[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the good news about tax reform continues to 
roll in--wage increases, better benefits, increased investment, and 
employee bonuses. So far, more than 250 companies have announced good 
news for their employees--pay hikes, increased retirement 
contributions, or bonuses, and the list continues to grow.
  Last week, JPMorgan Chase, Disney, Starbucks, and FedEx all announced 
increased investment in American workers. JPMorgan Chase announced that 
it will raise wages for 22,000 workers, add thousands of new jobs, and 
open 400 new branches in the United States. It also plans to increase 
its lending to small businesses. Disney will invest in employees' 
education and provide employee bonuses. Starbucks is raising wages, 
increasing benefits, and rewarding employees with company stock. FedEx 
announced plans to expedite raises and invest $1.5 billion to expand 
its FedEx Express hub in Indianapolis. It is also making a $1.5 billion 
contribution to its pension plan. To top it off, yesterday ExxonMobil 
announced that, thanks in part to tax reform, it will invest an 
additional $35 billion into the U.S. economy over the next 5 years. 
That means a lot of new jobs and opportunities for American workers.
  Stories like this are why we made business tax reform a key part of 
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Obviously, a huge priority was immediately 
lowering Americans' tax bills, which is why we lowered rates across the 
board, nearly doubled the standard deduction, and doubled the child tax 
credit. But our other priority was creating the kind of economy in 
which Americans can thrive for the long-term--an economy that would 
create good jobs, higher wages, and more opportunities.
  So how do we go about doing that? Well, the only way for individual 
Americans to thrive is for American businesses and the American economy 
to thrive. So we took action to improve the situation for American 
businesses.
  Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, American businesses, large and 
small, were weighed down by high tax rates and growth-killing tax 
provisions. Plus, our outdated international tax rules left America's 
global businesses at a competitive disadvantage in the global economy.
  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed all that. We lowered tax rates 
across the board for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, 
farms, and ranches. We expanded the business owners' ability to recover 
investments they make in their businesses, which will free up cash that 
they can reinvest in their operations and their workers.
  We lowered our Nation's massive corporate tax rate, which up until 
January 1 was the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. We 
brought the U.S. international tax system into the 21st century by 
replacing our outdated worldwide system with a modernized territorial 
tax system so that American businesses are not operating at a 
disadvantage next to their foreign counterparts. Now, just a month into 
the new tax law, we are already seeing the results.
  Thanks to the new tax law, businesses are seeing a future of growth, 
and based on those forecasts, they are making plans to invest in their 
workers, raise wages, create new jobs, and invest in the American 
economy: AT&T, Boeing, Fiat Chrysler, Bank of America, Home Depot, 
Great Western Bank in my State of South Dakota, First Hawaiian Bank, 
SunTrust Bank, Comcast, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Humana, 
Visa, Nationwide Insurance, JetBlue Airlines. The list of companies 
announcing good news for American workers thanks to tax reform goes on 
and on and on.
  Tech giant Apple announced that as a result of tax reform, it will 
bring home almost $250 billion in cash that it has been keeping 
overseas and invest it here in the United States. That is good news for 
the American economy, and it is a direct result of the Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act.
  Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, our Tax Code encouraged American 
businesses to keep cash overseas. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ended that. 
Now that we have altered the Tax Code to remove the penalty for 
bringing profits home to the United States, we can expect to see more 
companies bringing profits home and investing in the U.S. economy the 
way that Apple is doing.
  We have seen a tremendous amount of good news this month, but it 
really is only the beginning. As the benefits of tax reform continue to 
sink in, we expect to see more growth, more jobs, and more 
opportunities for American workers, and we expect to see the kind of 
economy that will provide security and prosperity for Americans for the 
long term.
  I yield the floor.

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