Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to respond to some of the comments of my friend, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, who is also from Pennsylvania, just to say that in regards to the tax bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, individuals, families, and wage earners in my district are feeling the impact of that bill when they are filing their taxes.

They like the no tax on tips that so many in my district have taken advantage of and the no tax on overtime that so many have taken advantage of. I have had many seniors come to me and say that they had a lot more in their pockets after they filed their taxes this year.

I will put up our economic record in the last year, the impact on people in our districts, against that of the Biden administration anytime. We have an economy that is growing quickly. We have inflation at a manageable spot, and people are feeling it in their pocketbooks.

I was happy to hear the ranking member say that he supports a secure border, because, Mr. Speaker, you certainly wouldn't have known that during the past administration when Democrats were in control and we had thousands of people pouring across this border every single day, including individuals who were criminals, who were members of gangs, including drugs flowing across the border, and Democrats did nothing to stop that.

I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, in my district, when I talk to people of all political stripes, Democrats and Republicans alike, they support removing people from this country who are criminals and who are here illegally. They support the work of ICE in doing that. Democrats obviously do not. A shutdown should never be used.

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Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, we should never use a government shutdown to achieve any policy benefits. We have seen Democrats do that time and time again. We certainly shouldn't be using it to not fund those who are keeping Americans safe and who are removing criminals from our country.

That is what this bill is about today. We shouldn't be funding this in this way. It should be done through a regular appropriations bill, but we were not able to do that because we did not have Democrat support.

I don't like necessarily the way we are doing this, but there have to be grownups in the room, and those are Republicans right now who are going to ensure that those people who are working hard to keep Americans safe every day are going to be able to count on a paycheck at the end of the week.

This is an important bill. It is very unfortunate that Democrats continue to shut down the government over this issue, but Republicans are going to stand for the safety and security of the American people.

It is the number one thing that every one of us as elected officials should be doing. We should be ensuring that American individuals, American citizens, are safe and secure.

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