Rep. Smith Column: Three Years

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, issued the following Capitol Report column:

On January 20th, 2017, Donald Trump stood on the West Front of the United States Capitol Building, overlooking the National Mall and the monuments erected to honor our nation's greatest heroes--Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and King-- and was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Sitting on the giant stage with the newly elected President, I was filled with optimism about the fresh perspective he would bring to a broken Washington.

Since his inauguration, President Trump has fought for the everyday American, restoring our dignity and placing our priorities at the center of his national agenda. He championed historic tax reform that cut middle-class taxes to put more money in the pockets of the American people. He rolled back intrusive and burdensome regulations that were inhibiting small businesses. The Trump Administration's deregulatory agenda is expected to save American consumers and businesses over $220 billion annually. He's renegotiated unfair trade deals and he's stood strong against cheating by the Chinese. All of this work has led to the creation of seven million new jobs in the last three years and the lowest unemployment rate in more than half a century.

President Trump has also been committed to growing a stronger and safer America. He is following through on his promise to build a wall on our southern border. They have already constructed 100 miles of border wall and expect to have 450 miles of new border wall constructed by the end of the year. By empowering our law enforcement instead of demonizing them, violent crime fell in 2017 and 2018 after rising in the two years before. The President has also strengthened America's influence around the world. He's forced our NATO allies to increase their defense spending, placed maximum pressure on Iran to end their malign activities and acted without hesitation when American lives were threatened. As Commander-in-Chief he has successfully directed military operations that killed known terrorist leaders Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Hamza bin Laden, and Qassem Soleimani with zero American casualties. Last month, in recognition of our service members' incredible sacrifices, he also signed into law a much-needed pay raise for the troops--the largest in a decade.

Under the Trump Administration, the Constitution and the rule of law are honored. President Trump has appointed a record number of federal judges--187 of them--to ensure the United States' laws will be interpreted based on what they actually say, not how a judge feels about a particular issue. Now, more than a quarter of all active Circuit Court judges have been appointed by President Trump. Most importantly, he nominated two brilliant legal minds in Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. And despite the Left's most desperate attempts to stop him, he made sure they were confirmed. President Trump has also made it a priority of his Administration to uphold the sanctity of life and safeguard religious liberty for all. He has issued rules preventing taxpayer funds from supporting the abortion industry, called on Congress to end late-term abortions, and taken action to prevent federal research from using fetal tissue from abortions. Just this week, President Trump spoke before thousands of citizens in Washington advocating for the protection of life.

The President has accomplished all of these things while facing historic obstruction from the Left. Imagine all of the things we could achieve if the Democrats in Washington decided to stop relitigating their last electoral defeat and actually started working on behalf of the American People. Just this week, they demonstrated that impeaching the President on false charges is their top priority. The Left is more interested in Adam Schiff slandering the President in front of the United States Senate than lowering the costs of prescription drugs, securing our borders, lowering the tax burden on middle-class families, or upholding the dignity of life. America is stronger today than it was three years ago because of President Trump. The Left must learn to accept him as President and work with him to help the country achieve continued greatness and prosperity.