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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the American people deserve to have more money in their own pockets. The Working Families Tax Cut law made that happen. Republicans stopped the largest single tax increase in American history. That is what the Democrats wanted.

Americans already filed their taxes this year, and working families are keeping more of what they earned, and the data proves it.

More than 7\1/2\ million Americans benefited from the no-tax-on-tips policy that we put into place right here on this Senate floor. So today, there are waiters, barbers, bartenders, tour guides--all were able to claim deductions--and it averaged over $7,100 in deductions-- because of no tax on tips. More than 29 million Americans benefited from no tax on overtime. These are firefighters, police officers, and nurses. They are linemen and coal miners in Wyoming. They claimed an average deduction of over $3,000--all as a result of the law the Republicans have passed. Money that once went to bureaucrats in Washington, DC, now stays in the pockets of hard-working Americans, and that is where it belongs.

Had Democrats gotten their way, taxes would have gone up by a lot. Every Democrat in this Chamber voted to continue taxing tip income, overtime income. They just wanted to get a hand on people's money. Every Democrat voted to raise taxes by $4 trillion. Well, because Republicans were in the majority in the Senate and in the House, we were able to stop this Democrat price increase and tax increase.

Now what we see is that extremist Democrats in Governor mansions across the country and State legislatures are trying to undermine the Working Families Tax Cut law, and they are doing it in city halls and in State capitals.

In Washington, DC--right here--the city council tried to force hard- working Americans to pay taxes to the city. They can't force them to pay it to the Federal Government; hey, the city wants the money on tips and on overtime. The city council of Washington, DC, refused to allow the hard-working waiters, bartenders, police officers, and firefighters to keep that hard-earned money. They didn't have to pay it on Federal taxes, but local taxes in DC--the DC city council said: Give it to us. This is the city that is soon going to get a socialist mayor, just like they have in New York City right now.

Right now, in 21 different States, we have far-left Governors refusing to allow the tax cuts that we passed to be passed down to the State level. So Democrats in California, in New York, in Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia continue to take away people's tip money and overtime money so they can spend it locally. That is the States and the cities, not the people, the individuals.

So just like Democrats here in Congress, the leaders in Democrat States around the country want to raise taxes, not cut them. They believe they can spend your money better than you can. They believe they make better decisions than you do. They decide, and you end up as a loser if you are living in one of those liberal States.

Well, we know why Democrats refuse to loosen the grip on your tax dollars. Democrats want to take more money out of your pocket to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants. And that is what we see in so many of these States with sanctuary cities, sanctuary States--free healthcare. And it is not free. People pay for it. It is taxpayers. It is people going to work every day and having their tax dollars taken to pay for healthcare for illegal immigrants. That seems to be part of the manifesto that the extremists in the Democrat Party are trying to slam down the throats of American taxpayers.

We know these extremists are winning Democrat primaries all across the country. Their manifesto includes mass amnesty, open borders, and elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the country. That is what they are demanding, and it is not for the benefit of the American people. That is the agenda of the radical left.

In far-left States, from California to Minnesota, we have seen their policies in action. Working families are overtaxed, and fraud is out of control.

Now Democrats are going to make life less affordable. That is what we see. That is their model. Take it to the government; they know better than we do as taxpayers. That is not what the American people want.

Here is what Republicans are doing: We are protecting taxpayers. We are putting more money back in their pockets so they can decide how to spend it, how to save it, and what to invest in. We are fighting the fraud. And that is what I hear about so much in Wyoming--the fraud in Democrat States that Democrats ignore, that Democrats enable. It is awful fraud. You look at it and say: How can this continue?

Just this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that we stopped nearly $100 million in taxpayer money from going to dead people--going to dead people.

Just yesterday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services stopped more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding from going to California and Minnesota. Why? Because of fraud and failure to comply with the regulations to make sure that the money is actually not wasted, that the money is spent as it is supposed to be--taking care of people who need those services, and there are people who need those services. Every time a fraudster takes $1 or $100 or $1,000 or $1 million, that is services that don't go to people that need them, desperately need them.

Here in the Senate, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa is a leader in the war on fraud. When it comes to exposing that fraud, Senator Ernst is both a watchdog and an attack dog. She has proposed a comprehensive anti-fraud piece of legislation. Her bill cracks down on fraud. It claws back stolen money. It prosecutes the crooks and the criminals and the scammers who prey upon the taxpayers. I support what Senator Ernst is doing. I am a cosponsor. Her anti-fraud legislation would save taxpayers $240 billion. That is what kind of fraud is out there.

Senator Schumer recently said on this very floor that Democrats want to fight corruption. It is time for Democrats to prove it.

Republicans are cutting taxes. We are stopping fraud. Democrats, on the other hand, are voting to raise taxes and, up until now, have been protecting the fraud.

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