At the State of the Union, Republicans in Congress are highlighting everyday Americans who have benefited from President Donald Trump and Republicans’ agenda.
Every year, members of Congress are invited to bring one guest from their home state to watch the president give the State of the Union address. Ahead of Trump’s address Tuesday, Republican members brought their guests to the Capitol to share how Trump’s policies have affected them.
Under the Trump administration, Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to expand tax cuts from Trump’s first term and fund Trump’s deportation efforts, among other priorities. The administration’s push to expose government fraud has also led to several revelations of alleged fraud in Democrat-run cities.
Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., invited independent journalist Nick Shirley as his guest.
“We are seeing more and more fraud being exposed quite literally every day from Minnesota to California to Ohio … everyone is looking into the fraud,” Shirley said at a Republican Study Committee roundtable Tuesday morning.
Shirley and his investigative partner, David Hoch, helped expose alleged fraud in Minnesota. They are now branching out to other states to investigate fraud.
Clermont County Sheriff Chris Stratton, the guest of Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, says crime in their state has dropped significantly.
“During Joe Biden’s first term, we experienced 74 drug overdoses in 2025. After President Trump took office, we had 14,” Stratton said. “This year, it’s continuing to decrease.”
Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., brought Kris Chorne to share her story as a small business owner. Chorne owns a hair salon where her employees earn 20% of their salary from tips, almost $25,000 per year.
Because salons were included in the “No Tax on Tips” provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, she says her employees are bringing home all of their earned tips. “Thank you for voting for this bill,” Chorne says to the room of Republican representatives.
David Briggs is the founder of a sustainable beef company in Nebraska and was invited by Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb. He says that because of “No Tax on Overtime,” his employees, who are “hardworking family-oriented people,” can be rewarded properly for their hard work.
Wayne County Sheriff Robert Milby, guest of Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said now that Trump is back in office, “law enforcement is getting a push to hold people accountable and responsible for their actions, rather than the notion that they can be put back on the street, which is what we’ve seen in the last few years.”