The Senate Budget committee returned to debate for amendments to the fiscal 2018 budget resolution. The committee voted on the series of amendments before approving the bill and sending it to the senate floor. This part of the market session is one hour and 20 minutes. Regarding childcare one of the fastestgrowing expenditures and obstacles to American Families being able to contribute significantly to the economy to work, to get jobs is the growing cost of child care. I understand in the proposed tax bill there will be a credit but theres no details on how that would work or what the size with a piece of essays a Deficit Neutral Reserve Fund to help families pay the cost of child and dependent care and make a credit refundable because otherwise it Means Nothing to the lower income americans. This is saving a place for writing this important policy change. Thank you. Anyone else want to speak in favor . Im going to urge my colleagues to support this amendment within the jurisdiction of the budget process or the Deficit Neutral Reserve Fund that does just exactly the things that you talked about. There are some things that need to be done in that area but some of them need to be done by the Health Education labor pensions committee. We will lay that aside and work on that later. Do you have the next one . We will certainly allow you to speak on that. Mr. Chairman, theres actually two that i have and i think in the interest of time and peoples schedules, one can actually both of these are very important. One is an tax reform we ought to be closing the loopholes for the companies that are actually using the manufacturing loopholes and is the one that dont make sense they should be dutdoing and unfortunately consumers dont benefit from these tax policies in terms of lower prices but i want to speak to the Second Amendment and that is in the fact that in the bill, there is a cut of 21 billion to agriculture, which is separate from the other nutrition items and i know that we are hearing that there is some flexibility. I want to go on record saying it is a cut in the document and i am concerned as we go into the farm bill deliberations it is 50 and prices and they are having a hard time. They made cuts in the last farm bill for the equal about 100 billion altogether over ten years. But to do more would make it very difficult to address. This in fact should not be a requirement to be cutting from the efforts to support our efforts. The next amendment is number five. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to offer number five we know there is a serious humanitarian crisis in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands and the visit to puerto rico and its comments minimizing the pain and loss of life to be pretty disturbing and i know we can do better. Ive been in the senate long enough to remember when both sides came together to help our citizens in need and the citizens of puerto rico and the Virgin Islands are in dire need of help right now. So this is just a straightforward amendment that sends a strong signal that we will stand with and assist puerto rico and the Virgin Islands as well as texas, florida and the other areas that have been hit by hurricanes harvey, irma and maria. This amendment is offered in the goodwill we can all come together and to send a strong message to the body that we will be there to help them. The next one is van hollen number two. Thank you mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent. We had a discussion about the fact that one of the objectives for the tax reform. It is a point of order against any proposal that increased tax burden on the middle class. Is that we will do you one better and o of course of coursd may. It said may. It wasnt binding but i can assure colleagues that if you eliminate the deduction for state and local taxes, you will be increasing the taxes on millions of middle income taxpayers. If you look at the irs data it shows nearly 30 making between 50,000 to 75,000 in 2015 claimed the production date co deduction for state and local taxes. I would like to show the chart that shows the amount in all 50 states. If our goal is not to increase the burden on the taxpayers, please vote for this amendment even if you vote for the standard deduction and do other things proposed in the plan come if you eliminate the state and local deduction you are going to be raising taxes on the folks in the middle. At the last point i want to make is we are told that the best decisions are made at the local and state level. But closer, the better of the country will be. If you eliminate the state and local Tax Deduction you are taxing local decisions and you are doing the opposite of what so many of my colleagues say we should do which is we need more Decision Making to the folks at the local and state level and you are taxing those decisions and efforts to help themselves and i want to use the remainder of the time for senator harris. Thank you senator. This will literally affect the lives of millions of americans not just in california or maryland but around the country. And in particular, for those who live in states and areas where there is a higher than average property tax, the federal and state local tax section allows americans to deduct state and local Tax Liability from their federal income Tax Liability and eliminating this federal Tax Deduction will clearly hurt the working families. Nationwide over 86 of taxpayers make under 200,000 per year. 56 . These are working americans and their families coming and we have to do better for them. The rest of the nation stands to lose with the tax reform and it doesnt end with the state and local Tax Deduction. I think senator van hollen for his leadership on this issue. Any opposition . We talk about this as something we should be looking at as a nation. What it will do is put pressure on every governor and every legislative body in a state to reform the tax structure because the federal government no longer is going to allow writing off the excessively high taxes at the state level. It would do something that i think needs to be done. If blood shed light on parts of the country that seem to have no limit in terms of taxation of the citizens. We are quite frankly tired of subsidizing states that have normally a high cost of living and we are helping foot the bill so we woulbills we would like t. This amendment does put a point of order against something that the finance committee can do and so it isnt within our jurisdiction, it is within bea bears. On the successful amendment this is very straightforward. This bill is all about tax reform and enabling tax reform to move through the senate. So if that is the case and the other thing that i heard today in various reports is the distrust of outside groups analyzing the effects of the various tax reform proposals therefore, my amendment is very straightforward. Instead of asking to produce estimates of the distributional effects across income categories resulting from the major tax reform legislation i call this a look before you leap amendment. I dont understand anybody in this body that would want to vote on the major piece of tax reform without some kind of a subjective analysis as to what the impacts are going to be. Otherwise we are literally flying blind. And i just, to me i havent been here all that long but the idea of doing major tax reform in the committee and the Congressional Budget Office analysis of what the effects are going to be is a disservice to ourselves and the ability to make rational decisions and serve our public and if i were those advocating the tax reform proposal and vote for it i would want to be sure i knew what he effects were going to be and only to find out in the campaign that i voted for something that was going to be harmful to my constituents. So i think that this is a self preservation amendment if you will. It just makes sense that we have this analysis and i dont understand a process where we do not have a clear independent nonpartisan view of what the impact of the various proposals are going to be. Thank you. It would require to estimate the distributional effects of the major legislation. It requires them to report the macroeconomic effects of the legislation. I do have some concerns in the amendments interaction with the analysis, which will make it more difficult for them to allocate the dynamic effect across the categories. However, the amendment justifies the requirement that is to the extent practical so i want to pose the first piece of major legislation in the budget on the framework including the principle of the tax reform should shift the burden from the high income to the lower and middle income taxpayers so this information is useful for the members in the final bill. I would like to rename all of my amendments. [laughter] thank you mr. Chairman. I think that completes the amendments. So, we can begin voting. Will there be another tranche of amendments . Did you have in amendments . I have one more and i am not exactly sure what the procedure is. Its not a lot speak to it is Committee Number 130. It is an amendment that was passed the committee by four. My cosponsors in the past has been senators baldwin and portland are no longer on the committee but it establishes the reserve fund for the career and Technical Education and is set up for reauthorization and would allow the budget chair to make adjustments to take into account anything we might do and its been noncontroversial in the past. Did you want to speak on it . I would like to oppose the amendment. The budget already includes deficits natural reserve for the Workforce Development and strong believer. In fact i am on the subcommittee that is handling that and this amendment proposes to expand well beyond the secondary and postsecondary students on which the attention is focused. Limited resources are better targeted to those and expanding career and Technical Education to the Early Childhood programs. This is amendment proposed. They reported their five and 610 of the million skilled workers. The existing mentioning of the development is important for the enactment of policies into this will work to help america obtain the skills for success and high wage in high demand jobs. So i strongly support the career and Technical Education and i offer the version working on the current reauthorization but im opposing this because we need to keep it focused on the older students. So i will urge my colleagues to oppose that one. Amendment number four. We talked everybody into coming back for some peopl so sn that side could. This would establish a Deficit Neutral Reserve Fund for the worker training program. The Training Programs to help upscale workers to fill positions that need filling and it would also invest in apprenticeships allowing workers to retrain for the new industries while learning onthejob so there would be no loss of income and i would urge my coffee to support the amendment. There is a moment in time right now where the workers of america need help transitioning to the economies of the 21st century. I will urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well. This highlights some important facets of workforce training and i believe students can maintain through it. Ive gone through some on the previous ones of the budget is focused on growing the economy and creating jobs. This amendment fits well within the goal and i urge my to support the amendment. People began on voting on the amendment. All time for the debate has expired. First one minute remaining and 30 seconds on each side. We live in a nation today with massive income inequality. There is no debate bu debate aty wealthiest people of the country are becoming phenomenally richer. Middle class is shrinking and we have 40 Million People living in poverty. Our job is to build the middleclass and workingclass of the country not to give billions of hundreds of billions of dollars of tax breaks to the top 1 . And that is what this amendment is about, no tax breaks for the top 1 . This gives requirements outside of the budget committee. After consultation of the parliamentary id is nongermane and ouand out of order and remoe amendment out of order. I moved to table the appeal. The motion is not debatable. Of those on the favor of tabling the appeal. Those opposed . I think we should do a roll ca call. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 ayes and ten nays. The next is kennedy number one. Anyone seeking recognition and opposition . Dot old has expired. All of those in favor . All those opposed . In the opinion of the chair of the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. The next amendment is king number four. Does anyone seek recognition and opposition to proponents recognized for 30 seconds. This is a sidebyside on the amendment we just passed and it simply states that it is an amendment to the amendment because it provides that there should be analysis of what are needed to help people enter the workforce if there are recipients on the programs such as childcare, health car child d job training opportunities. All time is expired. I will oppose the amendment. The question is on the amendment. All those in favor . All those opposed. In the opinion of the chair, the nays habit an have it and the at is not agree to. The next amendment is sanders number two. There is one minute of time remaining for the statement. Does anyone seek recognition and opposition . Senator sanders for 30 seconds. This amendment says that we should not allow this budget to make 473 billiondollar cuts to medicare and chilean dollar cuts to medicaid which would throw 15 million americans of their health insurance. Please vote yes. After consultation with the parliamentary the amendment finds it is not germane and in order so i will rule the amendment out of order. I appeal the rule of the chair. I move to table the appeal. The motion is non debatable. The clerk will call the committee. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 ayes and 11 nays does anyone seek recognition and opposition to the iowa just remind my colleagues there is nothing about the reconciliation device that excludes democrats from fully participating in tax reform. This is going to go through the regular order in the finance committee and be open to the amendment and democrats i assume will offer amendments and that is the way the process is supposed to work this establishes a 51 vote threshold which we have many occasions are the threshold but this is a regular order and i dont think we should be changing back. I am a sponsor of it, i get three seconds. The history of successful tax reform is running bipartisan and this is an inherently bipartisan process and is being used in a skewed way. Theres a passthrough provision that is favorable to the highfliers and repudiates the tradition. On big issues like tax policy and senator corker made an important point you dont just chambliss through and work it through you try to find Common Ground and get a balanced set of priorities to give everyone a chance to get ahead and not just the 1 . Thank you. My apologies. For the reasons stated earlier, i oppose the amendment. The question will be on the amendment and i would assume you want a roll call vote. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and e. 11 ayes. The amendment is defeated. Next is sanders number 11. Does anyone seek recognition . In opposition again, this amendment simply makes a picture now of whats happening in the budget. Theres an increase in funding for medicare over the next course of the budget over 80 for fun and in medicare. Washington, d. C. Like i said earlier is the only place where decreasing increases to cut and i would urge opposition to this and of course the support that i have offered to protect medicare and repeal. Senator sanders is recognized. This amendment is cosponsored by senators wyden, stabenow and myself and will restore the 473 billion cut to medicare paid for by reducing the republican tax breaks for the wealthy and i would urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak on this . The question is on the amendment and i assume you want a roll call. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and 11 ayes. The amendment has been defeated. The next one is the sidebyside for senator garner. Does anyone wish to speak in opposition . If not, the proponent has recognized. This would protect medicare but also do something important has bipartisan support in both the house and senate across the aisle and that is the repeal of the independent advisory board. I would encourage a vote on this amendment. I would urge a no vote on this at the end of the day the budget cuts medicare by 473 billion. The question is on the amendment. All those in favor, all those opposed. In the opinion of the chair, the amendment is not agreed to. The amendment is not agreed to a does anyone seek recognition were opposition to sanders number 12 . The proponent is recognized for 30 seconds. This would restore the 1 trillion in cuts to medicaid that is in this Budget Proposal and it would do that by reducing the tax breaks for the top 1 by the wealthiest in america. The truth of the matter is the majority of seniors in michigan get their nursing home care through medicaid. Children, families all impacted. Theres no way you got any common sense can tell you cutting a trillion dollars out of medicaid is not a cut. It certainly has been proposed in other ways. In terms of getting the Health Care System twice its been voted against or opposed and its surprising to me that it shows up again in the resolution so i would urge a yes vote to protect children and families that account on medicaid. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and 11 ayes. The amendment is defeated. The next amendment is number two. There is one minute debate time if anyone wants to speak in recognition or opposition. Could you repeat that. Harris number two. This would create a plaintiff order against legislation to allow increases on taxes for taxpayers and while income below 250,000. Any tax reform legislation should be done in a bipartisan way that does not raise taxes on the middle class, and i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment. Time is expired. After consultation for chair finds it is nongermane and out of order so i would rule the amendment out of order. I will move to table the appeal. All of those in favor of tabling the appeal . All those opposed. I request a roll call. [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 yeas and 11 nays. The motion has been agreed to. The does the proponent of quebec set a voice vote . The question is on the amendment. All those invaders yeas, opposed to nays. The amendment is agreed to. The next is number nine. There is one minute of debate time and i oppose for the reasonreasonstated earlier and k recognition and opposition. This is a memorial to my dearly departing colleagues senator corker. It basically says we are not going to be able to pass a budget resolution that increases the deficit. Pretty straightforward. And it restores the socalled conrad rule which was from 2007 to 2016. And this whole process is about attempting to balance and improve the situation and any budget that deepens the deficit by definition doesnt achieve that. Thank you. Old time for debate is expired at the consultation of the parliamentarian the chair finds the amendment is nongermane and out of order, so i ruled the amendment out of order. I appeal the ruling of the chair. The motion is non debatable. All those in favor of tabling the appeal . Those opposed . Theres a motion to table and request for the roll call. Im told it is not out of order that it should be on the amendment. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and 11 yeas. So the amendment is defeated. It seems to me if we are going to be talking about tax reform that it should be in the loopholes advising the jobs to go overseas. I know that is a major priority for the people of michigan. This would simply say that there would be a budget point of order against any legislation that would get a tax cut to companies that are shipping jobs overseas. Does anyone want to speak in opposition i should mention im told that the consultation with the parliamentarians into the chair finds the amendment on jermaine and out of order so i wont rule it out of order. I would appeal and ask for a roll call vote. The motion is non debatable and the clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] the appeal is tabled does anyone seek recognition in opposition . Demaret repeals a provision for the score to be posted online 28 in advance of the voting on reconciliation legislation. I strike it so that it will be required to post. I oppose the amendment and the question on the amendment for the roll call. [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and 11 yeas. The amendment is not agreed to the. The scoring with cbo that is contrary to the budget act for accountability in defense of the budget act i oppose this amendment and urge my colleagues to do likewise. We need to continue to choose the cbo for an independent thirdparty validator we should change referees that is in the amendment. I oppose the amendment. Does the senato the senator reqg rollcall . [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] the amendment is not agreed to. Next is warner number two. Does anyone seek recognition in opposition . I would simply say that one of the fiscal guard rails that we had in place i would simply point out to my colleagues ten of my colleagues that sit on the committee voted in favor of a 2016 conference report that included the roles and to the point of order and i would hope they would remain consistent and support the amendment. Thank you. Time is expired for the reasons stated earlier i oppose the amendment and the question is the senator seeking a rollcall . The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and 11 yeas. The amendment is not agreed to. The next amendment is van hollen number three. Does anybody else seek recognition in opposition . Thank you mr. Chair. No taxation upon expiration. What we are trying to do is make sure we dont add 240 billion to the National Debt passed on to our kids and grandkids. In order to provide a windfall tax break would we all acknowledge our very wealthiest in this country the estate tax is owed only by household, couples. We are talking about 5,000 households per year that are affected. The state tax is important to protecting the fiscal situation. I would just urge the adoption of the amendment. After consultation with the chair finds that the amendment is not germane and out of order. So i would rule the amendment out of order. Mr. Chair man i would ask for a roll call vote. I would move to table the appeal. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 yeas and 11 nays. The appeal is tabled. Next is kaine number four does anyone seek recognition and opposition. I would briefly recap the points i made earlier. I think this amendment is unnecessary and could have unintended consequences. The purpose is for Social Security from being cut and in fact it is impermissible to cut through the reconciliation process under existing law already and this is meant to be for tax refor reform and not for healthcare reform. And i think for technical reasons, changing, switching the revenue and the deficit terminology could preclude the possibility of increasing the refundable child tax credits, which might very well be a feature that we would want to consider so i would urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment. Fotaxfor tax reform buildings requiring it to be deficit neutral would allow you to create a huge deficit and then spending cuts to cover the deficit. I would rather have a tax reform bill be revenue neutral and then we would do the hard work of dealing with both rates in the expenditure side and i think the bill is a commonsense bill and they recommended that already makes it an uphill battle but i would urge the adoption. All time is expired. The question is on the amendment [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 11 nays and 12 yeas. Please repeat that wrote. 12 yeas and 11 nays. The amendment is agreed to. The next one is sanders number 25 how often do you get a chance to vote for not one, but two of the top priority is that i have heard so many individuals on both sides of the i o fight for that is to quit sending our jobs overseas and to invest in infrastructure here in america, two for one. Time is expired for the reasons i stated before. The question is on the amendment. Is there a request for a roll call vote . The clerk will call the roll. [inaudible] [laughter] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 nays and 11 yeas. The amendment is not agreed to. Senator merkley. For the reasons i stated earlier, i amend. The point of order against legislation that would allow for citizens earning for any bill that has a decrease of taxes on citizens earning over a Million Dollars per year. The richest americans who are already fabulously more wealthy iand compared to the working americans, so this would be a terrific way to fight for ordinary everyday people needing a foundation to thrive rather than giving away the entire treasury to the already most powerful and privileged. After consultation with the commentary in the chair finds that the amendment is not germane and out of order. I would ask for a roll call vote. Id move to table the appeal and i will ask for the yeas and nays. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] there are 12 yeas in 11 nays. The amendment is tabled. Next is stabenow number eight. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] the appeal is tabled. Next is number 10 these seek recognition . Day meet opposition . Yes. Goahead. This is about the reserve funds that were once again repeal would replace the Affordable Care at the American People have seen this awful movie before and theyd want to see it again and hear the efforts to bring it back once more. Whiz would raise costs of those with preexisting conditions and lets reject this amendment and walked out of here for what we ought to be doing to be seen as bipartisan with Health Care Cost to help the American People rather than launch an another assault on their wellbeing. The question is on the amendment the clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] 12 nays and 11 yays. The amendment is not a green to. Number 34 so those in opposition . The proponents recognize the amendment . At the time is long overdue for us to end the of corrupt finance system that we have which allows billionaires like the Koch Brothers and others that spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy elections to pass legislation like this piece to get huge tax breaks to believe theres but cutting programs are working families desperately need. For reasons i stated earlier i oppose the amendment the question is on the amendment and the clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] 12 nays and yays 11 the agreement is not agreed to. Number four or number one but it appears to be the same one i believe the december 4. I believe it is number one. Anybody seek recognition and opposition. Very simple amendment that this is the provision to give the chair the ability to rewrite the budget if there is the ultimate deal to lift the budget cap. The cause right now says such as a deal of 640 million for defense. I supported this as the Armed ServicesCommittee Member to give the chair the complete flexibility based on the final deal whether on the Security Side or non Security Side. Doesnt that send a signal on the Security Side . I insisted they do not be tied together so i closed the amendment. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] 12 yays and 11 nays the agreement is not agreed to the next amendment is number two is anybody in opposition . All those in favor . All those opposed . The amendment is agreed to. Next is marie number five . I appreciate the chairman support on puerto rico with a voice vote. All those in favor . Those opposed . The aye has said the amendment is agreed to. Them all in number to. Creating a point of order to eliminate the state local Tax Deduction. With the parliamentarian is out of order . I appeal the ruling of the chair. What a voice vote . I asked for the roll call questions on the motion to table the appeal . [roll call] [roll call] [laughter] everybody else is confused [roll call] 12 yays and 11 nays. The appeal is tabled. The next is number three i support the amendment. Further comment . All those in favor . All those opposed . Amendment is agreed to. Does anybody see a recognition opposition . This is an amendment for any activity related and i am fine with of voice vote. Do you want to roll call . Voice by a voices find. The nays has lit and the amendment failed. No number four. Does anybody see the opposition . Voice vote. All those in favor . Of post . The agreement is agreed to. If no further amendments the clerk will call the of role. [laughter] i yield to you. It is a pleasant room we have had a discussion but the of outside world is not this way. In the outside world this will be perceived as one of the most cruel and destructive budgets in the modern history of this country. It gives 1. 9 trillion dollars of tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country, of billionaires to throw 15 million americans off the health care they have with a trillion dollar cut in medicaid with massive cuts in medicare and education and child care of everything that the working people need. Anyone with a human conscience can go against this terribly destructive budget. Contrary to what we have heard ladinos exactly how the tax reform that follows from this legislation will affect various individuals because it hasnt been written yet. Brackets and income thresholds and it is not possible to say any one particular groups of americans could get a huge tax cut the goal of though legislation to restore that Economic Growth we have waited so long to enjoy a. The growth to lift wages in the standard of living for everyone that tax reform is the focus to lower the burden of the middleclass families and enable workers across the country to compete globally. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor. The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] 12 yays and 11 nays. If there is no further business reminder to file that Committee Clerk filed no later than noon tomorrow i asked him his consent but they can make technical changes and the numbers be provided for the resolution more appropriate things for your time and dedication today. I will make a few more comments but everybody can leave. Can i have unanimous consent by request for the no vote to table number one . Certainly. Thank you. Staff from both sides of the aisle have been tremendous to Work Together to put together a process what would be voted on to be expedited is the quickest markups that we have had with the cooperation. Thank you to her staff. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i personally think leadership is a tremendous job but to have the breadth and depth of talent and if it is time to pass the torch and i want to be a part of that transition and i think that they dont always get the opportunities that they should. With nancy pelosi right now planned caucus leadership . I dont know. Everybody has their opinion. But to suggest it is time for change with or lose it is time for her to go . Data what do single her out. It is time to pass the torch there all of the same generation and the contribution to the congress and pockets are substantial but there is a time when you need to pass the torch and i think it is time for pro. Involved in the expansion of the cattle ranch industry in south dakota that was with the expansion of the railroad in mining with the growth of our state in the part of the 20th century. The pioneer girl project of the Historical Society that is designed to study and published a comprehensive edition of pioneer girl by war in glows wilder which is her autobiography. If you look up also there are four corner areas with flags from the dakota territory there reflects the United States and also spain and france controlling these territories at different times of white or a black or red or yellow flag those of the native american colors. Rum e dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer thank you, objection. As we continue to grieve the people of las vegas and the families of the injured or were