Election Promises Made, Promises Kept

Floor Speech

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Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, I bring good news today talking about what is happening right here in our great House.

First and foremost, what I am most pleased about is, isn't it refreshing that when politicians talk during election time, they actually for a change keep the promises that they made to the public. The President promised the idea that we would get America back on track, secure our border, and reduce taxes for those hardest hit over the last 4 years.

When people look at the tax bill they are working on, what is called the big, beautiful bill, the great thing about it is that who gets helped most. Those folks who earn overtime, who earn tips, who have earned Social Security, those are the folks being helped by this tax package we are putting together.

One of the myths that is out there, over and over I hear on this floor every day, is that somehow this is a big tax cut for the rich.

Mr. Speaker, let me inform the public very clearly: The current tax rate for the rich is 37 percent. Under this bill, the tax rate will be 37 percent.

When you look at the actual tax cut package to those folks who are hardest hit with high food prices, rent prices, and gas prices and are now, finally, getting relief, let alone families who are enjoying the largest tax cut in American history with this package, it is smart policy to reward those families that make America work every single day and to recognize that sometimes the government has left them behind and that we need to step up and help those folks most in need.

The second issue that a lot of people talk about--in fact, in my campaign the most--was the issue of the border. They talk about almost 10 million people coming here, not just illegally, but we don't even know who the heck they are. They could be all kinds of vicious. We want to make sure that we let people into this country who are the right people who assist and contribute to society as opposed to taking from it, let alone commit violent actions against society.

The good news to report is that the number of people coming across the border is down 99 percent. It didn't take a new law. It simply meant enforcing the law. Those people who are enforcing the law are actually men and women in the military, including my own son, who is in the United States Air Force.

The great news is that because America's spirit is back, the enlistment numbers are at record levels. A year ago, they were at record lows. Now, they are at record highs.

That is the kind of enthusiasm that people have, once again, for America. The chants of ``USA, USA'' will permeate not just, of course, at the baseball stadium tonight but across America because we believe that America is back. The respect is back, especially after the failures of what happened in Afghanistan.

With this in mind, how do we move forward? One of the things that has really disappointed me is this debate we have had about Medicaid. I happen to know a lot about Medicaid because I am a former member of the Florida State Senate, and Medicaid is the fastest-growing government program in our State.

Just so everyone understands, it is not Medicare. It is Medicaid. Medicaid is the program that is simply known as welfare healthcare, which helps people most in need: persons in nursing homes, the disabled, kids from low-income families, and pregnant women. That is an essential program, and we want to help those people who truly are most vulnerable.

Yet, the demagoguery on this issue has really gone over the top, and it is really frustrating, as a person who actually understands Medicaid, that we are not cutting one single person out of that program who truly qualifies for that program.

The only people who will be out of that program or ``lose healthcare'' are people who lied on their applications and are no longer eligible.

Second, if a person is an illegal alien, they will not get Medicaid. People will say that is not true. Ask the Governor of California. He even talked about how he is going to make sure that we can't allow illegal aliens on Medicaid.

Third and finally is the issue that if you are able to work, you should work. You should not be a ward of the State. You should not be getting free healthcare when other people are working hard to pay their $1,500 or $2,000 a month to get healthcare.

These are commonsense realities. This is something that Bill Clinton and others talked about in the late 1990s, the idea of for welfare to work, that it should not be a permanent state because God did not put you on this Earth to be a ward of the State.

I am proud to support the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because it keeps the campaign promises that the President talked about. We helped the people hardest hit over the last 4 years, and we bring the American Dream back to America by investing in people instead of investing in more and more government.

I am looking forward to working with the President and, more importantly, to signing this bill later this year so that we can see these programs in action, move this country forward, and empower America.

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