[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 12, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5196-S5198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination,
which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Kevin
Allen Hassett, of Massachusetts, to be Chairman of the Council of
Economic Advisers.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 20
minutes of debate, equally divided in the usual form.
The Senator from Massachusetts.
Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, on the campaign trail, Donald Trump
promised working families that he would subject every proposal he saw
in the White House to a simple test: ``Does it create more jobs and
better wages for Americans?'' He claimed he wasn't ``going to let Wall
Street get away with murder,'' and he said he was going to ``drain the
swamp.''
Such great talk--and then he got to Washington. His first order of
business was to put together a team of people who had spent decades as
executives at big banks and large corporations--people who are
determined to tilt the playing field in favor of Wall Street and
against working families. You don't need to look very far to see them.
His most senior economic advisers--Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin,
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, and the senior counselor
for economic initiatives, Dina Powell--together, those three have spent
nearly a half a century combined working for Goldman Sachs. When it
comes to our economy, this isn't the Trump administration; this is the
Goldman Sachs administration.
[[Page S5197]]
Now President Trump has lined up another top economic adviser, Kevin
Hassett, who has been nominated to serve as the Chairman of the
President's Council of Economic Advisers. Mr. Hassett hasn't worked at
Goldman Sachs. No, his ``fresh perspective'' is that he has spent his
career advocating for policies that favor the wealthiest Americans.
The Council of Economic Advisers plays a critical role in developing
this country's economic policies. It was created by Congress to, as Dr.
Hassett has put it himself, give the President ``unbiased, scientific,
and objective advice'' about the economic impact of the President's
policies on the American economy. They have their fingers in all sorts
of policies from trade to healthcare, to taxes, to financial
regulation.
So what kind of an economy does Dr. Hassett want? He hasn't been shy
in telling us. Dr. Hassett wants an economy that keeps working great
for those on top, and if it leaves working families further behind,
that is just too bad.
Start with taxes: Dr. Hassett gets really excited about cutting taxes
on giant corporations. In fact, when he was working for Mitt Romney's
Presidential campaign, he wrote that the new President's top priority--
the No. 1 act, the first thing he should do when he stepped into the
Oval Office--was cut the corporate tax rate. His argument was that if
we cut taxes for big businesses, they will give those savings to their
workers and be more productive, improving the economy for everyone.
That is just plain old trickle-down economics: Give more money to
corporations and the wealthy, and they will surely pass it along to
everyone else. It hasn't worked so far, and it isn't going to work in
the future. Well, it isn't going to work for anyone who isn't already
wealthy. For them, that works great.
On trade, Dr. Hassett also sings the corporate tune. Dr. Hassett
wants to double down on the same kind of trade agreements that enrich
giant corporations and leave the workers eating dirt. Dr. Hassett
embraces trade deals that make it harder for small businesses to
compete, trade deals that weaken public safety, and trade deals that
undercut environmental rules. Dr. Hassett's approach really makes one
wonder: Does Donald Trump not know who this guy is, or does he just not
care? Either way, it is American workers who will take another punch to
the gut delivered by Team Trump.
And how about on financial regulation? Nine years ago, Wall Street
brought the economy to its knees and had to be bailed out to the tune
of $700 billion. The crash cost millions of Americans their jobs and
their homes. Congress then passed bipartisan financial reforms to stop
another crisis. Dr. Hassett was not enthusiastic. In public, he called
those new rules ``lamebrained'' and described the legislation as
``horrifying'' and ``the worst piece of legislation that I've seen in
my entire life.'' He sounded the alarm that the financial reform
``needs to be repealed as soon as possible.''
He has since said that he regrets his tone. Tone isn't the problem
here. The problem is what he said, not how he said it.
If Dr. Hassett has his way and Wall Street reform gets repealed, the
same behavior that caused the 2008 financial crisis would be unleashed
again. I cannot understand how, just 9 years after the worst financial
crisis since the Great Depression, Dr. Hassett would want to turn the
banks loose so they have a clear shot at cheating consumers and
building up risks that could blow up the financial system again.
There is no end to Dr. Hassett's bad judgment. He is wrong on the
minimum wage, calling the proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9 an
hour ``wrongheaded'' and saying that raising the minimum wage was a
``dishonest approach'' to alleviating poverty.
He is wrong on the environment. In a column, he advised President
Obama to ``frack away.''
And, most of all, he is wrong about the fundamental problems in our
economy, calling income inequality a myth and saying it was
``ludicrous'' to believe that our society is ``rigged or fundamentally
unjust.'' He sounds as if he thinks that it is just great that this
economy works for those at the top and pretty much for no one else.
Dr. Hassett has consistently advocated for the interests of
corporations over working people. If he is confirmed, I am confident
that he will be one more voice in the White House speaking up for the
rich and the powerful. No doubt he will fit right into the Goldman
Sachs administration.
But Congress has a say in this. The last thing we need is another
economic adviser who wants to tilt the playing field even further in
favor of corporate America.
I oppose this nomination, and I hope other Senators will too.
I yield the floor.
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. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to
5 minutes on the Hassett nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the nomination of Kevin
Hassett to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Dr. Hassett
came through the Banking Committee with a mixed vote, not so much
because of him and his qualifications but because of some of his past
statements and because of the economic philosophy of the person who
nominated Dr. Hassett.
After meeting with him and being impressed with his integrity and
openness, I hope he will not forget where he came from. I hope he will
approach the job in a thoughtful way. I hope that he will stay grounded
in sound research and that he will be transparent about his methods. I
would caution him about embracing ideas about economic growth that are
not supported by empirical evidence. I hope his new colleagues will
listen to him.
For too long, our trade policy and tax policy have encouraged a
corporate business model that shuts down production in Hamilton or
Middletown or Mansfield or Toledo or Youngstown, gets a tax break,
cashes in a tax break, then moves production overseas and then to China
or Mexico, and then ships production back into the United States.
Fundamentally, that has become the business plan of far too many
companies--that sort of outsourcing.
I had a long discussion with Dr. Hassett about that. As I said, I
hope he remembers where he came from. He saw that happen as he was
growing up, if I recall, in western Massachusetts, where production was
shut down in his communities, moved overseas for production, and then
the goods were made overseas, and then sent back to the United States.
I am concerned about the White House in which he will work. I am
concerned that at that White House, it often looks like a retreat for
Goldman Sachs executives. The President's tax proposal benefits the
wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations. Its budget is based
on GDP predictions that are unrealistic. In fact, when it came to the
issue of Social Security solvency years ago, Dr. Hassett found a
sustained 3-percent growth rate too optimistic for planning purposes.
That is the same rate--that same rate is what the Trump budget uses to
gloss over its true costs.
I plan to support Dr. Hassett. I think he is an honorable man. I
disagree fundamentally on a lot of these issues. I again implore him,
as I cast my vote in support of him--because the President is entitled
to an adviser and to choose within a band, of course, of support from
whom he wants--but I am hopeful, especially, that Dr. Hassett remembers
what it was like when he grew up in Greenfield, MA. Greenfield is a
town not much different from my hometown of Mansfield, OH, where bad
tax policy and bad trade policy have dashed the dreams of far, far too
many people in those communities.
I count on Dr. Hassett to do the right thing. I am hopeful that he
will help President Trump see what these communities look like, not
from standing in a rally in front of thousands of people but by meeting
people and individually talking with them and understanding what
happens with the trade policy and the tax policy.
[[Page S5198]]
More trickle-down economics, more tax cuts for the rich are not the
ways to build an economy. We build an economy by building from the
middle class out. That means a tax system and a trade system that works
for Greenfield, MA, and works for Mansfield, OH.
Mr. CRAPO. Mr President, I support the nomination of Mr. Kevin Allen
Hassett to serve as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. His
nomination received wide bipartisan support, not only in the Banking
Committee, but also from other esteemed members of his profession.
Mr. Hassett was voted out of our committee on a voice vote with
widespread support. We received a letter in favor of his nomination
signed by a bipartisan group of 44 economists, including 14 former
Chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers and two former Federal
Reserve Chairmen. At Mr. Hassett's confirmation hearing, he expertly
fielded questions on a wide range of economic issues and provided
insights on progrowth policies that would support all members of the
economy. In my office, we discussed at length his extensive experience
in economic and tax policy modeling.
Mr. Hassett brings a wealth of relevant experience in academia,
government, and policy. His counsel, insight, and expertise will be
invaluable as the administration addresses initiatives like tax reform,
which undoubtedly will have a large impact on the macro economy.
Thank you.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to support the nomination of
Dr. Kevin Hassett to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Kevin is exceptionally qualified to be Chairman of the CEA, where he
will play an integral role in tax reform and shaping this
administration's progrowth economic policies.
I have known Kevin for quite some--beginning when he served as the
chief economic adviser to my Presidential campaign in 2000. The only
time I have doubted his intellect was when he agreed to return to
advise for my 2008 Presidential campaign.
He has an extensive economic career spanning multiple
administrations, including those of Presidents Clinton and George H.W.
Bush. Currently, Kevin works at the American Enterprise Institute, AEI,
as the State Farm James Q. Wilson Chair in American Politics and
Culture and director of Research for Domestic Policy. Before joining
AEI, Kevin served as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve and did
a stint at Columbia Business School teaching economics and finance.
To understand fully how smart he is, Kevin's former colleague told me
the story of how he printed out a 400-plus page technical paper at the
request of Kevin, only to realize he had printed out the original
German version rather than an English translation. Without batting an
eye, Kevin said ``no problem'' and went about reading the scholarly
report in German.
Kevin's nomination has received support from an ideologically diverse
group of notable economists, including past CEA Chairmen. Additionally,
the Senate Banking Committee approved his nomination by voice vote.
I am pleased to support Kevin's nomination today. I wish him, his
lovely wife, Kristie, and their sons, John and Jamie, all of the best
in this new chapter of their lives.
Mr. BROWN. 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. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
All time has expired.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Hassett
nomination?
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Florida (Mr. Rubio).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio)
would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr.
Menendez) and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson) are necessarily
absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 81, nays 16, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 194 Ex.]
YEAS--81
Alexander
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blunt
Boozman
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Donnelly
Durbin
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Franken
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hassan
Hatch
Heitkamp
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Paul
Perdue
Peters
Portman
Reed
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Sasse
Scott
Shaheen
Shelby
Stabenow
Strange
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Van Hollen
Warner
Whitehouse
Wicker
Young
NAYS--16
Blumenthal
Booker
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Gillibrand
Harris
Heinrich
Hirono
Markey
Merkley
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Udall
Warren
Wyden
NOT VOTING--3
Menendez
Nelson
Rubio
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
____________________