One year in: America is winning again — and we’re just getting started
One year ago this week, President Donald Trump was sworn in with a Republican trifecta. In our first 12 months, we’ve delivered on multiple promises, including border security, lower gas prices, economic growth and historic tax cuts.
Next week, when working families and senior citizens across our district and America begin filing their taxes, they can expect to receive larger refunds. For Staten Island and Brooklyn residents, the biggest savings will come because we quadrupled the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, providing relief from local income and property taxes to about 98% of households in our district. Senior citizens who are homeowners will perhaps be the biggest winners, because, not only will they benefit from SALT, but nearly 88% of them will also see the federal taxes they paid on Social Security benefits in 2025 refunded to them. Additionally, we also increased the standard deduction, expanded the Child Tax Credit and 529 education savings accounts, created a newborn baby investment account, made interest on American-made vehicles tax deductible, eliminated most taxes for tipped and overtime workers, all resulting in more money back in hardworking taxpayers’ pockets instead of Uncle Sam’s.
President Trump and Congress also delivered on our commitment to keep our nation safe by securing our border, restoring law and order, and deporting foreign criminals, violent gang members and drug traffickers. Everyone can remember how just one year ago, migrant gangs wreaked havoc on our streets and migrant shelters and encampments were disrupting quality of life in residential communities. A Freedom of Information Law request I submitted revealed that for more than 16,000 crimes committed, the perpetrator was residing in one of the city’s dozens of taxpayer-funded migrant shelters that cost citizens billions of dollars. It’s no wonder, most categories of crime including murder, shootings and robberies decreased across America in 2025, including right here in New York City. Now we must turn our attention to reforming our bureaucratic and backlogged immigration system to meet the needs of our economy, so those who want to work and contribute have an opportunity to do so.
Under the previous administration, Americans were paying more for just about everything. Inflation hit 9%, gas prices rose to $5 a gallon, egg prices soared and interest rates nearly tripled. In just one year, we restarted our nation’s economy, eliminated unnecessary and burdensome regulations, incentivized domestic manufacturing, attracting trillions in new private and foreign investment. We achieved energy independence — pushing gas prices to five-year lows, with 43 states, including ours, now seeing prices under $3 a gallon. At the same time, we created an economy that lowered interest and mortgage rates, drove unemployment to near-record lows, pushed wages to rise faster than inflation and contributed to continued significant growth of our nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
We are also putting those Americans who served our nation first by improving the healthcare and services our veterans receive. As of last month, the backlog of veterans awaiting Veterans Affairs compensation and pension benefits has decreased by more than 57% since Jan. 20, 2025. In Fiscal Year 2025, the VA permanently housed 51,936 homeless veterans across the country — the highest total in seven years. Last month, Veterans Affairs Secretary Collins visited our local clinic, met with veterans and pledged to keep building on this success, and I look forward to working with him.
He’s not the only administration official to visit our district. In August, Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano visited Staten Island’s customer service center to highlight the work we have done to upgrade technology to improve appointment and call center wait times. Overall, call wait times have been cut in half, backlog for disability claims is down 25%, and Staten Island beats the national average when it comes to timely appointments, making it easier than ever to access benefits our senior citizens and disabled Americans have earned and rely on.