Majority Leader | Research | The Leader Board | THE NEWSR...Skip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNE×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUFacebookXInstagramFacebookXInstagramVisit Leader Thune's South Dakota Site Here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMThe Leader Board02.24.26President Trump and Republicans’ Record of Promises Made, Promises KeptAmid Democrat Obstruction at Nearly Every Turn, Republicans Have Delivered More Money in Americans’ Pockets, Safer Streets, and New Opportunities to Get Ahead REPUBLICANS’ WORKING FAMILIES TAX CUTS ARE PROVIDING HISTORIC RELIEF TO AMERICAN WORKERS AND FAMILIES, PUTTING MORE MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS AND GIVING THEM NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO GET AHEAD“Near the top of the agenda for our historic Republican majorities in Congress is to pass a massive tax cut for American workers and families. Last year we campaigned across the country. We had a pledge that I'm sure most of you didn't hear too much about, a pledge to take the Trump tax cuts and make them permanent. And that's exactly what we're doing.” – President Donald Trump (1/25/25)Thanks to Republicans’ Working Families Tax Cuts, “Across all individual tax filers throughout the country, the average tax cut per taxpayer will be $3,752 in 2026” – and taxpayers will pay less in every county in every state. (Tax Foundation: The One Big Beautiful Bill Cuts Taxes Across the US, New Analysis Finds – 8/13/25)Americans are already seeing these cuts in their tax refunds: “The average tax refund is 14.2% higher so far this season, compared to about the same period in 2025, according to early IRS filing data… The total amount refunded was about $32 billion, up 8.3% from 2025, according to the IRS release.” (CNBC: Average IRS tax refund is up 14.2%, according to early filing data – 2/20/26)“The new tax law also raised and extended the maximum child tax credit to $2,200 per child for 2025, and scheduled future inflation adjustments.” (The Wall Street Journal: Can ‘Trump Accounts’ for Babies Change the Economics of Having a Family? – 12/2/25)The law also increases the employer-provided child care credit from $150,000 to $500,000: “All businesses providing employee child care are eligible for a tax credit, and there are expanded benefits for small businesses with less than $31 million in gross receipts for 2025…” (CNBC: Biggest Trump tax cut benefits for small business owners to keep more income on Main Street – 10/5/25)The Working Families Tax Cuts law also created Trump Accounts, tax-deferred investment accounts that can be opened by any parent with a child under 18 who has a Social Security number.Additionally, “children in the United States with a Social Security number born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, will be given a stock market account with a one-time $1,000 deposit from the Treasury that will grow similarly to individual retirement accounts, or IRAs.” (The Hill: Treasury to hold summit on Trump accounts – 1/25/26)Tax-exempt 529 savings accounts are now expanded in scope and their spending limit is doubled: “529 accounts were previously limited to K–12 tuition (up to $10,000 per year), but they can now be used for additional expenses such as books, online educational materials, testing fees (e.g., SAT/ACT), dual enrollment fees, tutoring by qualified professionals, and educational therapies for students with disabilities. The annual limit for all K–12 expenses [rose] to $20,000 starting January 1, 2026.” (Fortune: New 529 plan rules let Gen Z invest in careers, not just college—and it reflects a seismic shift in education – 7/28/25)The Working Families Tax Cuts law also provided $10.5 billion in Pell Grant funding and expands eligibility to students in workforce training programs, opening up more opportunity for those pursuing non-traditional college education. (The Wall Street Journal: Tax Cuts, Student Loans, Medicaid: What’s in the GOP’s Megabill – 7/3/25; U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions: President Trump, Republicans Deliver Historic Wins in One Big Beautiful Bill, Reforming America’s Broken Higher Education System – 8/1/25)REPUBLICANS PROMISED TO END THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S CHAOS AT THE BORDER AND RISING CRIME AROUND THE COUNTRY – AND DELIVERED HISTORIC SUCCESS ON BOTH“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came… As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.” – President Donald Trump (1/20/25)Under the Biden administration, Democrats allowed 10.5 million people to pour across the southwest border, overwhelming “border stations, then border towns, and eventually major cities like New York and Denver.” (U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Southwest Land Border Encounters – accessed 2/24/26; Fox News’ Bill Melugin: post on X – 8/20/24; The Washington Post: Trump vs. Biden on immigration: 12 charts comparing U.S. border security – 7/28/24; The New York Times: How Biden Ignored Warnings and Lost Americans’ Faith in Immigration – 12/7/25)With President Trump reversing open border policies enacted by the Biden administration and Republicans providing historic funds to enforce border security, America’s borders have never been more secure. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Secretary Noem Commends President Trump and One Big Beautiful Bill Signing into Law: Historic Win for the American People and the Rule of Law – 7/4/25; Axios: Tracking Trump's executive orders: What he's signed so far – 1/28/25; The Wall Street Journal: Editorial: Trump’s Border Success—and Opportunity – 4/16/25)“The Border Patrol recorded 237,538 encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2025 fiscal year, which began in October 2024 and ended in September 2025... The 2025 total was the lowest in any fiscal year since 1970, according to historical data from the Border Patrol.” (Pew Research Center: Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border are at their lowest level in more than 50 years – 2/2/26)In January, “[f]or the ninth consecutive month, U.S. Border Patrol released zero illegal aliens into the United States. Every individual apprehended was processed according to law - a milestone unmatched in modern border history.” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Historic 9th Straight Month of Zero Releases at the Border – 2/4/26)Nationwide encounters in January were “87% lower than the monthly average under the previous administration.” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Historic 9th Straight Month of Zero Releases at the Border – 2/4/26)With just 6,073 apprehensions along the Southwest border, January also marked “the fourth consecutive month of decline,” and “93% lower than the monthly average observed from FY1992–FY2024 (83,065/month).” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Historic 9th Straight Month of Zero Releases at the Border – 2/4/26)Plus, with Republicans in charge, “Last year will likely register the lowest national homicide rate in 125 years and the largest single-year drop on record, according to a new analysis of 2025 crime data.” (The New York Times: What’s Behind the Staggering Drop in the Murder Rate? No One Knows for Sure. – 1/23/26)In 2025, “for the first time, all seven categories of violent crime tracked by the analysis fell below prepandemic levels.” (The New York Times: What’s Behind the Staggering Drop in the Murder Rate? No One Knows for Sure. – 1/23/26)“The analysis of data from 40 cities, by the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank, found across-the-board decreases in crime last year compared to 2019: 25 percent fewer homicides, 13 percent fewer shootings and 29 percent fewer carjackings.” (The New York Times: What’s Behind the Staggering Drop in the Murder Rate? No One Knows for Sure. – 1/23/26)“After years of chaos, skyrocketing crime, and soft-on-crime policies under Biden plunged the nation’s biggest cities into anarchy and disorder, President Trump took office on a promise to restore public safety — and he has delivered in historic fashion.” (White House: ICYMI: “Violent crime plummets across major U.S. cities” – 2/11/26)AS REPUBLICANS DELIVERED RESULTS FOR WORKING FAMILIES, DEMOCRATS HAVE FOUGHT FOR HIGHER TAXES AND FEWER SAFEGUARDS TO PREVENT WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE AND DEFUNDED FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENTEvery single Democrat voted against the Working Families Tax Cuts law, which prevented a $4.3 trillion tax increase on the American people, including a $2.6 trillion tax hike on households earning less than $400,000 per year. (U.S. Senate Committee on Finance: Crapo Highlights Tax Wins for Hardworking Americans and Main Street – 6/28/25; The Wall Street Journal: Editorial: Republicans Reconcile on Taxes – 2/14/25; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance: Crapo: Senate Republican Plan Powers Economic Growth, Delivers Tax Relief – 6/30/25; H.R. 1: Roll Call Vote #372 – 7/1/25)Democrats have attempted to repeal the health provisions of the Working Families Tax Cuts, and by extension Republicans’ reforms to root out waste, fraud, and abuse from Medicaid, and they even shut down the federal government for 43 days in an attempt to do so. (Punchbowl News: AM: Dems, GOP dig in as shutdown nears – 9/18/25; Senate Majority Leader: Chuck Schumer and Democrats Want to Break Medicaid. Again. – 8/1/25)“The nonpartisan and nonpolitical Government Accountability Office has estimated that ‘the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud,’ based on data from 2018 to 2022.” (The Wall Street Journal: What to Know About Minnesota’s ‘Industrial-Scale Fraud’ Scandal – 12/19/25)By voting against the Working Families Tax Cuts law, Democrats also attempted to block and later repeal the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) program, which supports rural health systems and hospitals with a $50 billion investment over five years. All 50 states will be receiving funds in 2026. (U.S. Congress: H.R.1 – accessed 2/24/26; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: CMS Announces $50 Billion in Awards to Strengthen Rural Health in All 50 States – 12/29/25)Before its passage, Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) commented on the RHT program, saying, “This little fund to help reimburse rural hospitals is just a fraud.” (CQ: Senate Democrats Hold Media Availability After Closed Policy Luncheon – 6/24/25)Despite Schumer calling the program a “fraud,” New York and every other state applied for and received funding from the RHT program. (New York State: New York State Department of Health Submits Application for $1 Billion Under the Federal Rural Health Transformation Program – 11/6/25; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: CMS Announces $50 Billion in Awards to Strengthen Rural Health in All 50 States – 12/29/25)Earlier this month, Democrats shut down the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), impacting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Transportation Security Administration. (NBC News: Homeland Security Department shuts down as Democrats and Trump negotiate changes – 2/14/26)The bipartisan DHS appropriations bill that Democrats walked away from included funding for Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) that law enforcement agencies around the country rely on – leaving it without critical funding. (U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations: Committee Releases Conferenced Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bills – 1/20/26; U.S. Capitol Police: Training – accessed 2/24/26; U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers: About – accessed 2/24/26)PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
