Cutting Waste, Securing the Border

Straight Talk with Sam

This week, I led the House Transportation Committee in advancing legislation to enact our America First agenda to secure the border, strengthen national security, modernize our air traffic control system, and cut wasteful Green New Deal spending.

We were tasked with reducing the deficit by $10 billion in the budget reconciliation process. I'm proud to say we exceeded that while making meaningful investments in areas that desperately needed it. Frankly, it wasn't hard to do.

When President Biden rammed through the Inflation Reduction Act, he loaded it to the gills with wasteful Green New Deal spending. Programs like the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant or the Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Grant were a good place to start cutting. So, we eliminated those and other unnecessary programs.

We also took the important step of ensuring that electric vehicle drivers pay their fair share to fix our roads and bridges, just like everyone does. If you own a vehicle that runs on fuel, you pay into the Highway Trust Fund every time you fill up your car. Now, we're going to ensure electric vehicle drivers help maintain our infrastructure also.

For years, I have worked with President Trump to secure the border, defending his national emergency order at the border during his first administration. My proposal this week included historic investments in the United States Coast Guard to strengthen our national and border security.

It gives the Coast Guard the tools it needs to protect our borders better, stopping illegal immigrants and drugs from entering the country and protecting our national security in the Arctic, where competitors such as China and Russia are aggressively expanding their activities.

We took equally significant strides toward modernizing our nation's outdated air traffic control (ATC) system to make air travel safer and stop future accidents before they happen.

The proposal we passed in the Transportation Committee helps secure the border, cuts Green New Deal spending, reduces the deficit, invests in our aviation safety, and puts us one step closer to comprehensive tax relief for American families and small businesses. These are generational investments that put America first, and I look forward to our proposal being incorporated into the one big, beautiful bill that we have promised the American people.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves