★Transcript of President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress
★Transcript of President Donald Trump’s speech
to a joint session of Congress
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated
10:05 AM EST, March 5, 2025
Speaker
Johnson, Vice President Vance, the first lady of the United States, members of
the United States Congress, thank you very much and to my fellow citizens:
America is back. Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and
proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America. From that moment on, it has
been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most
successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43
days than most administrations accomplished in 4 years, 8 years — and we are
just getting started. I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s
momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is
back. And the American Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before.
The
American Dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback
the likes of which the world has never witnessed and perhaps will never witness
again. Never been anything like it. The presidential election of November 5th
was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades. We won all seven swing
states, giving us an Electoral College victory of 312 votes. We won the popular
vote by big numbers and won counties in our country 2,700 to 525 on a map that
reads almost completely red for Republican.
Now, for
the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is
headed in the right direction than the wrong direction — in fact it’s an
astonishing record, 27-point swing — the most ever. Likewise, small business
optimism saw its single largest one-month gain ever recorded, a 41-point jump.
Over the past six weeks, I have signed nearly 100 Executive Orders and taken
more than 400 Executive Actions, a record to restore common sense, safety,
optimism and wealth all across our wonderful land. The people elected me to do
the job, and I am doing it. In fact, it has been stated by many that the first
month of our presidency, it’s our presidency, is the most successful in the
history of our nation. By many.
And what
makes it even more impressive, is that you know who number two is? George
Washington. How about that? I don’t know about that list but we’ll take it.
Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on
our southern border, and I deployed the U.S. military and Border Patrol to
repel the invasion of our country, and what a job they’ve done. As a result,
illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded, ever.
They heard my words and they chose not to come. Much easier that way.
In
comparison, under Joe Biden, the worst president in American history, there
were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of
them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang members and people from mental
institutions and insane asylums, were released into our country. Who would want
to do that?
This is my
fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front
of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy
or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do. I could find a
cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire
nations, or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history or the
stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded, and these people sitting
right here will not clap, will not stand and certainly will not cheer for these
astronomical achievements. They won’t do it no matter what, five, five times
I’ve been up here. It’s very sad, and it just shouldn’t be this way.
So,
Democrats sitting before me, for just this one night, why not join us in
celebrating so many incredible wins for America, for the good of our nation?
Let’s work together and let’s truly make America great again. Every day my
administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs to bring a
future America deserves and we’re doing it. This is a time for big dreams and
bold action.
Upon taking
office, I imposed an immediate freeze on all federal hiring, a freeze on all
new federal regulations, and a freeze on all foreign aid. I terminated the
ridiculous green new scam. I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate Accord,
which was costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.
I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization, and I also withdrew from
the anti-American U.N. Human Rights Council. We ended all of Biden’s
environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe and
totally unaffordable. And importantly, we ended the last administration’s
insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from
economic destruction. To unshackle our economy, I have directed that for every
one new regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated, just like I did in
my very successful first term. And in that first term, we set records on ending
unnecessary rules and regulations like no other president had done before.
We ordered
all federal workers to return to the office. They will either show up for work
in person or be removed from their job. We have ended weaponized government,
where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his
political opponent like me. How did that work out? Not too good, not too good.
And I have stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in
America, it’s back. And two days ago I signed an order making English the
official language of the United States of America.
I renamed
the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. And likewise, I renamed for a great
president, William McKinley, Mount McKinley, again. Beautiful Alaska. We love
Alaska. We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector
and our military. And our country will be woke no longer.
We believe
that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer or an air traffic
controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not
race or gender. You should be hired based on merit, and the Supreme Court in a
brave and very powerful decision has allowed us to do so. Thank you, thank you
very much. We have removed the poison of critical race theory from our public
schools and I signed an order making the official policy of the United States
government that there are only two genders, male and female.
I also
signed an executive order to ban men from playing in women’s sports. Three
years ago, Payton McNabb was an all-star high school athlete, one of the best,
preparing for a future in college sports. But when her girls volleyball match
was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton’s face, causing
traumatic brain injury, partially paralyzing her right side and ending her
athletic career. It was a shot like she’s never seen before. She’s never seen
anything like it. Payton is here tonight in the gallery, and Payton, from now
on, schools will kick the men off the girls team or they will lose all federal
funding.
And if you
really want to see numbers, just take a look at what happened in the women’s
boxing, weightlifting, track and field, swimming or cycling, where a male
recently finished a long-distance race five hours and 14 minutes ahead of a
woman for a new record by five hours. Broke the record by five hours. It’s
demeaning for women, and it’s very bad for our country. We’re not going to put
up with it any longer.
What I have
just described is only a small fraction of the common sense revolution that is
now because of us sweeping the entire world, common sense has become a common
theme, and we will never go back. Never, never going to let that happen. Among
my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and
immediate relief to working families. As you know, we inherited from the last
administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare. Their
policies drove up energy prices, pushed up grocery costs, and drove the
necessities of life out of reach for millions and millions of Americans,
they’ve never had anything like it. We suffered the worst inflation in 48
years, but perhaps even in the history of our country, they’re not sure. As
president, I’m fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America
affordable again.
Joe Biden
especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg prices out of
control. And we are working hard to get it back down. Secretary, do a good job
on that, you inherited a total mess from that administration. Do a good job. A
major focus of our fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing the cost of
energy. The previous administration cut the number of new oil and gas leases by
95%, slowed pipeline construction to a halt, and closed more than 100 power
plants. We are opening up many of those power plants right now. And frankly, we
have never seen anything like it.
That’s why,
on my first day in office, I declared a national energy emergency. As you’ve
heard me say many times, we have more liquid gold under our feet than any
nation on Earth. And by far, and now, I fully authorize the most talented team
ever assembled to go and get it. It’s called drill, baby, drill.
My
administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska,
among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want
to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each. It’s never
been anything like that one. It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go.
The permitting has gotten and later this week, I will also take historic action
to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in
the USA.
To further
combat inflation, we will not only be reducing the cost of energy, but will be
ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars.
And to that
end I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE!
Perhaps you’ve heard of it, perhaps. Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in
the gallery tonight. Thank you, Elon, you’re working very hard. He didn’t need
this, he didn’t need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody
here, even this side, appreciates it I believe. They just don’t want to admit
that.
Just listen
to some of the appalling waste we have already identified: $22 billion from HHS
to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens, $45 million for diversity,
equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma, $40 million to improve the social
and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. $8
million to promote LGBTQ+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has
ever heard of, $60 million for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian
empowerment in Central America. $60 million. $8 million for making mice
transgender.
This is
real. $32 million for a left-wing propaganda operation in Moldova. $10 million
for male circumcision in Mozambique. $20 million for the Arab “Sesame Street”
in the Middle East, it’s a program, $20 million for program. $1.9 billion to
recently created decarbonization of homes committee — headed up and we know
she’s involved just at the last moment, the money was passed over by a woman
named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her? A $3.5 million consulting
contract for lavish fish monitoring. $1.5 million for voter confidence in
Liberia, $14 million for social cohesion in Mali, $59 million for illegal alien
hotel rooms in New York City, real estate developers done very well. $250,000
to increase vegan local climate action innovation in Zambia, $42 million for
social and behavior change in Uganda, $14 million for improving public
procurement in Serbia, $47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia.
Asia is doing very well with learning. You know what we’re doing? Should use it
ourselves. A $101 million for DEI contracts at the Department of Education. The
most ever paid, nothing even like it. Under the Trump administration, all of
these scams and there are far worse, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to
talk about them, they’re so bad. Many more have been found out and exposed and
swiftly terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people headed
up by Elon, and we appreciate it. We found hundreds of billions of dollars of
fraud.
And we’ve
taken back the money and reduced our debt to fight inflation and other things.
Taking back a lot of that money, we got it just in time. This is just the
beginning. The Government Accountability Office, federal government office, has
estimated annual fraud of over $500 billion in our nation, and we are working
very hard to stop it. We’re going to. We’re also identifying shocking levels of
incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors
and that our seniors and people that we love rely on.
Believe it
or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from
people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to
119. I don’t know any of them. I know some people that are rather elderly, but
not quite that elderly. 3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129, 3.9 million
people from ages 130 to 139, 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149, and money
is being paid to many of them, and we’re searching right now. In fact, Pam,
good luck, good luck. You’re going to find it. But a lot of money is paid out
to people, because it just keeps getting paid and paid, and nobody does, and it
really hurts Social Security and hurts our country, 1.3 million people from
ages 150 to 159 and over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security
databases, are age over 160 years old. We have a healthier country than I
thought, Bobby.
Including,
to finish, 1,039 people between the ages of 220 and 229, one person between the
age of 240 and 249 and one person is listed at 360 years of age — more than 100
years, more than 100 years older than our country. But we’re going to find out
where that money is going, and it’s not going to be pretty, by slashing all of
the fraud, waste and theft. And theft we can find. We will defeat inflation,
bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our
seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families.
And today,
interest rates took a beautiful drop. Big beautiful drop. It’s about time. And
in the near future I want to do what has not been done in 24 years — balance
the federal budget, we’re gonna balance it.
With that
goal in mind, we have developed in great detail what we are calling the Gold
Card, which goes on sale very, very soon. For $5 million we will allow the most
successful job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to U.S.
citizenship. It’s like the green card, but better and more sophisticated. And
these people will have to pay tax in our country. They won’t have to pay tax
from where they came, the money that they’ve made, you wouldn’t want to do
that. But they have to pay tax, create jobs. They’ll also be taking people out
of colleges and paying for them so that we can keep them in our country,
instead of having them being forced out. Number one at the top school as an
example, being forced out and not being allowed to stay and create tremendous
numbers of jobs and great success for a company out there.
So while we
take out the criminals, killers, traffickers and child predators who are
allowed to enter our country under the open border policy of these people, the
Democrats, the Biden administration, the open border, insane policies that
you’ve allowed to destroy our country, we will now bring in brilliant,
hardworking job-creating people. They’re going to pay a lot of money, and we’re
going to reduce our debt with that money.
Americans
have given us a mandate for bold and profound change. For nearly 100 years the
federal bureaucracy has grown until it has crushed our freedoms, ballooned our
deficits, and held back America’s potential in every possible way. The nation
founded by pioneers and risk takers, now drowns under millions and millions of
pages of regulations and debt. Approvals that should take 10 days to get
instead, take 10 years, 15 years, and even 20 years before you reject it.
Meanwhile, we have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been
showing up to work. My administration will reclaim power from this
unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America again.
Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office
immediately.
Because we
are draining the swamp, it’s very simple, and the days of rule by unelected
bureaucrats are over. And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest
economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody. They’re
in there, they’re waiting for you to vote. And I’m sure that the people on my
right — I don’t mean the Republican right, but my right, right here — I’m sure
you’re going to vote for those tax cuts, because otherwise I don’t believe the
people will ever vote you into office. So I’m doing you a big favor by telling
you that. But I know this group is going to be voting for the tax cut. A very,
very big part of our plan, we had tremendous success in our first term with it,
a very big part of our plan. We’re seeking permanent income tax cuts all across
the board and to get urgently needed relief to Americans hit especially hard by
inflation. I’m calling for no tax on tips, no tax overtime and no tax on Social
Security benefits for our great seniors.
And I also
want to make interest payments on car loans tax deductible, but only if the car
is made in America. Oh, and by the way, we’re going to have growth in the auto
industry like nobody’s ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place.
Deals are being made like never seen. That’s a combination of the election win
and tariffs. It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? That that along with our other
policies will allow our auto industry to absolutely boom. It’s going to boom.
Spoke to the majors today. All three, the top people and they’re so excited. In
fact, already numerous car companies have announced that they will be building
massive automobile plants in America, with Honda just announcing a new plant in
Indiana, one of the largest anywhere in the world. And this has taken place
since a great victory on November 5th, a date which will hopefully go down as
one of the most important in the history of our country. In addition, as part
of our tax cuts, we want to cut taxes on domestic production and all manufacturing.
And just as we did before, we will provide 100% expensing. It will be
retroactive to January 20th, 2025.
And it was
one of the main reasons why our tax cuts were so successful in our first term,
giving us the most successful economy in the history of our country. First
term, we had a great first term. And if you don’t make your product in America,
however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some
cases a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for
decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other
countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and
Canada. Have you heard of them? And countless other nations charge us
tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It’s very unfair. India
charges us auto tariffs higher than 100%. China’s average tariff on our
products is twice what we charge them. And South Korea’s average tariff is four
times higher. Think of that, four times higher. And we give so much help
militarily and in so many other ways to South Korea.
But that’s
what happens. This is happening by friend and foe. This system is not fair to
the United States and never was. And so on April 2nd, I wanted to make an April
1st, but I didn’t want to be accused of April Fool’s Day. That’s what one day
would cost us, a lot of money, but we’re going to do it in April. I’m a very
superstitious person. April 2nd reciprocal tariffs kick in and whatever they
tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal back and
forth. Whatever they tax us, we will tax them.
If they do
non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do
non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. It’s a lot of that too.
They don’t even allow us in that market. We will take in trillions and
trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before. I did it
with China and I did it with others and the Biden administration couldn’t do
anything about it because there was so much money. They couldn’t do anything
about it. We’ve been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth,
and we will not let that happen any longer. Much has been said over the last
three months about Mexico and Canada, but we have very large deficits with both
of them. But even more importantly, they’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our
country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our
citizens and many very young, beautiful people destroying families. Nobody’s
ever seen anything like it.
They are,
in effect, receiving subsidies of hundreds of billions of dollars. We pay
subsidies to Canada and to Mexico, have hundreds of billions of dollars in the
United States, will not be doing that any longer. We’re not going to do it any
longer.
Thanks to
our America First policies we’re putting into place, we have had $1.7 trillion
of new investment in America in just the past few weeks. The combination of the
election and our economic policies that people love. SoftBank, one of the most
brilliant anywhere in the world, announced a $200 billion investment. OpenAI
and Oracle, Larry Ellison, announced $500 billion investment, which they
wouldn’t have done if Kamala had won. Apple announced $500 billion investment.
Tim Cook called me, said, I cannot spend it fast enough, it’s got to be much
higher than that. I believe they’ll be building their plants here instead of in
China. And just yesterday, Taiwan Semiconductor, the biggest in the world’s
most powerful in the world, has a tremendous amount — 97% of the market —
announced a $165 billion investment to build the most powerful chips on Earth
right here in the U.S.A. And we’re not giving them any money.
Your CHIPS
Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars and
it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it. All that
meant to them. We’re giving them no money. All that was important to them was
they didn’t want to pay the tariffs. So they came and they’re building. And
many other companies are coming. We don’t have to give them money, we just want
to protect our businesses and our people, and they will come because they won’t
have to pay tariffs if they build in America. So it’s very amazing. You should
get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever’s left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use
it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.
A new trade
policy will also be great for the American farmer. I love the farmer. We’ll now
be selling it to our home market in the U.S.A., because nobody is going to be
able to compete with you. Because those goods that come in from other countries
and companies, they’re really, really in a bad position in so many different
ways. They’re uninspected. They may be very dirty and disgusting and they come
in and they pour in and they hurt our American farmers.
The tariffs
will go on agricultural product coming into America and our farmers starting on
April 2nd, it may be a little bit of an adjustment period, we had that before
when I made the deal with China, $50 billion of purchases and I said, just bear
with me. And they did, they did. You really have to bear with me again and this
will be even better. That was great. The problem with it was that Biden didn’t
enforce it. He didn’t enforce it. $50 billion of purchases. And we were doing
great. But Biden did not enforce it, and it hurt our farmers. But our farmers
are going to have a field day right now. So to our farmers, have a lot of fun.
I love you, too. I love you too.
And I have
also imposed a 25% tariff on foreign aluminum, copper, lumber and steel because
if we don’t have, as an example, steel and lots of other things, we don’t have
a military and frankly we just won’t have a country very long. Here today is a
proud American steelworker, fantastic person from Decatur, Alabama. Jeff Denard
has been working at the same steel plant for 27 years in a job that has allowed
him to serve as the captain of his local volunteer fire department, raise seven
children with his beautiful wife, Nicole, and over the years provide a loving
home for more than 40 foster children. So great, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff. Stories
like Jeff’s remind us that tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs.
They’re
about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich
again and making America great again. And it’s happening. And it will happen
rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that. It
won’t be much. No you’re not, oh. And look, look where Biden took us, it’s very
low, the lowest we’ve ever been.
Jeff, I
want to thank you very much. And I also want to recognize another person who
has devoted herself to foster care community. She worked so hard on it, her
very loving person, our magnificent first lady of the United States. Melania’s
work has yielded incredible results, helping prepare our nation’s future
leaders as they enter the workforce.
Our first
lady is joined by two impressive young women. Very impressive. Haley Ferguson,
who benefited from the First Ladies Fostering the Future initiative and is
poised to complete her education, become a teacher. And Allison Berry, who
became a victim of an illicit, deepfake image produced by a peer. With
Allison’s help, the Senate just passed the Take It Down Act, and this is so
important. Thank you very much, John Thune. Thank you, Senator. Thank you,
John. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
And thank
you to John Thune and the Senate. Great job to criminalize the publication of
such images online. Just terrible, terrible thing. And once it passes the
House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. Thank you. And I’m going
to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind. There’s nobody gets
treated worse than I do online. Nobody. That’s great. Thank you very much to
the Senate. Thank you.
But if we
truly care about protecting America’s children, no step is more crucial than
securing America’s borders. Over the past four years, 21 million people poured
into the United States, many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang
members, and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities all
throughout the world because of Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open
border policies. They are now strongly embedded in our country. But we are
getting them out and getting them out fast. And I want to thank Tom Homan and
Kristi, I want to thank you, and Paul and Border Patrol. I want to thank you.
What a job they’ve all done. Everybody. Border Patrol, ICE, law enforcement in
general is incredible. We have to take care of our law enforcement.
Last year,
a brilliant 22 year-old nursing student named Laken Riley, the best in her
class, admired by everybody, went out for a jog on the campus of the University
of Georgia. That morning Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten,
brutalized, and horrifically murdered. Lincoln was stolen from us by a savage
illegal alien gang member who was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s
open southern border and then sent loose into the United States under the
heartless policies of that failed administration. It was indeed a failed
administration. He had then been arrested and released in a Democrat-run
sanctuary city, a disaster, before ending the life of this beautiful young
angel. With us this evening, our Laken’s beloved mother Allyson and her sister
Lauren.
Last year,
I told Laken’s grieving parents that we would ensure their daughter would not
have died in vain. That’s why the very first bill I signed into law as your
47th president mandates the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who
threaten public safety. Very strong, powerful act. It’s called the Laken Riley
Act. So, Allyson and Lauren, America will never, ever forget our beautiful
Laken Hope Riley. Thank you very much.
Since
taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and
immigration crackdown in American history. And we quickly achieved the lowest
numbers of illegal border crossers ever recorded. Thank you. The media and our
friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation, we must
have legislation to secure the border. But it turned out that all we really
needed was a new president. Joe Biden didn’t just open our borders. He flew
illegal aliens over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals and communities
throughout the country. Entire towns like Aurora, Colorado and Springfield,
Ohio, buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like
nobody’s ever seen before. Beautiful towns destroyed. Now, just as I promised
in my inaugural address, we are achieving the great liberation of America. But
there still is much work to be done.
Here
tonight is a woman I have gotten to know, Alexis Nungaray from Houston.
Wonderful woman. Last June, Alexis’ 12-year-old daughter, her precious Jocelyn,
walked to a nearby convenience store. She was kidnapped, tied up, assaulted for
two hours under a bridge, and horrifically murdered. Arrested and charged with
this heinous crime are two illegal alien monsters from Venezuela released into
America by the last administration through their ridiculous open border.
The death
of this beautiful 12-year-old girl and the agony of her mother and family
touched our entire nation greatly. Alexis, I promised that we would always
remember your daughter, your magnificent daughter. And earlier tonight, I
signed an order keeping my word to you. One thing I have learned about Jocelyn
is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from
where Jocelyn lived in Houston you will find a magnificent national wildlife
refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures
on the edge of the Gulf of America.
Alexis.
Moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful
daughter, Jocelyn. Mr. Vice President, if you would, may I have the order?
Thank you very much. All three savages charged with Jocelyn and Laken’s murders
were members of the Venezuelan prison gang. The toughest gang, they say, in the
world known as Tren de Aragua. Two weeks ago, I officially designated this
gang, along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican drug cartels, as foreign
terrorist organizations. They are now officially in the same category as ISIS,
and that’s not good for them. Countless thousands of these terrorists were
welcomed into the U.S. by the Biden administration. But now every last one will
be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country. Or, if they are too
dangerous, put in jails, standing trial in this country because we don’t want
them to come back ever.
With us
this evening is a warrior on the frontline of that battle. Border Patrol agent
Roberto Ortiz, great guy. In January, Roberto and another agent were patrolling
by the Rio Grande near an area known as Cartel Island. Doesn’t sound too nice
to me. When heavily armed gunmen started shooting at them, Roberto saw that his
partner was totally exposed to great danger, and he leapt into action,
returning fire and providing crucial seconds for his fellow agent to seek
safety, and just barely. I have some of the prints of that event and it was not
good. Agent Ortiz, we salute you for your great courage and your line of fire
that you took and for the bravery that you showed. We honor you, and we will
always honor you. Thank you, Roberto, very much. And I actually got to know him
on my many calls to the border. He’s a great, great gentleman. The territory to
the immediate south of our border is now dominated entirely by criminal cartels
that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control. They have total control over
a whole nation. posing a grave threat to our national security.
The cartels
are waging war in America, and it’s time for America to wage war on the
cartels. Five nights ago, Mexican authorities, because of our tariff policies
being imposed on them, think of this, handed over to us 29 of the biggest
cartel leaders in their country. That has never happened before. They want to
make us happy. First time ever. But we need Mexico and Canada to do much more
than they’ve done, and they have to stop the fentanyl and drugs pouring into
the U.S.A. They’re going to stop it.
I have sent
Congress a detailed funding request, laying out exactly how we will eliminate
these threats to protect our homeland and complete the largest deportation
operation in American history. Larger even than current record holder President
Dwight D. Eisenhower, a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in
borders. Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay so I
can sign it into law. So, Mr. Speaker, John Thune, both of you, I hope you’re
going to be able to do that. Mr. Speaker, thank you, Mr. Leader, thank you.
Thank you very much. And let’s get it to me. I’ll sign it so fast you won’t
even believe it.
And as we
reclaim our sovereignty, we must also bring back law and order to our cities
and towns. In recent years, our justice system has been turned upside down by
radical left lunatics.
Many
jurisdictions virtually ceased enforcing the law against dangerous repeat
offenders while weaponizing law enforcement against political opponents like
me. My administration has acted swiftly and decisively to restore fair, equal
and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law. Starting at the FBI
and the DOJ, Pam. Good luck. Kash, wherever you may be. Good luck, good luck.
Pam Bondi. Good luck. So important. Gonna to do a great job. Kash. Thank you,
thank you, thank you, Kash.
They have
already started very strong. They’re going to do a fantastic job. You’re going
to be very proud of them. We’re also once again giving our police officers the
support, protection and respect they show dearly deserve. They have to get it.
They have such a hard, dangerous job. But we’re going to make it less
dangerous. The problem is the bad guys don’t respect the law, but they’re
starting to respect it, and they soon will respect it.
This also
includes our great fire departments throughout the country. Our firemen and
women are unbelievable people, and I will never forget them. And besides that,
they voted for me in record numbers. So I have no choice.
One year
ago this month, 31-year-old New York police officer Jonathan Diller,
unbelievably wonderful person and a great officer, was gunned down at a traffic
stop on Long Island. I went to his funeral. A vicious criminal charged with his
murder had 21 prior arrests -- and they were rough arrests, too. He was a real
bad one. The thug in the seat next to him had 14 prior arrests, and went by the
name of Killer. He was Killer. He killed other people, they say, a lot of them.
I attended Officer Tiller’s service, and when I met his wife and one-year-old
son, Ryan, it was very inspirational, actually. His widow’s name is Stephanie
and she is here tonight. Thank you very much Stephanie. Thank you very much.
Stephanie,
we’re going to make sure that Ryan knows his dad was a true hero. New York’s
finest. And we’re going to get these cold-blooded killers and repeat offenders
off our streets. And we’re going to do it fast. Gotta stop it. They get out
with 28 arrests. They push people into subway trains. They hit people over the
head, back of the head with baseball bats. We got to get him out of here.
I’ve
already signed an executive order requiring a mandatory death penalty for
anyone who murders a police officer. And tonight, I’m asking Congress to pass
that policy into permanent law.
I’m also
asking for a new crime bill getting tougher on repeat offenders while enhancing
protections for America’s police officers so they can do their jobs without
fear of their lives being totally destroyed. They don’t want to be killed.
We’re not going to let them be killed.
Joining us
to the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police. His name is
D.J. Daniel. He is 13 years old, and he has always dreamed of becoming a police
officer. But in 2018, D.J. was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave
him five months, at most, to live. That was more than six years ago. Since that
time, D.J. and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true. And
D.J. has been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer. Actually, a
number of times. The police love him. The police departments love him. And
tonight, D.J., we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking
our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent
of the United States secret Service. Thank you, D.J.
D.J.’s
doctors believe his cancer likely came from a chemical he was exposed to when
he was younger. Since 1975, rates of child cancer have increased by more than
40%. Reversing this trend is one of the top priorities for our new presidential
commission to Make America Healthy Again, chaired by our new Secretary of
Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. With a name Kennedy, you would
have thought everybody over here would have been cheering. How quickly they
forget.
Our goal is
to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our food supply, and keep
our children healthy and strong. As an example, not long ago — and you can’t
even believe these numbers — one in 10,000 children had autism. One in 10,000,
and now it’s one in 36. There’s something wrong. One in 36. Think of that. So,
we’re going to find out what it is, and there’s nobody better than Bobby and
all of the people that are working with you. You have the best to figure out
what is going on. Okay, Bobby. Good luck. It’s a very important job. Thank you.
My
administration is also working to protect children from toxic ideologies in our
schools. A few years ago, January Littlejohn and her husband discovered that
their daughter’s school had secretly socially transitioned their 13-year-old
little girl. Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her
husband while encouraging their daughter to use a new name and
pronouns--they/them pronouns, actually — or without telling January, who is
here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse.
January, thank you. Thank you.
Stories
like this are why, shortly after taking office, I signed an executive order
banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender
ideology. I also signed an order to cut off all taxpayer funding to any
institution that engages in the sexual mutilation of our youth. And now, I want
Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on
children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong
body. This is a big lie. And our message to every child in America is that you
are perfect exactly the way God made you.
Because
we’re getting wokeness out of our schools and out of our military, and it’s
already out, and it’s out of our society. We don’t want it. Wokeness is
trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone. It’s gone. And we feel so much better for
it. Don’t we? Don’t we feel better? Our service members won’t be activists and
ideologues. They will be fighters and warriors. They will fight for our country
and Pete, congratulations, secretary of defense. And he’s not big into the woke
movement, I can tell you. I know him well.
I am
pleased to report that in January, the U.S. Army had its single best recruiting
month in 15 years and that all armed services are having among the best
recruiting results ever in the history of our services. What a difference. And,
you know, it was just a few months ago where the results were exactly the
opposite. We couldn’t recruit anywhere. We couldn’t recruit. Now we’re having
the best results.
And, you
know, it was just a few months ago where the results were exactly the opposite.
We couldn’t recruit anywhere. We couldn’t recruit. Now we’re having the best
results just about that we’ve ever had. What a tremendous turnaround. It’s
really a beautiful thing to see. People love our country again. It’s very
simple. They love our country and they love being in our military again. So
it’s a great thing. And thank you very much. Great job.
We’re
joined tonight by a young man, Jason Hartley, who knows the weight of that call
of duty. Jason’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather all wore the
uniform. Jason tragically lost his dad, who was also a Los Angeles County
sheriff’s deputy, when he was just a boy and now he wants to carry on the
family legacy of service. Jason is a senior in high school, a six-letter
varsity athlete — a really good athlete, they say. A brilliant student with a
4.46 — that’s good — GPA and his greatest dream is to attend the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point.
And Jason,
that’s a very big deal getting in. That’s a hard one to get into. But I’m
pleased to inform you that your application has been accepted. You’ll soon be
joining the Corps of Cadets.
Thank you.
Jason, you’re going to be on the Long Gray Line, Jason. As commander in chief,
my focus is on building the most powerful military of the future. As a first
step, I’m asking Congress to fund a state of the art “golden dome” missile
defense shield to protect our homeland. All made in the U.S.A.
Ronald
Reagan wanted to do it long ago, but the technology just wasn’t there. Not even
close. But now we have the technology. It’s incredible, actually.
And other
place — they have it. Israel has it. Other places have it. And the United
States should have it too, right? Kim. Right. They should have it too. So I
want to thank you, but it’s a very, very important. This is a very dangerous
world. We should have it. We want to be protected and we’re going to protect
our citizens like never before.
To boost
our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect the American
shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military
shipbuilding. And for that purpose, I am announcing tonight that we will create
a new office of shipbuilding in the White House and offer special tax
incentives to bring this industry home to America, where it belongs.
We used to
make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to
make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact.
To further
enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama
Canal, and we’ve already started doing it.
Just today,
a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama
Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple
of other canals. The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for
others. But others could use it.
But it was
built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. 38,000 workers died
building the Panama Canal. They died of malaria. They died of snakebites and
mosquitoes. Not a nice place to work.
They paid
them very highly to go there, knowing there was a 25% chance that they would
die. The most expensive project also that was ever built in our country’s
history if you bring it up to modern-day costs. It was given away by the Carter
administration for $1. But that agreement has been violated very severely.
We didn’t
give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.
Now we have
Marco Rubio in charge. Good luck, Marco. Now we know who to blame if anything
goes wrong. Marco has been amazing, and he’s going to do a great job. Think of
it. He got 100 votes. You know, he was approved with actually 99, but the 100th
was this gentleman. And I feel very certain, so let’s assume we got 100 votes.
And I’m either very, very happy about that or I’m very concerned about it.
But he’s
already proven — I mean, he’s a great gentleman. He’s respected by everybody.
And we appreciate you voting for Marco. He’s going to do a fantastic job. Thank
you, thank you. He’s doing a great job. Great job.
And I also
have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly
support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome
you into the United States of America.
We need
Greenland for national security and even international security. And we’re
working with everybody involved to try and get it. But we need it really for
international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the
other, we’re going to get it.
We will
keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to
heights like you have never thought possible before.
It’s a very
small population, but very, very large piece of land and very, very important
for military security.
America is
once again standing strong against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism.
Three and a
half years ago, ISIS terrorists killed 13 American service members and
countless others in the Abbey Gate bombing during the disastrous and
incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not that they were withdrawing. It was
the way they withdrew. Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of
our country.
Tonight, I
am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist
responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the
swift sword of American justice.
And I want
to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this
monster. This was a very momentous day for those 13 families who I actually got
to know very well, most of them, whose children were murdered, and the many
people that were so badly, over 42 people so badly injured on that fateful day
in Afghanistan.
What a
horrible day. Such incompetence was shown that when Putin saw what happened, I
guess he said, wow, maybe this is my chance. That’s how bad it was. Should have
never happened. Grossly incompetent people.
I spoke to
many of the parents and loved ones and they’re all in our hearts tonight. I
spoke to them on the phone. We had a big call. Every one of them called and
everybody was on the line and they did nothing but cry with happiness. They
were very happy. It’s happy as you can be under those circumstances. Their
child, brother, sister, son, daughter was killed for no reason whatsoever.
In the
Middle East, we’re bringing back our hostages from Gaza. In my first term, we
achieved one of the most groundbreaking peace agreements in generations: the
Abraham Accords. And now we’re going to build on that foundation, to create a
more peaceful and prosperous future for the entire region.
A lot of
things are happening in the Middle East. People haven’t been talking about that
so much lately, with everything going on with Ukraine and Russia, a lot of
things are happening in the Middle East. A rough neighborhood actually.
I’m also
working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine. Millions of
Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific
and brutal conflict, with no end in sight.
The United
States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense,
with no security, with no way. Do you want to keep it going for another five
years? Yeah, yeah, you would say, “Pocahontas says yes.”
2000 people
are being killed every single week. More than that. They are Russian young
people. They’re Ukrainian young people. They’re not Americans. But I want it to
stop.
Meanwhile,
Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have
spent on defending Ukraine by far. Think of that. They’ve spent more buying
Russian oil and gas than they have defending.
And we’ve
spent perhaps $350 billion. Like taking candy from a baby. That’s what
happened. And they’ve spent $100 billion. What a difference that is. And we
have an ocean separating us. And they don’t. But we’re getting along very well
with them. And lots of good things are happening.
Biden has
authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent by billions and
billions of dollars. It’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t have stopped it
and said at some point, come on, let’s equalize. You got to be equal to us.
That didn’t happen.
Earlier
today, I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The
letter reads: ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as
possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the
Ukrainians,” he said. “My team and I stand ready to work under President
Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We do really value how
much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and
independence. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is
ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.”
I
appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago.
Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussion with Russia and have received
strong signals that they are ready for peace.
Wouldn’t
that be beautiful? Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
It’s time
to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this
senseless war.
If you want
to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.
Nearly four
years ago, amid rising tensions, a history teacher named Mark Fogel was
detained in Russia and sentenced to 14 years at a penal colony. Rough stuff.
The previous administration barely lifted a finger to help him. They knew he
was innocent, but they had no idea where to begin.
But last
summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, that we would bring her
boy safely back home. After 22 days in office, I did just that. And they are
here tonight.
To Mark and
his great mom: We are delighted to have you safe and sound and with us.
As fate
would have it, Mark Fogel was born in a small, rural town in Butler,
Pennsylvania. Have you heard of it? Where his mother has lived for the past 78
years. I just happened to go there last July 13th for a rally.
That was
not pleasant. And that is where I met his beautiful mom right before I walked
onto that stage. And I told her I would not forget what she said about her son.
And I never did that, did I? Never forgot.
Less than
10 minutes later, at that same rally, gunfire rang out and a sick and deranged
assassin unloaded eight bullets from his sniper’s perch into a crowd of many
thousands of people.
My life was
saved by a fraction of an inch, but some were not so lucky. Corey Comperatore
was a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a husband, a devoted father, and
above all, a protector. When the sound of gunshots pierced the air, it was a
horrible sound. Corey knew instantly what it was and what to do. He threw
himself on top of his wife and daughters and shielded them from the bullets
with his own body. Corey was hit really hard. You know the story from there. He
sacrificed his life to save theirs. Two others, very fine people, were also
seriously hit, but thankfully, with the help of two great country doctors- — we
thought they were gone and they were saved — so those doctors had great talent.
We’re joined by Corey’s wife, Helen, who was his high school sweetheart, and
their two beloved daughters, Allison and Kaylee. Thank you.
To Helen,
Allison and Kaylee: Corey is looking down on his three beautiful ladies right
now, and he is cheering you on. He loves you. He is cheering you on. Corey was
taken from us much too soon, but his destiny was to leave us all with a shining
example of the selfless devotion of a true American patriot. It was love like
Corey’s that built our country and it’s love like Corey’s that is going to make
our country more majestic than ever before.
I believe
that my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good reason. I was saved
by God to make America great again. I believe that. Thank you very much.
From the
patriots of Lexington and Concord, to the heroes of Gettysburg and Normandy,
from the warriors who crossed the Delaware, to the trailblazers who climbed the
Rockies, and from the legends who soared at Kitty Hawk, to the astronauts who
touched the moon, Americans have always been the people who defied all odds,
transcended all dangers, made the most extraordinary sacrifices, and did
whatever it took to defend our children, our country, and our freedom.
As we have
seen in this chamber tonight, that same strength, faith, love and spirit is
still alive and thriving in the hearts of the American people. Despite the best
efforts of those who would try to censor us, silence us, break us, destroy us,
Americans are today a proud, free, sovereign and independent nation that will
always be free, and we will fight for it ’til death. We will never let anything
happen to our beloved country because we are a country of doers, dreamers,
fighters and survivors.
Our
ancestors crossed a vast ocean, strode into the unknown wilderness, and carved
their fortunes from the rock and soil of a perilous and very dangerous
frontier. They chased our destiny across a boundless continent. They built the
railroads, laid the highways, and graced the world with American marvels like
the Empire State Building, the mighty Hoover Dam, and the towering Golden Gate
Bridge. They lit the world with electricity, broke free of the force of
gravity, fired up the engines of American industry, vanquished the communists,
fascists and Marxists all over the world, and gave us countless modern wonders
sculpted out of iron, glass and steel. We stand on the shoulders of these
pioneers who won and built the modern age, these workers who poured their sweat
into the skylines of our cities, these warriors who shed their blood on fields
of battle and gave everything they had for our rights and for our freedom.
Now it is
our time to take up the righteous cause of American liberty, and it is our turn
to take America’s destiny into our own hands and begin the most thrilling days
in the history of our country. This will be our greatest era. With God’s help,
over the next four years, we are going to lead this nation even higher, and we
are going to forge the freest, most advanced, most dynamic and most dominant
civilization ever to exist on the face of this Earth.
We are
going to create the highest quality of life, build the safest and wealthiest
and healthiest and most vital communities anywhere in the world. We are going
to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity
into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars, and even far beyond.
And through
it all, we are going to rediscover the unstoppable power of the American
spirit. And we are going to renew unlimited promise of the American dream.
Every single day we will stand up and we will fight, fight, fight for the
country our citizens believe in and for the country our people deserve. My
fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, because the golden Age of
America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen
before. Thank you. God bless you and God bless America.
___
This
transcript has been corrected to show the speech was March 4, not May 4.
原文地址:https://apnews.com/article/trump-speech-congress-transcript-751b5891a3265ff1e5c1409c391fef7c
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