WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) recapped her first term legislative accomplishments and previewed her priorities for the new term.  

 Click here to download a video of the speech.

REMARKS AS PREPARED:

Blackburn Honored to Serve Tennesseans for Another Term

Last week, I joined one-third of my Senate colleagues in taking the oath of office to start our new terms. While taking that oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, I was reminded of the immense honor I have to serve the people of Tennessee.

Blackburn Highlights Legislative Accomplishments From First Term

Over the last six years, I have fought to give them a voice here in Washington to defend the things that truly matter: faith, family, freedom, hope, and opportunity.  To be sure, we got a lot done:

We supported our veterans, including with the TEAM Veteran Caregivers Act and Strengthening VA Cybersecurity Act, which were signed into law.

We stood up for our service members, ending President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate and securing wins for Tennessee’s military communities every year in the NDAA.

We strengthened relationships with our allies like Israel and Taiwan—and stood up to the New Axis of Evil.

My bipartisan measures supporting internet freedom, blocking the export of crowd control equipment to China-controlled Hong Kong, and barring the FAA from buying drones from U.S. adversaries are now law—and will strengthen our national security.

We also fought to end the modern-day slavery of human trafficking, especially with the bipartisan REPORT Act and Project Safe Childhood Act, which were signed into law last year.

We stood up for women with the Speak Out Act, the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, and—with last month’s passage—the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act.

We worked to confirm judges to the federal bench who will apply the law as it’s written—including Justice Amy Coney Barrett—leading to the overturning of the disastrous Roe and Chevron decisions.

We worked with the first Trump administration to protect life and bar federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood.

We secured essential disaster relief for communities in Tennessee and across the Southeast that are recovering from Hurricane Helene.

And so much more.

Blackburn Previews Priorities for Second Term

Now, as I start my second term, I am looking forward to getting more wins for Tennesseans—especially with Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

At the top of our list will be securing our southern border. We can’t have national security without border security—which is why Congress must work closely with the Trump administration to ensure that happens.  My CLEAR Act, for example, would ensure state and local law enforcement officials can help the federal government deport criminal illegal aliens.  With all the harm caused by sanctuary cities, this legislation should be a top priority for the new Congress.

We also need to lower costs for hardworking families and make government accountable to the American people.

That means making permanent the Trump tax cuts, which created the strongest economy in decades and spurred new investments in Tennessee and across the country.

It also means slashing out-of-control spending and the lawless bureaucracy that makes life worse for so many Tennesseans and Americans.

President Trump is tackling this problem head on with the Department of Government Efficiency, which will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.  And with my DOGE Acts, Congress can play a crucial role in ensuring their reforms last well beyond the Trump administration. My goal is to get our government so efficient that we turn “DOGE” into a verb.

Another goal at the top of the agenda: finally holding Big Tech accountable with the Kids Online Safety Act and ensuring that parents have the tools they need to protect their children in the virtual space.

This is just a sample of the work ahead of us, but the list of things we can do to empower American workers, businesses, and families goes on and on:

Expanding access to quality health care, especially for vets and those in rural areas;

Defending female athletes in women’s sports from the radical left’s agenda and celebrating their accomplishments with the American Girls in Sports Day resolution;

Ending the surge of violent crime in cities across our country;

Supporting Tennessee’s creative community, including with the American Music Tourism Act, NO FAKES Act, and HITS Act.

Blackburn Commits to Confirming President Trump’s Nominees and Carrying out the Trump Agenda

But before we can get to any of this, our focus will be confirming each of President Trump’s nominees for his cabinet as quickly as possible.

That way, we can begin to carry out the mandate the American people have given us to make this country stronger than ever before.