incredible results.

In March, our economy added 228,000 jobs, beating expectations by almost 100,000 jobs.

That same month, falling energy costs pushed inflation down to 2.4 percent. That is tied with the lowest inflation rate since February 2021. That was 1 month after President Biden took office and ushered in the worst inflation crisis since the 1970s.

President Trump and my Republican colleagues believe that Americans should have more money in their pocketbooks, not less, which is why we are working to extend the President's 2017 tax cuts. These tax cuts delivered historic growth for the economy, and if we fail to extend them, families and businesses will face the largest tax hike in history. It would be a $4 trillion tax hike.

That is why, earlier this month, Republicans in Congress passed a budget resolution that will enable us to extend these expiring cuts. At the same time, we are advancing other tax priorities that are championed by the President, including his proposal to cut taxes on Social Security.

By taxing Social Security, the Federal Government is taxing a tax. It makes no sense. Social Security recipients have paid into this program for decades. They deserve the full sum of their Social Security income. However, nearly 66 percent of retirees are paying taxes on their Social Security benefits because Bidenflation pushed seniors' benefits into higher income brackets.

To address this, I have introduced the RETIREES First Act. It would lower the tax burden on Social Security benefits for seniors by raising the provisional income threshold from $25,000 to $34,000 for single filers and from $32,000 to $68,000 for married filers.

In effect, this legislation would eliminate income taxes for many of our Nation's retirees, leaving them with more money in their paychecks.

As we work on these tax provisions and more, I am looking forward to working with President Trump to deliver relief for hard-working Tennesseans and, indeed, all Americans.

We are the greatest Nation on Earth, and with strong leadership back in the White House, we can get this Nation back on track.

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