De La Cruz touts Trump’s ‘promises’; Gonzalez fearful for Social Security

Monica De La Cruz

Responding to President Donald Trump’s 99-minute address to Congress on Tuesday, Rio Grande Valley congressional representatives Monica De La Cruz (Dist. 15) and Vicente Gonzalez (Dist. 34) had vastly different takes on the event.

In a videotaped response, De La Cruz said she was honored to attend the speech and hear Trump’s plan to “restore American greatness.”

“I am so excited for American families, for our communities and for the future of our country,” she said. “As the granddaughter of Mexican farm workers, I was encouraged to hear from President Trump tonight on his plan to make America strong again.

“In Congress we are working to secure our border, strengthen our economy, protect the benefits Texans rely on, and deliver on your priorities. Meanwhile, President Trump is delivering on the mandate for a strong, conservative agenda, and restore strength to the White House. Promises made. Promises kept.”

In the first six weeks of his second term, the Trump administration has brought about a historically low number of illegal border crossings, with illegal border crossings having fallen 80% compared to 2024, she claimed.

In addition, the Trump administration has cut “billions of dollars of reckless spending on woke, far-left initiatives,” De La Cruz said.

“We’ve set a framework to deliver a conservative agenda by making cuts to wasteful government spending, while protecting programs that Texans rely on, like Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP,” De La Cruz said. “We’re also working to extend President Trump’s tax cuts for families and small businesses. To save Americans from a 22% tax hike.

“The future is bright for our families and for our great country. We are unified in our promise to deliver common sense solutions for America. … I will continue to work alongside the Trump administration to deliver wins for South Texas and our entire nation.

Gonzalez said that despite disagreements with the administration he remains “committed to working with President Trump and my congressional colleagues to deliver results and better the lives of South Texans.”

Vicente Gonzalez

Still, Gonzalez said he’s concerned by what Trump left out of his speech, which he compared to a campaign rally.

“The concern that I have and I think many millions of Americans have is that he did not assure senior citizens that Social Security and Medicare would not be touched,” he said. “This is right after Elon Musk said it was the greatest Ponzi scheme in history. I think that is a huge concern.

“I’ve had hundreds of calls from senior citizens in my district that are worried about any kind of cuts to Social Security and Medicare because those are programs that they rely on.”

Likewise, Trump gave no assurances to veterans that Veterans Affairs funding would not be cut, which the administration has discussed, Gonzalez said, also citing a lack of assurances that funding for Head Start, school food programs, and Meals on Wheels for senior citizens would not be cut.

“There are so many federal programs that millions of Americans rely on that would be devastating if they were cut in any way,” he said. “They’re barely funded. … Even a minor cut would have a devastating impact for a lot of Americans.”

Title 1 funding is another target, Gonzalez said, noting every school district in South Texas qualifies for it.

“For my district last year, we brought almost $200 million,” he said. If you take those $200 million from education in South Texas, it would devastate public schools.”

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