Reps. Haridopolos, Van Duyne: Democrats Have Never Seen a Paycheck They Didn’t Want to Tax
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the 119th Congress nears its final sprint, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (TX-24), RSC’s Budget and Spending Task Force Chair, sits down with Rep. Mike Haridopolos (FL-08), to reflect on wins that Republicans delivered for American people in a brand-new episode of the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) Right to the Point podcast.
Republicans provided historic tax relief for tipped workers, hourly employees, seniors, and small businesses through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, ensuring Americans get to keep more of what they earn. The bill also strengthened incentives for employers that offer paid family leave and childcare to new parents and established Trump Accounts, through which the U.S. Treasury will deposit $1,000 for every American child born between 2025 and 2028. Zero Democrats in Congress supported this historic legislation, instead voting to raise taxes by $4.5 trillion.
After Democrats put our nation at risk by causing the longest shutdown in American history, Republicans passed the Secure America Act to guarantee that homeland security cannot be used as a political bargaining chip. This law provided $70 billion in guaranteed funding for ICE and CBP, which includes $108.5 million for child exploitation investigations and forensic analysts after an estimated 300,000 unaccompanied children under the Biden-Harris Administration were lost or placed with unvetted sponsors.
Rep. Van Duyne and Rep. Haridopolos also call out the amount of waste, fraud, and abuse that happens under Democrat leadership. The Trump administration has successfully uncovered over $260 billion in fraud, with RSC leading the charge to codify the Trump administration’s anti-fraud victories into law. RSC Members were also among the first to sign onto Vice President JD Vance’s Pledge to Protect Americans from Fraud, which commits to cracking down on the misuse of public benefits by strengthening oversight and accountability measures. As more election fraud is uncovered in Democrat-led states, RSC Members have also been pushing for the SAVE America Act to secure American elections and ensure only Americans decide their country’s future.
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Read highlights from the conversation below:
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (TX-24): “[Americans] made it really clear that they want stronger borders, that they want lower costs for families, and policies that make America dream again, make America great again. And Republicans in Congress and President Trump are delivering on that promise…Nobody thought that we were going to be able to get all of those wins in one bill, and absolutely nobody thought we were going to have it on the President’s desk…RSC has been playing a massive role in advancing these conservative priorities through the Working Families Tax Cuts, and I think this is really a win for just every corner of this country.”
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (FL-08): “I think the most important thing is restoring trust. Isn’t it nice that we campaigned on those issues and actually delivered on those issues? That’s what I’m most proud of. I think a lot of people really lost trust in Washington, but we said we would secure the border, we’d reduce taxes, and we’d stop the largest tax increase in American history, and we did all of that by July 4. I think it’s a real testament to what I call the art of the possible. The President worked so well with the House and Senate to get this done, and trying to restore that trust and really help people who were hardest hit by the Biden years.”
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (FL-08): “I remind people [Democrats] had the power to reduce taxes on overtime tips and Social Security in ‘21 and ‘22, when they had all the branches of government on their side, and they chose to instead raise your taxes, and then, and as I found out in financial services, when I talked to the head of the Fed, they said the reason why inflation hit so hard is because they overspent in Washington D.C.”
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (TX-24): “We had a Ways and Means roundtable with one of our fraud experts over at the DOJ, and he was just talking about the amount of fraud that happened during the Biden administration…The Biden administration stressed, the only thing that they stressed was speed. Just quickly write those checks, never verify. And then you think about right now what the Trump administration is trying to do to pull all of that back in.”
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (TX-24): “I would argue that Democrats are also obstructionalists. We are forced right now to have to use the tool of reconciliation to get the most basic of packages passed. You know, we we had to do that with the Working Families Tax Cut Bill, you know, which again avoided 22% tax hike, could have done things that Democrats have historically said that they support…The other time that we had to do it was for the Secure America Act. That was to get an appropriations bill that basically funded our Department of Homeland Security…You had nearly 20 million people coming over our border, because while it was fully funded during the Biden administration, they were preventing CBP and ICE from actually doing their jobs.”
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (FL-08): “This isn’t about sometimes even power or the feds or the states, but it's about just basic competency. You’re allowing money to go out the door to people you know are committing fraud. You're allowing people to vote you know shouldn’t be allowed to vote…In 2016, the Democrats weren’t happy. In 2020, we weren’t happy. Why not clean this thing up and make sure the voter rolls are clean, that the people who are truly eligible get to vote, and and make sure that only Americans really push for what the future of America is, as opposed to outside influences? Because sadly, a lot of people are coming to this country to try to instill the principles of their foreign nation, as opposed to coming to America for the opportunity and freedom that you and I were blessed with.”