By Jason Smith, Member of Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. – From his very first day in office, President Donald Trump has fought tooth and nail to restore fiscal sanity in Washington. It’s exactly what our nation needs after President Joe Biden and Washington Democrats added a whopping $10 trillion in new spending, which sparked the worst cost-of-living crisis in generations. Fortunately, with President Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, we are making significant progress in the fight to cut waste, fraud, and abuse.
With The One, Big, Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed into law on July 4, Republicans delivered the largest cut in mandatory spending in U.S. history: $1.5 TRILLION – that’s trillion with a “t”. We were able to accomplish this, in part, by making the most significant welfare reforms in U.S. history. Under that bill, illegal immigrants and able-bodied adults who choose not to work will no longer be able to benefit from Medicaid. This won’t just save taxpayer dollars – it will also help protect Medicaid for those who need it. But our fight to get our nation’s fiscal house in order didn’t stop there.
On July 18, Congress sent to the president’s desk legislation – known as a rescissions package – to claw back $9 billion in unnecessary and wasteful spending identified by the Trump administration. It wasn’t just a victory in the fight to reduce government spending; it was also a major win in our efforts to combat the Left’s radical agenda.
Through their investigation into government waste, fraud, and abuse, the Trump administration found shocking foreign aid initiatives funded with your taxpayer dollars during the Biden administration. Biden and Washington Democrats wanted to spend $2.1 million on climate resilience in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and East Africa. There was $5.1 million to strengthen the “resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movement.” Let’s not forget about the $3 million to fund Iraqi Sesame Street or the $1 million for voter ID in Haiti. That’s right: the same party that doesn’t want voter ID in America – and even calls it racist – wants to fund voter ID in Haiti. These are only a few examples of the spending cuts included in the recissions package.
Importantly, the legislation claws back $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes incredibly biased media networks like PBS and NPR. The CEO of NPR, Katherine Maher, called President Trump a “fascist” and “deranged racist”. And PBS is home to programming like “Real Boy” – a show about a trans teen – and “Our League” – a documentary about a transgender woman who “comes out to her old-school Ohio bowling league.” Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be funding TV shows and documentaries that advance the Left’s radical agenda and directly violate our rural, conservative values.
As families were struggling to afford gas and groceries, President Biden and Washington Democrats chose to waste taxpayer dollars to fund “legume research” abroad and electric busses in Rwanda. Instead of increasing resources for our brave border patrol agents amid the worst immigration crisis in U.S. history, they decided to use your tax dollars to fund free education and health care for migrants from Venezuela and Ecuador. Thankfully, President Trump and Republicans clawed back this wasteful spending.
In the four years Democrats had total control of Washington, they spent trillions of taxpayer dollars on things that benefitted the wealthy and the radical fringe of their party at the expense of the working class. They spent billions of taxpayer dollars to expand Obamacare subsidies for wealthy families, make it more affordable for the rich to purchase electric vehicles, and forgive student loan debt of lawyers and doctors. It’s just another reminder that Washington Democrats prioritize the wealthy and well-connected over the hardworking folks in rural communities.
While I’m glad Republicans are taking important steps to restore sanity in Washington, our fight is far from over. I will continue working around the clock to support President Trump’s efforts to combat the Left’s radical agenda and cut waste, fraud, and abuse.