‘Teach our kids to love our country.’ Budd breaks silence with Senate speech on NC values

In keeping with a long tradition, first-term senators wanting to gain the respect of their colleagues remain silent on the floor until a respectable amount of time has passed.

On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Budd, a Republican elected from North Carolina in November, broke his silence with a 15-minute floor speech that highlights North Carolina values and America’s future.

“My number one goal during my time in the U.S. Senate is to create a strong nation full of strong families,” Budd planned to say in his speech around 11 a.m. “To be of service to others. To make other people’s lives better … to just do what I said I would do.”

Budd teased his maiden speech on social media Tuesday and released excerpts of it to McClatchy.

The speech says a younger generation is being indoctrinated with a sense of “victimhood,” instead of being encouraged with vision and hope.

“Instead of teaching the next generation of Americans to wallow in all the things that their country has done wrong, we need to be celebrating, learning, and building on all the things we’ve done right,” Budd says. “Simply put, we need to teach our kids to love our country, and not to hate it. To have a spirit of gratitude not a spirit of disdain.”

The speech acknowledges that aspects of the country are broken, but says that doesn’t overshadow Americans’ unique ability to overcome challenges.

Some senators wait a few months or up to several years before making their maiden speech as a sign of humility and to show respect to senior colleagues, according to the Senate’s website. The speech is considered a milestone in a senator’s career and is often attended by family and senior lawmakers from their home state.

Among those planning to attend Budd’s speech are his wife and Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina in his second term.

Budd’s first six months in office

Vice President Kamala Harris swore Budd into office on Jan. 3. Behind him stood Tillis and Budd’s predecessor, Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, who retired.

Budd, who previously served in the U.S. House and was a member of the chamber’s ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, is ranked as far more conservative than both Tillis and Burr.

But since being sworn into office, with little legislation reaching the Senate floor so far, Budd and Tillis have only disagreed on two votes: both involving the nominations of men for district court judge in California, who Tillis supported, but Budd did not.

Since taking office, Budd has sponsored 10 pieces of legislation and co-sponsored 65. That included bills to speed up a process for approval or denial of a statue to honor the life of the Rev. Billy Graham inside the U.S. Capitol, a resolution to remember the late Sen. Jim Broyhill, a bill to require certain federal employees to disclose their student loans, and legislation that required abortion providers to report potential victims of human trafficking.

Budd improved his voting record this year to 95.2% over last year’s 87.8% while he ran for Senate, according to C-SPAN, which tracks each member’s votes.

Economy and regulation

Members of Congress have some heavy decisions ahead of them in the coming weeks as they tackle a looming deadline of defaulting on the country’s debts that could crash the country’s economy and have ripple effects across the world.

Budd planned to talk about the economy during his speech Wednesday.

“Looking to the government as our economic savior is simply not the solution,” Budd’s speech says. “Capitalism, open markets, a free and moral people — that is the formula for success.”

Budd also planned to tell Americans that they can find success if the country has the right leadership to lighten the regulatory burden on job creators.

International affairs and immigration

His speech also highlights trips to 11 international countries he took during his first five months in the Senate. He planned to discuss his time spent with ambassadors, foreign leaders and U.S. troops deployed overseas.

Budd most recently traveled to the southern border ahead of the expiration of a policy that allowed Border Patrol officials to turn away migrants due to COVID-19. Many say the policy’s expiration will be a tipping point that leads to a large increase of people trying to cross the border.

But after Thursday’s expiration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday that there’s actually been a 50% drop in the number of people trying to cross. That’s after stern warnings about attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally and after the Biden administration deployed troops to help mitigate any issues that arose once the policy expired.

Budd, on the other hand, a loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump, who helped Budd win his 2022 election with a surprise endorsement, blames Biden for what he says is a crisis caused by failing to complete a border wall that Trump championed. The first bill Budd proposed, on Feb. 14, aims to ensure the wall is completed.

“We know if we want to have a strong country, then we have to have a strong border,” Budd said from the southern border last week. “I’ve been to multiple sections of this border over multiple years and I’ve seen these crises and this is truly a humanitarian crisis.”

Budd’s origin story

Budd’s speech highlights his North Carolina roots and the impact of growing up in a small town. Budd was born and raised in Davie County, where his father ran a farm and launched a successful multi-state janitorial company.

In his speech, Budd planned to discuss how he shares the values of small North Carolina communities.

“It’s about faith,” Budd’s speech says. “It’s about loyalty to your family and friends. It’s about being a man of your word, it’s about being honest. It’s about being reliable. It’s about working hard. And it’s about serving others.”

He also planned to highlight North Carolina’s motto: Esse Quam Videri, which translates as, “To be, rather than to seem.”

“Put another way, we tend to walk the walk more than talk the talk,” Budd’s speech says. “That is the sort of spirit I will endeavor to carry with me during my time in office.”