[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 53 (Monday, March 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1982-S1984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. President, finally, on tax issues, now that the jig is finally up 
on healthcare, our Republican friends have signaled they will turn to 
taxes. I hope they have learned the lessons of TrumpCare. One of the 
reasons TrumpCare failed so spectacularly was that Republicans tried to 
rush and ram it through via a reconciliation process, even though it 
was deeply unpopular with the public. The last poll showed only 17 
percent of Americans supported TrumpCare, so that means a large number 
even of Trump supporters were opposed to it.
  Why was it so unpopular? Probably because TrumpCare would have given 
the wealthiest among us a monster tax cut while hammering older 
Americans and the middle class with higher costs for less care.
  So I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle: If you try to 
pass a Republican tax plan using the same reconciliation method in 
order to get a huge tax break for the wealthy and already profitable 
and powerful corporations, it will fail. The American people are not 
crying out for tax breaks on

[[Page S1984]]

the wealthiest Americans. God bless the wealthy. They are doing just 
fine without the tax breaks, but thus far it seems our Republican 
colleagues are headed in that direction.
  Even though the President campaigned as a populist, his 
administration has been all hard-right, pro-corporate, pro-special 
interests, totally against the working people. If the President and 
Republicans in Congress continue in that direction, proposing policies 
that shift burdens off the wealthy and powerful, not aiming to help the 
middle class and working families, their efforts will continue to fail, 
and it will turn tax reform into a partisan issue. The White House says 
tax reform isn't partisan, but it surely will be if they propose 
massive tax cuts only for the wealthy. My prediction: If Republicans go 
down that road, the Republican tax scheme will meet the same fate as 
TrumpCare. I hope they will not go down that road; I hope they will 
not.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.