Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate 11292017 20171130

Never worked anywhere in the world, and its not going to work here. Their answer to everything is big government. Well, there are two different points of view here, and i have to tell you i used to be on their side when i was a young fellow, when i was raised in poverty and came up the hard way and learned a trade and became a journeyman metal lather, which was one of the most Skilled Trades at the time. I have to say that these haunting refrains were used by democrats back then too, but look at this country and the mess its in, and its in a mess because of their philosophy. Weve got to change it. I admit with him that the Business Committee isnt always right and they are not always the best to spend our money, but the best to spend our money, but. The senate will soon vote on legislation on the broken tax code. And to provide significantie relief for tens of millions of middleclass families. And as we move to consider this legislation we will take another step that is a bipartisan goal. I will take all of those with the finance committee to work tirelessly also of the distinguished majority leader who is working leadership on this asse well. Were not there with additional steps to take. I dont want to the cart in front of the force but if we can get a positive outcome. And to provide tax relief to the middleclass to the economy. And a lower tax rates across the board also with the tax bracket to double the standard deduction doubling the Child Tax Credit and increasing the probability all of which combined eliminate income Tax Liability for families that significantly cut taxes for middleclass taxpayers. A family o of four have been, of 73,000 per,0 year will see that taxes go down by more than 2,000 per year. Mo over all this represents a 60 reduction with the tax family liability. One child making 44,000 has aty bill or pay about one quarter of f the federal income tax he she may have today. The difference of almost 1,400 and that is real money for those of have to make car payments are paid their rent or wrote creditcard balances and in addition into reducing the tax burden the changes will make filing taxes much simpler for much of those taxpayers. More than nine out of 10 American Families if we bring it together the complicated process to itemize deductions. This is from middleclass taxpayers it may hurt the Legal Profession repeals one of the most regressive taxes in American History the obamacare individual mandate tax which overwhelmingly burdens of lowincome families and 80 percent of the families that pay that tax make less than 50,000 per year. But this repeal is the source of much consternation from the other side of the aisle. Xe but for most businesses for those on the individual reform or pass through with a significant relief of a simple tax reduction to a qualified business income. To reduce the overall tax burden for those passed through businesses that are the i primary engine of job creation. In addition it helps main streetan businesses by expanding the availability and all told this means more expansion and more investment and more jobs for u. S. Workers employed by Small Businesses. Make no mistake it is. Small business which the National Federation of independent businesses the largest smallbusiness association in the country is a disaster the expressing his support for legislation they are not stupid. Brilliant people en is treated by our tax writers over the years and looking forward to this legislation. It should go without saying the United States economy has the highest Corporate Taxia rate in the industrialized world. As a result pc our country more overseas while others are getting purchased by Foreign Companies some of them are just giving up. This is a good for American Workers. That is not good for america. Former president has spoken in favor of lowering the Corporate Tax rate to be more globally competitive. That sentiment has been shared by countless democrats in this chamber including the current Ranking Member of the Senate Minority leader. With this bill we take care and vice by lowering the Corporate Tax rate shipping to a more territorial system with another idea explicitly endorsed in a Bipartisan Working Group report and the senator schumer who just spoke. Of the deemed repatriation. Another idea is supported and to have base erosion that goal that is clearly a bipartisan with the recent waves of corporate diversion but theres quite a bit for both republicans and democrats to support for of course, anyone who gets their information solely from the other side i suspect we will hear misleadingng claims about the bill m. A process that led us here. For example, this bill is just day giveaway. It is a gift to the socalled rich. Give me a break. With that argument that they make all the time. They treat the middle class so badly it is unbelievable they will make this claim even though they have the same data us from the joint committee on taxation the shows pretty clearly that middleclass taxpayers will receive the largest tax cuts under the bill and the existing tax burden has shifted downward from those at the top. In fact, those of the highest bracket the joint committee on taxation said to pay a higher overall percentage of the tax burden than they do now. So to appeal to the individual mandate tax it will take Peoples Health insurance away raising taxes and the port. That claim will be made despite confirmation from the score keepers that it limits anybodys access to Health Insurance. The approach that they are taking puts us in socialized medical situation overnight. If anybody thinks that is a great idea . Look at the socialized medicine countries but instead they project that with no individual mandate they choose to not get Health Insurance even if they still have access to premium subsidies and employer provided plants are free coverage through medicare because it provides trice. Doesnt take away anything from the individuals. We can quibble over that to tell the of tens of thousands that currently half of theur insurance given that they have essentiallygh failed t to draw up the Health Care Market to keep premiums from skyrocketing in is whether the scorekeepers are right. No one will lose their Health Insurance premiums when repeal the. Going uninsured voluntarily were not kicking anyone off the we are taking that penalty that is a blatant distortion of n reality of a rise. Some taxes will go up with a mandate is the road out amities distribution tables and shows the of taken taxes due to the premium tax credits under the under obamacare. Talking about the selling as well however i would like to have someone explain how a voluntary decision to forgo a tax subsidy amounts to a tax hike. But so far i have not heard a serious attempt at such explanation. In fact, with the reasonf markup of j. C. Peas said a at the table to tell my colleagues dime in additional taxes as a result, none of my colleagues came to this conclusion. Instead they opted to read nor even after shown the table shows that if the behavioral effects of the mandate repealed and t remove remove, every income group will see taxes go down under this bill. The hope our colleagues and those watching will evaluate madam president , under the circumstances members of both parties that are removed from consideration. We have significant support from our businessit community with companies from almost every sector publicly in support of the reforms of this bill. I know some of my republican colleagues had concerns im committed to work with them to see if improvements can be made and then we may have to make a few more changes also the constituents that they represent. As with any of any significance. I have been around long enough to know to demand perfection with legislation and will be waiting a long time. Before i close madam president how once in a generational opportunity, we need to get this done. The cost of failure continuing with the status quo is just too high. The American People deserve a tax system of provide greater opportunity, a strong free economy, better jobs. A tax cut to work with, we will accomplish these goals and taken in step and i yield the floor. The senator from rhode island. Two weeks ago i urge share rose to urge my colleagues to vote and this week in response to the socalled tax i cuts and job back to. When it comes to our responsibility for longterm Economic Future we are here to cooperate and to secure opportunity not to serve the shortterm interest. In with that process it has only become more partisan and bitter and less transparent. Republican colleagues wrote this bill behind closed doors and even now planning to make substantial changes and then to have that benefit of a number scorer. And for the of sustainable outcome. And as an unprecedented giveaway to the wealthy corporations and individuals and because and drives out trillions of dollars via urge my colleagues to reject the bill to craft tax reform with future generations and the of middleclass. The only bill it appears to take into account is the wealthiest and just even those that would be assembled and with adnan Credit Tax Policy Center but twothirds making between 54,000 and 93,000 woodsy taxes go up under the current republican bill. That is half of all households in it would see them go what. With the Job Opportunities and then to help them stay afloat. Many were persuaded by the long recovery of the Great Recession who opened the paycheck to see more taken out every month. 5,000 americanol families the republican plan that deals like on itsfu own and with the wealthiest americans to a epitomizes how this and the 1 trillion will certainly to learn the benefits like socialas security and medicare as well as national defense. In this is why and then to pay for military conflict driving the d nation deeply into debt. With the civil war the spanishamerican war and the United States use those to offset the cost of four. To me it as a means of the federal budget something that b. C. Today on a more intense scale and the estate taxes support the effort from World War Two. At was responsible to pay at home and abroad they did not leave the years of war on americas line of credit to expect that for working class there was time. No american generous and, after other then the tax cuts for the wealthy they never pay for themselves. Below via the wealthiest americans a pass we need an idea of how we will handle trillions of dollars of compound in war dead not to mention trillions more to maintain and modernize the of military could those have gone underfunded for so long. This would send it back to the finance committee in place all the revenue generated into a trustd fund those that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars are devoted even need to maintain their readiness and correcting the epidemic here at home so with such to combat deficits in times of war room make the much needed down payment on our agenda. But that is just one of those positions. It satisfies the Health Care System by appealing the individual mandate that could bring them of their Health Insurance to increase premiums for millions of others by yet again the 130 million americans they must fear their premium will skyrocket. And maybe even fewer options. The massive deficit and will produce. I have served this body long enough to know the truckled down economics does not work in those that say in no Uncertain Terms that this bill will not create a net enough growth pfizer in cocacolas says theyll use the gains to pay shareholders rather than ways raise wages for the middle class were making decisions that we simply cannot roll the dice and hope fory the best. Madam president id like my hope we hope we will see their ways that is bipartisan keeping with our responsibility to lead this nation better than where we found it. The Economic Security as seniors were willing to work in good faith with tax reform but we cannot begin that work until we have of the partisanship that led to this republican tax code. Were all here in committed but this bill bill will make it virtually impossible to do what we know we must do. There is an honorable course in National Security we are committed frankly to increase the size of military forces read the 1. 8 billion dollars per year. Where do we get that money . With 1. 5 trillion in debt to provide tax cuts to the wealthiest american. There is some estimates at least with 1 trillion per year. What will we get back with 1. 5 trillion . In the landbased missiles and aircraft for. In then also giving the of money to the wealthiest americans. So over a 10 year period that needs to be paid. To free stay there for 10 years. And with afghan operation. And under current procedures the based on time but conditions with 640 billion but is not the cost that we can ignore. If we do that this congress. And they dont have an expected 5 trillion surplus. With a multi trillion dollar deficit and adding to that deficit. So essentially to say i wrote talk a good story but when it comes down to thehe money in a bogota to the wealthiestlt americans. This is just irresponsible. And as aie result i hope we could regain our senses, a sitdown and deal on a bipartisan basis to help all of us are even begin after six years supranational Many International defense for future generations. This bill not only is not economically wise to not generate growth but to put this in a position with the next several years because the deficit is growing so large. I yield the floor. Madam president the American People have gone wild service of the past 10 men months. That was for to increase but then he tried to convince hardworking families the g. O. P. Tax plan is anything but a high price to give away to millionaires the high price to give away paid for by the of middleclass and those that support it i am glad the space sliding of with constituents demanding a anyone could possibly in because they see that expert after expert has confirmed to have millions of Everyday Americans who are already falling behind in the economy falling further and further in favor of the wealthiest few. They know the republican tax plan takes money and of their pockets they know it gets their health care by fighting premiums leaving millions of americans without the coverage theyhe need and it papers of a problem instead giving corporations a massive giveaway leaving families to care for loved ones in a lurch. Trillions of dollars of National Debt setting up an for republicans to come after medicare and medicaid and Social Security and other middleclass priorities when the bill comes due. So thispt is a backdoor attempt to open in the Arctic National wildlife refuge to drill for oil republicans even try to pay for tax cuts for those at the top in day a when the fights premiums and causes 13 Million People to lose coverage can create more chaos. It is a bipartisan bill i know that the german can fix this to help the states cover the cost but let me make clear that is wrong. It is the classic example fitting the square peg into the round hole and cool comfort to people across the country who have struggled even more to get the care they need while epicene time watching asset corporations give more tax breaks that they dont needf for madam president if anybody is under any illusion of the of middleclass or fiscal responsibility irregular order, thats in here and now it is shameful and wrong by have to say it is not too late. Lets move right now to what the constituents want and expect and return to a process for values and priorities and talk about ways to a halt workers to grow the economy like accessing highquality child care with prek and working families providing meaningful the for every american making college more affordable investing and retirementes security and supporting veterans to make health care Higher Quality and more accessible those of the conversations we should be having an end investing in and every day until you give up this tax plan. I yield the floor. Madam president president , President Trump then the Republican Leadership is on television every day telling the American People how this tax bill will help the middle class. How it was written for the middleclass. Unfortunately i will not suggest what he says is not truthful. This legislation according to independent studies will provide a 60 of the benefits to the top 1 so were living in a history with mass levels of the quality with the top onetenth of 1 with almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 . With the three wealthiest people with half of the American Population vmi republican colleagues believe that this is a moment where 60 percent of the benefits of the socalled tax reform bill go to the 1 . Meanwhile, millions of middleclass families will end up paying more in taxes. So the wealthy to need the tax breaks the least will benefit the most and many struggling families will end up with more taxes is at the end of 10 years. Madam president , the president of the United States and my republican colleagues told the American People that trickledown economics giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations will expand the economy and create new jobs and pay for the deficit that this legislation brings about. The simple truth is that trickle down economics is a fraudulent theory, has failed miserably in kansas most recently but in effect effect, because of the Reagan Administration and also of georgia the bush. George w. Bush. What interests me that of most is my republican colleagues will not tell the american h people how they will pay 1. 4 trillion increase of deficits that this bill creates. 1. 4 trillion increase in deficits. How was it paid for . My view is without a doubt as soon as this legislation is passed, republicans will come back and rediscover their religion about deficits before the American People to n say we need entitle the reform or welfare reform. So let me translate for you what entitle the reform means. It means when millions of workers have nothing in the bank saved up for retirement there will be massive cuts to Social Security. Privatize medicare converted into a Voucher Program and they here is the check, good luck to you if you are dealing with Heart Disease or cancer and they will no doubt come back to medicaid. These are not just wild ideas that i have been to about. This is pretty much what was in theht budget the republican votd for on the floor of the senate. They have already voted for a trillion dollar cut over a tenyeatenyear period to medicat means massive reductions in health from lower income americans, children and people in nursing homes. They are working hard to figure out ways to cut socialhe securiy and the republicans will also make massive cuts to education, nutrition and Environmental Protection. The other day i sent a letter to the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and the speaker of the houseya paul ryan. Whates i asked of them was to be honest with the American People, and this is what i said and i ask that it be put into the record. Nd without objection. This is what i asked. I said i am concerned to if you succeed. In a order to pay for tax breaks for the rich and large corporations you will make massive cuts to Social Security, medicare, medicaid, nutrition, Environmental Protection and everyth other program. Before the senate votes on tax legislation that adds over 1. 4 chili into the deficit this is what i wrote to the majority leader you know a detailed explanation for the commitment of balancing the budget over the next decade. Will you schedule a vote to raise the eligibility age of medicare from 65 to 67 as it is called for in the house budget resolution. Will you attempt medicare as we know it by giving seniors vouchers for the purchase private Health Insurance. What would you support legislation to cut medicaid by a trillion dollars over the next decade to keep 15 million americans off of Health Insurance. This was a provision included in the budget resolution that was passed earlier this year. How much do you plan on cutting Affordable Housing and head start to pay for a permanent tax rate for the profitable corporations . So that is what i wrote to the majority leader. And my challenge right now to my republican colleagues as i ask you come down to the floor of the senate andel help me and tel me that im wrong. Come down here and tell the American People that if this legislation passes that you will not be coming back to cut Social Security, medicare,ed medicaid, nutrition education. We have no intention of cutting Social Security and medicare and medicaid i will come here and apologize. My challenge right now to my republican colleagues, come down here and tell the American People i am wrong. Tell the American People youre not going to cut programs for the elderly, the children come to the sick poor need to get huge tax breaks to the wealthy corporations. With that mr. President , i will yield the floor. We are debating the tax relief plan. I had a telephone town hall meeting talking with people frot wyoming about look at the impact of things included in the proposal doubling the standard reduction is a good dealre for them so there is a lot to like that gives tax cuts to hardworking American Families. Theres other good news in this legislation if its something i continue to hear about at home or thanksgiving recess in wyoming is that it wipes out the obamacare insurance mandate tax. This is the tax panel tv obamaa healthcare law forced upon the American People. Under the republican plan, people with no longer have to pay a tax penalty to the irs if they didnt want the democrats expensive Health Insurance or if they just couldnt afford it. We have seen healthinsurance premiums skyrocket over the past few years and the country because of the way democrats wrote the healthcare law. The deductibles are so high that many people find even if they have paid for the expensive insurance cover the deductible is so high they still cant afford to get the care they need. No matter how expensive the insurance gets or how unusual it is for that individual, people by law still have to buy it or pay a tax. Its what they want to buy and what works for them. They shouldnt have to pay a tax penalty. It was more than half a page devoted to this. This article today says 6. 7 million tax dollars paid to the penalty in 2015. Who are they . Its not surprising to you to know the great majority of these 80 out of ten. They pay the penalty in 2015. Why dopl you think they are not able to buy the insurance . Its not a good dealve for them. Thats why even the New York Times is y reporting that the 25,000 to 50,000 income group hardworking American Families have the highest share of people paying the penalty. Then they question why did you pay the penalty, because i couldnt afford the insurance. The average it points outal in 2017 was 708. Thats money that they could use for many otherd things as but its not enough compared to the cost of the insurance which is even higher yet. A single woman would have to pay a tax of 695 or 2. 5 of her income, that is how the walls are. If it is a couple it with the double bass and if kids they would pay an additional for each of the children. A majority say they dont even have enough savings to date every 500me emergency if one ce up. They are opposed to the fact that they have to pay a tax if thethey told by a government complex that works for them so we see over 6 Million People who get hit with this extra tax if they direct tax on the working people of the country. Its not right the Republican Party and members of the senate think its not right, washington shouldntwa make people pay higr taxes just because they cant afford expensive obamacare insurance. People shouldnt be forced to a product that isnt the right choice for them or their family. The Congressional Budget Office says if we get rid of the insurance mandate he would save 13 Million People that would eventually decide their own free will thought to have insurance. Thats why they may walk away from it. Republicans want to give all these people a tax cut. People still have to pay the tax penalty. I want to return the money and the decisions back to the people were people at the local level can make the best decisions about what works best for them into the state, not a onesizefitsall coming out of washington. I havent given up on trying to get that done becausery we needo make health care in this country. In wyoming we are down to one in sure willing to sell these policies and that is happening more and more of the country. Not a marketplace that a monopoly but left many people that the breaking point. One talked about the fact that monthly premiums were going up more than 700 each month next year thats for two adults, no children an in the deductible of 6,000. They were stuck in a position to pay more than 2,400 a month for insurance or pay an extra tax. Another woman from wyoming wrote her family had to switch insurance plans a couple of years ago. The coverage they had before was canceled. Whyy did 5,000 people in wyoming was their insurance and why was it canceled . Its good g enough for them, provided with the needed into the government said it wasnt good enough. Mr. President , thats wrong. This lady writes about the increase in size what are we supposed to do. Weve heard that in all corners of the state of wyoming what are they d supposed to do. I dont believe they should face a choicthe choice between paying skyhigh insurance premiums or tax penalty to the irs. People are going to the country wancountrywhat did i introduce s affordable and work it works foe and this need of them and their family. They dont want to be forced by the insurance washington tells them they have to buy because washington as we have seen in the past thinks they know better than the American People. They want the coverage they need so they can go to the doctor. The cost o of insurance isnt te only problem we are looking at right now. Theres other parts of the healthcare law that may actually be harming patients. As a physician i received multiple medical journals and there was a study out in the conclusion of the journal of the association, they look at those hospitalized with Heart Failure, many people hospitalized with Heart Failure. Its a chronic condition where they have to go back in the hospital for additional treatment word started to penalize hospitals if it was readmitted to the hospital within 30 days after they had been released. Theres a number of reasons that may haveay been the goal was to penalize hospitals and to give patients better treatment but thats not what happened. This is the problem. The democrats wrote into the wall and regulations that came out they did this in a way that had no evidence the policy would help patients and save money at the same time. If we are going to penalize dissent with the hospital improved their numbers they were still going to grade it on a curve so you were still going to be penalized. That has huge impacts in terms of location and where they are. It w turns out this is a study n the journal of the ethical association, a wellrespected journal that says the death rate actually went up after hospitals faced this new requirement. The study was over 400 hospitals, 100,000 patients and found an extra 5,400 people are dying every year just among Heart Failure patients because the way the federal government has chosen to penalize hospitals around the country when the patients are readmitted. Its interesting because what has happened is the readmission rate in the hospital went down and they succeeded at keeping people out to avoid the penalty that peoplbut people died in th. The wall street journal had an editorial about it last week and concluded if you were doing a drug trial to improve the lives of people and they had results like this with 5,000 people dying they would have shut it down long ago. That is the difference and there is a deadly unintended consequence of the obama healthcare law. So the insurance mandate for supposed to keep premiums from rising but theyve gone up anyway. Another unintended consequence of the law in spite of good intentions, its not what happened under the law that was passed and is the law of the land right now. I believe we should repeal the entire wall and until we can do that we should do what we can to help the American People who are struggling to deal with this expensive insurance and what i believe is an unfair tax and find what they must pay if they dont buy the insurance because they cant afford it because it isnt a good feel for them it doesnt work for them or their family. Its time for the insurance mandate toy. Go away. We know its a bad idea. We need to get people relief from this terrible tax. People of wyoming and people in this country simply cant afford to wait any longer. Its time to repeal the mandate of the healthcare law. Thank you mr. President , i will yield the floor. Is thank you for your comments just before me andso also for sitting in the chair so i could step down and speak briefly. I wasnt sure if i was going to speak. Ies dont have any notes, but i was inspired by the comments made by the senator from vermont as i was presiding. We heard for thosefo that are visiting the dc area if you dont get an opportunity to go to the wonderful theaters we have like the kennedy center, dont worry because you see a lot of that on the senate floor here. Anybody who would suggest that we are going to come back and cut my mothers medicaid and medicare and Social Security and the brothers and sisters and other people who are depending on them for theirin livelihood s somewhat involved in political theater. Some of you probably heard that challenge having a republican come down here and say on the floor you are wrong. The distinguished senator from vermont is wrong. Its about providing freedom and the tax relief to working families and reducing the tax burden on businesses for the economy will grow and have the resources to pay our bills. I can understand why maybe it is not intentional theater on the part of some of these folks at me just be becausee theyve nevr done it before. But if youve ever lived ined North Carolina since 2011, you know he did. Ive seen it before the speaker of the house and North Carolina when we were one of the highest in the nation one of the slowest growing economies we were having a problem paying our medicaid bills, we had a 2. 5 billion structural deficit. I heard the theater on the floor. If you cut taxes youre going to drive up the deficit. If you cut taxes youre going to cut medicaid. Youre going to cut social services. I heard itll. Everybody accused us of that. I hate to gavel and guess what happened. We went from this to the snow todaoftoday is in the top ten b. We went from one of the worst performing state economies to know the best performing state economy. We have reduced people in poverty and statistically we can prove it to you we did the accounts. The number of people have increased. Median incomes have gone up, job creation has gone up. Gross domestic product is up the past five or six years by 80 billion. We we were at 400 billion now its 480 billion. So youre no they are not goingr these tax cuts by cutting taxes for seniors and medicare. We will pay for them through the Economic Activity that will occur if we have the courage to fulfill the promise we made last year to the American People. We are going to reduce the Regulatory Burden on businesses, get a tax policy consistent and competitive with nations that are eating on the Business Expansion and having them come offshore away from the United States, more preferable Tax Jurisdictions and we are going to change peoples lives. I am motivated to support the plan because ive been in the position ofad leadership where people have the courage to fulfill a promise i made when i became speaker of the house. Now here at the point in time to do the same thing for america. And if we do think its going to be extraordinary. Now let me reduce it down to an answer i gave a little boy yesterday i think he was in fourth grade. I had a skype Video Conference with an english as a second language class a at an elementay school down in North Carolina and i had one of the little boys asked me a great question and its a question ive never had asked of me. Ive only been in politics about 12 years. But he said what piece of of . What is thing you are most proud of since youve been in the legislature and it was tough because i think of many things ive done but then i think back to this little boy into the classroom and i said it was something i did when i was the speaker of the house in North Carolina and by the way if any politician tells you i did this, they are not telling the truth because you dont get anything done unless the team commits to it. So i am one with a lot of people in North Carolina decided to her parents couldnt afford to pay your bills. They were having a difficult time paying utility bills, rent and groceries, paying for food, so we decided we were going to do something to make sure the government gave your parents more money to make sure you could goke to school, to make se they could pay their bills and have a better paying job and that is what im most proud of. The thing im most proud of was tax reform that produced results that are indisputable. Ive seen it before and it didnt work out well because it proved to be fiction in North Carolina and if we have the courage over the next couple of days to take thein same boat hee we are going to see the same results for the working families and child in fou employers in te United States. So i hope all of the members of the body recognize we are not going to come and the tax cuts on the backs of people that need help the most, that is absurd. It is unfair. We are going to take care of them and everybody else who is relying on us to fulfill the promise we need t made to get te economy back on track, start winning more than losing against our International Competition and im completely convinced the bill thats going to be for us is going to do just that. Thank you mr. President. I want to thank my colleagues on the Senate Finance committee and Senate Budget committee for getting usre to the point here today. We are at today. I think we are approaching a vote to move to a full debate on the tax bill absolutely amendable by every idea that has anything to do with taxes and raising money so people have every right to be heard and its a process that has gone on for a long time but what we have seen happen over the last three decades after an incredible effort in 1986 to simplify the tax code and bring it up to date and make it competitive, but we seen happen is the tax code thats gotten more and moree complicated with too many loopholes that dont seem to be fair to everybody involved, its not as much sometimes the tax rate youre payin paying us your understanding somebody else has figured s out in a competitive business or not even the same business how to find the tax loopholes that meant they were not paying their fair share and now it depends on a sense of fairness and equity. The outofstate tax code naming some of the rates particularly in International Competition that might have been fined 30 years ago simply are not flying today and other countries have continued to reduce their taxes understanding like many of our states do in this country the tax policyns that works needs an economy that grows and many of our competitors figured that out and right now we have the chance to join them and figure it out as well so there is a chance to make a generational change that will last i hope at least a generation. We can do this by delivering corporate rates which 1986 decades before at least didnt longer in your case 1986, 35 was kind of in the middle. In 2017 at the very top of the tax t structure and even though they are well below us now in the tax burden they put on companies that compete with us they are lowering their corporate rates even though mittal will be as it turned out to be in the last three decades the middle will be the top, but at least this gets us back to the middle shifting to a territorial system where if you make money in another country there is no penalty to bring it back here. There is no doubt that we will bring hundreds of billions of dollars back to the United States economy if we pass this bill. We may be bringing 2 trillion back and weve had a stimulus is in the pasasin the past decade y family got 100 or Something Like that. That was the big stimulus. 1 trillion stimulus, 2 trillion stimulus, unbelievable in the money that has been sitting someplace else by companies who want to invest it here or were not going to bring it back under the old tax system if they had become of the shareholders would have removed them from the leadership in the company because it wouldnt have been Good Business but it will be Good Business to bring that money back if we pass this bill. We will also allow immediate and expensive bedstead suspended now and get credit for it now. Those kind of things grow the economy and will make us more competitive worldwide and growth investment. When those things happen, higher paying jobs have always followed and willl follow here. We were stuck eight or nine years now of no growth of Family Income for hardworking families. Its a way to change that is to take some of the tax burden away right now and we are doing that in this build to be sure we create more competition for the hard workha and skills they take to the workplace with them every day. We know the growth stemming from tax reform will have a positive impact on voters and they will see the share of whats happening in the economy that frankly they havent seen in the past. Families in your state, my state need this kind of opportunity and job creators need this kind of relief. Just last month the council of economic advisers estimates the average Household Income would increase by 4,000 annually based on reducing the corporate rate to 20 into the economy of course will grow in response to that. Another study by harvard professor and former Ronald Reagan advisor found a 20 Corporate Tax rate would deliver a wage boost by 3,500, so whether it is 350 3501 with 4, another estimate that makes a real difference to families that have seen an increase in their pay in a long time. This bill is supported by a majority of r Small Business, te engine that drives the economy. Theres a section called 179 expensing and i might Start Talking likebu a cpa at the 179 expensing for small and mediumsized businesses, family farm in others what yo you expensive immediately when you add it to the investment when you bought a piece of Farm Equipment or something all of that is enhanced in this bill. The way we keep track i dont think its the most exciting thing to talk about, but this allows the kind of counting o miniatures businesses say they need to simplify how they report and do business with this right here. There are some specific examples just like there are in every one of our states. Jim sheldon who owns a Manufacturing Company in lebanon is very but produces Industrial Automation systems. When he was interviewed by the National Association of manufacturers and asked what tax reform would be to his company in terms of t investment, hirin, growing his business he said it needs more business. His quote is more business, bringing work back to the United States will increase the order rate of inventory into development and create growth. He also said the benefits for tax reform will allow him to come again quoteag had come to reinvest and reinvent,on spend more money and what they are doing and figure out ways to do it better. That is how you compete. Hbm holdings was also interviewed and remember this is a National Association of manufacturers, these are people who make things and anytime we get into the economy we strengthen takehome pay but he was interviewed and asked what the tax reform wouldve been to hiinto his businessand he said h investment not just for us but for our customers. Thats where the quote ends but it is important to understand when everybody is doing better whatever you are doing is likely to get better as well, not only does the Business Editor for you to the people you sell things to offer more interested in also innovating and investing in improving. The senate bill also recognizes a couple of tools that help us go in and revitalize areas that are not doing so well, what is the new market tax credits that provide an effective incentive for the private sector to invest in communities outside the economic mainstream. These are committees that already have the water system, electrical system, sidewalks, but theyve got buildings that no longer served serve the purt they used to serve in the new market tax credits look at those buildings and other areas in our state again in missouri new market tax credits financed a manufactureraz in hazelwood, a system manufacturer in missouri, a plumbing manufacturer in kansas city, a Training Center for the sheet Metal Workers in st. Louis in the First Grocery store in more than a generation, and a lot more beyond that and the bill recognizes that and acknowledges the importance of historic tax credits. He made the point is an older community, historical community, the westward movement, the wagon trains that outfitted the 150 to 175 years ago, the express started from the work after the civil war at those old buildings, many activists and buildings didnt have the kind of used to use to do for the past teover thepast ten years, x credits have leveraged almost 100 million in redevelop and in those older buildings. Housing development, business development, restore and revitalize. A recent example was the restoration of the building i st. Joseph in the downtown area building that wouldnt have been able to be saved without special assistance was made available because of historical tax credits. All of the Services Covered alreadthat werealready there ths building that wasnt being used now serve a building that is being used if they dont have ty be replaced. This will create a Better Future for American Families, for american jobs. Its hard to do and only gets done once every 25 or 30 years. We will have a debate on the floor that lets everybody make every reasonable amendment reasonable that it deals with taxes thats what this debate will be. We talked about this topic now for years and intensely for months. Its time to get this job done. And i would yield the floor, mr. President. I know we dont need to tell anybody that American Families have had tough times in recent years. Weakened Economic Growth, stagnant wages and a lack of opportunities have left Many Americans struggling just to get by. But to put a fine point on it, mr. President , during the entire years of the obama presidency, there wasnt a single year where the growth rate in the economy exceeded 3 . If you go back to the end of world war ii, Economic Growth has averaged somewhere in the three to 3. 5 range so not oneyear where it exceeded. Whatat does that mean for amerin workers . And the wages stayed flat in many cases up until just recently American Families have had a pay raise for the better part of a decade as a result of this slow growth economy that wasnt creating the kind of good paying jobs or the wage levels that enabled American Families to benefit from increasing incomes. Ands so, a recent survey found 50 of americans consider themselves to be living paycheck to paycheck and that makes perfect sense if you look at the economiche statistics of the pat eight years. About one third of the same americans say they are just 400 away from a financial crisis. Help is on the way. This year we will bring the Senate Version to the senate floor the legislation we produce will provide immediate, direct relief to hardworking americans but that isnt what you are hearing from democrats. Heres what youre hearing democrats say about the senate plan and i will contrast that with the facts. Heres what youve heard, republicans have drafted a tax plan forcing it through much too fast. Cutting taxes forle the rich in the past theyve not been considered budget hawks but somehow they irresponsibly increase the deficit this is a 5. 5 trillion5 tax cut. 70 is paid for by ending loopholes and special extensions today that we called these brothers by doing away with the preferences that exist. With a static score we will have about 1. 4 trillion dont have to cover while assuming we use the tax policy and we normally do extend the tax policy we believe the remaining cost will be covered through increased Economic Growth. What does that mean, what do we have to achieve in order to have the growth to enable the tax relief above and beyond what weve done to be covered . Congressional Budget Office is assuminassuming at forecasting growth over the next ten years. I mentioned earlier the last eight years under the Obama Administration were averaging 135 to 2 growth in forecasting could. 8 be 1. 8 growth the next ten years. I cant believe that would be acceptable to people in the countryy mr. President. People have covered the remaining cost of the tax cut. The amount i point out earlier in terms of peace brought a nurse with a reasonable amount to get the growth necessary to cover the cost of the tax cut and put in perspective its averaged 3. 5 growth in the last decade with the tech heavy taxes and regulations that created conditions that are not favorable for that kind of growth we could stock in the 1. 5 to 2 . We will cover the remaining cost of the tax cut. In reality what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when we say this is going to add deficit, our country cannot grow at 2. 222. 4 the next ten years. They got used to the growth and accepted it as the new normal. We are selling the greatest many in the world will be short when we find it satisfactory that the economy can grow at less than 2 since world war ii we averaged over 3 growth. I can speak for all of our republican colleagues when i say we can do better than we did during the obama years. When you reduce taxes you allow people to keep more of what they earned instead of growing the government at washington, d. C. , you start growingn the economy and the businesses investing to expand operations. When the extent o of the nation that means you have to hire new people or labour the wages go up, paychecks get bigger if it also means the government generates more revenue. We can grow at a faster rate if we put the economic policies in place starting with tax reform bill. Keep existing jobs overseas andd we can see wages in the country go up and give a muchneeded mud break in their paychecks. We can get the economy growing again and generate enough revenue to cover the remaining 30 cost of the tax reform bill. Its been put together after many years of hearing and work. Democrats argue that this is somehow cooked up in a short amount of time that i join the Senate Finance committee in 2011 since i went on that committee he had 70 plus hearings on tax reform. Two years ago 2015 the chairman ofai the committee created a number of working groups to examine various aspects of the tax code. To determine what recommendations we could make that would get the economy growing at a faster rate to generate those jobs much of which formed the basis for the tax bill that we are considering today so we have been working on this for years to get to where we are today. A lot of thought and analysis and wor work has gone into the legislation we will be voting on later this week. We made a focus of the tax reform legislation delivering meaningful tax relief to middle income families who we believe to know how to spend their money better than the federal government in washington, d. C. Ifch we can make the American Families paycheck bigger, they can decide what they want to do to help themselves and their families save for college education, take care of the daily needs they have in their lives. We trust them to make their decisions and we believe after the last decade of stagnant wages and sluggish economy they deserve to have a bigger paycheck than they do today. Under the legislation we will consider when i sa see average family typical family of four combined annual income of 73,000 will receive a 2,200dollar tax cut as a result of the tax legislation that is a 60 cut over what they are paying toda to be in the currenw so if you look at the way this impacts those in the country were wearing rates are all policies geared to the benefit of middle income families in this country we believe they deserve to keep more of what they own the deserve bigger paychecks in this tax bill will do that for them in addition to the growth in the economy we needth to see if we are going to get them generate it and ge ande wages backup to where American Families enjoy a higher standard of living of what they have today. We have to get back to 3. 5 growth we can do that with the right policies by passing the kind of tax reform we have in front of us today to lower the rates on businesses, lower the rate on families, double the standard deduction and Child Tax Credit to keep more of their paychecks into the benefit that will come with a stronger more d more robust economy growing at a faster rate than we see today. That is what this discussion of tax reform a hope for the week is out we will get the votes necessary to pass this to go to the house already passed their version of tax reform and put a bill on the president s desk he can sign into law before the end of this year that moves us in a direction that provides meaningful tax relief to middle income families and creates the conditions favorable to that Economic Growth. They deserve a pay raise not a pay cut and that is what this will help accomplish. I rise to speak about the tax plan we will be votingwe on tomorrow. And without much needed debate on oversight and transparency as it should have. I think everyone agrees it doesnt keep. If this bill did that it would be real reform and bipartisan. However this plan doesnt seek anything close to the type of relief that regular working people need. Instead what it does is it pays back wealthy donors and lobbyists through corporate welfare and it does this at the expense of the middle class. In other words this is an attempt to take millions of families hard earned money and hand it over to the rich corporations on the fortune 500 list. If theyah go head and pass the bill, corporations will get massive and permanent tax cuts and grew a 1. 5 trillion hole into deficit. Make no mistake three months from now thead leadership will e that as a reason to cut Social Security, medicare and medicaid. Why are they so determined to provide massive corporate welfare . R listen to this quote from a member of congress which will tell you everything you need to know about the tax plan is for. He said they are basically saying get it done or dont ever call me again. This is washingtons culture of soft corruption at its absolute worst. And now somehow after years of talking about it, the tax bill has made its way to the senate floor and after all that talk it doesnt even help the middleclass. Middle class. It does the opposite. One example this bill eliminates the deduction for local and state taxes which so Many Americans need to help them stay afloat. From being double taxed on their income its long been our policy when workers pay their state and local taxes an be on and the ird text and plac twice on the same income but the republican tax plan review was this in effect it would make it so if you are taxed on everything you make then you will bega taxed again because corporations need a tax break to pay for the greeks of the richest americans. It possible to afford to buy a home which is a familys largest asset if it keeps the value of the investment growing, eliminating the deduction would hurt the millions of americans with literally no other way to spin it. Trickledown economics meant if corporations had more money it would help American Families but we have heard this one before and lets not beag fooled again. Lets take a look at the state of things right now. In these areas all over my state they have been hit hard over and over again tha but have left for cheaper labor. So why would leave the ward and by giving another tax cut that they dont need. The Economic Advisor raised their hand if the extra would get them to reinvest in their communities. No more than a handful raised their hands. I know a lot of people like to pretend otherwise, that is not a surprise to anyone here . Some have said on the record instead of fearing more workers were raising their pay Many Companies will reward shareholders by increasing dividends or buying back their own chair. This plan could not be more misguided because we should be rewarding work, not the shareholder value. Let me put it another way. Just yesterday we broke another record with an alltime high and im sure many will get a bonus for that thats what i want to know is when they broke the that record, howw many workers on the factory floors in pennsylvania were in new york saw a pay increase . How many workers in t Grocery Stores sold their pay increase how many families in the state were given pay raises . Wielded the answer to that question even as the corporations are earning more money than ever before, there is essentially no benefit for families. It does not trickledown and this would make the problem even worsela. They ignored the people that do. We need to start reworking work again. I cannot say this clearly enough to pose all across the country if you are just a regular hardworking family, then there is a very good chance that you are going to take a good fit the bill passes. Ll so i would urge every one of my colleagues to do what is right for the families and polled plan. It should never be a partisan exercise and we should agree to help middleclass workers and their families. So lets use a bill actually does that. They do not need our help. They are going to be just fine. Instead, lets start reworking work in this country again i come to the floor today aware of the reasons to oppose this reckless and wasteful tax bill. It needs work tax reform to compete in the century. We are voting on the tax plan this week with a simple majority vote. With 51, republicans wont raise taxes on the week that middleclasmiddle classfamilieso join the middle class with 51 votes republicans will have huge tax cuts to the big corporatio corporations. They go from 13 million americans and hike down the premium from everyone else and another 1. 5 trillion. Every one of these reasons is enough to oppose the tax plan, but for me as a senior senator from new jersey with 9 Million People a state with the eighth most productive economy in america i cannot and will not support a tax bill that has one giant job on new jerseys middleclass. Just how bad is the plan for new jersey . Take the house version. A bill so awful that 11 out of 12 members of congress from new jersey voted against it. Many of them, republicans. And pay cut plan and make it worse in the senate. The senate bill is worse because it eliminates the state and local Tax Deduction otherwise known as the salt deduction. Even the external economic adviser said ending the deduction will hurt a lot of different people, and a lot of those p people who hell get hut live in states like new jersey. In 2015 alone, nearly 1. 8 million new jersey household deducted a combined 17 billion in the state andm local taxes from their federal tax bills. Where it will cost taxpayers 1. 6 billion in deductions. That is wrong. To ask these hardworking families that were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth to have to work hard for every dollar they have and have to fight their way into the middleclass, its wrong to ask them to pay more justice of the big corporations pay less per minipark permanently her go. With that Million Dollar inheritance those pay nothing. Nothing at all. It will force new jersey families to pay taxes twice and those corporations on top of the huge tax cuts so protecting i the local and state Tax Deduction is so important that make billions of dollars per year for a middleclass n family in a state like new jersey. Quite frankly i am sick and tired of treating states like new jersey like a thank you bank. My constituents already paid too much in taxes. We cannot afford to subsidize america more than we do and want to dig even in deeper and tell the of middleclass with the trump tax plan. What it makes b the g. O. P. Takes. It is designed to punish americans and certainly, i would not put it past the administration as cynical as this one against trump in the 2016 election but ultimately, this isnt about read states or blue states but it is time to start calling the states what they really are. They are americas blue chips states and innovation states and economic power house states like new jersey better home to millions of makers. Not takers. New jersey success is predicated on priority it is a donor state so thats with biotechnology and agriculture precisely because so that workers can commute to the highpaying jobs weather in new york city your philadelphia and places like jerseybo city that they can easily troubled to woo the jersey shore. That is precisely because we invested in public health. We are stronger with a Healthy Workforce the fraternal order of police says this will hurt the states ability to recruit men and women that keep us safe. That is their quotation. New jersey asas donor states ranked by deductions per capita income, education is a correlation because we believe in opening the doors of opportunity to as many people as possible. That is our small state like new jersey continues to produce above its rates economically to benefit for all americans. And especially americans for those that our more reliant on federal spending. For more than a century with massachusetts and virginia that is why senator cantwell introduce of but amendment with their property Tax Deduction for go for as long as we can remember i heard my colleagues talk about protecting, and not punishing success. Matter how you slice it to limit or cap those deductions that is a massive tax on the state like new jersey. The trump tax plan will raise taxes on millions of middleclass families across america. Not in a few years or a decade but immediately. I choose to support a tax bill at the expense of the many. Sallying aurora children with trillions of debt with medicare and medicaid and Social Security but not about those entitlements coming totl corporations with millions of hardworking middleclass families in states like new jersey. With that i yield the floor mr. President. Mr. President , i only have a few minutes today for a time so i want to be brief her crow i want to share with you a chart of what is actually happening as a resultpe 572,000 taxpayers in america that our fortunatert enough to get paid more than 1 million per year her gore as a result theyll receive 34 billion of tax cuts this year and next year and the hereafter roughly 59,000 per person going to five minutes 72,000 what about the middle class . Not half a million. 90 million. To pay 50,000 or less for what do they get mr. President . Not 34 billion if you include the estate taxes 39 billion, 40 billion they get 14 billion. And is the average tax cut of 160 per year. That is in 2019 that is the best year they have after that it goes negative. 160 is equivalent to 7. 50 per paycheck so i suppose in one year you could say it doesnt sound like a middleclass tax bill to me. These are the low levels the rate was last how do republicans go on to that donald trump won . I think we still have a chance to defeat this. How can you say that . To the Rural Counties in my state that voted 80 percent republicans. Mp seventyfive donald trump to show them that i am voting against this tax bill voted against it twice. Theyre not stupid some housen selling something based on percentages or the rates that they people will not understand what is actually happening to their aftertax income. Those that will understanunderstan d that they voted for a guy who went to washington to drain the swamp who said he would not coast who would not protect the rich people but he would defend and support in fight for what he t calls then forgotten man but it turns out when the rubber hits the road we see the movie written before he got here. In there is more of that the economy than ever. If you borrow the a money from children and teachers and firefighters and the children with a 2. 5 trillion deficit. To dave j. P. Morgan came out to say this will result in more non recession deficit the country has had since World War Two that is what j. P. Morgan said we do have problems in this economy. Even though have one of the most dynamic e economies in theou country middleclass families are still having a hard time to pay for Early Childhood education, housing, Higher Education that this bill makes even worse. Theyre having a hard time paying for health care which this bursts bill makes even worse. And because of the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans so go after the 80 and colorados to have they deflate the debate. It ist the opposite there was not a single Hearing Committee of jurisdiction of the finance committee about this bill. Now one hearing about of bill touches i every household in every section of our economy. Thirtyone years since we have done tax reform and back then we didnt write in a bipartisan way this time we dont even have the agency have a single hearing to find out what is in the bill to make adjustments if it is a good bill or not i know what they will say. We should stop this and working the bipartisan way. I know how of for the Child Tax Credit important to me to. That is the basis for deal. I believe the corporate rate is not competitive with the rest of the world. That is basis for a deal but barrault american money from middleclass. And they will not be fooled. There will be too smart for this purpose or yield of four the floor. Mr. President i have you met with the issue enemas i consent. Objection . Without objection. I hope with tax reform we will try to do what we can to come up with ideas that are progrowth and pro worker per crow there are a lot of things in the tax bill but we can make get more progrowth as the senator and i have a plan thatnd helps us moving in that direction. I will describe briefly having him weighing in as well but is now becoming globally competitive with the Corporate Tax rate 35 to reducing that 22 percent the current bill has said that 20 but it is just as competitive just like the current though lower than the local average rate of 23 and moving into last place among the g7 countries. It is just progrowth that allows us to do the aisle with their Child Tax Credit and working to make that expandable to not pay a tax. Ll number to eliminate the marriage here but its a credit loses value because it doesnt go up the one thing to emphasize is i have people in the past and to dave to see where you doing this . Is like welfare per barrel i find that offensive not because ive offended by people who need the help because they come upon these old timers but because they are not government assistance. They are workers the credit applies to get ashore liability so lot of people that are working to make enough money to pay of to 15point 3 of payroll tax if you allow this to apply to that youre not helping them. Who aree they . You are the kinds of people were talking about . Waitresses, making 20,000 a year. They are not benefiting from this credit if you do it the way we talk about it they would. We Home Health Aide isrk the office clerk or the welders making 35,000 the truck driver the nurse or firefighter perot the working people are the backbone of our country nobody fights for them they have been lower than this respected in Public Policy not accounted for in this bill raising families as our future taxpayers. It cost money the more children you have the or expensive is the tax code should recognize that. We make a reasonable proposal and now like to return to senator the for the importance of a this for americas workers and why truly to be a. Worker reformer expansion of the Child Tax Credit to apply toward the payroll tax is essential. A graceful from our my colleague for his work on this issue but but we focus on t with the marriage tax penalty that is a defect within the tax code. Won the design is much play as it should especially considering the damage that it does. It is the marriage tax penalty. We have American Parents essentially to secure the future of the senior entitlement programs for go in the unfair way the problemes of Social Security and medicare twice as they paid their taxes and todays workers or todays children are tomorrows workers. But according to one lowball estimate that doesnt include education or other said it should or Higher Education, of family raising three children 700,000. Just as they raise the three children. Also and the apparent tax penalty to make sure we increase the Child Tax Credit up at 2,000, but just as important we need to make including payroll Tax Liability. Of with 3 percent of the g cranes but is this a firstever pro something said by a senator rubio it is worth mentioning. This is not a handout or Welfare Benefits but the money they are making. With the welfare if he said the government takes away you havee worked hard for and earned. We should all be doing that for those who are the most important is the author and in the delivery but those saudi investors we need to be creating and not punishing. We could fix this problem and we need to do that by passing our amendment to increaseng refunds so we can all benefit so American Families can stop being punished as a result of the interaction with the senior and television programs. The presiding officer the the presiding officer the. The senator from virginia. Were here today to join other colleagues to talk about this tax debate. We dont. It seems like they take on every 35 years but of they can do a lot of good and a lot of harm. With more urgent vatican i have never seen with loopholes and without impact on this side of the aisle and with that analysis and in many ways one that is released on the eve of those Holiday Weekend but one dave for only one committee. With the very the provisions. Now two weeks later that bill or a variation of it on the seventh floor and then to have a chance to review or analyze the positions. It makes this process, no my friend from delaware is this over the last 70 years . But what i have heard that when youre in that deep of a whole stop digging. And then we need to make sure every tax reform we do it the most fiscally responsible way. This legislation is the absolute raising the cost and then in the of church that takes the cake in a place where both sides are known to use gimmicks that includes 37 french carrying provision if move last but rather than acknowledging the true cost of the bill but in terms of gimmicks but just listen to the director there recently acknowledged the attacks have a lot of gimmicks so few at the 500 million of interest in 1. 7 5 trillion and what we talk about today is. We will reap think there is a purpose to this legislation. I believe there maybe some of mission that magic trick or there is a small tax reform. But nothing near what this bill assumes. In fact, is even worse than that with the to a trillion dollars toward debt and deficit but to make any type of assumptions. Seven recent American History, when you paid for tax u cuts you end up with a pretty bad situation. Giving president reagan was a greatnk president . Hed met in they save the bill costa least 1. 5 trillion t but another that is well respected by both sides today gimmicks for the legislation as well with minimal cost of 155 o billion dollars and congress is the official scorekeeper . The group will look to for outside advice . The joint committee on taxation . We are rushing to build through so quickly we cannot allow artificial scorekeeper. This is not a once in a generation tax reforms process. When you do a tax cuts with borrowed money similar to where we are right now with relatively full employment no way to see Economic Growth per dont take my word for it, Alan Greenspan pointed this out within the last two weeks. The tax cuts paidrr for to not provide the growth forro curve but because of an the tax rates in the territorial system where they have to build that factory in the high tax state with the intellectual property. To average out the tax bill to pay our country nothing. And then to see job loss. There are a group of us along with my colleagues on the floor that came together yesterday to say time now. We will workor with you juju irresponsible format. We share many of the same goes unfortunately that process to reach the arbitrary christmas p present is not the way we should do responsive of tax reform. I hope my colleagues will reconsider and take the offer and said we would get Corporate Tax reform and repatriation and join with us and the way we can be proud of. Leisure ago the American People a product we can be proud of not rushed through with one party only at the end of the day will leave our kids and grandkids paying the bill for decades to come. Mr. President , so as of member of the a house working on legislation by president reagan and others and that is rare we wanted to go and in the simplified code. The tax reform takes a lot of energy end effort with the giveandtake. With 1986 Congress Took two years of public hearings and meetings to a bipartisan negotiations with the ada of the permit and measuring tax form today canada come with the live person written in a dark. And to save it is a flawed product if you are considering instead of tax t policy they will have four countries. Does they foster economicif growth gore in peter to simplify the tax code making it more complex is a fiscally responsible . Those fourca questions the republican tax reform plan fails the test. But that is beginning next year by 2019 the cbo foundse americans are earning less than 30,000 will be worse off. By 2021 and vice 2027 those earning less than 75,000 per year will be worse off not better. The with threequarterst of the tax cuts going to the richest 5 . On the next 10 years more than threequarters of the tax cuts in this bill going to the richest 5 of americans that is almost twothirds of the tax rates going to the richest one added every 100 americans. None of this meets a reasonable definition in my opinion. The second question doesnt apply Economic Growth . And it to survey the top economist across the political spectrum with nobel Prize Winners former president s of the American Economic Association Found only one out of 43 experts believe this type of tax reform would boost Economic Growth. Th one of 43. Just one. And with that Economic Growth it is what by the deficit that it creates i will talk more about this in a moment but with the increase national h debt is a threat on an economicre growth. Federal borrowing means higher Interest Rates which means it will cost more for businesses large and small to borrow finance investments for families to take out a mortgage this will make it more difficult fire filing taxes and with the consideration which serve, asleged to long as it is not achieved. Large her head of the two blowhole and the debt it would be easier or costlier than the deficit growth of years and decades to come. With respect of what i just mentioned, day expire, you can get almost all of the individual tax provisions and expire within nine years it increases the standard deduction and the Child Tax Credit and most other provisions affecting other individuals under the republican bill expired by 2025. The large corporations in this bill or permanent. Many of our friends say all of these will be extended if thats the case when not now . The truth is that would radically increase the deficit, widened more than national National Debt in helping to have tax cuts permanent is the attempt to have our cake and eat it too making the individual saying the live risky to hide the true cost and to obscure the fact it would have much more to the debt possibly twice as much than 1. 5 trillion. Ephors making the individual to increase taxes on American Families. With the Corporate Tax cut. Either way the result is unconscionable but the standard deduction for a lot of taxpayers. Another area that life think many democratic colleagues would agree with the business tax rates should be reformed to ensure that they remain competitive with Global Trading partners the going m from 35 percent down and 20 i think fiscally responsible and more sensible modern proposal topo bring those together their best to be a rate we can come together on. Also the Child Tax Credit introduced and also known as the Child Tax Credit. And but when those negotiations are planned with the 1 trillion hole in the debt paying taxes on millions of americans. Next year. President trump made three promises running for president hasnt nominated and sworn into office. And for those with their. With the quota for those that are fiscally responsible and with job creation and the proverb that i mentioned in mr. Delaware. Day you want to travel alone . If you want to go fast to travel alone or get far then traveled together. We traveled together and frankly through the economy and the families that needed our help. Mr. President we do want too go for and travel together. That is what we try to make the case that we do this and a bipartisan way instead of being jammed through and a partisan way, mr. President i dont think there is a senator in this chamber not wanting to help puerto rico given the fact that puerto rico is going through a the ravages of the aftermath of the hurricane where today, just under half of the of population importer rico does not have electricity and three months hurricane. But we will send another hurricane to puerto rico to if we pass this bill because of the provisions from this tax bill. Mr. President , there is a 20 penalty on businesses doing business in puerto rico. Unbelievable 20 on companies t that invest importerer rigo. Causing one of the daily newspapers that 250,000 jobs would leave the island with the results of that provision. That is that something to do to puerto rico. We want to help puerto rico but unfortunately thats not all. The bill eliminates section 199 manufacturing deduction for puerto rico specifically in the al lot to encourage manufacturing the island commonwealth that is a territory of the u. S. Citizens that also eliminates the cover which is the excise tax made on the production of the puerto rico and run and the u. S. Virgin islands and rum that they get a rebate to pay those excise taxes, it is a means to offset the cost of the Economic Development in those two territories, and this bill further fails to put puerto rico residents on an equal footing with those on the mainland by giving them the same treatment of the earned income tax credit and the Child Tax Credit. First of of the bill is so out of balance to begin with but then when you get to the specifics with so many of the items, with this particular item affecting puerto rico, this is not what we want to do. But yet we are just about to vote on this bill and that this will happen and puerto rico. Mr. President , i urge some of our members to reconsider their vote and i yield the floor. As far as the tax bill is concerned the last Time Congress modernized the tax code it was 1986 which is more than 30 years which is quite obvious to anybody so in the generation since tax code has been a treat and though obvious that protect the loopholes but it is a real nightmare for most americans and for most members of congress very few have the outdated tax code with the wellconnected because their hurts American Workers and industry and it hurts the ability to lead for the rest of the world with lower wages and less employment the bill passed out of the finance Committee Moves us in the right direction to make the tax code simpler, fairer and more competitive. And at the heart of the legislation is a middleclass tax cut. A typical family of four with two children making 59,000 per year could see a tax cut of more than 1,700 per barrel but you would never know where listening to the cali so to analyze the bill that did not even exist. A charge was made by a document put out and free markets is no piece of legislation, it merely provided but when crafted the analysis to fit their narrative but the narrative has nine change. Command the underlying assumptions and what the policy says about the tax law to pass compared to the bill. And there seems to be those ideas that ought to be done better in this bill with that they dont even unrecognized. The finance committee used of the available tools but many will be removed from the tax rolls completely and techs season will be simpler for millions. Such as a double Child Tax Credit from 1,000 of but 2,000 to moderate the increase of anan ability. Ultimately made possible a large part by repealing the personal exemptions for taxpayers and spouses and the personal exemptions for children deal with increasing the. Is a proposal of the of policy center just last year. Nearly identical to the finance bill, a very liberal tax policy cargill for repealing personal exemptions, nearly doubling the standard deduction and an increase of the Child Tax Credit and at anhinga is families and that is what the bill before the senate does but they dont seem to recognize that but they sure want to that as a goal last year, the fact is these changes provide more tax relief to the middleclass and at the same time to simplify the tax code. Mcdevitt the Tax Policy Center paper points out with the personal exemption is dependent on the tax brackets. And i hope it comes from the personal exemption and in comparison the child taxen credit with a Tax Liability dollar for dollar regardless of the tax bracket and as a result of personal exemption in favor of expanding the Child Tax Credit makes it more progressive to the lower and middle income taxpayers. Admittedly there are some differences between what was suggested by though liberal Tax Policy Center in row was in the bill before us. The proposal would have been more generous on the roof and double feature of the Child Tax Credit. But on the opposite then they would make the Child Tax Credit available to everyone even including millionaires. The finance bill is less generous because it phases out the credit with syncoms of half a million. You would think the Democratic Party offering some default to provide family tax relief. But no, it is in genial repeating over and over that this bill is a tax cut. Dont become a repeater based on those big six. So next current law 15 to. Down at 12 . Ithe reduces the current law bracket 25 down at 22 and essentially from the 20 percent bracket now to the 24 and these rate reductions targeted to the very heart of americas middle class. You may be wondering how this will be financed largely by repealing the same local Tax Deduction also known as the assaults reduction, that colleagues have tried to argue the repeal of the state and local Tax Deduction as a tax increase. Overwhelmingly benefits thoe that argue should receive no tax benefits under this bill, and i am going to tell you how the liberal elements in this town sec. State and local tax deductis something that should have gone away anyway and now they are complaining. I dont want you to take my word or several partisan think tanks that have said about the state and local Tax Deduction in the past according to Tax Policy Center remembered that is a leftleaning organization finding fault with b a bill even before it was written about 40 of the state and local Tax Deduction benefits go to taxpayersye with incomes exceedg 500,000. So, we do away with the state and local Tax Deduction because it benefits wealthy people and they dont give us any credit for it. Keep in mind tax ehlers with income of half a million or more only make up about 1 of all tax filers making it a very lopsided benefit. Heres what the leftleaning center for American Progress has said about the state and local Tax Deduction. Quicktime of the deduction for state and local taxes benefit high income taxpayers. Any kind of deduction is worth more to people in the high tax brackets than the low tax brackets. I just got done quoting the center for American Progress but said the state and local Tax Deduction ought to be done away with because it benefits wealthy people to get the complaint to us that our tax bill is a. Of tax hikes fears of trigger talk of exodus from manhattan. Though this article is about concerns from i middleclass Police Officers were teachers on the repeal of the deduction instead of a. For of the wall street crowd is the republican proposal in both the house and the senate would drive up taxes for many high earners in the new york city area. If wood over the Internal Revenue service an additional 21,000 enddoublequote, so we in this legislation repeal that deduction and this person making a yearly salary of 1 million pay 21,000 more in taxes and groups are proposing doing away with it and we put it in our bill so that we dont let them get the benefit of the Tax Deduction if they dont recognize it so i ask my colleagues on the left are you prepared to go to bat over the Millionaire Hedge Fund managers from listening to my democratic colleagues rhetoric i am really surprised byns this article. I thought republicans were all about tax cuts for the wealthy and giveaways to wall street but this article suggested otherwise. In fact they are likely to experience tax hikes under the proposal on the senate floor n now. Nearly 30 of tax payers with income exceeding 1 million will experience a tax hike that doesnt sound like a giveaway to the wealthy for me. We need tax reform that simplifies the tax code and pastors the middle class and Small Businesses create jobs. I think we can do that in a fiscally responsible way that we need to work together. Republicans and democrats as the last time we did a tax reform. Instead, it is a partisan fiscally irresponsible giveaways to the wealthy and largest corporations in the country and it comes atla the expense of the middle class and Small Businesses. We know that they will see massive tax break from the bill included President Trump himself. In fact the New York Times estimated President Trump and his family would save more than 1 billion from the tax bill and help us to legislation before the tax cuts . Asks the middl middleclass in e generations tocl put those. Themi nonpartisan analysis from the joint committee on taxation will raise taxes on millions of middleclass families making less than 75,000 a year. It increases the National Debt by 1. 5 trillion, and i think the headline in the magazine says it all. It says the tax bill is the hand of all economic sanity in washington. As more people look at the bill for the bigger beginning to see how it will hurt middleclass families across the country. Over the past few weeks i have heard more and more concern from people throughout New Hampshire and i just want to take a moment to highlight some of these concerns. I met with the newea hampshire homebuilders and they are major advocates for homeownership in New Hampshire. They told me that this is nothing short of an attack on homeownership that would be a hit to those in New Hampshire. Right now they used to state and local Tax Deductions that they are not double taxed. That is about a third of the taxpayers in New Hampshire and it is important to ask where property taxes account for 66 of all state and local taxes that is a higher share than any other state in the country. Homeowners are also concerned that with the mortgage including home equity lines of credit where homeowners in New Hampshire are going to get hurt more than nationally because we have approximately 14 who have a homeequity line of credit. They will decline significantly according to the association of realtors the bill will put downward pressure by as much as 80 in New Hampshire and 10 nationally and if we look at this chart you can extrapolate this across the rest of the economy. This is the impact on how workers in New Hampshire with the values reduced by about eight teams per cent. That is a hit for us in New Hampshire and people across the country. This is really crazy because when we do that we dont create the workforce we need for the future. It would eliminate the ability to deduct interest on their student loan and tuition assistance. I heard from a graduate student who right now is making 20,000 a yearly stipend. If this goes into effect he will pay 5,000 in taxes. It doesnt make sense. We need to be encouraging the students to get a graduate degree so they can take on the jobs of the future. Its higher than the National Average for the graduating class of. The Student Loan Debt has tripled since 2004 to a staggering 1. 3 trillion that is higher than the total Credit Card Debt and what the legislation is likely to do is make that worse for young people who are trying to get out of college and have their studentir loans paid, gets married mr. Emily, buy a house, if they continue to have this impact, they are not going to be able to do any of those things. The last thing we should be doing is making education more expensive. I also serve as the Ranking Member on the small Business Committee. Small businesses employ more than half the workforce and make up more than 99 of all employers. We t need to work in a bipartisn way to enact tax reform that supports the Small Businesses. Again, this bill doesnt provide meaningful reform for Small Businesses and the problems that they are facing in the tax code. First of all it doesnt address the top issue that we have heard businesses that the simplification and at the the cg of red tape. Tim is one of the most valuable resources and every wasted our navigating the tax rules is an hour they cant stand in the dating market to these comarketing businesses. The. Tax refund should be an opportunity to help us and help Small Businesses focus on what they do best and that is running their business. Instead theres more red tape and complexity. According to the former joint committee on taxation, if this bill becomes law, to the treasury will be writing regulations and congress will be enacting protections for years. There are more ticking time bombs than in a road runner cartoon. A majority of them opposed the plan so its just been done in the last week or so. 61 opposed and only 28 suppo support. Small businesses are even more concerned about the impact of the tax bill. Like educating the skilled workforce, building broadband in rural areas and fixing our broken infrastructure. Then theres the repeal of the individual mandate which is part of this tax proposal. According to the cbo, repealing the individual mandate as it still does what caused 13 million americans to become uninsured by 2027 and it would raise premiums for those who purchase insurance in the individual market. Its going to cost more and ultimately its going to have an impact on peoples ability to provide for their family. My time is limited but if we look at those opposed to this bill, the realtors from the homebuilders have aarp, theyve all come out in opposition and is only to name a few. Ive heard from 3,000 who have expressed their opposition with the impact of the bill and as more and more people have a chance to read it that number will continue to grow. I want to work with my colleagues. I think republicans and democrats should reform the tax code. Its long a overdue but we needo do it in a way that is transparent, that looks at where we want to go in the future, what we need to be investing in this country. We need to work in a bipartisan way that puts the middle class and Small Business is first and doesnt leave a massive debt for our children and grandchildren andly if we pass this legislatin that is exactly what we are going to be doing giving future with a massive debt without the benefits of the investment that we should be making in this country, so it is a sad day for america and with ou that it will yield the floor. On to follow my distinguished colleague from New Hampshire and begin whered. She finished. This massive tax cut has so many ticking time bombs that are unknown at the moment because it has been rushed and ran through this body as well as the house without the kind of regular order that should be given intense scrutiny that is due to a historic massive measure of this kind. The idea that it has regular order is absurd. If this is regular order it is truly regular order like. Theres barely been the most cursory of hearings, barely an excuse for hearings, no real markup or opportunity for the public to be heard for the complicated and numerous provisions that will affect people for years, decades, maybe a generation to come. It was passed in the mid1980s and involved scores of hearings and meetings and sessions to be heard making a mockery of this process, this has been in effect a mockery of democracy. It is a classic bait and switch promised that his unfulfilled for people that then disappeared after a couple of years when the wealthy continued to enjoy their tax cuts. There are winners and losers would be very blunt the winners are the wealthy into the losers are the middle class. The winners are special interest in the losers are the American People, the winner are the people wh who havent already m. The losers are people who want to fulfill the American Dream and make it for themselves, people are pulling up the ladder for others to climb and bake it real for them. The measure that we have before us is the result of a promise of the middleclass tax cut and tha promise was made by donald trump hussein also he wouldnt benefit and he sent his Small Business administration to connecticut to say everyone will experience a tax cut. This plan is a scam, get some people will receive a tax cut initially but if you earn less than 75,000 in the next decade you will be worse off under this plan and that we then connecticut 468,200 taxpayers in the bottom 80 of Income Distributions will experience a tax hike under this plan, the majority are losers even though there may be at the top of the Income Distribution level that are winners. Our children and grandchildren are surely losers because they will inherit a whirlwind of Additional Debt, 1. 5 trillion underestimate the amount that will be added. I saw a cartoon that showed a boat filled with water and one of the characters said to the other drill another hole in the bottom of the boat and let the water out. It fills the boat with Additional Debt even though the wealthiest orbiters and the losers include also first responders. Earlier this month the president of the fraternal order of police wrote a letter to the house and Senate Leadership urging the members of congress to protect the state and local deduction as it is. This measure eliminates that devastating for connecticut but also for firsto responders and i ironing and Police Across the country, teachers who depend on the adequacy of federal funding or services that will be reduced because there is no incentive they cant be deducted anymore. Since i connecticut, new york, california. Thats why the National Education association a has foud dotting the state anguarding stx deductions will harm the already underfunded risking nearly 250,000 education jobs including over 5,000 teacher jobs in the state of connecticut and it will lead to about 250 billion in cuts to Public Education over the next decade and eliminating the deduction for interest on Student Loans what could be more stupid at the time when we are encouraging young people to invest in their futures and we should be investing in them. Also the folks who need infrastructure, which will go unprepared, roads,id bridges, railroads, va facilities, broadband, airports, all of them desperately in need of rebuilding not just repaired at true rebuilding and modernization and innovation. There is no requirement for the repatriation of trillions of dollars, no provision p for anyo repatriate and invest in banks so we will see the luck in this regard for that very important infrastructure. It is clear who will be the winners despite all these losers, corporations that move overseas to avoid their effective tax rates they will be very richly rewarded. Senate republicans decided to open up th their national wildle refuge for oil and gas drilling. They are winners. The bil billboard was 1. 5 trilln so that those special interests and corporations can have those benefits, but it will also join theo. Pockets of the corporate ceos not just the corporations but the ceos as equivalent to the cost of Home Healthcare and benefits payments to every single veteranan in america over the next decade with 1. 5 trillion. You t could also pay off all the studenoverStudent Loan Debt in. Think of the difference in lives that make. Think of all the young students, best free come to think of the dreams that could be fulfilled and the economics that would be generated and also give the false promise and the bait and switch when corporate ceos were asked by the chief economic adviser how many of you will create jobs with these Corporate Taxes barely a hand went up in the audience. A picture says a thousand words. I have my words now simply withd a warning that americans are far from buying this bait and switch and we will see the proof in their pocketbooks and their wallets and result of this partisan measure came ran through without regular order or consideratioconsideration or thy that it needs and deserves without the public andho Popular Support if wehe move ahead as te Republican Leadership appeared to be intent on doing now is the time for us to show. I would urge my colleagues to do that. Thank you mr. President , i would yield the floor. Earlier today the Senate Approved a motion to officially begin debate on the republican tax plan which means vote on amendment and final passage could have been late thursday or friday as parliamentary roadblocks could still complicate things. The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled one provision within the language falls under the purview of the environment and Public Works Committee violating the reconciliation and instructions Congress Approved earlier this year. We will have gavel to gavel coverage. This afternoon president chump talked about the plan at a rally in st. Charles, missouri. Lets watch. [applause] i told you we would be saying Merry Christmas again. [applause] [cheering] and its great to be back in missouri, a sign of a lot of good things because you are doing well. I want to thank the governor and attorney general who by