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By Sen. Marsha Blackburn

Last week marked President Trump’s 100th day in office. And in that short amount of time, the Trump administration has made incredible progress to Make America Great Again — especially by strengthening our economy.

In the last 100 days, President Trump has slashed Democrats’ far-left regulations, unleashed American energy production and secured trillions of dollars in investments to support American workers, develop new technologies and spur economic growth, including in Tennessee.

The candy company Charms is investing nearly $100 million to expand its production plant and distribution center in Covington. Mt. Juliet was included in a $700 million nationwide investment by Schneider Electric to boost domestic manufacturing and energy infrastructure. And the electronics company ABB is investing $80 million in Selmer to expand manufacturing and create new jobs.

Last week, I had the honor of joining President Trump at the White House as he welcomed the CEOs of companies that are making new investments in America, especially in light of his executive order establishing the United States Investment Accelerator. This order helps to facilitate new investments in our country by reducing regulations and making it easier to do business in America.

In the Senate, I’ve introduced the Investment Accelerator Act, which would permanently establish President Trump’s new program. Among its provisions, this legislation would speed up permitting, increase coordination across federal agencies to work with companies, encourage research collaboration with national labs and help state governments eliminate burdensome regulations. Altogether, this legislation would ensure that America will long benefit from President Trump’s Investment Accelerator and help usher in a new Golden Age of America, which is already underway.

In April, our economy added 177,000 jobs, beating expectations by more than 40,000 jobs, with major gains in transportation, warehousing and health care. The month before, falling energy costs pushed annual inflation down to 2.4 percent, tying the lowest inflation rate since President Biden took office in 2021.

To ensure that Americans have more money in their pocketbook, President Trump and Republicans are also working hard to extend the president’s 2017 tax cuts. These tax cuts delivered historic growth for the economy, but if we fail to extend them, families and businesses will face a $4 trillion tax hike. That’s why, earlier this month, Republicans in Congress passed a budget resolution that will enable us to extend these expiring tax provisions.

At the same time, we’re advancing other tax priorities championed by President Trump, including his proposal to cut taxes on Social Security. By taxing Social Security, the federal government is taxing a tax. This makes no sense: Social Security recipients have already paid into the program with decades of tax payments, so they deserve the full sum of their Social Security income. However, nearly 56 percent of retirees pay taxes on their Social Security benefits because Bidenflation pushed seniors’ benefits into higher and higher income brackets.

To address this problem, I’ve introduced the RETIREES FIRST Act. This legislation would lower the tax burden on Social Security benefits for seniors by raising the provisional income threshold from $25,000 to $34,000 for single filers and from $32,000 to $68,000 for married filers. In effect, this legislation would eliminate income taxes for many of our nation’s retirees, leaving them with more money in their paychecks.

As we work on these tax provisions and more, I look forward to working with President Trump to deliver relief for hardworking Tennesseans. America is the greatest nation on Earth, and with determined leadership back in the White House, we can make our economy stronger than ever before.

(Marsha Blackburn represents Tennessee in the United States Senate.)