One Big, Beautiful Bill
Floor Speech
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Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, this past November, the country voted overwhelmingly to send Republican majorities to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and put President Donald Trump back in the White House. That mandate made it clear that the American people were ready to get the country back on track. We wanted less government spending, more secure borders, and we wanted to see the 2017 tax cuts made permanent to prevent tax hikes on every American. The majority cannot take that mandate for granted, and this week we have the opportunity to give the country what they voted for.
Our one big, beautiful bill is exactly what voters want. It delivers the largest tax cut for middle- and working-class families in decades. It cuts taxes on tips and overtime, allowing American workers to keep more of their hard-earned money. It increases the child tax credit, which helps offset some of the costs of raising a family. It extends and expands the 199A business tax deduction, which will help incentivize investment across the country and spur economic growth. Our bill is the most proworker, profamily legislation Congress has seen in a generation.
The one big, beautiful bill will secure the border once and for all and make America safe again. The border was the number one issue on the campaign trail, and President Trump and his administration have made historic efforts to remove bad actors here illegally and make our country safe again. Illegal border crossings have plummeted, but Congress needs to act to ensure the proven policies of President Trump are codified and continued for generations to come. Our bill makes historic investments in our border security by ensuring we can finish the border wall, stop the trafficking of fentanyl, and give our Border Patrol agents the resources that they need.
Our bill invests in our national security by ensuring our defense systems are prepared to handle 21st century threats. It invests in cutting-edge technology that our warfighters and our military needs for its readiness. This package invests in modernizing our Nation's air traffic control systems and cuts wasteful spending in the Green New Deal pet projects that only benefit far-left activists, all while strengthening the safety net for those who are the most vulnerable Americans and our Nation's agriculture community at the same time. It cuts wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive spending and gets able-bodied adults back on the ladder of opportunity while giving them a fair shot at the American Dream.
I am pleased with all we have been able to accomplish in this one big, beautiful bill, and now it is time to get it over the finish line. It is frustrating that some of my Democratic colleagues hate President Trump so much that they refuse to work with him even when it means securing a more prosperous future for America. Instead, they have chosen to lie again.
The lie that they tell us is that by making tax cuts permanent, Congress is taking money from working-class and low-income families to give tax cuts to the rich. The facts show that this is the farthest thing from the truth. President Biden's own Treasury Department reported that the average person would see a 2.2 percent tax cut if the Trump tax cuts were extended. According to the Tax Foundation, the bottom 50 percent of earners in the country saw their average Federal tax rate fall by 15 percent when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took effect. On the other hand, the top 1 percent of earners only saw a decrease of about 5 percent during that same period. Some of my colleagues across the aisle may want to force a tax hike on the vast majority of American families next January, but, please, let's just be honest about it.
Some of my Democrat colleagues have been clear that they are anti- Trump. I would like to ask, then what are they for? The truth is they are here to fight for future tax hikes, foreign energy reliance, wasteful spending, government dependence, and a future of America last.
On the other hand, Kansans from the Big First sent me here to fight for working families, tax cuts, energy dominance, the military, American agriculture, and the American Dream, a future of America first. That is what I am focused on doing, along with President Trump, and that is what the one big, beautiful bill is all about.
I am looking forward to supporting our bill when it comes to the floor for a full vote and delivering on the mandate the country gave us on November 5, 2024. We can't afford to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity, Mr. Speaker.
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