Adapted from a speech at The Heritage Foundation’s Texas Summit on March 7, 2025.
We are here at an extraordinary moment of renewal right now.
President Donald Trump has reversed four years of decline, four years where Joe Biden tried to destroy this country. But thanks to our president’s leadership right now, and alongside House Republicans, we’re getting our country back. We’re restoring our rightful place in the world.
We’re restoring energy dominance. We’re restoring our economy. We’re seeing the results everywhere. Our border is no longer an open invitation to chaos. It’s a secure border that is worthy of a sovereign nation. Our economy isn’t just recovering. It’s surging ahead.
American energy isn’t just making a comeback. We know something about this in Midland, Texas. It’s powering our future. And those who wish America harm now are going to think twice. They’re going to think twice because we’ve restored our deterrents in just a little over a month.
The president of the United States has given us something to have some dignity about. I deployed multiple times to keep this country safe and we certainly don’t appreciate what Joe Biden did to us. But securing all these victories takes more than just executive action.
As chairman of the Republican Study Committee, with our 186 members, we’re working to make these victories through executive action permanent. We are going to codify these actions that the president is taking that we so desperately needed in the law—making them permanent and getting our country back on track.
Now is the time to ensure every bill, every amendment, every policy fight we engage in is following a clear conservative road map.
As chairman of RSC, I want to tell you about five principles that I’m using to lead my colleagues in the House of Representatives.
No. 1: Strength with compassion. We don’t apologize for America’s power. We shouldn’t have to apologize, although people have. But true conservatives understand that strength without compassion becomes tyranny. And on the other hand, compassion without strength is weakness. And we stand firm in our principles while extending a hand to those who truly need it.
Think about the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that we saw. The self-imposed signal that America was no longer willing to counter and deter its enemies. And there’s no bigger sign of failure than seeing Biden free the prisons at Bagram Air Base only to have one of those prisoners, an Islamic State operative, detonate a suicide vest at the Abbey Gate.
President Trump has extradited this terrorist back to the United States, once again showing that those who wish to do Americans harm are not safe, that we will come after them. And I’m so proud of the president for doing this this way.
No. 2: Fiscal discipline that delivers. We’re ending the era of reckless spending that mortgaged our children’s future. Conservative governance that you all believe in, that you’re here for, means that we have to make tough choices so that America can continue to survive, can continue to thrive. And it’s especially important given what we’re seeing right now with the waste, the fraud, the abuse, the things that [the Department of Government Efficiency] is figuring out.
Joe Biden transformed [the United States Agency for International Development] into an “America last” organization, an “America last” slush fund that had nothing to do with our power, our security, and the citizens that so desperately need those resources: $2 million for an LGBTQ activism group in Guatemala, $4.5 million to combat disinformation in Kazakhstan, $8.3 million for USAID education on equity inclusion.
We could go on and on and on, but I think we can all agree that this is complete and utter insanity. We deserve better. We deserve fiscal discipline that delivers for our country, that strengthens our economy, that helps our kids, and doesn’t go to that far-left extreme that has completely weakened us.
No more. President Trump’s DOGE and Republicans in Congress are going to solve this issue.
No. 3: Restoring law and order. How about restoring some dignity to our cities and our communities? A nation without safety is a nation in decline. We back that thin blue line who so bravely and loyally back up our communities and keep our communities safe. And we can and will have both safety and security as well as justice.
During the Biden era, we had hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens that entered our country. Right here in Texas, we bore the brunt of this madness. Not only they were breaking the law upon entry, but there are countless examples of what they did in the communities, the egregious crimes that they committed.
Think about the story of Laken Riley. This beautiful young woman in Georgia that was brutally murdered by someone who not only committed the crime of being here illegally but also committed other crimes. And what happened to this person that came through El Paso, let into the interior?
I was proud in the first week of our Congress to vote on the Laken Riley Act. That bill is very simple. It says if you enter this country illegally and you commit another nonviolent crime, that you are going to be deported immediately.
And you would think that this would just be a Republican bill. We delivered a 48-vote bipartisan passage of the Laken Riley Act inside the House of Representatives. Forty-eight Democrats voted in favor of this Laken Riley Act. What a massive achievement.
No. 4: American competition has got to be unleashed. Our prosperity, our economy, the military, the F-22, the greatest machine in the history of the world. But that depended on a strong economy. It depended on competition. It depended on innovation.
And what did Joe Biden try to do in the 11th hour? He tried to ban fracking. He put a pause on American [liquefied natural gas]. He tried to kill our American energy in the industry that literally powers everything and allows Main Street businesses and families to thrive. No more. We’re going to get this back thanks to House Republicans and President Trump. Drill, baby, drill. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.
No. 5: What does it mean to be a conservative? You have to have some battlefield awareness. It’s really important right now that we understand how to get that first down, that we understand getting a first down if it means that we can go on and win the football game and get into the end zone is worth it.
You’ve heard that big, beautiful bill that President Trump is talking about. What does that mean? What is this bill? It’s called reconciliation. It’s a Senate thing, but instead of requiring 60 votes in the Senate, you only require 51. The Senate and the House have to agree on budgetary measures. And when we agree, then they unlock this magical 51-vote threshold.
Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to extend tax cuts. Every American family is going to benefit from those extensions. We’re going to secure the border and it’s going to cost us some money to do that. We’re going to buy the appropriate technology, the appropriate systems, hire the appropriate number of Border Patrol agents, and do much more to help solidify that. We’re going to make sure that we unleash American energy. We’re going to do things that you can only do when you have a Republican-controlled House or Republican-controlled Senate and a Republican in the White House.
Reconciliation is going to save us $2 trillion. It’s the largest cut in the 249-year history of this country—$2 trillion to start whittling away at that $35-plus trillion debt and deficit that we have.
I’m very thankful to [Heritage President] Kevin Roberts for taking a public stance to tell Congress to let’s go ahead and pass the [continuing resolution] to get us to April so that we can then pass that big, beautiful bill, that we can continue with President Trump’s agenda, and that we can make sure that we have a conservative lasting majority.
Thank you for what you do every day. We’re only as good as our team. Our team is sitting right here in this room. When you come to D.C. and you look at our staff, we have young, energetic people who want to do the right thing.
But Heritage, as a Ph.D. as president, has literally dozens of policy experts on any given subject. When we need help at the Republican Study Committee with taxes, with energy, with border security, with making sure that men don’t play women’s sports, Heritage has the experts. Heritage has the ability to provide the background to give us legislative text examples that can go through. And I want to tell you thank you for being a part of this team.
Thank you for helping us get the Republican trifecta. We’re not going to let you down. It’s time to be aggressive. It’s time to get our country back on track. I’m so proud to have been able to serve this country in uniform, but now to be a part of what I believe is the golden era of politics, to help Donald Trump get his agenda done, and to make sure that we as Americans have a country that we pass on to the next generation. Thank you and God bless.
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