00:00The quorum call will be suspended.
00:01Without objection.
00:02Mr. President, on Monday afternoon, the Senate Finance Committee released the tax to the
00:05centerpiece of our reconciliation bill, making the tax relief we passed in 2017 permanent.
00:11The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced tax rates for every income bracket, doubled the
00:17child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction.
00:21And that, of course, meant more money in Americans' pockets.
00:24But those lower tax rates and the larger standard deduction and the child tax credit are set
00:31to expire at the end of this year.
00:33And if we don't take action, American families will be facing a massive tax hike starting
00:38in 2026.
00:40Americans making less than $400,000 a year would face a $2.6 trillion tax hike.
00:48A typical family of four making $80,000 a year would need to send an additional $1,700 to
00:53Uncle Sam.
00:54$1,700, Mr. President.
00:58Republicans promised the American people that we wouldn't let that happen.
01:02And with the release of the Finance Committee's tax, we are one step closer to delivering on
01:06that promise.
01:07Our bill will extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's lower tax rates.
01:12It will extend the doubled child tax credit.
01:15It will extend the nearly doubled standard deduction.
01:19But not just extend them, Mr. President.
01:22Make them permanent.
01:25Extending the lower tax rates or the standard deduction was never going to be enough for
01:29Republicans.
01:30We are making the lower tax rates and the doubled child tax credit and the increased standard
01:34deduction permanent so that American families do not have to worry about another looming tax
01:40hike a few years down the road.
01:42And we are actually going even further by increasing the child tax credit by another $200, again,
01:50on a permanent basis.
01:51And, Mr. President, that is not all we are doing.
01:54We are also going to make life better for the American people by growing our economy.
01:59In addition to cutting tax rates for hardworking Americans, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also implemented
02:04a historic reform of the business side of the tax code.
02:08We lowered tax rates for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, farms and ranches,
02:13and made it easier for them to recover the cost of investing in their businesses, which in
02:18turn freed up cash for them to invest in their operations and their workers.
02:23We lowered our nation's massive corporate tax rate, which prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs
02:27Act was the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world to make American businesses
02:34more competitive in the global economy and empower them to invest in wages and benefits
02:38for their workers.
02:40And we brought our international tax system into the 21st century so that American businesses
02:45would no longer be operating at a disadvantage next to their foreign counterparts.
02:49And, Mr. President, it worked.
02:53In the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, our economy grew at a substantially better rate than
03:00projected.
03:02Real wages increased.
03:04Unemployment fell to a 50-year low.
03:07The poverty rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded.
03:11Business investment increased.
03:13Everywhere you looked, there was positive economic news.
03:17Now, Mr. President, when we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we were able to make some
03:21of that business tax relief permanent.
03:24But like the individual tax relief, other provisions have either already expired, are expiring at
03:30the end of this year, or are in the process of phasing out.
03:34That includes lower tax rates for small and medium-sized businesses, the Section 199A Small
03:40Business Tax Deduction, and full expensing for new capital investment in domestic research
03:45and development.
03:47Our legislation will permanently extend these key provisions.
03:52And between these and other new pro-growth policies, like a provision to boost domestic
03:57manufacturing by implementing full expensing for new factories and factory improvements,
04:03we can expect to see further economic growth and more jobs and opportunities for American
04:08workers.
04:09The Council of Economic Advisers, which accurately predicted the economic and wage growth that
04:13we achieved in the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is forecasting 2.9% to 3.5% long-run
04:22GDP as a result of our legislation.
04:25And Mr. President, that means more jobs, better wages, as much as a $13,327 increase for a
04:35typical family, and more opportunities for American workers.
04:40It also means more revenue for the federal government.
04:43But revenue created the right way.
04:46Through economic growth.
04:48Not through higher taxes.
04:50And I should mention that yesterday the Congressional Budget Office released a new HR1 analysis, which
04:57characteristically, I should say, underestimates the economic growth, and hence the revenue that
05:04this bill will provide.
05:07CBO, or the Congressional Budget Office, did the same thing with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
05:12When it estimated revenues would be $1.5 trillion lower than what they've actually been.
05:20The Council of Economic Advisers, by contrast, which was most accurate in its modeling of
05:26the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act effects, included its effect on revenue, including, I should
05:32say, its effect on revenue, tells us that passage of our legislation will increase federal revenues
05:37by $4.1 trillion more than enough to offset the CBO's deficit estimate.
05:45Mr. President, in addition to promising to make the 2017 tax relief permanent, President
05:51Trump outlined multiple other tax proposals on the campaign trail.
05:57Proposals which were endorsed by the American people with his strong win in November.
06:02And with this bill, we are delivering on those promises.
06:05We're suspending taxes on tips for millions of tipped workers.
06:09We're suspending taxes on overtime for millions of hourly workers.
06:13We're suspending taxes on auto loan interest when you buy a new car manufactured in the
06:19United States.
06:21And we're increasing the standard deduction for millions of low- and middle-income seniors,
06:26making their retirement a little easier and more prosperous.
06:31We're also implementing a program to create savings accounts for newborns with an initial
06:34deposit of $1,000 to help parents save and invest for their children's future needs.
06:42Mr. President, everything we're doing in this bill is for the sake of making America stronger
06:48and more prosperous.
06:50And nowhere is that more true than when it comes to the tax portion, the centerpiece of
06:55our bill.
06:56The tax provisions in our bill, from the permanent extension of the lower tax rates to the increased
07:01child tax credit to the permanent tax relief for small and medium-sized businesses, will
07:07help bring security to American families and prosperity to our country.
07:14Working Americans, working Americans, Mr. President, are going to have a better life because of this
07:20legislation.
07:22And I'm proud to be a part of permanently extending and upgrading the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
07:30For that, I want to thank Chairman Krapel and his members on the Senate Finance Committee
07:34for their incredible work on the tax portion of our upcoming bill.
07:38And I look forward, Mr. President, to delivering permanent tax relief for hardworking Americans
07:44and American businesses in the very near future.
07:48Mr. President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
07:51Clerk will call the roll.
07:54Mrs. Alph of Brooks
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