Freshman GOP senator rips predecessor while reflecting on 'whirlwind' first 100 days: 'Urgency and speed'

Fox News Digital spoke to GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno about his first 100 days in Congress and what he hopes to see Republicans do over the next hundred days.

Senate candidate Bernie Moreno speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

"Most important of all being the Transportation Freedom Act," Moreno explained. "The auto industry is right now in a really, really critical juncture. Because of Joe Biden and California lunatics, there's a lot of standards that are just not going to be able to be met."

"The car companies are trying to figure out what kind of cars to make. So what our bill basically does is say, 'Hey look, here's one set of standards. It's one set of standards for the entire country and then, most importantly, set those standards for 10 years,'" Moreno continued. "So if you're Ford or GM or any other car company, you know, what kind of cars to make for the next decade. That's huge. That will lower the price of automobiles."

Continuing to address illegal immigration is going to be a priority over the next few months, according to Moreno, who said he hopes his Rules Act addressing the broken asylum system will be passed, calling it a "low hanging fruit" and an "80-20 issue" Republicans can win on.

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President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Over the next 100 days, Moreno told Fox News Digital, there is a long list of things he hopes the GOP Senate gets done in a timely manner to ensure that the Trump agenda is firing on all cylinders heading into the midterms. 

"I want to make sure we get a good reconciliation bill that preserves Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits but lowers the cost because of technology that we put in place in sort of state-directed work mandates for able-bodied Americans," Moreno said. "I think most people expect that."

Moreno also spoke about the need to cut funding to USAID.

"We can't afford 40-50 billion dollars in USAID-type programs, some of which are completely insane, and we need that money here in America to help Americans. Preserving Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid benefits, making the 2017 tax reform permanent so we don't see a four-and-a-half trillion dollar tax increase."

Additionally, Moreno said it is a priority to "codify" DOGE cuts into law so that the cuts are "in there forever."

"I think if we can accomplish all that, combined with what President Trump's already done with tariffs and trade and peace and the border, we will see the golden age of America by the end of the year in a way we've never seen."

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/freshman-gop-senator-rips-predecessor-while-reflecting-whirlwind-first-100-days-urgency-speed