[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 14, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on one final matter, this afternoon 
President Trump will visit a Boeing production facility in St. Louis. 
He will hear from local business leaders about how tax reform is giving 
them room to invest more and hire more.
  Missouri's senior Senator tried to block tax reform on a party-line 
vote. Fortunately, their Republican Senator voted to let them realize 
this prosperity.
  For months now, the headlines have been filled with businesses large 
and small using tax reform to give workers bonuses, pay raises, and new 
benefits. But raises and bonuses aren't the only ways that tax reform 
will help hardworking families.
  Thanks to the efforts of Senator Heller and others in the committee, 
tax reform doubled the child tax credit and extended it to more middle-
class families. When they file their taxes next year, families will be 
able to take $2,000 off of their tax bill for every qualifying child.
  My friend the Democratic leader said repeatedly that tax reform would 
do nothing to help American workers. The Democratic leader in the House 
said the law would bring about ``Armageddon.'' I am not sure where they 
get their predictions, but I don't think they will carry much water 
with middle-class families in Missouri or Indiana or West Virginia or 
certainly in Kentucky.
  For brand-new parents facing one expense after another, the $2,000 
credit will more than cover the cost of a brand-new washer and dryer 
set or a new refrigerator. For a middle-class family of four, the 
credit is $4,000. That more than covers the standard down payment on a 
used car, priced at the national average, or it could kick off a 
college savings fund.
  Just ``crumbs''--really? Maybe adding thousands of dollars to family 
budgets looks like crumbs in New York or San Francisco, but to most 
Americans around most kitchen tables, that is real money, and so is the 
adoption tax credit, which keeps the IRS's hands off more of the hard-
earned money that adoptive families need to cover expenses.
  Last autumn, I met a wonderful family from Franklin, KY, who adopted 
their son from Ethiopia in the face of many hurdles and difficulties. 
His mother wrote my office. She told me:

       Our sweet boy is worth every dime and tear.

  They were counting on that tax credit, as were many other families. 
Republicans made sure this credit was preserved.
  Here is how that Kentucky mother described the impact. She said:

       The tax credit we will receive . . . has allowed us to pay 
     off the last remaining debt we owed. Such a weight lifted off 
     our shoulders.

  New pro-family tax cuts and new pro-family tax credits, all while 
protecting existing pro-family provisions that Americans rely on--that 
is what every Democrat voted against, but fortunately, it is what every 
Senate Republican voted for. So the American people won in the end.

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