President Trump is lifting American communities that Washington forgot

Opportunity Zones are a key part of the tax cuts signed into law by President Donald J. Trump last December. Today, they got another huge boost.

“For decades, job growth and investment have been concentrated in a few major metropolitan areas,” the President said after signing an executive order to create the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. “Some cities have thrived, while others have suffered chronic economic and social hardship. With Opportunity Zones, we are drawing investment into neglected and underserved communities of America.”

The purpose of Opportunity Zones is to lift up communities that have been neglected by Washington and left behind for far too long. The typical family income in these areas is 37 percent below their state’s median level. The average poverty rate is 32 percent—almost double the national average. Nearly 35 million Americans live in these communities. Now, help is on the way.

Here’s how it works: Tax relief is offered in exchange for long-term investments in the low-income communities that need it most. These poorer areas begin to see more job creation and lasting growth. This private investment fuels human potential in these communities, whereas government spending programs too often extinguish it.

The upshot: All Americans, regardless of zip code, should have access to the American Dream. With Opportunity Zones, we get closer to that reality.

President Trump is lifting up the communities that Washington forgot.

Watch: The President signs today’s executive order

‘We need to know who is coming in and going out’

Yesterday’s tragic terror attack at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, reminds us that national security is nothing without border security.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explained the stakes. “This is an enormous challenge. We have this problem in the United States as well,” he said. “Lots of folks that we’re watching, we think are at risk, we try to monitor. But the numbers are so big. It’s why, frankly, border security matters.”

“We need to know who is coming in and out of our country.”

Controlling the border is a matter of public safety—one that includes many threats beyond terrorism. From October 2017 through this July, U.S. Border Patrol seized 6,423 pounds of cocaine, 532 pounds of heroin, 439,531 pounds of marijuana, 10,382 pounds of methamphetamine, and 332 pounds of fentanyl from Border Patrol checkpoints.

It’s time to make a deal. There's nothing partisan about protecting our borders to encourage legal immigration.

Throwback: When Sen. Chuck Schumer believed in securing our border

Watch: President Trump host Democrat leaders in the Oval Office yesterday