{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/barrasso-highlights-a-record-year-of-republican-accomplishments/", "Barrasso Highlights a Record Year of Republican Accomplishments", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cRepublicans are putting more money in people\u2019s pockets, delivering safer communities, and providing more opportunities. Republicans will continue to deliver the safety and prosperity Americans deserve.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today spoke on the Senate Floor to discuss how Senate Republicans are making America safer and more prosperous.\n\nSenator Barrasso specifically highlighted the passage of the landmark Working Families Tax Cuts, the record number of heavy-handed Biden regulations repealed, and the record number of confirmations in 2025.\n\nClick HERE to watch Senator Barrasso\u2019s remarks.\n\nSen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks as prepared:\n\n\u201cThe Republican Party has delivered for the American people. Republicans have worked together this year to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.\n\n\u201cAmericans are now seeing more money in their pockets. Inflation is now under 3 percent on average. During the Biden years, inflation rates on average topped 9 percent. This Christmas, gas prices will be at their lowest level in five years. 38 states now have gas prices below $3 per gallon. This is because Republicans unleashed American energy. Our border is secure. Not a single illegal immigrant has been released into our country in the last seven months. Compare that with 10,000 illegal immigrants per day flooding across our borders under Joe Biden and the Democrats. The world\u2019s most successful companies are now investing nearly $10 trillion in America. Record investment is driving job growth, innovation, and opportunity.\n\n\u201cRepublicans\u2019 landmark legislative achievement is the Working Families Tax Cuts bill. It is the central point of our comprehensive economic plan. I thank Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho for his leadership. Republicans cut taxes. Every single Democrat voted to raise taxes by $4 trillion. That would have been the largest tax increase in history.\n\n\u201cWhat do the tax cuts mean for hardworking families? Waiters, barbers, and bartenders will keep $1,300 more in their pockets next year because of no tax on tips. Nurses, firefighters, police officers, and coal miners will see $1,400 more in their paychecks next year because of no tax on overtime. Seniors will see more money in their bank accounts. There is a new $6,000 deduction on Social Security income. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee fought hard for this new deduction for our seniors.\n\n\u201cThanks to Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, Republicans modernized tax credits for childcare. This helps parents pay for childcare. Thanks to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, new parents now get a $1,000 \u2018Trump Account\u2019 for every newborn child. Parents can use this to invest in their child\u2019s future. All parents get a bigger child tax credit \u2013 $2,200 for each child each year. America is energy dominant once again.\n\n\u201cThe Working Families Tax Cuts unleashed American energy. It reopens federal lands and waters for energy production. This is a historic victory for Wyoming. Wyoming is America\u2019s energy breadbasket. We have world-class coal. We have world-class oil and gas. The Republican bill helps American energy workers compete.\n\n\u201cRepublicans rolled back punishing Biden regulations. They were burdensome, expensive, and time consuming. By reining in Biden\u2019s heavy-handed bureaucrats, we are saving Americans $180 billion. That pencils out to over $2,000 in savings for each and every family.\n\n\u201cRepublicans repealed 23 bad Biden regulations using the Congressional Review Act. That\u2019s a record. We stopped California\u2019s electric vehicle mandate madness. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, and Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Americans are back in the driver\u2019s seat.\n\n\u201cMy colleague and friend Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming led the repeal of the harmful Buffalo Resource Management Plan. That\u2019s especially good news for Wyoming energy producers. The Powder River Basin supplies about 45 percent of all the coal in this country.\n\n\u201cSenate Republicans cut wasteful Washington spending. We cut over $1 trillion in waste, fraud, and abuse as part of the Working Families Tax Cuts. We also passed the first stand-alone recissions bill in 30 years, thanks to Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri. Taxpayers saved $9.4 billion because we cut liberal pet projects. These projects included net-zero cities in Mexico, electric buses in Africa, and taxpayer-funded classes on \u2018environmental racism.\u2019\n\n\u201cAdditionally, Republicans created a $50 billion Rural Hospital Fund. It is the single largest federal investment in rural healthcare in American history. To help patients with rare diseases find treatments, we passed my Orphan Cures Act. As a doctor in Wyoming, I saw the challenges patients face when they have few or no treatment options. That is why I fought to bring hope for millions of Americans living with rare diseases.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are also making our communities safer. We began this year by passing a bill from Senator Britt and Senator Ted Budd of North Carolina called the Laken Riley Act. It was the first bill we passed this year, and the first bill signed into law by President Trump. It mandates the detention of illegal immigrant criminals. Amendments from Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and Senator John Cornyn of Texas made it even stronger. We also passed the HALT Fentanyl Act. It cracks down on deadly fentanyl trafficking. Thank you to Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa for their hard work. On top of that, our Working Families Tax Cuts bill made a historic $170 billion investment in border security. It finishes the Wall. It hires more ICE and Border Patrol agents.\n\n\u201cAs we finish the year, Senate Republicans have confirmed a record number of President Trump\u2019s nominees. We began the year by confirming President Trump\u2019s cabinet faster than any Senate in modern history. By week\u2019s end, President Trump will have 417 nominees confirmed by the Senate in 2025. This is far more than the 365 Joe Biden had in place at the end of his first year. This historic record comes despite unprecedented obstruction from the Democrat minority.\n\n\u201cWhat have Democrats done? They\u2019ve obstructed. Democrats spent the year on the side of higher taxes, of illegal immigrant criminals, of wasteful spending, and of burdensome regulations. If Democrats had their way, Americans would face the largest tax increase in history. If Democrats had their way, illegal immigrants would get free healthcare. If Democrats had their way, the government would still be shut down right now.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are putting more money in people\u2019s pockets, delivering safer communities, and providing more opportunities. Republicans will continue to deliver the safety and prosperity Americans deserve.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/barrasso-highlights-a-record-year-of-republican-accomplishments/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8716410957276821, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}