Trump maps out early achievements in address to Congress

President Donald Trump addressed a joint congressional session on Tuesday night for the first time during his second term in office. Within the first five minutes of the speech, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, began shouting at the president. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., responded by issuing a decorum warning to legislators. Then he ordered the sergeant at arms to remove Green.

Trump started by highlighting his administration’s achievements within the first month of taking office, including the pauses to foreign funding and government hiring. He praised several of his more than 70 executive orders, including his orderrecognizing only two genders, removing critical race theory from public schools, protecting women’s sports, and establishing English as the national language. He also highlighted Department of Government Efficiency's achievements in cutting government waste, giving examples of their eliminating millions of dollars of funding for niche projects in foreign countries and billions to provide for illegal migrants living in the United States.

Inflation: Trump said his administration planned to fight inflation by lowering the price of energy. He said he planned to reopen a number of power plants that the Biden administration shut down and a massive natural gas pipeline in Alaska that the Biden sanctioned. He mentioned a number of other economic action items, including:

• The $5 million immigration gold card, which would create a pathway for successful foreigners to obtain U.S. citizenship

• Matching reciprocal tariffs on countries imposing economic penalties on the United States beginning April 2. He admitted that people would see economic changes due to tariffs recently imposed on countries like Canada and Mexico, but promised that the disturbances would be over swiftly.

• Massive investments from tech companies pouring money into the United States. As examples, he cited companies like SoftBank and Taiwan Semiconductors.

• The creation of an executive office for shipbuilding and plans to enact tax incentives to bring shipbuilding back to America.

What did Trump ask from Congress? The president called on both chambers to pass legislation to cut taxes, citing the need for permanent income tax cuts, as well as the elimination of taxes on tips, overtime, or Social Security benefits. He also said car loan interest payments should be tax deductible if the car is American-made. He also called on lawmakers to pass legislation:

• Criminalizing the unauthorized use of deepfake artificial intelligence

• Automatically giving cop killers the death penalty

• Allocating funding for the development of a domestic “golden dome” missile defense system

What else took place during Trump’s speech?

• The president signed an executive order to rename a wildlife refuge after a 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by two Venezualian migrants.

• Trump promised the people of Greenland wealth and security if Greenland became a part of the United States.

• The president said he believed God saved him from the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., to make America great again.

• Trump asked Secret Service Director Sean Curran to make a 13-year-old brain cancer survivor an official U.S. Secret Service agent.