Mark Alford's Capitol Recap: Episode 60

🚨📌FROM D.C. — to you! Taking you front row with President Trump, breaking down the SAVE America Act, Working Families Tax Cuts, DHS shutdown, & Kansas City’s World Cup security. 

All this & more. Don’t miss this week’s ‘Mark Alford’s Capitol Recap’ - LIVE NOW! 🎙️👇

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

From Washington, D.C. to the heart of America, this is Congressman Mark Alford's Capital Recap, the voice of truth with a behind-the-scenes look at what's really going on in the swamp. Defender of conservative values and a man who believes our best days are still ahead of us. Here he is, Congressman Mark Alford.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Well, hi, everybody. Yes, I'm Congressman Mark Alford, proudly representing Missouri's Fourth Congressional District. Good to have you with us again this week on Mark Alford's Capital Recap. You know, each week here we talk directly about what's happening in D.C., what it means for families, and what we're doing to keep America safe, strong, and prosperous. And this week we have a lot to cover. We're going to take you down to Dural, Florida, where House Republicans are gathered this week to really map out our America first policy agenda for the year ahead, and how we're going to win the midterms, the most important thing. We heard directly from President Trump. We had the chance to sit on the front row there. Leslie went with me. And the president covered a lot of ground. You're going to hear directly from him on the situation with Iran, the working families tax cuts that are already helping families here, and the Save America Act and the ongoing Democrat shutdown and the Department of Homeland Security and how it's affecting you. We'll also talk about a really important issue for the Kansas City area security funding for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is being held up. All that and more coming up. Let's get started. Let's talk about the Washington update. We're going to have a little update of what's happening in Washington. And the Save America Act is really on everyone's mind right now. I want to begin with that. As you know, President Trump and House Republicans have pushed very hard to make sure this happens. And a lot of you out there listening right now, you have the same concern. Illegal aliens should not be able to register to vote, and certainly should not be able to actually vote in elections, and we're trying to keep that from happening. The House has already passed the SAVE Act and the updated Save America Act. I'm proud to be one of the strongest advocates for this. It's really a common sense bill. It's like 85% of Americans agree with it. It requires folks to verify their citizenship when they register to vote. And then you got to show a government-issued voter ID proving who you are when you go to vote. Well, this week at Durral, President Trump wanted to add a couple of new things to this bill, including a ban on LN ballots, with exceptions for if you're sick or you have a disability, you're in the military, or you're traveling abroad. Also, protections for women's sports. Basically, no men in women's sports. And lastly, protecting our children. No sex change operations, no transgender mutilation surgeries from minors. So we are now working to get those new provisions added to the bill, and that means we're going to have to pass it again in the House. It could be one of the strategies is because our original is over in the Senate, if they ever get off their butts and get this thing passed, they could have added amendments to it with these new items and then send it back to the House. We'll see what happens. You know, you got to have 60 votes in the Senate to get it done. There's talk about doing away with a filibuster. I'm for that. I think it's high time they get the Save America Act passed. Leader Thune has said they don't have enough Republican votes to abolish the filibuster or invoke a talking filibuster. So that leaves us with one really one way around this Democrat obstruction. That's budget reconciliation. That's how we got the one big beautiful bill, the working families tax cut signed into law. And I've been advocating for a second big beautiful bill so that we can finish Trump's America First agenda. So stay tuned for that because it's going to be a major issue in the coming weeks. Let's talk about the DHS shutdown. Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, Democrats in D.C. continue to block efforts to fully fund DHS. That means the very department responsible for protecting our homeland, including TSA officers, Border Patrol, FEMA, and others, is really caught in the middle of a political standoff by the Democrats. They are holding America hostage right now. You've seen the long lines at the airport, all over the country. 300 TSA agents just up in Quip. They've had enough. They were part of the longest shutdown in U.S. history back in November, and now this other Democrat shutdown, it's putting hardships on them. It's having real consequences for people all over the nation, including here in Kansas City. There were long lines, that big threat out of KCI, where everyone was evacuated out of the airport onto the tarmac. Kansas City deserves better. Which brings me to another important issue I worked on this week, and that's the letter that we sent to DHS about funding for FIFA. I led this letter with the Congressman Derek Schmidt of Kansas urging DHS to release the critical security money for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Kansas City is one of the host cities. We all know that. And we're very excited about that, but we have to have the security in place. Hosting an event like this requires serious security planning, and it has to, some of it has to be paid for. You've got a contract with these security officers, you've got a contract on housing for them. These security personnel are coming in from other parts of the country. They're not from here. Last year, Congress approved$625 million in federal money for security operations for the host cities through the One Big Beautiful Bill, okay? And that includes about$25 million for Kansas City, which is very, very important. We have less than a hundred days now till the matches start here in Kansas City. The ongoing Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security has made it really more complicated because the left shutdown has forced a lot of FEMA staff members, including the personnel responsible for reviewing and processing these grants. Well, they're now on administrative leave. And that's part of the problem. That means local officials are left waiting while they try to finalize the contracts, get the equipment they need, hire the personnel they need to really secure one of the largest global events ever hosted on U.S. soil. So we wrote a letter to Secretary Gnome and we made it very clear this funding is not optional. I also sent it or had a private conversation with incoming Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen about this. He's very, very aware of this. So this is going to get his attention. I also talked to Tom Homan about it too, and we can get into that later. But this is essential for planning and executing the security operations that we need to protect millions of visitors, athletes, and spectators who are going to travel to the U.S. and to Kansas City for the tournament. And with the tensions rising all over the world, especially with the ongoing military operations in Iran, security experts have warned that large international events like the World Cup could become attractive targets for Islamic terrorists and other attacks. We've got to get this straightened out. We got to get this money to Kansas City and the other host cities as soon as possible. So that's why we're urging DHS to finalize the review and get that money out. Hey, before we take a break, I do want to take you down to Dural, Florida. We were down there together this week for a meeting with President Trump and leadership and our chairs of our different committees. Leslie and I were on the front row as the president delivered a very powerful speech covering several major issues facing our country. So in the second half of the show, I want you to hear some of the best moments from that speech directly from the president. That is all ahead. When we come back, you're listening to Mark Alford's Capital Recap. Stay with us. We heard directly from President Trump, and we were right there listening. Leslie and I were, and the president covered a lot of ground. I thought the best thing to do would just let you hear directly from the President of the United States. First up, this topic of Iran. Here he is, President Trump.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Together with our Israeli partners, we're crushing the enemy and an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force. Iran's drone and missile capability is being utterly demolished. The Navy is gone. It's all lying at the bottom of the ocean. Forty-six ships. Can you believe it? In fact, I got a little upset with our people. I said, what quality of ship? Excellent, sir. Top of the line. I said, why didn't we just capture the ship? We're going to use it. Why did we sink them? They said, it's more fun to sink them. He said, that's they like sinking them better. They say it's safer to sink them. I guess it's probably true. But uh think of it. We knocked out 46. It actually took three and a half days. Their terrorist leaders are gone. We're counting down the minutes until they will be gone. Think of it. We had leaders and they're gone. Then we had new leaders and they're gone. And now nobody has any idea who the people are that are going to be the head of the country. Trevor Burrus, and will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. And remember, Iran did so many bad things. They were really, if you look at Solomony, who was taken out, as you know that, but you know who. But if you look at Solomony, the father of the roadside, you call it a roadside bomb, because most people don't don't understand the different terms. It was where they plant bombs in roads as you drive by, happily drive by, the bomb goes off, and no matter how strong the armament, it just kills the people. Or you lose your arms, legs, and face, and those bombs got worse and worse, and he got happier and happier, and we took them out. That was a big thing because he was the head. It might have been a much different story. They may have been much more capable than they are had he lived, because he was capable. He was vicious, violent, and capable. But we got rid of him first term, and we did so many things.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Well, next the president talked about the working families tax cut, the one big, beautiful bill, which are already putting money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans, including families right here in Missouri. I've told you before about Melvin from Warsaw, Missouri, his daughter and son-in-law. She works as a hairstylist. He works a lot of overtime in his job. They haven't gotten a refund in years, and this year they got a check from the IRS for$12,000. Folks, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. This is real money for real people. Here's President Trump on that.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

With the help of our House Republican majority, we passed the largest tax cuts in American history. And we have to keep talking about it. And with the great big beautiful bill, we delivered no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. And we did something else which is great that nobody ever talks about, Tom, and we have to talk about it. We made interest on auto loans fully deductible. That's never happened. We've never had that. You know, rich people always get deductions, but middle income people, people that have to struggle a little bit, never did. But now they can deduct the interest paid against their taxes. It's uh we have one little proviso, and I put this on it's very important. Only if the car is made in America. All right, that's gonna have a huge impact. That's gonna have a huge impact.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Well, the President also talked about the Save America Act, which we went over in the first segment. I want you to hear from him directly. Here's what President Trump had to say about that and how he now wants to expand the Save America Act.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

I want to thank House Republicans for passing another common sense measure. To me, the easiest of all, the Save America Act, to protect our sacred American group. Look at this. It's the easiest thing we have. Now, the problem is you call it the Save Act, and nobody knew what the hell the Save Act. Have you been seeing? I've been working overtime the last month. It's called the Capital of the Save America Act. This is not complicated. Voter identification. Now, if you know I have a whole list, but I don't want to put it. I have like hundreds of things on the list. If you if you go shopping, if you do this, if you buy a car, if you license a car, if you point to everything you need to have identification. So all voters have to show identification. ID. All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote. So you have ID and you have citizenship. So far? No mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military, or travel. Mail-in-ballots are a disaster. Jimmy Carter, the best thing he ever did, he headed a commission after he was president. It was the single best thing that he did a thing on mail-in ballots. He said mail-in ballots should not be allowed because they are inherently dishonest. And we have seen it time and time again, and we just keep going with it. And I put that down as a top three. Look, no mail in now, you have the exceptions for the military. And I would even say foreign-based military. But for the military, for disability, for illness. And if you're traveling, you know, you have an excuse. And I I was lenient on that. But those three things in, I added two more. These are best of, you know, best of. These are called best of Trump. We should also add on to this bill. And so what I've asked Mike to do is to draw a new one with these few things added. And let's go for the gold. Let's not just get one like voter ID, but you know, it can be given to you by your daughter. You know, your daughter, she has to be of of age, like above six years old, she's allowed to say. You had to see some of this stuff is so bad. They're doing everything possible because they know if we get this, they'll probably won't win an election for 50 years. Okay? And maybe longer. And they're going to fight like hell. But boy, do they get killed because even the Democrats, you saw the numbers today? Democrats voted 86 percent that this stuff should be passed. The Democrats. With Republicans, you're at 98 percent. But Democrats are at 86, except for the people that run the Democrat Party, because they want to try and win elections illegally. It's the only the only reason you vote against voter idea is because you want to cheat. There's no other reason.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

And finally, the President talked about the ongoing Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Right now, because they care more about amnesty for illegal alien criminals than about protecting the lives of American similarists. I mean, take a look at it. The American citizen is being scoffed at by Democrats. It doesn't make sense. None of this stuff makes sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Well, after the president spoke, several House Republican leaders also talked about the issues facing our country from national security to the importance of supporting American workers, protecting our homeland. Let's hear now from our strong House Republican leadership about what is at stake in these upcoming midterm elections.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I was just taking notes in our last session and everything that everybody brought up in the upcoming election. The question that we ask to every voter in every district around America is do you want to elect a party that will secure the borders or reopen the borders wide to allow dangerous criminal illegal aliens and known terrorists to come into the country and set up sleeper cells? Do you want to cut your taxes? You want to elect the party that will continue to reduce your taxes, bigger paychecks, bigger tax refunds? Or do you want to elect the party that will raise your taxes as they've vowed to do? And by the way, applauded for themselves as the State of the Union. The only time the Democrats stood up and applauded themselves at the State of the Union was for their vote to raise your taxes. Do you want to vote for the party that is going to secure the cities of this country and towns, or the party that stands for policies that increase crime? Do you want to vote for the party that will secure elections or the party that will undermine our system? Do you want to vote for the party that will protect women and girls' sports? Or the party that wants to bring men back into those arenas. Do you want for the want to vote for the party that will protect children or the party that wants to return to transgender mutilation surgery for children? These are the choices. It is a choice election. It is a contrast election, again, between common sense that the Republicans have demonstrated and worked for every day, or frankly, crazy. I think we know where the American people are. Democrats have given, put up a fight, and tried to stop us, but despite having the smallest majority in modern congressional history, with all the challenges that comes to that, we've still gotten the job done. And I would much rather be us than them going into this election cycle. Because Democrats, as noted, have no message, they have no vision, they have no leadership, they're guided solely by retribution and their blinding hatred for Donald Trump. And that is not a winning message when you go into an election year. Corey Booker announced this week that he's introducing a bill to increase the standard deduction for lower and middle class and middle income families. We see we've noticed that Democrats acknowledge that Republican policies are working. Democrats had opportunities to vote for a significant tax relief for lower and middle income families. That's what we did. To vote for tax relief for seniors, that's what we did. Tax relief for tipped and overtime workers, we did that. An increased child tax credit, increased family and medical leave, an abundance of other pro-business, pro-labor tax incentives. We voted for that. That was Republican legislation that we put on the floor and passed with no Democrat help. They voted against every single one of those things. And there's a political price to pay for that. We plan to spend the next eight months reminding the American people of those facts.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Well, folks, as you heard, this is going to be a contrast election. The choice is going to be yours. There's a lot happening right now, from the conflict in Iran to the benefits of the working families tax cut, making sure that we are fully funding the Department of Homeland Security so that men and women protecting our great nation have the resources they need to actually do their job. And back here at home, I'll continue working to make sure that our communities are safe. Our economy is strong. Our families have the opportunities they need to succeed. And through it all, one thing is very clear America is strongest when we support the people who keep our great nation safe and keep our economy growing. Make no mistake, I will continue fighting in Washington to make sure that families have a strong voice in the decision being made. Until next time, remember, I believe in you. I believe in America. And yes, folks, I still believe that our greatest days are ahead of us. Good day, and God bless you.