Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) delivered opening remarks at the markup for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.


Opening Remarks As Delivered:

Folks, as I’ve said from the beginning, this reconciliation bill is the most consequential piece of legislation in modern history. It is the principal legislative vehicle for advancing the full America First agenda to realize President Trump’s vision and the House Republicans’ unwavering commitment to making America safe and prosperous again.

How? By making our borders secure again. By making our laws enforced again. By making our government efficient and accountable again. By making the economy free again. By making American energy dominant again. By making work—and the dignity of work and self-reliance—an American value again. And by making the spending of the sacred treasure of our citizens responsible again.  

Today, we stand on the precipice of a generational opportunity to make an unprecedented investment in the safety and security of the American people by equipping our Border Patrol agents and our sons and daughters in the armed services with the tools and resources to safely and successfully do the first and most important job of the federal government: to provide for the common defense.

But we also have an urgent responsibility to put in place the policies that will unleash economic growth and future prosperity—reining in wasteful spending and begin restoring the fiscal health of our nation, which has been in rapid decline over the last couple of decades.

I want to thank Speaker Johnson, Leader Scalise, and the entire conference leadership team for their patience, their resolve, and their steady hand throughout this process. I’m grateful for their commitment to regular order and to ensuring from the very beginning to the very end that this wouldn’t be a top-down exercise, it would be truly a member-driven process.  

I want to thank my colleagues and the chairmen of the 11 committees who worked tirelessly to meet the fiscal targets that this Budget Committee established in our resolution.

No other Budget Committee and no other Congress from either party in the history of this Budget Committee has done more in a shorter period of time with the reconciliation initiative.  

A big reason that we were able to accomplish this is because of my Budget Committee colleagues—my Republican Budget Committee colleagues—and the seriousness and diligence with which they do their job. Their commitment and their conviction to our mission to restore fiscal sanity in this town and in the People’s House and in this institution. And I just want them to know that I’ve never been more proud to work with such committed patriots and public servants. So, thank you all.  

Our budget reconciliation bill and the product of your hard work—the fruit of your labor—is that we’re going to advance the most comprehensive tax reform in the history of our great country—and other pro-growth policies that will rein in the regulatory state; that will help right-size the people’s government; and that will begin reining in this runaway spending.  

We will reduce the debt-to-GDP by almost 10 percentage points—and all of this while making a record investment in the security and defense of the United States of America.  

So, it’s not just One Big Beautiful Bill, it’s One Big Beautiful BALANCED Bill because of the folks that you see up here on the dais—my Republican colleagues and their hard work and leadership. And everybody—our party, our country, and our fellow Americans—will be well served because of your efforts. And by the way, we did it with the smallest majority in the House in 100 years.  

It has been said about Washington, “When all is said and done, more is said than done.”  

May that not be true of the 119th Congress.

Today, let’s make good on the American people’s mandate by taking President Trump’s America First vision and this America First policy agenda and making them a reality in the lives of our fellow citizens.

Remember: The American people have spoken. They want a strong country. They want competent leaders. They want common sense policies. And they want from all of us a commitment to putting America and Americans first.  

Let’s give the people what they voted for.

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