Interview with Senator Marsha Blackburn: ‘We would really like to balance the budget this year’

Donald Trump recently completed the first 50 days of his second stint in the White House. To analyze what the president defines as a "historic" start, even assuring that he has already accomplished more than others in four years, VOZ spoke with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

The Tennessee Republican highlighted Trump's work so far, sharply criticized Democrats for opposing virtually every White House initiative and even slipped in the possibility of balancing the budget this year.

Blackburn, who spent years in the House of Representatives until arriving in the Senate in 2019, is one of the lawmakers closest to the president in the Upper House. In turn, she is one of the most impactful conservative voices in Congress and recently launched her own podcast, Unmuted with Marsha.

"The government must do more with less"

The senator assured that the president is keeping his campaign promises, such as securing the southern border, eliminating regulations and bringing "common sense" back to the government.

"We know that President Donald Trump has proven yet again that he and the Republican Party are the party for working people. And it is working people that are paying those taxes. And every penny the federal government spends is money that has come from a hardworking taxpayer. And it is up to us to be good stewards of that money," she continued.

On the current state of the Democrats, she said they are on the minority side on almost every issue on which there is an 80% consensus among American citizens. "It seems like that whether it is tax cuts, government spending, a secure border, men and women's sports, that the Democrats are on the 20 percent side of that column. They are out of step when with the american people are," she said.

"It's not their money that government has, it's taxpayer money, and they are very upset that we are saying government should take less from its citizens, and government should do more with less, and that we need to fight waste, fraud, and abuse. You would think everybody would be for fighting waste, fraud, and abuse, but not the Democrats. They are all for it," the senator added.

Finally, Blackburn addressed the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the impact of the cuts for ordinary citizens.

"The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as we call it, is going through and finding the fraud, the abuse, and the waste. Take, for instance, Social Security. There are people, millions of people, that are over 110 years old that are still receiving Social Security checks. Well, we know that most of those individuals are no longer alive. You look at those that are over 125 years old or 160 years old. You're talking millions of people," the senator explained.

She even slipped in the possibility of achieving a balanced budget ahead of schedule. "I think it is very possible that in the next couple of years, you will see a balanced budget. We would really like to get to it this year, and if we're able to achieve enough savings through DOGE, we would be able to do that. They are funding about $4 billion a day of waste from DOGE," she concluded.

The full interview with Senator Marsha Blackburn: