Cornyn Op-Ed: I’ve Worked Hand-In-Glove With Pres. Trump to Accomplish His Agenda During His First 100 Days
AUSTIN – Ahead of President Trump’s 100th day in office next week, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) authored the following op-ed in the Houston Chronicle highlighting Congress and President Trump’s accomplishments during his second term so far, including swiftly confirming his Cabinet and passing a budget that unlocks the process to extend the Trump tax cuts for Texans and all Americans.
I’ve worked hand-in-glove with President Trump to accomplish his agenda during his first 100 days
Senator Cornyn
Houston Chronicle
April 24, 2025
On Nov. 5, Americans went to the polls to elect President Donald Trump for a second term by a decisive margin. The message was clear: Americans were ready to turn the page on the last four years of failed policies under Democratic leadership.
The question then became: could the new Republican majority hit the ground running, deliver on his ambitious agenda, and put the Senate back to work? As we near the end of President Trump’s first 100 days, the answer is a resounding yes.
The first step in delivering on this mandate was giving President Trump his team by confirming his Cabinet. The Senate provides an important role in giving advice and consent to the President’s nominees for important positions across the executive branch. So this was the first major hurdle to clear, and an opportunity to deliver the president an early win.
President Trump selected many eminently qualified nominees for his Cabinet, including several Texans: John Ratcliffe, Scott Turner, and Brooke Rollins. I was proud to help shepherd all three of these impressive Texans through their respective committee hearings.
While Republicans had secured a clear majority of 53 seats in the Senate, getting 50 members on the same page is never an easy task. Maneuvering in united government is sometimes even harder than in divided government. But on top of this inherent difficulty, Democrats insisted on pulling out all of the stops. They tried everything from exaggerated smear campaigns to all-night grandstanding. Some even demanded that their colleagues, “blow [the Senate] up.”
Despite the doubts of our critics, Senate Republicans set a new standard for speed. I was proud to vote for every single one of the President’s Cabinet picks, and in just 10 weeks, the Republican-led Senate completed our first task at the fastest pace in a generation. By the end of February, the Senate had confirmed 13 of the President’s nominees, whereas only six were confirmed at that point during Biden’s presidency.
Senate Republicans’ effectiveness is particularly impressive in comparison to last year’s Senate under failed Democrat leadership. In 2024, the Senate spent only 112 days in session. There were nine Mondays on regular in-session weeks when the Senate flat-out wasn’t working. Compared to the average Texan working five days per week and 260 days annually, this was nothing but a sheer insult to the taxpayer. The inevitable result of Chuck Schumer’s skeleton of a schedule was failure. He failed to pass government funding on-time, failed to renew a farm bill, and only barely passed the annual defense authorization bill that ensures our troops get paid.
Senate Republicans have dramatically improved upon this lackluster performance. We have stayed in session and voting for the longest continuous period in 15 years to complete critical pieces of the America First agenda. After we confirmed the president’s Cabinet, we passed a budget that will unlock the process to extend the Trump tax cuts, which will prevent an average $3,000 tax increase on Texas families.
I’m not new to working hand-in-glove with President Trump to accomplish his goals. During President Trump’s first term, I served as majority whip, or as I like to call it, “chief vote counter.” In this role, I was responsible for ensuring he had the votes to confirm his Cabinet, Supreme Court nominees like Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, and a record number among recent presidents of judicial nominees to district and appeals courts across the nation. We partnered on key pieces of landmark legislation like the Trump Tax Cuts, the first comprehensive tax reform legislation in years, which contributed to the fastest wage growth in close to a decade and the lowest unemployment rate in nearly half a century.
Suffice it to say, elected Republicans are delivering on the mandate we received from the American people in an historic way, and I’m excited to be a part of what’s to come. I’ve voted for every single nominee in both his first term and his second thus far. I’ve helped the president deliver historic wins for Texans and Americans around the country.
We’ve accomplished so much in his first 100 days, and together, we’re just getting started.