-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I spent the last 4 weeks traveling all around the great State of Wyoming--from Cheyenne to Cody--and visited with people and families from all across the State. There was the State fair in Douglas, the Dubois firefighters' picnic, the River Festival and Shrimp Boil in Green River, WY, and pancake festivals in New Castle and Meeteetse.
One year ago, at events like this all around Wyoming, Wyoming families told me that they were very concerned because America, as they saw it, was heading in the wrong direction. They were really stressed about paying high prices a year ago. They were very angry about the wide open southern border. They were very anxious about what could have been a $4 trillion tax increase had the Democrats gotten their way. Well, Democrats have been the party of high prices and open borders, so it is no surprise that people in my home State and in the Presiding Officer's were so very concerned. They were concerned because they saw our country and their future. They were less safe and less prosperous. They were facing a grim reality--but, oh, what a difference a year makes.
Today, America is heading in the right direction. America is back on track. It is what I heard in every corner of Wyoming and what Americans are seeing all across the Nation.
On Labor Day, just this past weekend, gas prices were at a 5-year low for Labor Day gas prices. Small business optimism is at the highest in 5 months. Half a million new jobs have been created. Real wages continue to go up. Inflation is staying low, and we are repeatedly beating the economists' expectations.
Here in Washington, DC, a city known for its crime--now this city is safer and cleaner thanks to President Trump's commonsense policies. The American people were right to trust President Trump and Republicans in Congress to get America back on track. This is the beginning of the great American comeback.
The Republicans' working families tax cuts law is going to continue to make historic progress. Wyoming families are going to be saving $2,400 this year because of the tax cuts. Now, that is according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation. That is money back in people's pockets, paychecks, purses. That is where it belongs. This law cuts taxes on tips. No tax on tips puts an extra $1,300 back into the pockets of waiters, barbers, bartenders. The law also cuts taxes on overtime. No taxes on overtime puts an extra $1,400 back into the paychecks of nurses, firefighters, police officers. The child tax credit is higher. This saves working families $2,200 per child per year. Seniors are going to pay less in taxes this year because of a new $6,000 deduction on Social Security benefits.
The bottom line is this: Americans are going to keep more of what they earn. This is going to send less of the hard-earned money to Washington, DC, and Wyoming people clearly understand the meaning of wasteful Washington spending.
At the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas, I joined Wyoming families in celebrating our State's rich heritage and history. Republicans' new law supports our farmers and ranchers. The law's disaster assistance helps families whose grazing lands are destroyed by wildfires or by drought. Its full expensing of up to $2.5 million for new equipment is also going to help grow businesses. The change in our law to the death tax? Well, that is going to ease families' burdens and our worries, specifically providing certainty for families into the future. These policies make our farmers and our ranchers more prosperous and help feed the Nation.
Not a single Democrat voted for these popular policies--policies that are making America safer and more prosperous--not a single one. Every single Democrat voted, instead, to raise taxes by $4 trillion. That would have been the largest tax increase in American history. So it is no surprise Democrats are putting the fear before the facts when it comes to this law.
Just yesterday, Senator Schumer came to the floor and falsely claimed that the law doesn't help our rural hospitals. I need to set the record straight on that. Republicans created a $50 billion hospital--rural hospital--fund. It is specifically for rural hospitals. The Presiding Officer is from a rural hospital State, as am I. I am a doctor. I practiced medicine in Wyoming for two decades. I was the president of our Wyoming State Medical Society. I was the chief of staff of the hospital in which I practiced. I am in close contact with the hospitals and the doctors in my State.
Since ObamaCare became law over a decade ago, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed across the country. Many more are now at risk today. This $50 billion rural hospital fund means real relief for our Nation's rural hospitals. Yet every Democrat in this body voted against helping rural hospitals--every one of them. Democrats in this very body even introduced legislation in July to eliminate this $50 billion rural hospital fund.
Senator Schumer came to this very floor, and he bragged about the introduction of this bill that would hurt rural hospitals. At the same time, Democrats voted to continue to give free--free--taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants. That compounded the disaster of 4 years of Joe Biden's open border policies.
Well, President Trump took immediate action--action to secure the border, action to end the chaos, action to protect American citizens. This message is now clear around the world: Don't come here and expect to get through our border if you are illegally trying to come here.
Illegal crossings are now at record lows. For 3 months in a row, zero illegal immigrants were released into our country--zero. Republicans in Congress went even further with our recent bill. We are finishing the wall at the southern border, hiring more border agents, and investing in Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
From cutting taxes to securing the border, America is safer, stronger, and more prosperous today than it was a year ago. This is all the result of the work of President Trump and Republicans in Congress.
The people of Wyoming feel the difference, and they are not alone. People all across America see that our Nation is getting back on track.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source