It’s no secret former President Joe Biden and the Democrats left the United States in a mess. In just four years, Democrats managed to spend our country into a crisis and explode inflation by more than 20%. People were left with less buying power to put food on the table and higher interest rates, while our government was left with $36 trillion in debt and $2 trillion in annual deficits.

This is devastating to families who are already struggling day to day, families like mine when I was growing up. We didn’t have much, but my mother and adopted father worked hard, and we had hope because the American dream was achievable. But after years of Democrats’ policies pushing the American dream out of reach, that hope is lost for many.

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In November, the public rejected Democrats’ lies that Big Government and more spending were the solution to every problem, and they overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump to fix the Democrats’ mess.

Trump cares about families and making government work for them, and he is the only person who can balance the budget and Make America Great Again. He promised the public he’d do that, and I promised the people of Florida I’d do everything I can to help him deliver.

That’s why I’m 100% committed to getting Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” done.

I’ve spoken to Trump. He wants to balance the budget and end the inflation nightmare Democrats created, but he needs Congress’s help. Republicans in the House worked hard on a “big, beautiful bill.” It’s a great starting point, but it’s our job in the Senate to make it better aligned with Trump’s agenda. We cannot squander this opportunity in the Senate to help Trump deliver for American families.

That means securing our border, continuing the Trump tax cuts, and reducing spending to unleash the American economy and put us on a path toward a balanced budget by reducing unnecessary spending — just like every family or business does. This is how we put Americans first, drive down interest rates and inflation, and keep the American dream within reach. 

The public made clear they don’t want to continue Democrats’ wasteful spending that put us in this dire situation, like spending your tax dollars on illegal aliens, or the Green New Scam that killed American manufacturing and subsidized Communist China.

Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” gives us the opportunity to make these changes.

Take the Medicaid program. I believe in this program as a critical safety net for those who truly need it. I grew up before Medicaid existed, and when my brother was diagnosed with a bone disease, my parents couldn’t find a doctor that we could afford. My mother drove hours just to get him care at a charity hospital. Medicaid is intended to support people like my brother, so no family has to go through what we did.

We now have the opportunity with this bill to ensure Medicaid is returned to its original purpose and that these dollars support our most vulnerable. This means stopping blue states, like California and New York, from gaming the system so they can use American tax dollars to give illegal aliens free healthcare.

Think about this: Florida has roughly 4 million more residents than New York, yet New York receives over $20 billion more for Medicaid. California has about 65% more residents than Florida, yet receives over 300% more for its Medicaid program. That must be fixed to return Medicaid to its original purpose: healthcare coverage for our most vulnerable. And we can do that in this bill.

We must also use this opportunity to start balancing the budget. That’s entirely possible. I know because I did it as Florida’s governor. We went through the budget line by line, just like families do every day, ensuring our state spent less than we took in. We cut taxes over a hundred times and paid down a third of the state debt, all while securing record funding for education, transportation, and the environment. We put work requirements in place, rolled back regulations, and got rid of wasteful junk in our budget that taxpayers should have never had to pay for. This helped our state thrive and our economy grow, adding nearly 2 million private-sector jobs.

BESSENT WARNS OF FINANCIAL CRISIS IF BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL FAILS

We made tough choices to turn the state around. We must do that on the federal level, too.

We must spend more wisely, stop robbing red states to pay blue states, ensure programs like Medicaid serve their intended purpose, extend the Trump tax cuts, roll back the economy-killing Green New Scam, balance the budget, and spur innovation and economic growth to pay down the debt. We just need to roll up our sleeves and get to work delivering on the president’s promises and our mandate from the public.

Republican Rick Scott represents Florida in the U.S. Senate and serves on the Senate Budget Committee. He is a former Florida governor.