The Republican Congress returns from summer vacation on Tuesday, just after Labor Day.

And not a moment too soon!

President Donald J. Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill is now part of the U.S. Code. Its tax cuts, border-security funds, deregulatory language, pro-energy provisions, and much more should fuel safety and prosperity for years.

But there is much more to do.

Republicans must remember this: Controlling the GOP House, Senate, and White House is not a permanent condition — at least not yet. Dazed and confused Democrats seem as far from retaking power as they have for decades. The midterm elections are scheduled for November 3, 2026 — light years away in politics. Who knows what plot twist could hand Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D – New York) the House speaker’s gavel or restore Chuck Schumer (D-New York) as Senate majority leader.

Before anything so unthinkable unfolds, the GOP should use its levers of power to unleash a conveyor belt of bills that advance the America First agenda as well as other measures that conservatives have advocated since Bill Buckley was a boy.

Here is a handy to-do list:

Zero Rights for Illegal Aliens

It seems unclear whether those who invade America with neither passports nor permission have any rights in this society. Consider “Maryland dad” Kilmar Abrego-Garcia. This illegal alien broke into this country. No one invited him. He breached the border in 2011 and, according to two federal proceedings, is a member of MS-13, the ultra-violent Salvadoran prison gang. All indications are that he is a human smuggler, wife beater, and child pornographer.

Despite these sparkling credentials, Abrego-Garcia is like malaria. He never completely goes away. The second he is deported, legal briefs fly, black robes leap from closets, and one federal judge or other hops onto his bench to declare that Abrego-Garcia’s “rights” have been violated. The jurist orders yet another hearing, and this thug gets to stay in America, at taxpayers’ expense, for another month or three.

Illegal aliens, criminal and otherwise, routinely exploit ambiguities in the law to assert a host of “rights,” always ignoring the fact that these people are as entitled to stay here as a home invader trying to occupy one’s guest room: Zero.

So, the GOP Congress should pass a simple law: While legal immigrants, with passports and visas, will continue to enjoy a variety of rights and privileges, illegal aliens have no rights whatsoever, other than to be sent home, from whence they came, as swiftly as possible.

One exception: In a case of mistaken identity (e.g., “You seek an illegal alien named Elio B. Gomez. I am a Green Card holder named Elio D. Gomez”), the aggrieved party should be able to prove his legal status.

Aside from that, a new federal law should specify, at long last, that illegal aliens have zero rights in America, other than to request help to get the hell out.

No Illegal Aliens in the Census

The GOP Congress should make it abundantly clear that from 2025 hence, illegal aliens will not be counted in any Census.

The Census should enumerate American citizens and legal immigrants. Those who penetrated America’s frontiers or overstayed their welcomes should not be included in the national, state, county, and local population totals that govern reapportionment and the allocation of federal resources. Period.

Secure Election Integrity

Republicans should adopt comprehensive election reforms that would deprive Democrats of their corrupt election-theft tools. Such a measure would apply to federal elections and ban mass-mail-in ballots, limit absentee ballots to those who — what a concept! — will be absent from the polls on Election Day, and end Election Quarter and return to Election Day (if necessary, a national holiday or voting over an entire weekend). This bill also would require voter ID, mandate clean voter rolls devoid of relocated and deceased voters, disqualify any ballot that arrives after polls close, and limit voting exclusively to U.S. citizens. These changes should shift the quality of U.S. elections from equatorial to First World.

DOGE Into Dollars

The Republican Congress should work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to create a bill called Doge into Dollars. This would take every penny of budget savings identified by DOGE and turn it into statutes, budget language, and other vehicles that would make these fiscal reductions permanent. This could save taxpayers up to $205 billion up front and potentially billions more thereafter.

Codify President Trump’s Executive Orders

Similarly, President Donald J. Trump’s stacks of executive orders could be reversed on January 20, 2029, if, say, Governor Gavin Newsom (D-California) or entrepreneur Mark Cuban is in the Oval Office rather than Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. So, Republicans on Capitol Hill should take Trump’s relevant EOs to date, staple them together, and pass them as the Orders into Statutes Act of 2025. It is much tougher to undo a federal law than to sign the death certificate for an executive order, which a Democrat president could do in about five seconds. Republicans should deny Democrats that chance.

No More Rule by Autopen

Speaking of executive orders, Republicans should require presidents to use their own hands to sign anything that would have the force of law. Using an autopen to sign a letter congratulating the Ames, Iowa, 4-H Club for its jumbo hogs is one thing. Executive orders, pardons, vetoes, and approvals of bills all must be signed, personally, by the president.

This measure would earn unanimous GOP support. Democrats would squirm: A “Yes” vote would reinforce the case against President Joe Biden who is suspected of yielding his authority to two Autopen machines. Whether Biden had any idea what was signed in his name is an ongoing mystery. A “No” vote would put Democrats on the record for letting machines serve as president. This would be a bad look for Democrats.

Adopt the HOT Tax

Republicans should remove one arrow from the Left’s quiver and snap it loudly in half. Wealthy Leftists, such as Abigail Disney and über-hypocrite Warren Buffet, say they want to pay higher taxes … therefore Congress should hike taxes across the board. Disney and her ilk have every right to crave steeper tax bills. But they have no right to stick their guilty fingers into other Americans’ wallets.

The Higher Optional  Tax or HOT Tax would be a simple box added to every IRS tax return — individual income, capital gains, corporate, death, etc. It would state: “If you believe that your federal tax rate on this form is too low, please enter whatever higher tax rate you wish to pay. Multiply your taxable income by that rate, enter that amount here, and send it to the IRS.”

The HOT Tax would let bleeding hearts like Disney and her rich friends expiate their guilt while leaving other taxpayers unscathed.

Without this arrow, Democrats no longer could use “these billionaires want to pay higher taxes” as an excuse to fleece Americans across the board.

Parliamentary Hygiene

The GOP needs to stop playing nice with Democrats and, instead, govern as ruthlessly as they do, when they are in command.

It is inexcusable that Republicans still let the Congressional Budget Office evaluate tax and spending bills via Keynesian static scoring rather than supply-side dynamic scoring. The result? The CBO’s price tags on tax-cut bills always emerge higher than their actual, real-world cost.

The CBO ignores the fact that tax reductions “lose” money at first. They then generate higher revenues due to faster economic growth. Smaller slices of bigger pies lead to more total pie. The House Ways & Means Committee reported last February that the Trump/GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has yielded $502 billion in federal revenues more than CBO estimated when TCJA was enacted in 2017.

Republicans have every right and all the power to instruct the CBO to abandon the discredited static scoring methods and immediately adopt far more accurate, real-world dynamic scoring. Economists who comply should carry on. Those who resist should be sacked. This is not cute or a game. This is basic leadership, which is the least that a majority of American voters expect from their GOP Congress.

Likewise, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough nixed a host of conservative reforms from the One Big Beautiful Bill. Among them, border-security provisions  and Medicaid-savings proposals.

If MacDonough is a nice lady, Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota should invite her to his next Christmas party. However, this appointee of Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the notorious and late former Democrat leader, no longer should derail one vital conservative reform after another.

The Senate Republican majority should thank McDonough for her service, throw her a lovely farewell lunch, and then replace her with a Senate parliamentarian who will find free-market and limited-government initiatives worthy of inclusion under reconciliation rules.

In that connection, some of these measures could pass the House and withstand a filibuster by Senate Democrats. If so, fine.

However, if any of this requires use of the reconciliation process, to adopt a comprehensive bill by a simple majority, rather than 60 votes, then Republicans should proceed at once with SOBBB — the Son of One Big Beautiful Bill!

READ MORE from Deroy Murdock:

Trump’s Secret Weapon Deserves a World Record

Make the Census Great Again: Stop Counting Illegal Aliens

​Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor.