.The House passed the historic One Big, Beautiful Bill Thursday morning. I voted in favor of the bill because it is pro-family, pro-economic growth, pro-rural America and pro-worker. And importantly, the bill prevents the largest tax increase in American history.

The bill includes numerous positive, America First provisions that will improve the quality of life for all Kansans. The bill increases the Child Tax Credit, relieving families of the financial strains that come with raising children, and, at the same time, promoting family growth. Furthermore, the bill makes the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts permanent, which means permanent tax relief for the farmers, small business owners and workers who felt the consequences of Bidenflation. If the tax cuts are allowed to expire at the end of this year, Kansas taxpayers will have to pay an average of $2,200 more in taxes. And the bill eliminates taxes on tips, one of President Trump’s key campaign promises. It also ensures that the no tax on tip policy is only available for service workers. Additionally, the bill includes an increased tax credit for seniors. Because of Senate rules, the bill cannot eliminate taxes on Social Security through this process, but the new provision is even better for seniors than no tax on Social Security. 

As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the chief tax-writing committee, I had the opportunity to provide insight on the tax provisions of the bill. Many of my legislative priorities were included in the legislation, including the immediate expensing of research and development and protecting American taxpayers and innovators from unfair foreign taxes. The immediate expensing of research and development is a pro-jobs provision because three-quarters of R&D expensing is spent on wages and salaries. The R&D provisions were widely bipartisan because Republicans and Democrats understand the importance of homegrown innovation, and they understand that it benefits small businesses the most.

Additionally, I advocated to protect Americans from paying disproportionate surtaxes with the Unfair Tax Prevention Act. Foreign nations impose these taxes under the guise of the OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Biden administration unilaterally agreed to this international tax scheme that allowed other nations to define American tax policy, and Republicans are reasserting America’s authority over our own tax system.

Also included in the bill were other America First provisions, including resources to secure our border and strengthen our national security. The reconciliation bill provides funding for border wall construction, more Customs and Border Protection employees and improved technology to mitigate illegal border crossings. The bill invests $150 billion in national security for President Trump’s Golden Dome, the Department of Defense, improving the quality of life of our servicemembers and more. Importantly, it strengthens aviation safety by funding air traffic control technology.

The left has been promoting lies about the One Big, Beautiful Bill and the included extensions of the Trump Tax Cuts. When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed by Congress in 2017, those on the left said that it would only give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, but that’s far from the truth. The New York Times even admitted that in a 2019 article, stating, “The gap between perception and reality on the tax cuts appears to flow from a sustained–and misleading–effort by liberal opponents of the law to brand it as a broad middle-class tax increase,” and, “there is little disagreement on this core point: Most people got a tax cut.”

Democrats’ loudest claim is that Republicans are cutting Medicaid and safety net programs, but it is simply not true. Republicans are strengthening Medicaid by rooting out the waste, fraud and abuse within the program and ensuring that able-bodied citizens don’t siphon away resources from those in need. A vote in favor of this bill was a vote to make sure that Americans who need Medicaid and other programs have it now and in the future.

The left also claims that this bill will have a significant cost, citing numbers from the Congressional Budget Office – Congress’ scoring agency that was wrong about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (it has beaten their revenue expectations) and the Democrats’ misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (which costs more than their projections). With conservative GDP growth – growth in our economy – that is actually in line with historic growth under both Trump and Biden, the legislation won’t have the costs that Democrats claim.

The bill now heads to the Senate. It began in the House because Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution requires all bills for raising revenue to originate in the House of Representatives. The next step in the reconciliation process is for the Senate to review the bill and apply the “Byrd Rule,” a parliamentary rule that ensures the legislation is budgetary in nature. The One Big, Beautiful Bill is one step closer to being signed into law by President Trump.

Republicans in both chambers of Congress are working to enact President Trump’s priorities into law so that Americans do not face higher taxes, the border will be secure and energy costs will decrease. On the other hand, every House Democrat voted against no tax on tips, no to an expanded Child Tax Credit, no to an expanded tax deduction for seniors and no to permanent tax cuts.

Prior to the vote I was pleased to speak in favor of the bill on the House floor. You can watch my remarks below.