[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1229-S1230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, tax reform is working. The Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act has been the law of the land for just 2 months, but it is 
already helping American workers.
  When it came time to draft tax reform legislation, we had one 
objective, and that was to make hard-working Americans' lives better. 
To accomplish that, we focused on two important priorities.
  First, we focused on immediately increasing Americans' take-home pay. 
We lowered tax rates across the board, we nearly doubled the standard 
deduction, and we doubled the child tax credit. All of those provisions 
went into effect on January 1, and by the end of this month, according 
to the IRS, 90 percent of the American people should see lower 
paychecks.
  While immediate relief for hard-working Americans was crucial, we 
wanted more than that. We wanted to give the American people access to 
the kinds of jobs and the kinds of wages and opportunities that would 
set them up for long-term security. We wanted to give them the kinds of 
jobs and wages where they wouldn't be forced to choose between sending 
their kids to college and saving for a secure retirement or between 
paying the mortgage or medical bills. So in addition to lowering the 
tax burden on Americans directly, we set about improving the playing 
field for American businesses so that we could make things better for 
American workers.

  Needless to say, in order for American workers to thrive, the 
American economy has to thrive, and that means that American businesses 
have to thrive. It is pretty hard for a small business to hire a new 
worker or to raise wages if the owner can barely pay the tax bill. It 
is unlikely that an American company is going to have a lot of spare 
cash for investing in its workforce if it is struggling to compete with 
foreign companies that are paying far less in taxes. It is unlikely 
that America's global companies are going to focus on reinvesting in 
the United States if they face a tax penalty for bringing foreign 
earnings back home. So 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 lowered tax rates across the board for owners 
of small- and medium-sized businesses, farms, and ranches. We expanded 
business owners' ability to recover investments they make in their 
businesses, which will free up cash that they can reinvest into their 
operations and their workers. 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 competitors.
  The goal in all of this was to free up businesses to increase their 
investments in the American economy and in American workers, and that 
is exactly what businesses are doing. The list of tax reform good news 
keeps growing--wage increases, new jobs, increased investment, bonuses, 
benefit increases, and the list goes on and on.
  Take utility bills. Lower utility bills might not be the first result 
we think of from tax reform, but tax reform is saving utility companies 
money, and they are passing those savings on to consumers.
  Washington, DC, radio station WTOP reports:

       In a flip-flop related to tax reform, [utility company] 
     Pepco now says it wants to cut rates instead of raise them.
       In December and January, the utility announced plans to 
     raise rates in D.C. and Maryland respectively. . . . But the 
     sweeping Federal tax bill signed into law late last year 
     meant a significant tax savings for the utility. As a result, 
     Pepco is now asking the Maryland Public Service Commission to 
     approve a rate cut.

  That is right--they were talking about a rate increase, but now they 
are talking about a rate cut in their utility rates.
  Take this story from the Daily Energy Insider titled ``Federal Tax 
Cut More Than Reverses Eversource Rate Increase in Massachusetts.''
  The Daily Energy Insider:

       Many Eversource Energy electricity customers in 
     Massachusetts who were expecting to see a rate increase this 
     year instead will see a rate reduction because of the recent 
     Federal corporate tax cut.
       ``What was expected to be about a $36 million annual rate 
     increase has turned into a $20 million annual decrease,'' 
     said the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.

  In my home State of South Dakota, Black Hills Energy in Rapid City is 
working with regulators to pass tax savings on to South Dakotans. So 
far, utility companies in at least 39 States are passing tax savings on 
to consumers, and that can be a real help to family budgets. Everybody 
knows how much gets spent out of every family's budget on utilities, on 
energy, and certainly in my part of the country in South Dakota, with 
the cold winters, that is even amplified. It can be a real help to 
family budgets, particularly families who are living paycheck to 
paycheck.
  In Florida, Florida Power and Light Company announced that thanks to 
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it will no longer require its customers to 
pay a surcharge for Hurricane Irma restoration. Instead, the company 
reports:

       Florida Power and Light plans to apply federal tax savings 
     toward the $1.3 billion cost of Hurricane Irma restoration, 
     which will save each of Florida Power and Light's 4.9 million 
     customers an average of approximately $250.

  Thanks to tax reform, good news for American workers seems to just 
pour in daily, whether it is lower utility bills, new jobs, bonuses, 
or, as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced last 
week, lower rate increases on health insurance.
  I am proud that tax reform is accomplishing our goal of making life 
better for hard-working Americans, and I look forward to seeing even 
more benefits for American workers in the weeks and months to come.

[[Page S1230]]

  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, 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. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.