Highlighting Republican Successes in 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Utah for organizing this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate a year of success, of restoring the American Dream, and of making America great again.

One year ago, Mr. Speaker, President Donald Trump returned to office with a clear mandate from the American people: secure the border, rebuild the economy, tame inflation, restore American strength, and put American workers first again.

In just 1 year, he has delivered. Let's just start at the southern border. President Trump restored order by ending catch and release, reinstating proven enforcement policies, and deploying the resources necessary to defend our homeland. The results were immediate and historic.

Illegal crossings collapsed to their lowest levels since the 1970s. Net migration turned negative for the first time in 50 years. Fentanyl trafficking at the southern border was cut by more than half, saving American lives and criminal cartels designated as terrorist organizations were stopped and the rule of law was reinstated.

Thanks to President Trump and his administration, this country removed more than 2.6 million illegal aliens from the United States through deportations and voluntary self-departures. More than 400,000 criminal illegal aliens charged with or convicted of crimes were deported and over 2 million self-deportations, ending Biden-era release incentives and restoring credible consequences.

This administration proved what Washington refused to admit for years: that border security works when the law is enforced. President Biden used to say that Congress needed to pass bipartisan legislation. No, actually, as it turns out, Mr. Speaker, all we needed was a President with a backbone to secure our border; and that President is Donald Trump.

At the same time, President Trump rebuilt an economy that works for all Americans. Congress passed the largest tax cut in American history, delivering relief directly to families and workers. No taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security, but in my district, I will share two perfect examples of why this legislation really helps people.

The made in America tax provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the working families tax cut bill, resulted in immediate investment. A $2.5 billion investment in Harrodsburg, in Mercer County, Kentucky, in my district where Apple--making the iPhone-- decided to move jobs out of China to Kentucky. Now, as a result of the President's leadership and this Republican Congress and the working families tax cut bill, all the Gorilla Glass, as they call it, will be made for the iPhone and Apple watches at the Corning plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. That is a $2.5 billion investment specifically because of this bill in my district.

In addition, we are known as the horse capital of the world in Lexington, Kentucky, and at Keeneland Sales, a world-famous, world- class horse sale, yearling sale, every September, it has a $6.5 billion economic impact to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We are very proud of that, but because of the restoration of the 100 percent bonus depreciation, they set a record this past September, $531 million of yearling horses sold. That means jobs for working Kentuckians.

Mr. Speaker, that means more economic activity for working families in Kentucky. That means all the ancillary businesses all the way down to the farriers and the grooms and the restaurants. All of that money gets recirculated into the central Kentucky economy.

There were over 50 yearlings that were sold for over $1 million each. The results were phenomenal. It was a record sale. People around the country may not know about the horse industry, but that is just one industry that was benefited by restoration of full bonus depreciation. All the buyers at our auction said it was bonus depreciation that resulted in this uptick in sales and economic activity.

Inflation, which crushed households under the previous administration, is falling sharply. Wages are rising, and the American people are going back to work. Mr. Speaker, 2.4 percent is where inflation is now--near the Fed's target for price stability--down 70 percent from the height of Biden's inflation crisis. We also have the lowest mortgage rates in 3 years.

This is where I really think the administration's economic record is something to behold. We have seen the largest and fastest blue-collar wage growth in 60 years. It is not just that prices are coming down. It is that real wages, inflation-adjusted wages, are going up for the American people.

This wasn't an accident. It was the result of pro-growth policy. It was not just the tax cuts but deregulation. It decreased the cost of business so those businesses could afford to retain those workers through higher wages and faster wage growth.

Confidence is returning to the American economy, and President Trump has taken us from energy desperate under the previous administration to energy dominant again.

He declared a national energy emergency. He unleashed record oil and natural gas production. He reopened millions of acres for responsible energy development, and he rolled back radical regulations that were driving up costs.

President Trump, in Kentucky, thank you. Thank you for putting Kentucky coal miners back to work and putting Kentucky coal back in our bloodstream. We don't have a choice anymore. Under the last 16 years, we prematurely retired 290 coal-fired power plants, while China is building two new coal plants a week. They are committed to winning the AI race.

We took over 120 gigawatts of power offline. The energy demands of our country are skyrocketing because of the technologies of the future, because of digital asset innovation, because of quantum computing and, yes, because of artificial intelligence.

Mr. Speaker, it is predicted and projected that by 2030 power demands resulting from datacenter construction will triple just at a time when we have been taking all of this power supply off of our grid and out of our system.

We now have a President who is reversing those disastrous choices and putting our coal miners back to work so that we can revitalize this signature industry for the Commonwealth of Kentucky and power the technologies of the future to win the race for AI dominance.

President Trump ended the war on coal. He expanded coal leasing, rolled back Biden-era rules targeting coal-fired power plants, and restored commonsense permitting.

Coal remains critical for grid reliability, baseload power, and national energy security. I am proud to fight side by side with President Trump to ensure that our miners can go back to work, our lights can stay on, and our energy stays American so that we can compete and win against China.

It is no surprise that gas prices fell to their lowest levels in years, lowering costs for families, farmers, and manufacturers across our country.

Let's not forget about all the accomplishments on the world stage. President Trump restored American leadership and American strength. He got rid of DEI woke ideology at the Pentagon. He focused on rebuilding American military readiness and lethality and prioritizing the strength of the American military over liberal leftwing politics. The result was clear. He restored American leadership.

He destroyed Iran's nuclear weapons capability. He reimposed maximum pressure on rogue regimes. He restored peace to our key ally Israel, returning the hostages. He dismantled and degraded the capabilities of Hamas and Gaza. He worked with our allies in the IDF.

He dismantled the narcoterrorist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. He negotiated peace agreements on four different continents, proving that strength deters conflict and leadership produces peace.

Our allies stepped up. Our adversaries stepped back. America, once again, led from a position of strength and confidence. The results speak for themselves.

We have a stronger economy, lower inflation, higher wages, lower energy costs, a secure border, energy dominance, and economic resurgence. We have a restoration of the American Dream and a restoration of common sense.

There are no biological men in the private spaces of our daughters. There are no biological men competing against girls in their sports.

Thank goodness we have common sense in this country once again. Thank goodness we have a President who looks to the future and who wants to position the United States to be the leader, the crypto capital of the world.

He signed into law the GENIUS Act--legislation, Mr. Speaker, that you and I worked on together--and put in motion an AI action plan to ensure that we can be the dominant leader in artificial intelligence. AI has applications across financial services, education, medicine, pharmaceutical development, and manufacturing efficiency and productivity. We have only begun to see all its potential. AI will help us deter our adversaries through the applications that AI presents by strengthening the capabilities of our military.

Mr. Speaker, as President Trump would say, the golden age is here. We must continue to support our President as he leads this Nation forward. I am proud to work with him to make America great again.

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