Special Edition: One Big Beautiful Newsletter

July 6, 2025

RECA Reauthorized and Gosar Legislation Expanding it for Mohave County is Included in the One Big Beautiful Bill!

After weeks of hearings, markups and debates, both bodies of Congress passed President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and President Trump signed it into law!  I am very pleased to have cast my vote in support of this legislation that provides historic tax relief to middle-class Americans, reigns in wasteful spending, restores fiscal sanity and slashes the deficit by more than $2 trillion by enacting policies that will fuel America’s economic growth.

Most importantly, the One Big Beautiful Bill delivers for all Arizonans.

First and foremost, I am especially pleased that the One Big Beautiful Bill includes my legislation reauthorizing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and corrects an administrative oversight in the RECA Act of 1990 that arbitrarily excluded areas of Mohave County, Arizona.  Atomic weapons testing conducted during the Cold War came with a heavy cost to Americans living in Arizona and within tribal communities.

When the injuries were discovered, Congress subsequently provided an apology on behalf of the nation and passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, or RECA, to establish a trust fund for partial restitution to individuals—commonly referred to as “Downwinders”—who have contracted certain cancers and other serious diseases that can be directly attributed to the radiation exposure from the nuclear weapons testing. Unfortunately, RECA failed to properly define the boundaries of impacted populations and many Downwinders that resided in counties near where the testing occurred, including in Mohave County, Arizona were mistakenly excluded from the program for no logical reason.

In fact, not only were Downwinders residing in Mohave County closer to the Nevada Test Site than residents in other eligible counties, but they also have the second-highest overall incidence rate of cancer in their respective states.

Since first being elected to Congress, it’s no secret that I have worked tirelessly to ensure that RECA not only be reauthorized but also expanded so that every person in Mohave County who developed cancer or other related illnesses after being exposed to radiation can be compensated for being poisoned by a negligent federal government.  I have introduced legislation or amendments to legislation at least a dozen times to reauthorize and expand RECA.  I have held field hearings in Mohave County, conducted roundtable discussions and have met with countless Downwinders or family members of Downwindersto hear firsthand their personal stories.  Here’s an editorial I wrote last year that goes into even more detail about the importance of reauthorizing and expanding RECA.

Passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill is wonderful news for countless Downwinders living in Arizona.  It is going to help so many families, and I can assure you that I will continue to make certain that every person who qualifies gets the compensation that they deserve.  RECA will finally deliver justice for survivors in all of Mohave County.  If you are a Downwinder or the family member of a Downwinder and need assistance with filing a claim, please call my office at 623-707-0530.

But there is more good news! The One Big Beautiful Bill also includes my legislation boosting solar and wind power on public lands to help lower energy prices, unlock energy production and meet our nation’s growing energy demand. The previous administration’s unprecedented four-year war on American energy made it nearly impossible to produce domestic energy on public lands and was nothing short of catastrophic.

While timely permitting of energy projects on federal lands was a serious problem, looking ahead, renewable energy sources like wind and solar should be an integral part of the United States’ all-of-the-above energy strategy.  Our nation’s public lands can play a critical role in lowering energy prices and can help meet our nation’s growing energy demand.

To help drive investment towards the highest quality renewable sources, my legislation streamlines land use and promotes more renewable energy on federal lands.  It also ensures revenue from their development is shared with the states and counties while also supporting conservation programs where these projects are located. The One Big Beautiful Bill will allow rural and western communities to benefit from renewable energy development on federal lands to support essential services.

Wait, there is more winning for Arizonans in the One Big Beautiful Bill.  The typical Arizona family with two children will see their take-home pay increase between $7,500 and $12,800.  Without this legislation, families across my district were on track to face a massive tax hike on December 31, 2025. The bill also eliminates taxes on tips and overtime, increases the child tax credit, increases childcare tax credits and establishes $1,000 savings accounts for newborn babies to support growth and advancement while helping ease the burden on families. It gets better. Parents, grandparents, and even nonprofits can contribute up to $5,000 per year, per child, to help grow these savings accounts.  This is a vote for our future and is the first major federal legislation to directly encourage family growth in decades.  These accounts function much like traditional IRAs and can grow tax-deferred for decades – starting your little loved ones off right.

Does the One Big Beautiful Bill provide historic investments to strengthen our nation’s border security?  Yes, I’m glad you asked! It makes the largest investment in border security in a generation, providing nearly $150 billion to secure our border, hire 5,000 Border Patrol agents and 10,000 ICE agents needed to swiftly detain and deport the millions of illegal aliens welcomed into our country by Joe Biden.  As a border state, Arizonans have felt firsthand the destruction caused by Biden’s open border policies. Crime has ravaged our neighborhoods, deadly drugs, including fentanyl, have ruined our families, and our communities are withering under the economic strain on public resources needed to combat Biden’s border invasion.

The One Big Beautiful Bill has so many wins that it is hard to list them all.  But I will try! If you read my newsletter or have attended my Social Security roundtables, you know that I have been fighting for years for the elimination of income taxes on social security benefits.  While I did not get all taxes eliminated, I did fight to ensure that a significant tax deduction up to $12,000 was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill.  Starting with your 2025 tax return, if you’re age 65 or older, you will qualify for a new $6,000 tax deduction.  If you and your spouse are both over 65, you can deduct $12,000 from your taxable income.  As my wife knows, never tell me I can’t get something done because I won’t quit until it gets completed.

The bottom line is that the One Big Beautiful Bill delivers for Arizonans, upholds the promise to secure the border, locks in permanent tax relief, unleashes American energy and reverses course on out-of-control spending by securing the largest spending reductions in American history. These are transformational policies that support all Americans for generations and were delivered by a Republican majority in Congress that listened.

I will be candid; it is unfathomable that every Democrat Member of Congress from Arizona turned their backs on and just voted against helping Downwinders in Mohave County. Every Democrat Member of Congress from Arizona just voted to raise taxes on families living in Arizona.  Every Democrat Member of Congress in Arizona just voted for open borders and runaway spending.  Once again, every Democrat Member of Congress in Arizona put politics ahead of what is best for Arizonans.

That’s it for this week. I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Independence Day weekend and if you are one of the nearly 75 million Americans that travelled this weekend, I hope you appreciated that gas prices have fallen to the lowest level in four years and after four years of sharp food inflation, prices for your Fourth of July BBQ are down!

Happy Independence Day!  🌭 🍔 🎇

Tweet of the Week:

Photo of the Week:

📸 Dave Kiesling from Goodyear, AZ sent in another great photo.  This time it’s a dramatic sunrise over the desert at White Tank Mountain Regional Park.  Amazing.  Thanks for sending this to us, Dave.

Do you want the chance for your photograph to be featured as our “Picture of the Week?”   If so, send your best shots along with a brief description to Anthony.foti@mail.house.gov.  Remember to include your name and where you live.

Gosar in the News and Other Must-Read Stories:

📰 The Hill: The Founders put God at the center of the Declaration of Independence

🗞 CNBC: Gas prices are expected to fall: ‘It’s going to be the cheapest summer since 2021,’ one expert says

📰 Newsmax: Americans Paying Less for July 4 Cookouts Under Trump

🗞 Havasu News: Gosar bill seeks to remove Mexican gray wolf from Endangered Species Act

📰 The Hill: Republicans in Congress see highest approval rating in more than a decade: Poll

⚠ Warning!!  The Gosar Weekly Newsletter is meant for discerning readers with above average intelligence.  We link to interesting stories.  We get stories a couple different ways: Google alerts, a third-party aggregator and sometimes readers send stuff.  We don’t vouch for every publication or every author.  If we link to a story, it is because of that story. The views expressed in any of the publications do not represent any promotion, endorsement or reflection of Congressman Gosar’s views.  While we try our best, we cannot guarantee every news organization spouting hatred, animosity or divisiveness will be filtered from appearing in the Gosar Weekly Newsletter.  We will endeavor to prevent that from happening by never linking to Fake News organizations including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Rolling Stone, the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Mirror, Media Matters or the New Republic.