[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S557-S558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this evening, President Trump will 
deliver his first State of the Union Address. As tens of millions of 
Americans tune in, he will continue a time-honored tradition by taking 
stock of the past year and laying out his vision for the future.
  For anyone who has been reading the headlines over the last year and 
paying attention to the issues that directly impact middle-class 
families, the state of our Union will not come as a surprise.
  Unemployment is low and consumer confidence is high. The news is 
packed with all the pay raises, special bonuses, expanded benefits, and 
new investments that are flowing into American households and 
communities because of a landmark tax reform law that Congress passed 
and the President signed in December.
  Hundreds of companies have announced that a more competitive tax code 
is allowing them to quickly ramp up the amount they can invest in their 
own American workers. This includes some of our country's largest 
employers.
  Walmart is increasing its starting wage for all hourly associates, 
expanding maternity and parental leave, and giving $1,000 bonuses to 
its own employees. Disney, AT&T, and Bank of America are giving $1,000 
tax reform bonuses to more than 100,000 workers each. The list goes on. 
It is not just the big guys who are benefiting.
  Yesterday afternoon, here on the floor, I talked about Verst 
Logistics in Walton, KY, which paid its full-time workers bonuses as a 
result of tax reform. I shared the story of a woman who works for 
Verst. She fought back tears as she explained what this bonus would do 
for her family. Money had gotten tight around the holidays, but while 
she and her husband had saved enough to give their five children a 
merry Christmas, mom and dad were planning to go without gifts of their 
own. But because Congress seized this opportunity to modernize our Tax 
Code, she got her very own tax reform bonus. With that extra money she 
and her husband were able to buy each other Christmas presents after 
all and enjoy a nice dinner out, to boot.
  I can share these stories all day. I am so proud that Congress and 
the President teamed up to take money out of Washington's pocket and 
put it back in the pockets of hard-working Americans who earned it.
  Some of our Democratic colleagues don't seem to feel that way. They 
all voted against a law that would raise take-home pay for American 
families, who have spent a decade struggling not just to get ahead but 
oftentimes to simply stay afloat. Several have made news in recent days 
by scoffing at these bonuses, pay raises, and new benefits.
  My friends the Democratic leaders in both the Senate and the House 
have both used the word ``crumbs''--``crumbs.'' One of their 
colleagues, the former chair of the DNC, said she doesn't think $1,000 
``goes very far for almost anyone.'' So $1,000 doesn't go far for 
almost anyone? That might be true in New York or San Francisco, but it 
sure isn't true in Kentucky. I think taking that argument to most 
kitchen tables would get you laughed out of the room.
  Of course, the immediate raises, bonuses, and worker benefits are far 
from the whole story. Tax reform will also deliver direct relief to 
middle-class families across America by cutting our tax rates and 
doubling the standard deduction.
  A typical family of four earning a median income will get to keep 
more than $2,000 of their own money that they would have otherwise sent 
to the IRS next year.
  Furthermore, the law repeals ObamaCare's punitive individual mandate 
tax, and soon many Americans are likely to see lower utility rates as 
utility companies pass along their savings to consumers.
  Just yesterday, two major Kentucky utilities asked the Kentucky 
Public Service Commission for permission to pass $180 million in tax 
reform savings on to their customers, which could lower their bills 
this year. That is particularly important to low-income families, 
because paying their utility

[[Page S558]]

bill is a big percentage of any of their take-home pay.
  We are already seeing early signs that tax reform will create an 
environment where wages will be higher and opportunity will be more 
abundant for years, even decades, to come.
  President Trump and Republicans in Congress understand that when you 
make America a more attractive place to invest and create jobs, you are 
helping American families and communities.
  We understand that the myth of an ``us versus them'' economy, where 
employers must lose for workers to win, is nothing more than a divisive 
political talking point with no basis in economics. That is why we 
seized this generational opportunity to provide a 21st century tax code 
that will give our country a fairer fight with our competitors 
overseas. We are already seeing new factories announced and new 
investments pouring into our country as a result.
  Tax reform is far from the only way this President and this Congress 
have gone to bat for the future of our country. We have taken a machete 
to the forest of redtape that the Obama administration left behind.
  To name just three examples, Congress and the White House have teamed 
up to roll back regulations that threatened hundreds of thousands of 
coal jobs, required States to give grants to Planned Parenthood, and 
had needlessly blocked oil exploration in a small portion of Federal 
land in Alaska.
  After the Senate confirmed President Trump's Cabinet, from Secretary 
Mattis at the Pentagon to Administrator Pruitt at the EPA, these fine 
officials have notched achievement after achievement for the American 
people, laying the groundwork for a stronger and safer nation.
  We have made major progress for American veterans, like Cpl Matthew 
Bradford of Central Kentucky, a true American hero who will be 
attending tonight as a guest of the First Lady.
  Congress has passed and the President has signed laws that will help 
our veterans access the healthcare options they need and the employment 
training programs they deserve. We have much more to do for our heroes, 
but these first steps are indeed promising.
  We have taken big steps in the war against addiction and the scourge 
of opioids, an issue that is deeply personal for far, far too many 
American families.
  In just his first year in office, the President has begun to 
transform the Federal judiciary. President Trump had more new circuit 
court judges confirmed in his first year than any prior President, a 
testimony to the fine quality of the nominees he sends here to the 
Senate, and we will vote to confirm another excellent judge later 
today. And the President rose to the occasion of a Supreme Court 
vacancy by filling it with a brilliant and experienced jurist in 
Justice Gorsuch.
  On all of these fronts--from middle-class Americans' pocketbooks to 
the ongoing fight against ISIL--there is more good news than I can 
begin to recite this morning.
  I very much look forward to attending the State of the Union tonight 
and hearing from our President. On behalf of all the Americans we 
represent--men and women from coast to coast who are seeing the economy 
turn around and their country grow stronger before their eyes--I am 
glad there will be so much to applaud.

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