Americans rightfully expect Congress to come together and find solutions to reversing the sharpest rise in cost of living in 40 years, to help lower gas prices, and secure our border.
Work to find solutions to reverse rising cost of living, help lower gas prices, and secure the border.
Occurrences
Americans rightfully expect Congress to come together and find solutions to reversing the sharpest rise in cost of living in 40 years, to help lower gas prices, and secure our border.
Evidence
Smith said Republicans would work to lower gas prices and utility costs by restoring energy independence and would make sure border patrol and law enforcement have the resources to regain control of the southern border.
Smith said he supported H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, which he coauthored to increase domestic production, reduce regulatory burdens, and lower gas prices.
Congress.gov shows H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, passed the House on 2023-05-11 by a 219-213 roll call vote and remained a House-passed bill, not enacted into law.
Smith said the Working Families Tax Cuts were enacted in 2025 and delivered tax relief, including bigger deductions and no tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security, to help working families.
Smith said Republican policies were raising wages, increasing take-home pay, and helping working families and small businesses as part of the Working Families Tax Cuts.
Smith said inflation and gas prices had fallen to their lowest levels in five years and tied that to affordability gains for Missouri families.
Smith said March PCE data showed core inflation holding at 0.3 percent and argued that working-class families have more money in their pocket thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts; he also said prices on everyday items like eggs, dairy, and used cars were lower than on January 20, 2025.
Smith said the tax agenda had already produced concrete relief, including over 6 million Americans claiming no tax on tips, over 25 million claiming no tax on overtime, over 30 million taxpayers claiming the Social Security deduction, and over 1 million claiming no tax on auto-loan interest.
Smith wrote that the border had been secured for the first time in 50 years and that border crossings had decreased more than 90 percent from the 2022 peak, while urging continued enforcement against criminal aliens and narcotics traffickers.
Assessments
Smith materially pursued all three parts of the promise through House Republican tax, energy, and border legislation and later official claims of affordability, gas-price, and border progress. The strongest delivered component is affordability-related tax relief tied to his Ways and Means role and enacted in 2025, but the broader promise to reverse rising cost of living, lower gas prices, and secure the border is not fully proven by the evidence. H.R. 1 and H.R. 2 show serious same-term legislative effort on energy costs and border security, but they did not themselves become fully enacted solutions in the cited evidence. Later-term evidence supports partial progress, not full delivery across the whole compound promise.
Smith made concrete efforts on all parts of the promise, including backing House-passed border legislation and coauthoring energy legislation aimed at lowering gas prices. He also materially advanced affordability policy through the 2025 Working Families Tax Cuts, which supports partial fulfillment on cost-of-living relief. However, the evidence does not show the full promised outcome was delivered: the major border bill was not enacted, the energy bill did not itself lower gas prices through enacted law, and later claims of lower inflation or gas prices are not enough to credit Smith with fully reversing cost-of-living increases or securing the border. Because the strongest enacted affordability evidence came after the original campaign term, timing is later_term.
Smith made concrete same-term efforts on all three areas, including House passage or support for major energy and border bills, and there is evidence of enacted affordability-related tax relief in 2025. However, the evidence does not show the full promised outcome was achieved: the major border bill was not enacted, the energy/gas-price effort did not by itself become law or prove lower gas prices, and only part of the cost-of-living agenda appears delivered. Because there was serious legislative activity but incomplete delivery across the promise, the best outcome is partial with an effort badge.