[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 18 (Thursday, January 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S509-S511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, we have finally ended this government 
shutdown that was produced and directed by the Democrats in the Senate.
  The reason Democrats decided to take this extreme step and shut down 
the government was because of the narrow issue of illegal immigration. 
They shut down services for citizens of the United States to provide 
services for people who are not citizens of the United States, and the 
Democrats have admitted it was all about this issue of illegal 
immigration.
  There may have been another reason, as well, that Democrats wanted to 
shut down the government, and that was so they could change the subject 
being debated by people, talked about by friends, noticed by Americans, 
and making the headlines. That subject, of course, is the competence 
and optimism in the American economy--by workers, by people who are 
paying taxes, by people who realize how the Republican tax relief 
legislation is going to help improve their lives personally.
  I think the success of the Republican tax relief bill scares a lot of 
Democrats. It scares them because every one of them voted against it. 
They didn't think it was a good idea to let people keep more of their 
hard-earned money. The Democrats thought it was a better idea for 
possibly the government to keep that money and use it and spend it in 
ways many people--certainly in Wyoming--feel is not a good use of that 
money. Families know how to get more value out of their dollars than 
the government ever will. Democrats voted

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against it--the tax cuts that would actually create jobs all across the 
country, and we have seen that job creation occurring. They voted 
against the tax relief that is going to allow money to be brought back 
to America so investments are made in America.
  It was so interesting to listen to Nancy Pelosi--the former Speaker 
of the House and now the minority leader in the House--refer to what we 
were doing in the Senate and in the House as Armageddon. She said it 
was the end of the world. That is what she said.
  The American people, hard-working people, don't believe that at all. 
They believe it is good for them personally. It turns out that people 
who work at more than 200 companies in this country have already gotten 
a raise or some kind of a cash benefit or additional contribution to 
their retirement because of the tax law. That is why all those 
companies said they did it. Over 2 million people have obtained this 
benefit of the tax relief law, and more are going to benefit in the 
years ahead. Millions of Americans are going to start seeing more take-
home pay in their paychecks next month. That is because of this tax 
relief law the Democrats--every one of them--opposed. We are seeing it 
not just with American families; we are seeing it with investments 
coming in from abroad.
  This law has totally changed how we tax the money companies earn that 
sell things to people overseas. This chart goes through it. It used to 
be that when U.S. companies made money somewhere else; they paid taxes 
there. If they wanted to bring it back home, they had to pay taxes 
again, a double taxation. Very few countries do that, but the United 
States was one of them--double taxation. Businesses then had to make a 
decision, had to make a choice. It could bring money back home, pay 
taxes a second time, or keep the money overseas, invest it there, and 
not have to pay that second tax. A lot of companies, looking at the tax 
laws the United States had on the books previously, decided it was too 
much of a penalty to bring that money back home and invest it in the 
American economy. There was something like $2.8 trillion in American 
business that American businesses had been holding in other countries.
  We actually had a tax code that worked to the advantage of foreign 
countries, not to the advantage of the United States. It was locking 
money out, keeping it overseas, keeping it from helping American 
workers at home. That is a very backward way to look at how the Tax 
Code should work. We changed the law when Republicans voted to change 
the tax law, give taxpayers relief. Now the money gets taxed once, not 
twice. It changed the system in America the way most countries around 
the world do it. That means businesses no longer have this warped 
incentive to keep their money out of the United States. It makes it 
much easier for that money to come back from overseas to the United 
States. It is good for America. It is what an America first economy 
looks like. It gets rid of this crazy Tax Code that we had, giving 
other countries an advantage--not anymore.
  The second thing this tax relief law has done is actually cut taxes. 
When American businesses had to pay this second tax, the rates were 
very high--one of the highest in the world. It was adding insult to 
injury. Other countries have actually been cutting taxes for years--not 
the United States, not on our own companies in the United States. Here 
at home, we had one of the highest and most punitive taxes in the 
world. There wasn't a major country in the world where businesses paid 
as high a tax as we did in the United States. Washington was taxing 
companies about 35 percent if they tried to bring home some of the 
profits from overseas. Because of the tax law we passed and President 
Trump has signed, this rate has now dropped to 21 percent--from 35 
percent to 21 percent.
  Now our tax rates are actually below the average of other countries 
around the world. That puts American businesses at a significantly 
stronger position to compete around the world. It puts us at a 
competitive advantage. We got rid of the double taxation system--
Republicans did--when we passed this law, and we cut tax rates 
significantly as well.
  When you put these two things together--cutting the rates, making it 
easier to bring money back to the United States, eliminating this 
double taxation--it is a big help to American workers, to the men and 
women who work in America, as well as the businesses that employ those 
people. Businesses are much more likely now to invest in America, put 
their money back home, in American workers, in the American economy. We 
are seeing it already.

  The tech company Apple recently announced it is increasing 
investments in U.S. operations. They said their total contribution to 
the American economy over the next 5 years will be $350 billion. They 
are planning to bring home as much as $250 billion in money that right 
now is parked overseas. They are talking about employing 20,000 more 
workers, hiring 20,000 more people. They have been letting that money 
sit overseas because of this system that locked the money out. Now, 
with the new tax law, it is going to be much easier to bring this money 
home and invest it in America.
  It is not just Apple. We are seeing it with Fiat Chrysler, with 
Boeing, with AT&T, and with others. They are increasing investment in 
the United States and in the workers at home, and it is all because of 
the tax law the Republicans voted for, and every one of the Democrats 
voted against. It is no surprise that Democrats may have wanted to shut 
down the government to knock off the front page of the paper the 
headlines of the success of the tax law and instead see reports about 
the Democrats shutting down the government.
  It is interesting. There has been so much economic activity after 
this changed that other countries are beginning to become nervous. 
Other countries used to know they had the upper hand over the United 
States when it came to investments in the economy, and they figured the 
United States would never get its act together enough to change the tax 
laws to make us the competitive, thriving economy we know we can be. 
These countries knew the U.S. tax law was working in their favor--not 
anymore.
  Countries like China, the United Kingdom, and Japan are considering 
changing their own taxes in response to what we have done. We are 
leading the way. They are trying to play catchup with their economy. In 
Australia, as a matter of fact, they expect the loss of significant 
amounts of economic activity and growth to the United States because of 
the new tax law. Other countries are running scared because President 
Trump and Republicans in Congress are doing exactly what we promised 
the American people we would do. We are keeping our promises. We are 
putting American workers first. Tax relief is working. It is helping 
hard-working American families. It is creating economic growth. It is 
giving America the competitive edge we deserve because of the work we 
do, and we haven't had it in a long period of time.
  Democrats said it would never happen, during the debate, on the tax 
law. First, they did everything they could to make sure we wouldn't get 
it passed--slowed it down, voted against it, talked against it. They 
were wrong, and now they know they were wrong. They have seen the money 
come back. They have seen the growth in the economy. They have seen the 
number of jobs created. They have seen the growth in wages. They are 
seeing people keeping more of their hard-earned dollars. They see 
people happier. They see a level of confidence and optimism that wasn't 
there in a previous administration.
  The Democrats seem to be trying to change the subject by putting up a 
smokescreen--shutting down the government to avoid and try to deflect 
from the success the Republicans have allowed the American people to 
recognize in themselves because the tax laws have changed, and the 
American people will benefit from it for years to come.
  It is time for the Democrats to give up the games, come to the table, 
join Republicans, and do what we know we need to do, which is put the 
American workers first. It is time for the Democrats to join the 
Republicans and work on behalf of all the American people who have sent 
all of us here in the first place, and we are seeing it now with the 
tax law and the tax relief and the tax cuts that are benefiting people 
all across this country.

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  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.