INTERVIEW: Rep. Beth Van Duyne expects reconciliation vote the “first week of April”
THE LOWDOWN:
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas) says she’s behind House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R., La.) “one big, beautiful bill” for reconciliation;
Van Duyne, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, expects a reconciliation vote in the “first week of April”;
The Texas congresswoman said she thinks President Donald Trump’s second term is “going phenomenally well” and praised his border enforcement;
Van Duyne said it is “ridiculous to say that free speech leads to horrors” when asked for a reaction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s pushback on CBS’s Margaret Brennan’s false assertion that Germany “weaponized” free speech to commit the Holocaust.
Tucked away between Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas, lies the little town of Irving. This little slice of Heaven makes up a portion of one of the Lone Star State’s most affluent congressional districts, and carries with it a Texan powerhouse congresswoman. Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas) is that powerhouse, and she sat down with the Washington Reporter to give the latest updates on Congress’s reconciliation plans.
Sitting on the House Ways and Means Committee, Van Duyne’s work is cut out for her now as the House and Senate battle for the budget. Van Duyne noted that Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) is working on “one big, beautiful bill” to be the legislative plan. The Texas Republican said the House GOP is “trying to bring home the support and resources that are necessary to secure our border,” increase energy production in America, and bring down inflation.
“As a Ways and Means member, we’ve been working on this tax package for the last two years,” Van Duyne said. “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get that done: one big, beautiful bill. I know that there are hurdles, but I’m going to remain hopeful.” She noted that the border issue was one of the main concerns arising from the American people in November, in addition to the economy.
“When we look at this tax package, if we don’t get that pulled over, 90 percent of American taxpayers are going to face some of the largest tax increases in our history,” she said. “We can’t have that.” Van Duyne also noted Congress is “very close” to a reconciliation bill and is expecting a potential vote the “first week of April.”
Of President Donald Trump’s nascent second term, Van Duyne said it is “going phenomenally well,” singling out the president’s day one executive orders to secure the southern border and the immediate impact America is seeing from them in particular. The Texas Republican noted recent coverage from Fox News noting the dramatic drop in the number of crossings from the tens of thousands to the low hundreds.
“And there’s a reason why: because policies matter. When you start looking at our influence around the world, I think it has definitely helped,” Van Duyne said, noting the release of Hamas hostages under Trump and the continuing negotiations.
“You think about [Vice President] JD Vance being over in Munich and some of the statements and speeches he has given, how that is being received,” she continued. “You think about the influence on just Canada and on Mexico and Colombia, and some of the promises that this administration made, and now we’re getting the help of other countries.”
Van Duyne also touched on the recent interview between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CBS’s Margaret Brennan, where the reporter infamously and falsely asserted that Germany “weaponized” freedom of speech “to conduct a genocide” — the Holocaust. Brennan’s objective lie came after Vance’s recent address in Germany, a nation that outlawed free speech under the Nazi regime.
“I think part of the problem that you saw in World War II is the government owning media, and that propaganda that came out, hateful, divisive propaganda that was a direct result of a government-run media,” Van Duyne said. “When you start tracking some of the dollars that this DOGE initiative is finding, we see that in the last four years, the government has been basically running the media.”
“You see the billions of dollars that they have been giving to these media outlets. It’s atrocious,” she continued. “And when you have only one narrative, the prescribed propaganda narrative that’s being sent out, that’s what leads to the divisiveness. People have eyes, they can see for themselves what reality is, and when they’re told by this government on media outlets that basically, ‘oh, no, don’t believe what you see, listen to what we’re telling you,’ they’re going to push back.”
“And when you’ve had conservative voices that have been shut down — people have been arrested over this in other areas of the world,” Van Duyne added. “That’s what has led to a lot of the public distrust. We’re trying to fight against that.”
Van Duyne said she finds it “ridiculous to say that free speech leads to horrors” like the Holocaust and believes the exact opposite: that “free speech leads to more voices being heard” and “leads to better decisions being made.”
“And it’s quite the exact opposite when you have propaganda that the government is funneling and paying for, is when you start seeing some really dangerous propositions for our country,” she added.