NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor detailing the historic accomplishments for the American people during the first seven months of the Republican majority. This includes passing the Laken Riley Act, the HALT Fentanyl Act, the $9 billion rescissions package, and the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Click here to download Senator Blackburn’s remarks on the Senate floor. 

REMARKS AS PREPARED

Republicans Are Delivering on Their Historic Mandate from the American People

If there are four words to describe the first seven months of the Senate Republican majority, it’s “promises made, promises kept.”

The American people gave us a mandate to secure the border, strengthen the economy, rein in wasteful spending, and Make America Great Again. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.

We passed the Laken Riley Act, which strengthens the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to detain criminal illegal aliens and get them out of our communities.

We passed the HALT Fentanyl Act, which empowers the administration to take the fight to the cartels and end our drug crisis.

We passed Senator Hagerty’s GENIUS Act, which promotes economic freedom and helps ensure that America leads in the development of cryptocurrencies.

We passed a $9 billion rescissions package, permanently eliminating wasteful spending on everything from biased media outlets to far-left NGOs. This is just the first of many rescissions packages we plan to send to President Trump’s desk.

Despite Democrat Obstruction, Republicans Are Confirming President Trump’s Nominees

Despite Democrat obstruction, we’ve also confirmed more than 100 civilian nominees who are carrying out President Trump’s agenda. And we are continuing to fight for confirmation votes to make certain that the President has his entire team in place to serve the needs of the American people.

Tennesseans Are Praising the One Big Beautiful Bill

Most importantly, we passed the One Big Beautiful Bill.

There is so much in this legislation that benefits the American people. But when I talk to Tennesseans, one of the most important things for them is the permanent extension of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

By extending these provisions, Republicans prevented the largest tax hike in American history: $4 trillion.

That is more than just a number. A $4 trillion tax hike would have meant fewer jobs, fewer opportunities, and fewer small businesses getting off the ground.

Just the other day, I was talking to a small business owner in Tennessee who said that after the 2017 tax cuts first went into place, he was able to hire two new employees who were desperate for work.

They’ve made a huge impact on his business. But if the tax cuts expired, he feared that he would struggle to keep them on his payroll. In his words, it would have been “catastrophic.”

But with the One Big Beautiful Bill, millions of small businesses are empowered to grow their workforces—not shrink them—especially with new tax cuts on tips and overtime.

As one restaurant owner in Knox County recently explained, reduced taxes on tips will help his servers get about $1,000 back on their taxes at the end of the year: “[This] will make us more competitive when we’re looking at hiring people.”

A server in Chattanooga said these tax cuts will be “very beneficial for every server. …We did earn that money, so I think it’s great that we’re going to be able to keep it.”

These tax cuts are just one of many provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill that will ensure that more Americans can keep their hard-earned money. Thanks to this landmark law…

Tennessee households will save $2,600 next year on their taxes.

Millions of seniors can now count on a $6,000 enhanced deduction on their taxes;

American families will benefit from a permanent $2,200 enhanced child tax credit;

Family farms can pass their legacy of hard work on to the next generation due to much-needed death tax relief;

Tennessee small businesses—which make up 99.5 percent of businesses in our state—will keep their tax breaks and be able to hire more workers. 

While these tax cuts will benefit all Americans, lower- and middle-income workers will see the largest reduction in federal taxes as a percentage of their previous tax bill.

After four years of Bidenflation, this is much needed relief for hardworking Americans.

Of course, tax cuts are just one part of the One Big Beautiful Bill:

We secured the largest-ever investment in border security to complete the border wall and hire thousands of Border Patrol agents;

We strengthened Medicaid for those who truly need it by enacting common sense work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults; 

We restored fiscal sanity by eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in far-left, Green New Deal spending.

These are huge wins for the American people. And the good news is that President Trump and congressional Republicans are only getting started on delivering on our mandate to Make America Great Again.