“They’re voting against the reforms and you’re going to see that again on the floor this week.”
WASHINGTON — This morning, at the House Republican Leadership press conference, Speaker Johnson highlighted tax data that definitively shows the Working Families Tax Cuts delivers the largest share of tax relief to American families and workers – as Republicans said all along. Speaker Johnson also highlighted House Republican efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in state and federal government programs. Democrats, who pretend to care about making everyday life more affordable for Americans, are voting against all of it.
“Democrats talk a big game about affordability, but they refuse to do anything to address the rampant fraud in the government, which makes government services more expensive for every American taxpayer,” Speaker Johnson said. “It’s certainly no way to run a railroad as we say, and it’s no way to run a daycare either, by the way.”
Watch Speaker Johnson’s remarks here.
On the Working Families Tax Cuts’ benefits for working families:
Contrary to Democrats’ false narratives that they have tried breathlessly to foist upon the people, here’s the facts: this tax season was a great boost for hardworking American families. That’s exactly how we designed it, and that is what the numbers now prove that we achieved. Let me tell you what it said. In total, the U.S. Treasury gave $82 billion back to the American taxpayer. And so, what that means is 70% of filers earning less than $100,000 received a big tax cut. And 96% of taxpayers who earn less than $200,000 got a big tax cut. 96% of the country, that’s hardworking Americans who are struggling every day to make ends meet. We’re working to make life easier for them and bring down their costs and work on affordability. This, of course, was all thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, the big beautiful bill, that we got signed triumphantly into law last July 4th. As you all remember, every single Democrat voted against the bill – every single one in the House and Senate. So, they can’t take any credit for that. In fact, you can say rightfully that they would’ve prevented that great benefit for the American people. Among many accomplishments of the Working Families Tax Cuts, this consequential piece of legislation prevented the largest tax hike in American history, which would’ve happened by default.
On the Republican war on fraud:
We’re talking about the war on fraud because it’s a very important theme right now. It’s being amplified around the country for obvious reasons because we’re uncovering more and more. Elections have consequences. When you put people who are against fraud and vehemently dedicated to that as the people demand and expect, when you put Republicans in charge, we go root this stuff out. We bring it to your attention, and we eliminate it. And that’s exactly what’s happening. There’s one thing that infuriates every conscientious American: it is the waste of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. And so, we’re working on that. Explosive reports have exposed staggering and brazen fraud in deep blue states like Minnesota and California, as you’ve heard addressed this morning. They have industrial-scale theft. I mean, it has gone on unabated for years. 83% of Americans in the latest poll say that they’re concerned about fraud and government programs, and they want us to do something about it. And we are, we have been. We will continue to do. It clearly strikes a nerve with the American people.
The Government Accountability Office estimates that the US government loses – listen to this – loses as much as $500 billion in federal funds every year. A half of a trillion dollars is burned up and wasted because fraudsters and scammers are involved. That’s $4,000 per American household every year totally wasted. We could use that money so much better. Why does this matter? Because fraud is an invisible tax. What that does is it weakens the buying power of every American tax dollar. And you can bet that when Democrats are in charge, they’re not going to be pointing out the fraud. They’re not going to point their finger at the billions and billions of dollars stolen on their watch. They’re going to be looking to raise more funds. They’re going to try to raise more revenue to cover the fraud. That’s what their response is. They want bigger government. They want higher taxes. They want more spending. And they’ll never talk about reforms again; they’re voting against the reforms. And you’re going to see that demonstrated again this week on the floor.
On Republican legislation to further root out waste, fraud, and abuse:
Of course, the states are the ones in so many cases that are the purveyors of federal funds for the services they administer at the state level. And so, we have this trio of bills that you’ve heard about this week. We’re going to close loopholes, crack down on abuse, hold negligent state leaders accountable. This is what you get when you vote for good government when Republicans are in charge. That’s what we do.
You’ve heard about some of the highlights; we’re going to put new guardrails on TANF funding, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, to mitigate improper payments and ensure states are paying their fair share for this critically important program. We’re going to make sure the services get to the people who actually need and deserve it, and they’re not wasted and stolen by people, by fraud. We’re going to have additional measures to stop fraud and crime rings and so-called ghost students who are stealing federal student aid under fake or stolen identities. We’re going to have a bunch of reforms that crack down on rampant abuse of childcare dollars, withholding federal funds from states that repeatedly misused them like we saw in Minnesota, strengthen fraud standards and state oversight. So much of that is going on. It will continue to go on, and we’re going to hold these people accountable, and we’re going to make sure the taxpayer dollars are spent well.
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