[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 186 (Tuesday, November 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7187-S7188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Republican Tax Plan

  Mr. President, this week, Republicans in Congress are determined to 
barrel ahead at full speed in a rushed, partisan effort to pass a tax 
plan at any cost. Make no mistake, for working families in Illinois and 
across the United States, this is a mistake.
  Preliminary analysis from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation 
revealed that by 2019, more than 13 million Americans who make less 
than $200,000 a year will experience not a tax cut but a tax increase 
under the Senate Republican plan. That number jumps from 13 million to 
21 million by the year 2025.
  In my State of Illinois, taxpayers at every income bracket are going 
to see their taxes increase for this tax reform that is being pushed 
through at the last minute of this session.
  Fourteen percent of the middle fifth of taxpayers in Illinois--those 
who are the very definition of middle income--will see an average tax 
hike under the Senate plan of $1,400. So much for a tax cut. It is a 
tax increase. Mr. President, I don't know about taxpayers in your 
State, but in my home State of Illinois, a $1,400 tax hike is a gut 
punch to a working family.
  That is not all. Further analysis from the Center on Budget and 
Policy Priorities shows that in addition to the millions of households 
which will see their taxes rise under this Senate Republican plan, 53 
million households--that is 40 percent of all households earning less 
than $200,000 per year--will see no significant tax change under the 
new plan.
  Let's be clear. If you are a middle-income family listening to that 
and you are thinking you might want to take your chances under this 
Republican plan, please look at the facts. Even if you are one of the 
lucky ones who manage not to pay more under the Republican tax plan, 
make no mistake, when this plan blows a $1.5 trillion hole in our 
Nation's deficit, it will be working families who end up paying the 
bill.
  When Republicans' fake math indeed falls short and the deficit is 
skyrocketing, the Republican budget has already identified how they are 
going to pay for these tax cuts in the future. Are you ready? They are 
going to do it with an additional $470 billion in cuts in Medicare 
benefits--Medicare. They are paying for a tax cut for wealthy people by 
reducing the benefits paid out under Medicare to retired Americans and 
another $1 trillion cuts in Medicaid. Remember Medicaid? That is the 
program where the major expense is to maintain the lives and health of 
two-thirds of Americans who are in nursing homes.
  So the Republicans want to give a tax break to the wealthy. They are 
going to ask seniors who are retired to pay more or receive less from 
Medicare and make a dramatic cut in Medicaid as well. There is no 
hiding. Congressional Republicans have made clear that one way or 
another, working families in America are going to pay for what they 
call tax reform. At the heart of the Republican playbook for how to 
bankroll massive tax cuts for the wealthy few and the largest 
corporations is the elimination of three vital tax breaks for working 
families.
  The House Republican plan will be voted on this week. They are dead 
set to get this done in a matter of days, and they are going to 
eliminate in the House plan the medical expense deduction. What does 
that mean? It means, if someone in your family is diagnosed with a 
serious illness--God forbid, cancer or whatever it is--and your family 
ends up incurring massive debts, making sure that person survives, if 
you incur those debts, you currently can deduct them from your taxes 
that you pay, but the House Republican plan eliminates the deduction.
  In my State of Illinois, 370,000 or more used the medical expense 
deduction. Their medical bills are that high. The Republicans in the 
House eliminate that deduction. That isn't going to help working 
families. It puts them at risk of bankruptcy. The No. 1 reason for 
bankruptcy in America is medical bills. The House Republican tax plan 
makes it tougher. More than 370,000 Illinoisans claim an average of a 
$10,000 deduction for medical expenses, for hospital care, long-term 
nursing home care, prescription drug costs. That is just wrong.
  There is more. The House plan also eliminates the student loan 
interest deduction. Think about that for a second. Here, we have 1.5 
million young people in Illinois paying off student loans. You know 
what they face: $20,000, $40,000, $60,000, $80,000 in debt. Some of 
them are still living in their parents' basement because of their 
student loans. We give them one little break. You know what it is? The 
deductibility on the interest on student loans, and yet here comes the 
Republicans to eliminate that deduction.
  Why would we ever want to make it harder for these students and their 
families to pay off that mountain of debt that they incur going to 
college? But that is part of the so-called Republican tax reform.
  They also include the one provision I know my colleague from New 
York, the Democratic leader, feels very intensely about because our 
States share the same problem. This compromise proposed in the Senate 
eliminates the State and local property tax deduction for State income 
tax, sales tax, and property tax currently in New York and Illinois and 
many other States. We hold to the basic principle, Americans should not 
have to pay a tax on a tax.
  Unfortunately, the Republicans in the Senate believe they want to 
change that. The net result of that is to increase dramatically the 
burden so many taxpaying families already face. We have seen increases 
in our State income tax. We face regular increases in property taxes. 
This is the one deduction that gives these families a little bit of 
help, and Republicans are eliminating it.
  It was a week ago when I had a press conference with the Realtors in 
my State and the homebuilders, who are dramatically opposed to the 
elimination of this deduction and other changes that are being made 
when it comes to purchasing homes and homeownership. They have told me: 
If you want real economic growth in Illinois or any State, you start 
with people who are building and buying homes. Sadly, the Republican 
approach, when it comes to tax reform, refuses to take that into 
consideration.
  We need to stand up for working families in our States of Illinois 
and New York and across this Nation. This tax reform plan that has been 
proposed by the Republicans, who are determined to get it done in just 
a matter of a few

[[Page S7188]]

days, is going to be damaging to so many, and it is not going to help 
America grow. Middle-income families are going to pay for the cost of 
giveaways to the wealthiest taxpayers in America.
  I yield the floor.