Speaker 1 (00:00):
… promises kept. And if you look right across the board, all the things the president campaigned on, said he was going to do, he is following through on those. And chief among those is what's happening at our southern border. The open borders policy that had been pursued by the Biden administration, it led to all kinds of chaos at our southern border, lots of dangerous elements coming into the United States, and about, if you can believe this, 12,000 or so people per day coming across our southern border illegally, 12,000. You have a change of administration, President Trump takes office, that number plummets from 12,000 down to 230 a day. That's what we're looking at right now.
(00:43)
And if you look at a year ago where we were, January, February, March, April, and those numbers, it's just as I described, it's about a 94, 95% drop in one year, thanks to leadership of President Trump. And so as we think about what we need to do to support those efforts, obviously we are involved, as you all know, in a process up here. First step was budget resolution, which passed the House and the Senate before the Easter break, and now we're in the midst of the reconciliation bill, which is where we make law. And we intend in doing that to ensure that the president and his team have the resources they need to continue keeping our southern border secure.
(01:21)
I think the American people made it very clear what they voted for last November, and obviously they are interested in making sure that we have good, strong military security, that we have good, strong border security, and that we have good, strong economic security in this country. And those are the things that this Republican Congress, this Republican senate are committed to getting done. And we're going to continue in the next 100 days to do what we've been doing in the last 100 days, and that is delivering on the commitments, and on the agenda that the American people want to see happen, and to work with the president and his team, and our colleagues and counterparts in the House of Representatives to see those things be made a reality. Senator Barrasso.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, for the last 100 days, Republicans in Congress and the President of the United States have been working together fighting for the American people. We all ran for office promising safety and prosperity for the folks of this great country, and we have a lot of work to do to fix the failures of the last four years of the Biden administration to get our country back on track.
(02:30)
Start with the border, you can see dramatic increases in the efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, from over 7,000 a day under Biden, to now 7,000 a month under Trump. Making the border secure means we are making our communities safe. In terms of prices, you're seeing 50 different actions by Republicans on energy to make energy more affordable, specifically American energy, we're making it easier to produce energy right here. That's the record of 100 days of the Trump Republican administration. There's still more work to be done, we still need to do the good work of blocking the $4 trillion tax increase that the Democrats want upon the American people. We're going to do everything we can to stop it. There's more work to be done in another 100 days coming to get that work done.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Senator Capito.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Thank you. Well, we're all talking about the 100 days of the Trump administration as you all are all writing about that as well. And I think Senator Thune actually brought this, but I brought a little chart that shows. You the blue lines are the numbers of encounters under the Biden administration. The red lines in the first three months are a number of encounters under the Trump administration. I mean, I think nothing spells success more than one of the biggest issues during the campaign, which was border security, which also leads to security in our communities, and security not just within the country, but around the world.
(04:09)
And so I say congratulations to President Trump. He said all along that he could do this, he would do this, and he would be effective. President Biden on the other hand said, "I can't do anything. I can't do anything if the Congress doesn't act. It's beyond my responsibilities." This chart shows you that those were empty words. And so as we move to the next 100 days, I think it's important to note too these are… You have different types of… These are ones that are coming through the checkpoints, the ones that are the gotaways, which never get caught, are down 99%. There's deterrence that the president has put forward through his policies, and that's what's causing these numbers to come dramatically down, with the support of us as the Senate and over in the House as well.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Senator [inaudible 00:05:02].
Speaker 4 (05:01):
So we're 100 days into the presidency, but that also has included 100 days of work for this senate. We actually started before the president was sworn in, obviously, as we were sworn in on the 3rd of January. But passing the Laken Riley Act, doing a record number of nominations. We've done more nominations than under the first Trump administration, the Biden administration, or you go all the way back to the Bush administration. It's been 25 years since we've moved this many nominations as fast as we've been able to move. So we've been here weekends, as this group knows extremely well. We've been here very late at night multiple times to be able to work through the process, because we are determined to be able to get things done for the American people.
(05:40)
So that's involved dealing with energy permitting issues, which we've done over and over again to open up American energy. That is working through the process with the president on trying to be able to limit illegal immigration coming across our border, to secure our border, and to be able to deal with criminal aliens.
(05:55)
We are a senate to determined to be able to get things done for the people in my state in Oklahoma, and for our nation. And we've got a lot to get done, as this group knows extremely well, because you've watched it. We are very determined on the budget aspects to dramatically reduce federal spending, to start knocking down $2 trillion worth of overspending that is still left over from the COVID time period, to be able to get that spending down, and to be able to make sure that we have a predictable low tax rate for the American people so we can continue to have a growing economy. That's the task for the several months, but that was set up in the first 100 days to be able to be successful, starting immediately in these times now as the House and the Senate work together with the president to be able to get this done.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Question?
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Good afternoon. Thank you. Can you characterize the difference in the response from congressional Republicans to President Trump this time around compared to 2017? They seemed a little skeptical of him in 2017, that's not the case now.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Well, I mean, I think we all watched what happened in November, and the mandate he got from the American people. It was clear, it was decisive, and he had a clear message that he campaigned on, and he has been following through and delivering on that. And I think a lot of us who served with him in the last term also saw the effects and the results of a lot of the decisions that he made with respect to policy, and they were the right ones. And in the end, he was proven right when it came to the economy, comes to the border, comes to national security. This is a president who has a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish on behalf of the American people, and I think he implemented that clearly in his first term. And as we began the first 100 days of this term, I think all of us believe that we want to be good partners in making sure that the agenda that he campaigned on in, which the American people voted for, is accomplished and delivered on.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Senator Thune. The [inaudible 00:07:49] poll has shown that Trump's numbers are underwater, that he is the least popular president in seven decades at this point in presidency. Is it time for the administration to change force, particularly when it comes to the economy?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, I think the numbers on the economy, as you point out, may be related with some respects to the policy discussion that's being held about tariffs. But if you look at overall, the things that this president and we are going to work with him to achieve, whether it's lessening the regulatory burden, creating energy dominance, preventing the $4 trillion tax increase coming at the end of the year that Senator Barrasso talked about, or reducing federal spending, and making the government more efficient, more economical, and a better return to the American taxpayer. Those are things that the American people supported, and I think when you're going through all this, you've got to take the long view. And I think his policy decisions are the right ones, and I think over time, that will bear fruit. You will see the results of that, and he will, like he did in his first term, do some things for the economy that created economic conditions we hadn't seen in decades.
Speaker 7 (09:01):
[inaudible 00:09:01] called it a hostile and political act for companies like Amazon to display the cost of tariffs that they're having on consumers. Do you think consumers should know how much more they're going to be required to pay because of these tariffs?
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Well, I mean, I think that's a conversation that the folks at Amazon will have to have with the White House, with the president. I think at the end of the day, again, this administration is going to be judged by the results that they get. And in fact, they get better trade deals that change the way that other countries have mistreated us, or treated us unfairly through the years. People will view it as a success, and ultimately, you will see the economic conditions reflect that. And I think in the end you're going to have inflation… It will be under control.
(09:48)
But I understand the short-term conclusions people are drawing, or even some of the polling data that's out there. That is what it is. But the fact of the matter is that when you make policy decisions with a long-term outcome in mind. You've got to have some patience to get there. And I think that the discussion that they're having with Amazon is something that will be a discussion between the administration, and the company, and the company leadership, but I don't for a minute believe that this administration isn't making the right decisions that lead us to the policy outcomes that are going to make the American people more safe, more secure, and more economically prosperous. We saw that in the first term, and I think they're doing the right things right now, but we've got to wait, obviously, the outcome of what this tariff debate ultimately looks like.
Speaker 8 (10:41):
Reconciliation. Several of your Republican colleagues have asked you to take a very cautious approach when it comes to reconciliation and clean energy, IRA clean energy tax cuts, specifically some of those affecting your constituents, your farmers, sustainable aviation fuel, biofuels, biodiesel. Can you support a more surgical cautious approach to reconciliation cuts [inaudible 00:11:11]?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Ultimately, what gets included in a reconciliation bill will be determined by, what? There are 218 votes for in the House and 50 votes in the United States Senate. And obviously, there are differences of opinion about some of the various provisions in previous legislation, and the one that you noted. And my guess is as we get further into these discussions, we will come up with a plan that gets us to 18 in the House, 50 votes in the Senate, ultimately 51 if the vice president has to be involved. But preserve the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and make sure that we have the right incentives in place for American energy production. And whether that's in the renewable space, the conventional space, I think most of us up here agree that an all-of-the-above energy strategy when it comes to American energy is the right one. And as we work through reconciliation, there will be some give and take, and obviously conversations around some of the energy policies and provisions that are in place today. But at the end of the day, it's about making America not only energy independent, but energy dominant. Thanks, guys.
