[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4698-S4699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TAX REFORM
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, on taxes, another matter. Yesterday,
my friend the majority leader brought down the curtain on bipartisan
tax reform before a discussion between our two parties could even
start, dismissing the prospect of Democratic
[[Page S4699]]
input, promising the Republicans would again use reconciliation to lock
us out of the process, repeating the same mistake they did with
healthcare.
Leader McConnell's announcement just came a few hours after 45
Members of the Democratic caucus sent him a letter saying we were open
to bipartisan discussions on tax reform. We had three simple,
straightforward principles. Let me read the Democratic principles on
tax reform: First, don't cut taxes for the 1 percent--the top 1
percent. They are doing fine. God bless them.
Second, don't increase the debt and deficit, something many of my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been talking about for a
long time.
Third, negotiate in a fair and open process, not reconciliation but
hearings, amendments, the things that have made America great and have
brought this Senate the acclaim over the decades it has had.
Now, I would like to know which of these principles the majority
leader does not agree with. I would like to know. Is he closing the
door on bipartisanship because he so dearly wants to cut taxes on the
top 1 percent? The wealthy are doing great right now--God bless them--
but they don't need another tax break while middle-class families and
working Americans are struggling just to make ends meet. Many of us on
this side of the aisle suspect that to some, that is the No. 1
motivation--not tax reform, not close loopholes, not clean up the
system but give that top 1 percent a huge tax break to please so many
like the Koch brothers.
Again, I would ask the leader: Are you closing the door on
bipartisanship simply because you want to cut taxes on the top 1
percent or maybe the leader is closing the door on bipartisanship
because he has a fervent desire to blow up the deficit? That sure
doesn't sound like something Republicans have been interested in over
the years--they have been spending lots of time, with good reason,
deficit scolding and debt scolding--or is my friend from Kentucky, our
majority leader, closing the door on bipartisanship because he thinks
reconciliation, which means you exclude the Democrats from the get-go,
is a good process because he doesn't want to have hearings, because he
doesn't want amendments, and maybe it is the same reason on healthcare?
Maybe they are ashamed of their proposal. I would like to see somebody
on the floor get up and say: We believe in tax cuts--on the Republican
side get up on the floor and say: We believe in tax cuts for the top 1
percent. That is why we want to do this.
But, no, they want to hide it, cloak it, give a crumb to the middle
class, and say: See, we are helping you.
We all know that what happens after we have a big deficit, they come
back and say: Now, let's cut Social Security, now let's cut Medicare
because we don't have the money. We don't have the money because they
cut taxes on the rich, the very wealthy.
I don't know which of these three principles the majority leader is
against, but when he closed the door on Democrats--when we sent him
this letter which simply outlined our principles, that is all we wanted
to do, give him notice we agree on these three things, at least on our
side--which one or all of them made him close the door?
We Democrats hoped we could work together on tax reform, but the
majority leader has drawn down the curtain before the play has even
begun. Republicans will spend the entire first year of this Congress
trying to pass their agenda on reconciliation, a process that
deliberately excludes Democrats, excludes hearings, excludes
amendments, with no shred of bipartisan input. Just like with
healthcare, I believe it will be another dead-end road for Republicans.
I tell my friend the majority leader--I quote his speech in 2014,
entitled ``Restoring the Senate.'' I truly believe--I truly believe
that Leader McConnell believes in the institution of the Senate, and he
has shown examples of that most recently when he said we don't want to
change the rules, despite President Trump pushing to do that, but here
is what he said in 2014:
When the Senate is allowed to work the way it was designed
to, it arrives at a result acceptable to people all along the
political spectrum. But if it's an assembly line for one
party's partisan legislative agenda, [it creates] instability
and strife rather than good, stable law.
Those are the majority leader's words. Well, if you believe that, my
dear friend from Kentucky, then why are you instituting reconciliation,
the exclusionary process, before we even begin the debate? And why--
might the American people ask--haven't you learned the lesson of
healthcare that that process doesn't work?
The American people want to see us work together. We may not always
succeed. It may not be easy. It is hard work, but we ought to try. This
assembly line of partisan legislation--no Democratic input, no
hearings, no amendments--is not what any of us want to see. It is not
what the American people are calling out for, and it will not produce
good, stable law.
Again, I would ask the majority leader to reconsider these three
principles probably supported by 80 percent of the American people. Why
aren't our Republicans supporting them? Why are they running away from
them?
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