Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate 11272017 20171127 : compa

In recess with votes on judicial nominations expected at 5 30 p. M. Eastern and starting on g. O. P. Tax reform bill tomorrow. Watching live coverage of the senate floor here on cspan2. The senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Our father, god, thank you that we see you in the world around us be holding your works in the earth and sea and sky. Your everlasting mercies sustain us, enabling us to borrow our heartbeats from you each day. Today, be for our lawmakers and abiding and sustaining presence. May they live to serve and honor you bringing glory to your name. Make them patient in debate, charitable in judgment, and slow to anger. Lord, empower them to defend and maintain the right as they seek justice and freedom for all. We pray in your sacred name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, Dabney Langhorne friedrich of california to be United States district judge for the District Of Columbia. The presiding officer under the previous order, the time until 5 30 p. M. Will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. The presiding officer if no one yields time, the time will be equally divided. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell during the last decade our complex tax code left hardworking families behind and allowed the wealthy and well connected to get ahead. Its so bad one Small Business owner in paducah, ky, wrote to my Office Asking for relief, because, as he says, taxes are suffocating my company and me personally. The pain isnt just being felt in kentucky. Its an urgent problem nationwide. Families and job creators are doing their best to get ahead but too often our tax code keeps them reaching for the american dream. Working families and Small Businesses in our country deserve better than our outdated tax code, and thats what were trying to deliver. Tax reform represents the single most important thing we can do right now to spur Economic Growth, help support good jobs, and boost the middle class. This is our once in a Generation Opportunity and we should meet the challenge. Overhauling our tax code can mean more money for Small Businesses to hire, to invest, and to expand. It can mean families keeping more of what they earn to save for a rainy day or an emergency. And this relief could even mean getting one step closer to sending a child to college, buying a new car, or saving more for retirement. This week the senate will continue our yearlong effort towards tax reform. Under the leadership of chairman hatch, the Senate Finance committee reported out legislation to replace our noncompetitive, complex, and outdated tax code. Through dozens of hearings, substantial hard work and an open amendment process, the committee has prowsed a bill that produced a bill that will prioritize the middle class and Small Businesses so they can keep more of their hard of earned hardearned money. We will preserve the adoption tax credit and roughly doubles the standard deduction as far as how much income is taxed in the first place. Put it together and a typical middleclass family of four making a Median Income could see a tax break around 2,200. As families sit around the table to balance their budgets and plan for the future, this money will make a significant impact. In addition, our tax reform proposal will provide relief to low and middleclass families by repealing obama tax, this plan can help those who need it most. The bottom line is this we want to take more money out of washingtons pocket and put more money into the pockets of american families. To accomplish this goal, we will continue to consider the plan under regular order. Every member will have a chance to offer amendments here on the floor and then we will vote. There are many places in this legislation where we should all, republicans and democrats, be able to agree. For instance, our democratic colleagues have the opportunity to help us end tax incentives that contribute to american jobs going overseas. That sounds like something our friends across the aisle should support. In fact, many of them have identified those incentives as a fundamental problem in our current tax code. This is our chance to put an end to it. I hope they will join us in our effort to help jobs and investments stay right here at home. Im proud to continue to work with my colleagues to get this legislation one step closer to the president s desk. Lets keep working together to deliver tax relief for the American People. Now, madam president , on another matter. Later today the senate will consider two more talented nominees to the Senate Judiciary. First we will vote to confirm the nomination of dab dab to Dabney Friedrich and we will vote on a nominee to the federal judiciary, gregory kasak. After graduating from Harvard Law School he clerked for Justice Clarence thomas on the d. C. Circuit and on the u. S. Supreme court. He then joined the Litigation Group at a prominent law firm focusing on state and appellate litigation, including arguing before the Supreme Court. In 2001, mr. Katsas became the attorney general supervising the justice departments appellate staff. The senate later confirmed him by a voice vote to serve as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division where he was responsible for overseeing hundreds of lawyers and some of the governments most complicated litigation. For his work, he was awarded the Edmond Randolph award, the highest award given by the department. In a letter the Senate Judiciary Committee Former attorney general Michael Mukasey expressed his support for mr. Katsas nomination. This is what general mukasey had to say. It was my great privilege to work with greg when headed the Civil Division and argued many of the most difficult and challenging cases. Greg worked tirelessly to defend the interests of the United States in court whatever his personal views about them may have been. Former attorney general mukasey, who has also previously served as a Federal District court judge went on to say, it is gregs character, temperament that most set him apart that suits him to serve as a circuit judge. There are many smart lawyers in washington, probably many nice one, but i know of no one who has gregs unique legal skill coupled with integrity and good judgment. That high praise was echoed by many of the others who new mr. Katsas well at the justice department. A large group wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee Supporting his nomination. Greg is an exceptionally taloned and brilliant appellate lawyer. His commitment to Public Service and academic qualifications are impeccable. In addition we can attest to gregs thoughtfulness, temperament and character. The group of distinguished attorneys who have in their own words worked with greg or litigated against him in the Supreme Court or federal courts of appeals or otherwise familiar with his work, penned a letter of support for mr. Katsas nomination. We hold a broad range of policy reviews, but we are united in our view based on our experience noodged of gregs work that he is highly qualified to serve on the d. C. Circuit. Once he completed his time at the department of justice and returned to the private practice, he has continued to impress his colleagues with his legal skill and judgment. His firms managing partner wrote a letter signed by partners around the globe recommending his nomination. Heres what they wrote. Greg is a truly great legal thinker with a wellearned reputation for integrity, fairmindedness, and respect for others. Hes been a brilliant advocate, they continued, for the firms clients in the Supreme Court and Appellate Courts throughout the nation in a wide variety of kift, difficult, highprofile cases. He is an impressive individual who is well qualified to serve on the d. C. Circuit. I want to thank chairman grassley once again for his outstanding work in moving President Trumps judicial nominees to the floor. I look forward to confirming the nominee of mr. Friedrich and advancing the nomination of mr. Katsas later today. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting their nominations. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dewitt. The presiding officer without objection. Be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer first, i welcome you, the senator from texas, and all of our colleagues back after the thanksgiving break. I had my parents, 94 and 89, at our thanksgiving dinner with all their children and grandchildren and cousins and thises and thats, so i had a lot to be thankful for. Im blessed to have my mom and dad see their whole family and be so happy about it. But now were back, and we have a lot of work to do before the end of the year and precious little time to do it. Funding for the government expires a week from this friday. 800,000 dreamers are waiting to hear whether they can live and work in the only country they have ever known. Almost nine million children are waiting for us to reauthorize the Children Health insurance program, and millions more are waiting for us to restore funding for Community Health centers, the most costeffective and often only health care lots of people can get. We need to fund the costsharing programs that hold down premiums and outofpocket costs for lowincome americans because the administration refuses to do so. Texas, louisiana, florida, puerto rico, the u. S. Virgin islands are desperately in need of additional aid to recover from the natural disasters that god brought on them. And the debt ceiling must be raised again, and in short order. So we need to come to agreement on all of these issues, and quickly. To that end, the four leaders will meet with the president tomorrow. Hopefully, we can make progress on an agreement that covers those timesensitive issues and keeps the government running and working for the American People. Now, we could be working on all these issues this week, but instead the majority is pursuing a partisan tax plan at a breakneck pace. Since the republicans released their first draft of the tax bill a few weeks ago, we have had one week of markup in the Senate Finance committee during which the bill shape shifted on several occasions. Aside from the testimony of one representative from the joint committee on taxation, the senate hasnt heard from any Expert Witness in a hearing room. Can you believe that . A major tax bill in front of the American People, changing lives dramatically, no Expert Witnesses except the j. C. T. Gentleman. And the bills likely to change drastically again on the floor of the senate, with little time for senators of either party to grapple with the consequences. The republicans are moving so fast, the joint Tax Committee will not have time to produce a full analysis of the Economic Impact of the bill. Until after the bill is voted on. Is that backwards or what . The republican tax bill will affect every taxpayer and business in america, and my colleagues wont know many of its impacts before they vote on it. Two things about this bill, however, seems certain. First, it will raise taxes on millions of middleclass families in every state of the union. Second, it will explode the deficit. Every independent analysis of the Senate Tax Bill shows that millions of families making under 200,000 a year will eventually pay more, not less, in taxes under the republican plan. The most recent Tax Policy Center analysis show that about 60 of middleclass families, those making between 28,000 and 155,000, would see a tax increase at the end of the day. Most middleclass families by the time the tenyear window is up will see a tax increase, 60 , according to the Tax Policy Center. And while middleclass people are struggling, they either get a small, small decrease in taxes or an increase, folks making over a Million Dollars a year will get an average tax cut of over 40,000, more than Many Americans make in a whole year. The tax breaks for individuals all expire. The tax breaks for massive corporations are permanent. Because the individual mandate is repealed, the tax bill would cause 13 million fewer americans to have Health Insurance. Meanwhile, couples with estates worth over 11 million get a tax break. The bill is terrible for the country. It is a massive transfer of wealth to the already wealthy. It would exacerbate inequality and set the middle class back at the worst possible time. At the same time, it would increase the deficit by 1. 5 trillion at the very least. Now, some of my republican friends are saying that future congresses will extend the middleclass tax breaks that are now set to expire. Well, that would increase the deficit even more significantly. You cant have it both ways. Either the bill socks it to the middle class or it blows a giant hole in the deficit. No one wants either. The tax bill gives you that awful choice. Some of my republican friends say the tax bill will unleash such Economic Growth that the tax cuts will pay for themselves and the deficit will evaporate. Its curious to me that those same republicans are rushing the bill so fast through the joint committee on tax that it wont have time to assess the Economic Impact. Of course, they are afraid of what it will say. They know its going to say nothing close to what our republican optimists are predicting. According to a former ject economist, quote, there is good reason to expect the estimate of current legislation will show less than flattering growth effects, unquote. So you have to wonder are the republicans afraid that the experts will fund the republican promises of Economic Growth . Will they find that the republican promises of Economic Growth are pure fantasy . It sure seems that way. The majority shouldnt be ramming through such an illconceived, backward bill. They shouldnt be breaking all the traditions of this body, busting the deficit, hurting millions of middleclass families when there is so much potential agreement between our two parties on tax reform. We could come up with a good, bipartisan bill, not through reconciliation, through regular order, and we would all be the prouder for it. We democrats want to lower middleclass taxes. We democrats want to reduce the burden on Small Businesses. We democrats want to encourage companies to locate jobs here instead of shipping them overseas. And we want to do all of these things in a deficitneutral way. Those thoughts probably have a majority on each side of the aisle. Its a shame that the Republican Leadership has chosen reconciliation, which means no regular order, no hearings, no night, and no sunlight, and no democratic input into the bill. If republicans turn their backs on the deeply flawed approach and i plead with the hands full who havent committed yet, we can Work Together on bipartisan tax reform that delivers real relief for everyone in the middle class. Finally, on the matter of the directorship of the cfpb, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There should be no dispute about who is the acting director of the agency. The process for succession laid out in doddfrank is clear. Leanda english, not mick mulvaney, is the acting director of the cfpb. Let me underscore that point. I was involved when doddfrank was written. The clear intention of congress was to establish a clear line of succession for the cfpb, separate and apart from the verl vacancies act from the federal vacancies act. I remember. I was there. The language in question wasnt part of the house version of doddfrank, but we included it in the Senate Version phenomena an explici