[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 187 (Wednesday, November 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7245-S7246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Republican Tax Plan

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I came to the floor yesterday to speak on 
the devastating impact the Republican tax plan would have on working 
families in my home State of Illinois and other States across the 
Nation.
  It is no secret that the Republican plan would finance massive tax 
cuts for the wealthiest people in America. They just can't help 
themselves. Every time they look at the Tax Code, they think there has 
to be a way to help the wealthiest people in our country. They usually 
look at the estate tax, which is paid for by 1 out of every 1,000 
Americans, and say: We have just got to spare these poor people who 
have a net worth of over $11 million from paying any taxes to the 
government. We have to spare them from paying this government for the 
benefit that this great Nation has brought to them and their families 
and businesses. That is where they start.
  Then they do the alternative minimum tax, which is a tax that was 
created so that if your accountants and bookkeepers and lawyers are the 
sharpest on Earth and ended up finding that you had no tax liability, 
you still paid a fair share for sustaining this great Nation that you 
call home. They want to get rid of that, too, or at least dramatically 
modify it.
  They start off with the premise of making these tax cuts for the 
wealthiest people in America the beginning point of tax reform, these 
giveaways to people who are not even asking for them. They can't help 
themselves. They always start there, and the American people know it.
  When you ask the American people, what is this tax reform all about, 
they say it is tax cuts for wealthy people. That is where it always 
starts, and it does when the Republicans are the authors. That is what 
we face again.
  They try to argue that it is going to help working families. It will 
help some--let me be honest about that--and yet you are going to find 
many working families who are going to pay more instead of less because 
of this so-called tax reform. Why would we ever do that?
  Why would we give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America--
permanent tax breaks--and then turn around and say to working families: 
Sorry. Some of you will get help, but many of you will not.
  In my home State of Illinois, the elimination of the State and local 
tax exemption is going to be devastating to our State. We are in the 
top five of States where the people in my State who pay income tax, 
sales tax, and property tax can deduct those taxes from their Federal 
income that is subject to taxation.
  That is not a new idea. It has been around for decades. It really is 
premised on the following: Americans should not have to pay tax on a 
tax. If I pay $100 a month, and I pay my local property taxes, I 
shouldn't be taxed on that $100. It is a double hit. It is not fair, 
but the Republican plan believes that is what we should do.
  I will tell the seven Republican Congressmen in my State, they ought 
to go home and ask the people whom they represent what they think about 
this one, the idea of double taxation that they would vote for and go 
home and try to defend. I think it is going to be tough, very tough.
  It is no secret that these tax cuts for the wealthy and large 
corporations will end up raising taxes on a lot of Americans and 
blowing a massive hole in the deficit.
  I am going to quote a fellow who has been retired a few years from 
Congress. His name is Dave Obey. He was a Congressman from Wisconsin. 
Dave Obey used to say over and over again--and I am going to repeat it, 
and I have credited him with it: Too many times politicians are posing 
for holy pictures, but when it comes to the deficit and the debt, many 
of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle pose for holy pictures 
about the national debt whenever there is a Democratic President and 
then get a swift case of amnesia whenever there is a Republican 
President.

[[Page S7246]]

  Here we go again. They are ignoring the reality that the tax cuts 
they are promoting for the wealthiest and biggest corporations are 
going to end up blowing a hole in the deficit--a hole in the deficit, 
which is going to have to be paid for by future generations.
  I used to watch as my Republican colleagues would get red in the face 
talking about our national debt, but that, of course, was under a 
Democratic President. Under a Republican President, it doesn't seem to 
be a major issue. Incidentally, there is a way to plug that hole, and 
somewhere along the way someone slipped and told us what it was.
  If you want to plug the hole of $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to the 
wealthy and big corporations, they propose cutting Medicare benefits 
and Medicaid benefits, cutting the basic health insurance plans that 
seniors and people in low-income categories use. Is that a sound 
policy, to try to patch a hole in the deficit by taking healthcare 
protection away from senior citizens in America--the 40-plus million 
who count on it--or those who are under Medicaid? I think it is not.
  It turns out that Chairman Hatch had a new surprise for us this week. 
At 10:30 p.m. last night, Chairman Orrin Hatch released additional 
changes to this bill, which is evolving before our eyes. It is a bill 
which was not publicly announced until last Friday and is currently 
being debated in the hopes that when we return a week after our 
Thanksgiving recess, we will take it up and vote on it.
  Does it seem like it is a hurried operation? Of course, it is. They 
know that if these bills sit out long enough and people read them and 
consider them, there will be a lot of questions asked that they can't 
answer.
  Chairman Hatch released additional changes to the bill, and they 
decided to fund permanent tax cuts for some corporations. That is a 
high priority for the Republicans--wealthy people, big corporations. So 
how do they pay for permanent tax cuts for the biggest corporations? It 
turns out that in addition to raising taxes on working families, the 
Senate Republican tax bill would also raise health insurance premiums 
on middle-income families. That is right. The Republicans propose that 
their tax bill would also repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act. As a 
result, the Congressional Budget Office tells us that an estimated 13 
to 14 million Americans will lose their health insurance protection 
because of the Republican tax giveaway plan. I thought that plan was 
supposed to help working families. It ends up taking away their health 
insurance.
  For those who can still remain in the market buying health insurance, 
they can anticipate their premiums for health insurance going up 10 
percent. What kind of tax cut is this that ends up raising the cost of 
health insurance for working families and ends up eliminating health 
insurance for many middle-income families?
  I find it hard to believe the satisfaction so many Republicans take 
to be able to boast and brag that they passed a bill that took away 
health insurance for Americans. You are proud of that? I wouldn't be. 
We should be doing the opposite--expanding the reach of health 
insurance, making sure every American has the peace of mind and health 
insurance they need for them and their families.
  Remember when Republicans campaigned on the promise of increasing the 
number of people with insurance and decreasing premiums? This tax bill 
does just the opposite.
  Haven't my Republican colleagues learned the lessons of the ACA--
Affordable Care Act--repeal by now? We spent the whole year in a vain 
effort by the Republicans to repeal and barely replace. The American 
people don't want it. Overwhelmingly, they are against it.
  My hospitals in Illinois and across this Nation don't want what the 
Republicans are proposing in their bill. Patients don't want it. Nurses 
don't want it. Clinics don't want it. The disabled community doesn't 
want it. The Republicans are determined to do it anyway.
  Senior leaders are against it, faith leaders are against it, the 
American people are against it, but this is going to be the feather in 
the cap for the Republican majority; that by the end of this year, they 
hope to pass a tax reform bill that is going to give tax breaks to the 
wealthiest, give a permanent tax break to the biggest corporations, 
make the middle-income families pay for it, eliminate 13 to 14 million 
Americans' health insurance, and raise their premiums. What a package. 
You have to work overtime to put together a package that damaging to 
working families in America, but that is what they are pushing. That is 
what they are determined to do.