[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 203 (Wednesday, December 13, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7986-S7987]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Republican Tax Bill

  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, we are in the middle of a historically 
important debate here in Washington. Republicans have hatched a 
partisan proposal behind closed doors that would shovel a trillion 
dollars in tax giveaways to giant corporations and the wealthy while 
undermining the healthcare and raising taxes for millions of middle-
class families. If it passes, it could affect the lives of every single 
American for an entire generation.
  Now, last night, the people of Alabama elected a new Senator to 
represent them here in Washington. So now Republicans who control the 
Senate face a choice. Will they allow Senator-elect Doug Jones to take 
his seat among his colleagues before a final vote on their tax plan?
  We actually know something about that kind of choice in my home State 
of Massachusetts. On January 19, 2010, Massachusetts elected a new 
Senator to represent them here in Washington. The result was just as 
shocking to Democrats as last night's result was to Republicans. It 
also came when we were in the middle of another historically important 
policy debate here in Washington--healthcare. A lot of people thought 
Democrats should ram through the final version of their bill in 
Congress before Brown could be seated.
  Now, I could stand here and read you quote after quote after quote 
from Republicans, who now control the Senate, talking about how unfair 
that would be, how corrupt that would be, and how anti-democratic that 
would be. I could go on and on about how today's Senate majority 
leader, Mitch McConnell, said this would be gamesmanship, but I am 
going to talk about what Democrats actually did.
  Democrats rejected the idea of ramming through the bill before Brown 
could take his seat in the Senate. Almost immediately, Jim Webb, a 
Democratic Senator from Virginia, called for a suspension of any 
healthcare vote until after Brown arrived. The day after the 
Massachusetts election, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said 
publicly: ``We're going to wait until the new Senator arrives until we 
do anything more on health care.''
  Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry held a joint press 
conference with Republican Scott Brown that same week, where he said:

       Seating Scott Brown as expeditiously as possible is 
     important. We want to respect the election results. And 
     nobody wants to delay this process.

  President Obama, whose entire healthcare agenda was on the line, said 
this:

       Here's one thing I know and I just want to make sure that 
     this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn't try to 
     jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated. People in 
     Massachusetts spoke. He's got to be part of that process.

  Now, this wasn't an easy decision. Waiting for Brown slowed down the 
adoption of healthcare for 2 additional months. More importantly, it 
meant Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority and, as a 
consequence, the final bill couldn't achieve nearly as much as 
Democrats had hoped for, but we did it anyway.
  We did it because democracy matters, even when it means it might slow 
down a President's agenda. Democracy matters, even when a Senate seat 
held for decades by a liberal lion is taken over by a 
conservative. Democracy matters, especially when it is inconvenient.

  If we are honest, we know that there hasn't been a lot of democracy 
around this tax bill. This is a bill that was written and rewritten in 
the dead of night, behind closed doors. It is filled with errors and 
unintended consequences. It is animated by a rotten

[[Page S7987]]

wealth transfer from millions of hard-working Americans to a handful of 
corporations and billionaires.
  But up until now, we have at least respected the principle that each 
State gets to pick its Senators, and those Senators get to vote for or 
against the final product. This afternoon, we are being told that 
Republicans have a final tax deal. Nobody has seen it, but we could be 
voting on it in the next couple of days. There is no reason to ram 
through that kind of massive restructuring of our economic system 
before Alabama gets its new Senator unless Republicans are concerned 
that their deal won't withstand a couple of more weeks of public 
scrutiny.
  The election of Doug Jones will not change which party controls the 
Senate. The election of Doug Jones will not give him or Democrats the 
power to block the tax bill or any other piece of legislation, but it 
will respect the people of Alabama and their choice. It should happen 
before any more tax votes take place in the Senate.