[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1203-S1205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I rise tonight to speak about the 
opportunity our country has to move this country forward.
  I appreciate the comments by my good friend from Michigan. I 
appreciate all the comments in this hallowed ground called the U.S. 
Senate. But I have to say that while I agree on some points, I disagree 
on others.
  The one I am really troubled by tonight is the fact the other side is 
creating the ultimate shutdown in government right now. We had an 
election. Our democracy has worked. We have a new person in the White 
House. We have a new direction for our country. Yet this person in the 
White House cannot even get his team approved in the U.S. Senate.
  After some 27 days, I think President Obama had 26 of his Cabinet and 
other appointees already confirmed. At this point, President Trump has 
only 13 of his nominees. Quite frankly, had we not turned the Senate on 
24/7 over the last few weeks, it would be until June or July of this 
year before we could get the full slate of just the 15 Cabinet officers 
confirmed. That is no way to run the Federal Government and, indeed, 
shows the hypocrisy of the other side. They complain about shut down 
this and shut down that. What is happening right now in the U.S. Senate 
is that the

[[Page S1204]]

other side is shutting down this administration from getting on with 
the people's business of what they elected him to do.
  Today, after 8 years of failed fiscal policies that have produced the 
weakest recovery in 70 years, the lowest GDP growth on a per capita 
basis in our history, a devastating time that left 4 million women in 
poverty after the last 8 years and left many people struggling to get 
from payday to payday--after those 8 years, tonight I am actually very 
encouraged to finally be debating pro-growth tax ideas that can 
actually grow the economy and put people back to work. We now have an 
enormous moment of opportunity to change the direction of our country 
and unleash a new era of economic growth and prosperity for every 
American.
  President Trump has repeatedly said that job one is growing the 
economy. Personally, having worked in most parts of the world in my 
career, I see this so differently from Washington. My perspective is 
that of someone who has a global business perspective, not unlike that 
of our President. I know the way forward is not complicated. We 
absolutely can grow this economy.
  There are three things this administration is already talking about 
to grow the economy: One, they have said we need to deal with this 
archaic, outdated, and noncompetitive tax structure that we have; 
second, we need to push back on these arcane regulations that have 
sucked the very life out of our economy; third, we need to unleash the 
God-given energy potential that we have in our country today. The 
bottom line is we have to create a more level playing field generated 
by trade negotiations to allow us to compete on a level playing field 
with the rest of the world.
  The first two pieces of these changes are the changes to the Tax Code 
and rolling back the regulatory regime. Several ideas from both 
President Trump and Congress have surfaced in recent days to improve 
our Tax Code: No. 1, lowering individual rates and cleaning up some of 
the deductions to simplify the individual code; No. 2, lowering the 
corporate tax rate to become more competitive with the rest of the 
world and cleaning up corporate welfare deductions that confuse the 
competition among players here at home and create winners and losers 
inadvertently; and, No. 3, dealing with the archaic repatriation tax. 
We are the last country in the world that has this tax, and it 
penalizes our companies for competing abroad.
  These three components of changing the Tax Code will make us more 
competitive with the rest of the world, stimulate economic investment, 
and spawn a new era of economic innovation in America. These changes 
would help millions of Americans who have been crushed by this stagnant 
economy for much too long.
  I am encouraged that today there are so many of my colleagues in 
Congress interested in generating new pro-growth ideas. It is a new day 
in Washington.
  I have long been an advocate of simplifying the way we fund our 
Federal Government. In my opinion, the best way to do that is ideally 
with a new system, like the fair tax, for example, which would move us 
to a totally new tax system and completely eliminate the personal, 
corporate, and payroll taxes we suffer through to date. I think all of 
these ideas need to be considered, and none should be taken off the 
table arbitrarily.
  Having said that, one idea bears much scrutiny at this point in time, 
and that is the so-called border adjustment tax now being discussed in 
Congress. It would hammer consumers, shut down economic growth, and 
ultimately grow the size of government.
  In the last 16 years, under both Republican and Democratic 
Presidents, the Federal Government has grown from $2.4 trillion in 
constant dollars to $3.8 trillion last year--some 60 percent growth in 
just two Presidencies, one Republican and one Democrat.
  Tax schemes similar to the border adjustment tax in Europe grew the 
size of those governments in Europe by more than 60 percent. That is 
the last thing we need to be talking about right now, after we just 
experienced a similar type of growth in our government over the last 16 
years. Growing government with a new layer of complexity on top of our 
existing income tax system is the last thing we need to be doing at 
this point in time, when we should be talking about, How do we downsize 
the Federal Government, make our system more competitive with the rest 
of the world, create jobs, and create the atmosphere for capital 
formation and innovation again?
  Historically, lawmakers have crammed numerous proposals into single, 
massive, overreaching bills. It is the Washington way. Those bills have 
often hurt the very people that they claim to champion. When bad ideas 
get mixed with good ideas, the bad ideas oftentimes become law. That is 
exactly what could happen here if changes to the individual code, the 
corporate rate, the repatriation tax, and this border adjustment tax 
are combined into one sweeping bill. This is exactly what Washington 
has historically done, and the results have been devastating.
  Each of these proposals could be considered independently and 
evaluated on their own merits. There is no reason we can't do that. 
That is not possible today because many people here believe we are 
locked into the Washington scoring equation instead of looking at the 
real economic long term value of any of these ideas.
  Many other countries, such as the United Kingdom, have faced these 
opportunities, made decisions, and acted accordingly without combining 
other extraneous ideas, and the results speak for themselves. Today, 
the United States is in the least competitive position it has been, I 
believe, in the last 100 years.
  In the last 70 years, America has enjoyed the greatest economic 
miracle in the history of mankind. It was developed on the back of 
innovation, capital formation, and the rule of law, combined with the 
best workforce in the history of the world. Those are four things that 
America possesses uniquely, and which many other countries are working 
hard to emulate.
  For too long, the strength of our economy has been held down by 
politicians in Washington and the unintended consequences that occur 
when they try to interfere with the free enterprise system. It is time 
to trust that free enterprise system to get this economy going again, 
and change the rules to create a more competitive environment here at 
home that will allow us to compete overseas on a level playing 
field. It is time to simplify our individual Tax Code, reduce our 
corporate tax rates, eliminate conflicting business tax deductions, and 
eliminate the repatriation tax so we can once again become competitive 
with the rest of the world.

  In recent decades, many other countries have made these changes, and 
we are losing our competitive edge. Today, I am encouraged to see both 
Congress and the White House working together on policies that will 
potentially grow our economy and bring relief to businesses and 
families who have been crushed by improper fiscal policies that are 
driven by political attempts to manage our economy.
  Now is exactly the time to get these changes right. We have an 
opportunity to change our Tax Code to a more competitive structure that 
doesn't pick winners and losers, that doesn't penalize people for 
successes, and that allows us to compete with the rest of the world on 
a level playing field.
  I like our chances if we can accomplish that, but let's not confuse 
the issue with what may seem acceptable in Washington but is 
devastating back home to men and women who are trying to create jobs in 
their local economies.
  We need to free up capital. We need to make sure the rule of law 
supports the Constitution for every American. The American people 
deserve Congress treating these issues individually and independently 
to generate a simplified approach to funding our government and growing 
our economy.
  I hear the other side whine about not hearing any proposals coming 
out of the White House. Donald Trump has been talking about what he 
would do with the economy for the past 2 years. There is no mystery. He 
wants to grow the economy. Job one, he said, is growing the economy. 
That doesn't mean for the rich. That means for the working men and 
women of America.
  I believe they have a plan. It includes adjusting our tax system, 
pushing back on unnecessary regulations that are sucking the very life 
out of our economy and, finally, once and for all,

[[Page S1205]]

unleashing this great energy potential that we have.
  We already see moves today on some of the regulatory fronts, where we 
see the new Secretary of HHS issuing a new rule today. We see the new 
leaders that have been confirmed already taking action in this 
administration. I, for one, am anxious to move forward with this 
debate.
  I applaud our compatriots in the House for bringing up these ideas. I 
look forward to an open and active conversation, but now is the time 
for the other side to begin confirming these nominees so that we can 
get this economy growing.
  I know you also are aware that our military is in devastating shape 
now after 8 years of disinvestment and 15 years of war. There is enough 
blame to go around here. This is not about the blame game. This is 
about getting this economic situation right where we can fund our 
military so we can defend our country.
  I am very concerned that the other side is putting politics in the 
way of solving some of these problems that we have that are so 
devastating to men and women who are disenfranchised in our economy and 
our men and women in uniform around the world who are put in danger 
every day because we are not funding our military the way we should.
  The time for rhetoric has passed. We are already past the tipping 
point of the most serious, I believe, physical crisis in our history. 
This debt crisis is very real. We don't need to grow the economy just 
to grow the economy. We have to grow the economy because it is one of 
several steps that are absolutely mandatory to solving this debt 
crisis, and we will not and cannot solve our national security crisis 
unless and until we solve this debt crisis. I am optimistic tonight 
because we are beginning to talk about these very issues.
  I yield my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.