“So the bill is right now in front of the House Rules Committee, and the members are going through it. We're going to bring the rule first to the floor tomorrow morning, and then we're going to finish up debate and then pass the bill to President Trump's desk tomorrow. So it's going to be a busy day tomorrow. It's been a busy last few months. But this bill is so important for families all across the country who are looking for the relief and the benefits that come from this One Big Beautiful Bill.”
On Democrats prioritizing personal anger over help for hardworking families:
“Right, Greta. And sadly, every Democrat from the beginning of this process walked away from trying to help those middle-class families because they just hate President Trump so much. They made it personal against President Trump. And they're going to have to answer for that next year, because look, when you're a waiter or a waitress right now working at a diner, you're working late nights, maybe three jobs, and trying to raise a family struggling to get by, the no tax on tips provision is going to be a lifesaver to a lot of those families. You're a shift worker working in a factory somewhere in America. You're working overtime, but you're away from your family, and you wonder, sometimes, is it worth it when you look at all the taxes taken out of your paycheck? No longer will you be paying taxes on that overtime work. And that's because of President Trump and House and Senate Republicans.
“Not a single Democrat, House or Senate, voted for this bill because they don't care about those families who are struggling, but we do, and we're going to fix the problems that exist in our economy – lower inflation, lower interest rates, and help those families who are struggling.”
On House Republicans unifying around this bill:
“We can only lose three. It's been a very delicate balance from the beginning. We got it out of the House without a vote to spare. As you just pointed out, got out of the Senate without a vote to spare. In fact, Vice President JD Vance had to break the tie. But that's just one of those things. We're in narrow majorities right now, but everybody is focused. 98% of our members are super-focused on passing this bill and working with President Trump to get our country back on track.
“And by the way, this bill delivers on all of the items in President Trump's agenda, from making sure nobody gets a tax increase, to those benefits I talked about, to waiters and waitresses with no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. Border security, making sure that we build the wall, that we fund our Border Patrol Agents in having the tools to be able to have the same or better technology than the drug cartels in Mexico. Energy production – everywhere from the north slope of Alaska to the Gulf of America, we're going to open up American energy. That lowers costs at the pumps for families who don't like paying so much under four years of Joe Biden's assault on American energy. All that is in this bill and a lot more.”
On rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in social safety net programs:
“Yeah, and this was brought up in the House because we also had that provision in the original House version, just not at the same level. But one of the things a lot of our members wanted to do is not let Chuck Schumer be able to extract leverage on a debt ceiling negotiation. Because, Greta, if this bill was not in this One Big Beautiful Bill in reconciliation, it would be a standalone bill that would require Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats to be a part of that negotiation. They would require hundreds of billions in new spending in Washington in order to deal with the debt ceiling.
“We're actually cutting spending in this bill, getting rid of a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse. Putting work requirements, for example, in a program like Medicaid, so that the truly disabled and needy will be able to get better access to Medicaid because those able-bodied adults who are turning down work, the 35-year-old who's sitting at his mom's basement playing video games, is going to have to go get a job again. Those are going to be good things for the economy, but it's also something that helps reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and saves hundreds of billions of dollars in those programs.”
On simplifying tax code and preventing tax hikes:
“Well, the first thing we do is prevent a tax increase in this bill. But, Greta, we go further and we actually make those changes permanent. Because one of the problems with the current tax code is a lot of those provisions are temporary and they expire. We're making a lot of those provisions permanent. So you now have certainty. You're a small business, you know what the future is going to look like. You can make big investments in the economy. And if you're a family, we are going to keep simplifying the tax code. This bill does simplify it a little bit more, and we need to keep working on that to get to where most Americans can file their taxes on a postcard without worrying about hiring CPAs and attorneys and all that. But this is one step closer to getting there. If the Democrats had their way, by the way, there would be a four-and-a-half trillion dollar tax increase, and every family in America would be impacted by higher taxes. We're staving that off with this bill.”
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