[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 172 (Wednesday, October 25, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, as the Senate irons out the details of 
our comprehensive tax reform plan to get the American economy back on 
track, I want to draw attention today to what I believe is one of the 
greatest obstacles in our path as we pursue 3-percent annual growth. 
That obstacle I am referring to is our aging national infrastructure: 
our roads, our bridges, our airports, our water systems, our sewage 
systems, and our waterways that desperately need dredging, especially 
in my State.
  If our tax plan is going to be pro-growth, then we need to take 
advantage of this once-in-a-generation chance to use Federal revenues 
to invest meaningfully in our economy. Allow me to explain what I mean 
by that. Federal investment in our roads, our bridges, our railways, 
and our waterways would be a shot in the arm for the American economy. 
It would pay dividends for decades. Companies need good roads and 
bridges and shipping channels to transport their products and to ensure 
that they aren't sitting in traffic for hours--sometimes it seems like 
days--which eats away at profits and raises costs for our people. But 
for too long, Washington's spending priorities have been to grow the 
Federal bureaucracy instead of growing our capacity for economic 
expansion and development through infrastructure upgrades. We know the 
result. Our Department of Transportation now estimates that we have a 
backlog of construction and repairs that would cost $926 billion to 
clear. It would cost nearly a trillion dollars, and that is just the 
backlog.
  I have a simple solution that I would respectfully suggest to get us 
back on track. According to the Congressional Research Service, $2.6 
trillion in corporate profits made by American companies are parked 
overseas, and some outside estimates say $4 or $5 trillion. This money 
is overseas, and it will not be brought back to America as long as our 
antiquated corporate tax system is going to charge those American 
companies 35 percent in tax just to bring them back.
  Congress is already discussing repatriation as a part of the move to 
a territorial tax system, which would use a competitive tax rate to 
encourage companies to bring their dollars back to the United States 
and keep them here and invest them here in American products and 
American businesses and American employees.
  When tax reform passes--and it will--and we get a one-time surge in 
tax revenue as a result of this $3 to $5 trillion being brought back to 
the United States, we are going to get only one chance to spend that 
money wisely. Instead of blowing those repatriated dollars on an 
already bloated Federal bureaucracy, we ought to invest that money 
solely and exclusively in desperately needed infrastructure upgrades. 
Even a one-time target investment in clearing the industrial backlog 
will create jobs and stimulate the economy for decades.
  Let's face it, too many of American roads today are axle-breaking 
insults to the 21st century. They are holding our economy back.
  Let me be clear. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars 
flowing into infrastructure if we just make good use of those 
repatriated dollars. For example, just in my State of Louisiana, this 
could mean building a new bridge through Lake Charles. It could mean 
widening the interstate in Baton Rouge. It could mean closing the gaps 
in I-49 between Lafayette and Shreveport and New Orleans. We have 
neglected our highways and bridges for far too long, and this is our 
chance to use tax reform to catch up, to boost our international 
competitiveness, to lower costs for consumers, and to put our economy 
back on track to 3 percent-plus growth, which the American people 
expect and deserve.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.