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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, on Independence Day, it truly was an Independence Day for the citizens of this Nation. And our President, President Trump, made history. He signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill, a once-in-a-generation victory that fulfills his promise to make America great again.

Across the board, this legislation will do so much for the citizens of this great Nation. And, of course, it will have such a positive impact on the lives of hard-working Tennesseans. It provides the largest tax cut in our Nation's history and that, no doubt, is going to supercharge our economy.

Now, for the State of Tennessee, Tennessee households will save an average of $2,600 each year in taxes. The families in our State will see an average take-home pay boost of over $10,000 each year.

These are numbers that we have received from the Council of Economic Advisers. By providing the largest ever investment in border security, this legislation empowers the Department of Homeland Security to complete President Trump's border wall and also to hire thousands of Border Patrol agents.

By eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in far-left Green New Deal spending, it puts our Nation on a more sustainable fiscal path. By bolstering our military, it ensures that we can, indeed, achieve peace through strength. By enacting commonsense permitting reforms, it helps to make American energy dominant again.

Now, these are some of the top-line accomplishments. For months, Republicans worked to include as many wins as possible in the One Big Beautiful Bill. I have long fought to eliminate taxes on Social Security, which is why I am so pleased that we were able to secure a $6,000 enhanced deduction for each of our seniors. And that is an annual deduction--$6,000 per individual, per year. It also makes permanent the enhanced child tax credit while expanding access to childcare provided by employers.

These measures, which I have argued for, will empower working parents to keep their jobs while having the time to rear their children.

Year after year, I have introduced legislation that would require our Border Patrol to DNA test and fingerprint children who arrive at our Nation's borders without their parents. These measures would help end the modern-day slavery of human trafficking, and they were signed into law as part of the Big Beautiful Bill.

To support our military and our research communities in Tennessee, I was pleased to secure increased funding for our Oak Ridge National Lab and the U.S. Coast Guard in Memphis.

The legislation also levels the playing field for Tennessee's independent music creators by including my HITS Act, which provides them with additional tax relief for writing off their recording expenses.

In short, Tennesseans and Americans have so much to celebrate with this legislation, but because it was delivered by President Trump and Republicans, our friends across the aisle have resorted to fearmongering and lying about it.

Some have claimed that the Big Beautiful Bill will kick Tennessee families off Medicaid. That is false. In fact, Tennesseans will see zero cuts to their Medicaid benefits. Instead, the legislation actually strengthens Medicaid by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in a program that saw more than $1 trillion in improper payments over the last decade.

Those numbers come from a government audit. Twenty-five percent of the payments that are made by Medicaid are improper payments. So by placing work requirements, which are common sense, on childless, able- bodied adults in Medicaid expansion States, it protects benefits for vulnerable Americans who rely on Medicaid, including pregnant women, seniors, low-income families, and people with disabilities.

It also removes Federal benefits for more than 1 million illegal aliens who are receiving free healthcare paid for courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.

Other Democrats have claimed that the One Big Beautiful Bill is a tax cut for billionaires, and that also is false. In fact, low-income workers will see the largest percentage reduction in their tax liability.

In Tennessee, it will prevent the potential loss of 129,000 jobs, $11.5 billion in wages, and $22.5 billion in GDP.

Some Democrats have even claimed that the One Big Beautiful Bill fails to provide tax relief to seniors on Social Security. As I mentioned earlier in my remarks, the legislation provides a $6,000 bonus deduction to millions of low- and middle-income seniors.

Now, it is really unfortunate for the Democrats as they continue to try to demean the bill that is now the law of the land. The American people will see through their lies because they will see all of the benefits that are coming from this legislation. When they do, one thing will be clear: This legislation that is now the law of the land, the One Big Beautiful Bill, is a victory for hard-working American citizens.

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