[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 196 (Friday, December 1, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7712-S7714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tax Cuts and Jobs Bill

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, earlier this week, I said it was historic 
that we began the consideration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Today is 
even more

[[Page S7713]]

significant because we are one step closer to enacting that bill.
  The chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Hatch, has called this 
a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I agree.
  As an accountant, one of my goals when I came to the Senate in 1996 
was to serve on the Finance Committee. When I joined the committee in 
2009, I said that positive, pro-growth changes to our tax policy could 
help us out of the economic downturn. I believe this bill makes those 
types of changes and will jump-start our economy.
  This week, 137 economists agreed with that assessment. In a letter to 
Senators and Representatives, these economists wrote: ``Economic growth 
will accelerate if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passes, leading to more 
jobs, higher wages, and a better standard of living for the American 
people.''
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle dispute that analysis. 
But after a decade of below-average growth and official projections 
showing real economic growth will average less than 2 percent annually 
over the next decade, isn't it time that we tried something new?
  Some of my colleagues have also suggested that this bill hasn't gone 
through regular order. I have already reminded folks of the 70 tax 
hearings in the Senate Finance Committee held over the last 6 years, 
but that isn't all we have done. In the last Congress, Chairman Hatch 
organized five bipartisan groups to propose changes to the Tax Code. I 
was party to those groups, which made many recommendations that have 
informed this package. I would say that those working groups were also 
bipartisan.
  While I don't sit on the Energy Committee, I understand that Chairman 
Murkowski led a similarly robust process. The issue of oil and gas 
exploration and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has 
been an issue since before I was a Senator. We have been considering 
and debating the matter for years. This year alone, Senator Murkowski 
has introduced a bill, held a hearing, and then marked up legislation 
on this issue. Now the bill that is a product of the Finance and Energy 
Committee's efforts is on the floor.
  We have not bypassed committees. We have not filled the tree. We have 
not cut off debate by filing cloture, which was a common practice in 
recent years. I think this is as open and transparent a process as I 
have seen in many years, and I appreciate the leader, I appreciate 
Chairman Hatch, and I appreciate Chairman Murkowski for their work to 
make that happen.
  I also want to thank my Budget Committee staff for their work on this 
bill. In particular, I want to thank my staff director, Betsy 
McDonnell, who has done a remarkable job shepherding both the budget 
resolution and reconciliation bill through the committee and on the 
floor. She has been new to that position. She has been in a number of 
positions in the Senate that trained her well to be able to do that, 
and she did a marvelous job.
  I also want to thank her team: Matt Giroux, Paul Vinovich, Becky 
Cole, Thomas Fuller, Elizabeth Keys, Joe Brenckle, Jim Neill, Steve 
Robinson, Greg D'Angelo, Tom Borck, Rick Berger, Jeremy Dalrymple, 
David Ditch, Susan Eckerly, Alison McGuire, Will Morris, Steve 
Townsend, Kelsie Wendelberger, and Eric Ueland.
  I would like to thank my personal office staff who worked hard on the 
tax provisions in this package and kept all of my other issues going at 
the same time. Particularly, I want to thank Bart Massey, who is a CPA 
and who has been my special person to work on these finance issues with 
me for more than 3 years.
  I also want to thank Tara Shaw, my chief of staff, who had to put 
together a new staff because a lot of good people I had were taken to 
the administration and to the Budget Committee. She did a marvelous job 
on that.
  Landon Stropko is the legislative director, and he has coordinated 
well. I thank Liz Schwartz, Natalia Riggin, Aniela Butler, Charlie 
Carroll, Shawna Newsome, Garnett Decosimo, Chris Lydon, Aron Wehr, 
Dylan Mitchell, Coy Knobel, Max D'Onofrio, Rachel Vliem, and the rest 
of my Wyoming team that worked out in Wyoming collecting the 
information and doing casework out there while we got this work done.
  I thank the Budget Committee's bipartisan staff: Kim Proctor, Katie 
Smith, George Woodall, Grace Bruno, and Kevin Walsh, as well as Celina 
Inman, who has been on loan to us from the Government Publishing 
Office.
  We have also been supported by the great work of our leadership, the 
floor, and the cloakroom staff. Specific thanks are owed to Sharon 
Soderstrom, Hazen Marshall, Jane Lee, Brandon Dunn in the leader's 
office, Monica Popp, John Chapuis, Emily Kirlin, Sam Beaver, Jody 
Wright, and Noah McCullough in the whip's office and especially Laura 
Dove, who coordinates all of this activity on the floor and who knows 
the rules backward and forward and is able to give good advice--some 
very definite advice sometimes but always helpful advice--and Robert 
Duncan, Chris Tuck, Megan Mercer, Tony Hanagan, Mike Smith, Katherine 
Kilroy, and Chloe Barz in the cloakroom.
  I would really be remiss if we didn't thank the Senate 
Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, and her team: Leigh Hilderbrand, 
Michael Beaver, and Allison Markoski. Reconciliation bills are subject 
to special rules and procedures, and I know they have given up a lot of 
their nights and their weekends, as well as their regular job time, to 
work in detail on this product. People wouldn't even realize the file 
cabinets full of precedents that they have to search through as they 
listen to both sides make cases about what can and can't be in a budget 
reconciliation bill.
  There are also many other staffers who deserve to be thanked for 
their work on this product, including the entire Finance and Energy 
Committee staffs, but in the interest of time, I will just say that I 
appreciate them and look forward to working with all of them to help 
finish enacting this bill that will benefit hard-working Americans and 
make our economy and country stronger.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, with passage of this bill, we are another 
step closer to providing real tax relief to the middle class and 
providing a much-needed boost to our economy.
  Today's events have been years in the making. This has been my chief 
legislative focus for many years, and it has been a priority for many 
of my colleagues as well, including some that are no longer serving. I 
am talking, of course, about people like Dave Camp and Senator Max 
Baucus, who did a lot to move this effort forward. I feel gratified to 
have been here and to have worked with my colleagues to get this far.
  As efforts this year began earnest, we set out to give low- and 
middle-income Americans some much-needed relief and to give our country 
an opportunity to compete in the global economy.
  This bill will do that. With passage of this bill, American families 
will have bigger paychecks and better wages. Our employers will have 
more favorable conditions to invest in expansion, grow their 
businesses, and create more jobs right here in the United States.
  So many people both in and out of Congress have worked hard to get us 
to this point, and I want to express my appreciation for their efforts. 
Of course, I can't thank everyone in a single floor speech, but I do 
want to thank some who may be within earshot at the moment.
  First and foremost, I want to thank the members of the Senate Finance 
Committee, who put in countless days, weeks, and months in preparing 
this legislation and helping to get it passed. All of our majority 
members contributed greatly to this process, and I am most grateful.
  I also want to thank the distinguished majority leader who also did 
so much to secure the details of the bill and shepherd it through the 
Senate.
  I want to thank Chairman Brady and Speaker Ryan over in the House of 
Representatives. They, too, have been great partners in this endeavor.
  Of course, I need to thank Secretary Mnuchin and Director Cohn for 
their commitment to this effort and their help in getting it done.
  I want to thank the staff of the Finance Committee, who have done so 
much of the heavy lifting here. I need to single out Mark Prater, my 
chief tax counsel, who has served the committee

[[Page S7714]]

for decades now and whose knowledge and expertise on these matters is 
recognized by everyone here and pretty much everyone everywhere else. 
Thank you, as well, to the rest of my committee tax staff: Jennifer 
Acuna, Tony Coughlan, Christopher Hanna, Alex Monie, Eric Oman, Marty 
Pippins, Preston Rutledge, and Nick Wyatt.
  I need to thank my staff director, Jay Khosla, who quarterbacked the 
staff through this whole ordeal and who has spent many years with me as 
we have laid the groundwork and started construction on this 
undertaking. I want to thank the other members of my senior team as 
well, including Matt Hoffman, Jeff Wrase, Julia Lawless, Jennifer 
Kuskowski, Chris Armstrong, and Bryan Hickman. I need to thank the 
communications staff on the committee: Katie Niederee, Nicole Hager, 
and Joshua Blume.
  I also need to thank a couple of former staff members. Chris 
Campbell, my former staff director, worked for years on this effort, 
and while, he is now at Treasury, I am sure he is celebrating on his 
own today. I would also like to give a thank you to Jim Lyons, my tax 
counsel who, unfortunately, passed away a little over a year ago. He 
contributed greatly to this effort for a number of years, and his 
steady presence has definitely been missed.
  Beyond my own staff, I want to thank the tax legislative assistants 
from each of the committee members who helped to craft this bill, 
namely, Chris Allen, Sam Beaver, Joseph Boddicker, Chris Conlin, Shay 
Hawkins, Randy Herndon, Bart Massey, Monica McGuire, Mike Quickel, 
Zacshary Rudisill, Andrew Siracuse, Robert Sneeden, Derek Theurer, and 
Mark Warren, all of whom did an outstanding job in helping us to 
produce this bill.
  I also want to thank the committee's legislative directors: Charles 
Cogar, Ken Flanz, Chris Gillott, Brad Grantz, Amber Kirchhoefer, Kurt 
Kovarik, Jessica McBride, Sarah Paul, Landon Stropko, Jay Sulzmann, 
Stephen Tausend, Pam Thiessen, and Christopher Toppings.
  I also need to thank the staff from the leader's office, including 
Brendan Dunn, Antonia Ferrier, Hazen Marshall, Erica Suares, Terry Van 
Doren, Don Stewart, and Jane Lee.
  This process has been a joint effort with our friends on the Budget 
Committee, and I need to thank Senator Enzi, once again, for his 
leadership on that committee to give us the reconciliation instruction 
that made this possible. Additionally, I would like to thank members of 
his staff, including: Joe Brenckle, Jim Neill, Betsy McDonnell, Matt 
Giroux, Paul Vinovich, Becky Cole, Eric Ueland, Thomas Fueller, and the 
rest of the Budget Committee team.
  Other bodies deserve our thanks as well. Tom Barthold and his team at 
the Joint Committee on Taxation made themselves available at all hours 
to help us get the bill written and ready to pass. As did the staff at 
the legislative counsel's office, led by Mark McGunagle and Jim Fransen 
and their whole team and those who work with Elizabeth McDounagh in the 
Parliamentarian's office.
  There are too many people to thank in a single floor speech, but, I 
am very grateful for the countless individuals who have in this 
endeavor over the years. We are not there yet, but we are getting 
closer.
  I look forward to moving this effort through the next steps and to 
working with my colleagues on other challenges that lie ahead.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

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