President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday focused on his executive agenda, though he also made several specific asks of the assembled lawmakers while renewing calls for them to act on some of his key tax and immigration enforcement priorities.
In a wide-ranging address, which featured plenty of objections from Democrats, Trump announced that reciprocal tariffs would kick in starting April 2 and offered a more positive update on discussions with Ukraine, reading from a letter from the country’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
And Elon Musk, whom Trump referred to as the head of the office known as the Department of Government Efficiency, was featured throughout the night, with the president drawing cheers from Republicans as he highlighted the outfit’s cost-cutting barrage, which, nevertheless, has run into numerous legal challenges.
“The House and the Senate will be working in lockstep with [Trump] in unified government. The Republicans have a mandate from the American people, and President Trump is using it,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News after the speech.
Here are five requests Trump made of Congress over the course of his one-hour-and-40-minute address:
Taxes and tariffs
Most notably, Trump reiterated his call to make tax cuts from his first term permanent and pushed new priorities from the campaign trail, saying that the way to “deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody.”
“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 on overtime and no tax on Social Security benefits for our great seniors,” the president said, adding that he also wants to make interest payments on car loans tax deductible for American-made vehicles.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, pinned the potential expiration of the 2017 GOP tax law on Democrats, saying in a statement after the joint address that he was “working closely with the Trump administration to stop the Democrats’ $4 trillion tax increase. It would be the biggest tax increase ever.”
Trump also highlighted reports that Honda would be producing the next Civic in Indiana instead of in Mexico, following his administration’s imposition of tariffs on imports from the southern U.S. neighbor.
While Republicans generally lauded his tax policy message Tuesday night, the responses to his tariff agenda seemed more muted. And Democrats, like New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, seized on it.
“His 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada — our closest trading partners — threaten to unravel decades of economic cooperation and will inevitably result in economic consequences for American workers and businesses. Our allies are watching and the message is clear: this administration is willing to compromise long-standing strategic partnerships for short-sighted political gains,” Shaheen, the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.
Mass deportation funding
Another specific ask of Congress was for expanded national security funding, including on immigration.
“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,” Trump said. “Let’s get it to me. I’ll sign it so fast, you won’t even believe it.”
The administration sent a so-called anomalies list to lawmakers last week, detailing proposed areas to deviate from a straightforward stopgap spending bill for the remainder of fiscal 2025. The White House budget document seeks a $485 million boost for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with $6 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs to address a shortfall in medical care for veterans.
Repealing CHIPS
In touting Tuesday’s announcement that Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC would be investing $100 billion in the United States, Trump also called for repealing the bipartisan law known as the CHIPS and Science Act, which has supported investments in the U.S. by several semiconductor companies, including TSMC with its facility in Arizona.
“Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” the president said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, responded to the call by writing on social media, “The CHIPS & Science Act is the reason Micron is bringing $100 billion and 50,000 jobs to Central New York. Trump just said he wants to get rid of it.”
The law has been a bipartisan priority for lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who may himself run for governor of New York against Hochul.
“I have supported the CHIPS Act and continue to support the CHIPS Act. The bottom line is we want to get advanced manufacturing back into the United States. We want to increase chips manufacturing here,” Lawler said after the joint address. “The president is making the case that tariffs are a good avenue by which to bring manufacturing back into the U.S. And I agree that that is one strategy. But I’ve been clear about my support for the CHIPS Act, and, obviously, for New York, that’s a critical investment.”
‘Take it Down’
In a rare moment of legislative specificity, Trump called on the House to join the Senate in passing a bill known as the Take it Down Act, which he praised Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., for prioritizing. The legislation would require online platforms to remove explicit nonconsensual “deepfake” materials.
“Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law,” the president said.
First lady Melania Trump joined a roundtable discussion about the bill Monday hosted by Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., at which House Republican leaders committed to quick action.
“I’m just going to say very briefly to state the obvious, as the dark side of technology advances, these unspeakable evils become part of the culture, the law has to keep up. And I’m really grateful that we have thoughtful legislators here who take the reins on this and are willing to pass legislation to address it,” Johnson said at the event.
The president, in his remarks Tuesday, also pitched Congress on a new crime bill that included “getting tough on repeat offenders while enhancing protections for America’s police officers.”
“I have 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,” he said.
Golden Dome
Trump also called on Congress “to fund a state of the art Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland — all made in the USA.”
“Ronald Reagan wanted to do it long ago, but the technology just wasn’t there,” he said.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has been among the advocates for the idea, which could be similar to the defense system deployed in Israel, though on a potentially much larger scale.
Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., alluded to the long-ago Reagan proposal in responding to the president on social media.
“Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile plan is pure fantasy and a defense contractor giveaway. It has been 40 years and $400 billion spent, and the system still does not work. ‘Star Wars’ is the definition of government waste, and not worth another dime of taxpayer money,” Markey said.
Daniela Altimari and Aidan Quigley contributed to this report.
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