[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 129 (Thursday, August 6, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4483-S4484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Republican Party Accomplishments

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today because 
yesterday I heard the minority leader on the floor speaking about the 
economy. He sounded upset, sounded upset to hear that Americans were 
keeping more of their hard-earned money. He actually called it 
``disastrous.''
  Ninety-seven percent of Americans benefited from the Working Families 
Tax Cuts law. This is a benefit. This is not a disaster.
  What I see as disastrous is the Democrats' demand to raise taxes. 
They want to raise taxes on hard-working Americans all across the 
country. Democrats continue to think that they know how to spend your 
money better than you do. I think it has been a lifelong obsession with 
them. It is part of their DNA. It has been going on for years.
  Tax rates fell significantly this past year, and it is because 
Republicans cut taxes. So who are the people that benefited the most? 
Well, they are people with families that made less than $200,000 a 
year. That is where the benefits really hit home. It happened all 
across the country, from Connecticut to California, even though those 
States are represented by Democrats. People all across the country 
benefited. Families kept more of what they earned, and then they could 
make their own decisions about what to save, what to spend, what to 
invest.
  You know who knows it? People on Social Security know it. They got to 
keep more of their hard-earned money. People who work overtime know it 
because of no tax on overtime. People who work for tips know it because 
their tips weren't taxed.
  People understood and felt the improvement. One resident of Nevada 
recently said: I received the largest tax return in my entire life this 
year. Why? No tax on tips.
  Every single Democrat in this Chamber voted against these things. 
They wanted people who work on tips to pay more in taxes. Democrats 
wanted people on Social Security to pay more in taxes. Democrats wanted 
people who work overtime to pay more in taxes, and that is a defining 
difference.
  American people clearly understand this, and the American people are 
tired and sick of seeing their money, their taxpayer money, wasted on 
fraud, abuse, and corruption, and we are seeing those things across the 
country. People want to keep more of what they earn, and they know they 
are the best to judge how to spend it.

[[Page S4484]]

  That is what Republicans are fighting for. We are going to continue 
to fight for that. That is the direction our country is headed.
  And in November of 2024, people made a clear choice: They chose to 
vote for Republicans because they wanted America to be safer, stronger, 
and more prosperous. And we are today. Over the past 18 months, 
Republicans have upheld that commitment. We have delivered for the 
American people. We are making sure people keep more of what they earn.
  More than 60 million Americans benefited from the new tax benefits 
since Republicans passed the Working Families Tax Cuts law.
  Let me remind you about the Trump Accounts. More than 7 million 
American children are now signed up this year for this special new 
investment account. It is an astonishing thing. Families, friends, 
community groups, and even businesses are already investing in them. 
This is clearly strengthening the American dream for the next 
generation.
  I also want to talk about the border because today our Nation's 
immigration laws are being strongly enforced. National security begins 
with border security. Absolutely zero illegal immigrants have been 
released into our country in over 14 months--absolutely zero--because 
Republicans have ended the reckless Joe Biden catch-and-release 
program. And what a disaster that was. Hundreds of thousands of 
illegal-immigrant criminals have now been arrested and deported since 
President Trump took office, and we are seeing the most secure border 
and the most successful deportation operation in all of American 
history.
  This year, Republicans also passed the Secure America Act. This law 
ensures that immigration officials have the resources that they need to 
keep our country safe and to keep our communities safe for years to 
come.
  I just want to mention affordability because today Congress is making 
it easier to build and easier to innovate. The largest housing reform 
bill in history is now the law of the land. We eliminated burdensome 
regulations, regulations that made it too costly to build a new home in 
America. And we are unlocking the American dream of home ownership for 
a new generation of Americans.
  Congress also passed the first major digital asset bill in American 
history; it is called the GENIUS Act. My colleague Cynthia Lummis from 
Wyoming has been a leader on the issue. It is time for the Senate to 
build on that by passing the Clarity Act. America is safer and stronger 
when we innovate.

  I also want to talk about some of the things we are doing here to 
make sure the President has his team fully in place, and those are 
confirmations. Today, Republicans are getting the President's team 
fully in place. Very soon, we will confirm an additional 74 nominees. 
Well, this will be clearly 600 people confirmed in the second Trump 
administration. Those are 60 more nominees than he had at this point in 
the first Trump administration, and we have done it in the face of 
historic obstruction by the Democrats.
  Now we see these same Democrats are trying to tear down our country, 
and they are trying it all across the Nation. The Democrats' agenda is 
not for a better America, not for a better future for our children, no, 
no. It is not even an agenda; it is a manifesto. The Democrats have 
come up with a ``manifesto''--that is their label for it, not mine, 
their label, the Democrats--the manifesto, and I see it as a roadmap to 
destroy America from people that hate America. When you listen to many 
of their candidates, it certainly doesn't seem like the thing that most 
Americans would want to see in their future.
  These people and their manifesto--it is radical; it is extreme; it is 
dangerous; it is scary. That is what our Nation is facing today. The 
Democrats, every one of them, wants to raise taxes on American 
families. The Democrat mantra calls for opening the borders. Their 
manifesto wants to defund the police. The manifesto wants to abolish 
prisons. The manifesto wants to release convicted criminals into our 
communities all across the country. The Democrat manifesto wants to 
eliminate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Under the extreme 
Democrat manifesto, the American people would be forced to pay more, 
earn less, and be less safe and secure. That is what we are facing now. 
Democrats have turned from a party of the extremists now to the party 
of radicals.
  Republicans are going to continue to be the party of results. That is 
the choice people are facing. What do you want? Results? Safety? 
Security? Prosperity? Radicals opening the prisons? Opening the 
borders? Raising your taxes?
  Republicans work fiercely to make America safer, stronger, and more 
prosperous. Republicans are going to continue to fight for freedom, for 
liberty, and a continuation of American greatness because that is the 
future that I believe the American people want and deserve.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.