[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 14, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S930]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on one final matter, for 8 years under 
President Obama, our economy didn't perform as well as it should have. 
America's wages and salaries hardly grew. Many job creators sat on the 
sidelines, wary of new tax increases or heavy-handed regulations. 
Washington had its foot on the brake. Last year, all that changed.
  President Trump and this Republican Congress set out to make life 
easier for workers and for job creators. We cut regulations and passed 
tax reform to give middle-class families immediate relief and set the 
stage for more hiring and more wage growth in the years ahead.
  I recently heard from a small family-owned inland river shipyard in 
Ashland, KY, along the Ohio River. They build and repair commercial 
barges. Here is what their president wrote. He said: ``Thanks to the 
tax change and optimism of our customers, we are at long last able to 
replace equipment which has been used way past [its] life expectancy 
and possibly add two more production workers.''
  Last week a Louisville employer dropped by to tell me how he is using 
his tax reform savings: $1,000 bonuses for more than 100 Kentucky 
employees.
  Small companies and big business alike are thrilled that they finally 
have a 21st-century tax code. It makes them more competitive with 
overseas rivals and frees up more money to invest right here at home, 
and middle-class workers are reaping the rewards. Major national 
companies like Pfizer and Home Depot, which together employ more than 
half a million Americans, have announced hundreds of millions of 
dollars in employee bonuses--again, thanks to tax reform.
  Just this week, MetLife announced a major new investment in 50,000-
plus employees. The company is raising its minimum wage, enhancing 
benefits, boosting retirement contributions, and creating a skills 
development fund. In short, MetLife is betting big on U.S. workers, and 
so are the more than 300 other companies that have already announced 
major investments in their employees and in their facilities--right 
here in America, right here, thanks to historic tax reform.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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