A president who so often speaks boldly of his “winning” has a number of wins his conservative base can claim.
Though Trump is often in victory lap mode, the list is impressive. A brief summary of accomplishments from the White House perspective includes:
- Border security
- Economy
- Energy
- Crime and public safety
- Government restructuring
The White House says it has eliminated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices across the federal government and replaced them with merit-based hiring practices.
An estimated $215 billion has been saved through government efficiency efforts. Law enforcement officer deaths are down, and the country has seen the largest one-year decline in homicides in its history, officials say.
“It’s so refreshing to have a president who leads. He’s not perfect, but I’ll tell you what, he’s pro-America. He believes in America first, and he believes that a strong America is good for the world. I agree with that,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, a Republican from Indiana, said on American Family Radio Wednesday.
But if Trump is winning, has a Republican-led Congress come along for the ride?
Poll data shows Republicans have generally rated their own party’s congressional performance more favorably than independents or Democrats, with a significant majority still approving of Republican congressional leadership. But that support is lower than earlier in 2025, and it fluctuates with events like the federal government shutdown.
The most recent polling from Gallup came within the longest shutdown in the nation’s history. It showed Trump with a slight decline to 36 percent, the lowest figure of his second term.
Congress received an approval rating of 23 percent from Republicans, 15 percent from independents and 4 percent from Democrats.
“There’s been frustration with Congress because Congress isn't getting things done and getting things passed. I disagree with that to a point,” Stutzman told show host Jenna Ellis.
He says Congress has also had significant achievements, but they’ve not been spread out.
“We passed the Big Beautiful Bill. It had the most policy changes in it but was all in one spot, and I think that's where it kind of gets lost.”
It’s all in the Big Beautiful Bill
Had the defunding of Planned Parenthood been a singular legislative act it would have gained much more attention, he said.
The law prohibits Medicaid reimbursements to nonprofit health clinics that provide abortions and received substantial Medicaid funding – a provision written so that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions, is the primary entity affected.
Planned Parenthood and several states immediately sued to block the funding cutoff as unconstitutional, and a federal judge temporarily barred enforcement of that part of the law.
Appeals courts have heard arguments and, in some instances, allowed parts of the defunding provision to stand temporarily while the legal fight continues.
Planned Parenthood performed 402,230 abortions for fiscal year 2023-2024. There were 392,715 abortions for fiscal year 2022-2023 and 374,155 abortions the year before.
“We defunded Planned Parenthood. That’s a huge deal. I mean, if that would have been a standalone bill, there would have been so much attention on it from the media; there would have been more attention on it from within the pro-life groups,” Stutzman said.
Energy, education and tax policy were other congressional achievements within the Big Beautiful Bill, Stutzman said.
“We kept tax rates where they are with the Trump tax cuts from 2017. Because it was so big, it’s sometimes easy to forget.”
There were other policy wins outside the Big Beautiful Bill, Stutzman said.
And there’s more work to do. Stutzman would like to see the removal of the filibuster in the Senate.
There were calls to remove it during the shutdown; Trump’s voice was the loudest.
The practice that allows the minority party to block or delay legislation by extending debate is not part of the Constitution. It arose from a Senate rules change in 1806.
Filibuster has never been removed
Ending debate requires 60 votes, more than the 53 seats currently held by Republicans.
The filibuster has never been completely removed, though both parties have amended its rules in recent years.
Democrats in 2013 eliminated the filibuster for most executive nominations and judicial nominees before the Supreme Court.
Republicans in 2017 extended that rule to remove the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations.
Stutzman says it needs to be removed to allow Republicans to make their most possible impact on Capitol Hill.
“The American people elect a particular party, and they expect the majority to then govern. In this case the republicans in the Senate can't truly govern because Democrats can always throw in a filibuster,” he said.
In the existing climate, the practice is abused, Stutzman said. Democrats throw in an “easy” filibuster and “stop any sort of movement by the Republican leadership.”
