[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2198-S2199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. President, on another matter that is very much on Americans' 
minds, today is tax day. This is the day our 2017 tax returns are due, 
and I know many Texans are breathing a sigh of relief, knowing what 
lies just around the corner, and that is because today is the last time 
Americans will file taxes under the old, broken Tax Code that we 
overhauled last year in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  Yesterday, our friend Representative Kevin Brady in the House wrote 
that now we can finally say ``Goodbye and good riddance to that 
outdated monstrosity of a tax code that took [so] much of [Americans'] 
money, sent [so many American] jobs overseas, and kept our economy so 
slow, many workers didn't see a pay raise for a decade or more.''
  It has been estimated that after-tax income in Texas will increase by 
close to $2,600 because of the changes that we enacted into law and 
which were signed by the President. All across the State,

[[Page S2199]]

our constituents are seeing signs that the law is positive and has 
wide-reaching effects. I, like the Presiding Officer, my colleague from 
Texas, have spoken to many of those families and businesses, both great 
and small. Some of the most recent ones I talked to were in College 
Station. One of the folks I spoke to was a woman by the name of Claudia 
Smith. Claudia owns and operates a small mom-and-pop flooring business. 
She told me that tax reform has impacted her company in many important 
ways.
  The first is that, with more money in their pockets, her customers 
feel more optimistic. They are more willing to make purchases that for 
years before they had been putting off.
  The second is that Claudia is using her tax savings to hire more 
employees and buy expensive equipment that previously the company could 
not afford.
  The third way the changes are helping Claudia is that she is able to 
sleep a little more soundly at night. In years past, one thing that 
kept her up was the rising cost of health insurance. Because of the 
size of her business, Claudia has never been required to provide it, 
but since she considers her coworkers to be family, health insurance is 
something she felt obligated to offer. When she did her annual 
budgeting each year, health insurance was often on the chopping block--
something she just couldn't afford. Up until the very last minute, 
Claudia was never quite sure whether she would be able to keep offering 
it. Now, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, she feels more confident 
in her ability to provide not only health insurance for the foreseeable 
future but other new employee benefits as well.
  Claudia's is a great story--not because it is unique but because it 
is typical of the sort of response I have heard across my State when it 
comes to the benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  Although I am very glad that last fall we were able to pass the first 
major overhaul of the Tax Code in more than 30 years, now is not the 
time to let up. We can't stop fighting for taxpayers like Claudia. In 
fact, today I am reintroducing the Small Business Taxpayer Bill of 
Rights Act, legislation that reduces redtape for taxpayers and allows 
small businesses to spend more time growing and creating jobs and less 
time dealing with burdensome IRS procedures and improper targeting 
practices. I am proud to have my colleague, the senior Senator from 
Nevada, as my original cosponsor. In some ways, it is a complement to 
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  This year, research has shown, taxpayers will spend more than 8 
billion hours completing IRS forms, costing almost $200 billion in 
cumulative monetized costs. That is a 14-percent increase from 2017. 
This legislation will hopefully improve that situation. It will notably 
lower the compliance burden, strengthen taxpayer protections, and 
ensure that small businesses are not unfairly targeted with unjustified 
levels of scrutiny by the IRS. For example, the bill makes it a 
fireable offense for an IRS employee to use auditing methodologies 
based in whole or in part on the political or ideological views of a 
taxpaying individual or entity. The bill also allows more small 
businesses to petition for attorney's fees when a court determines that 
the IRS's legal actions weren't substantially justified. I hope we can 
act on this legislation soon.
  To all of my fellow Texans, happy tax day. Just remember: Today, it 
is out with the old and in with the new.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to speak in opposition to the 
nomination of Carlos Muniz to be the general counsel at the Department 
of Education. One of the most important responsibilities that the 
Department of Education has is to uphold title IX and fight back 
against gender discrimination in all its forms. This is an enormous 
responsibility, but it is also an urgent one.
  Thousands of men and women have survived sexual assaults on college 
campuses, and they are demanding that the Education Department and 
their universities take these crimes seriously. But over the last year, 
we have heard over and over again that Secretary DeVos has let down 
these survivors. Instead of working to uphold and even strengthen title 
IX, she has used her position to weaken title IX. We should not be 
arming her with more staff who are determined to carry out that plan, 
but that is what Mr. Muniz will do if he is confirmed.
  Mr. Muniz's nomination sends a cynical message to survivors of campus 
sexual assault all over our country--that the Education Department is 
not taking survivors seriously and that they are not interested in 
protecting a law that is supposed to keep our students safe.
  If this nominee is confirmed, I have no doubt that he is going to 
accelerate Secretary DeVos's attack on title IX. This is an insult to 
the thousands of students who have suffered through sexual assaults on 
their college campuses. Mr. Muniz has spent his career on the wrong 
side of this issue, and he has made it clear through his actions that 
he does not respect the important role title IX actually plays in 
protecting our students and keeping our campuses safe.
  The general counsel of the Education Department should work to uphold 
and strengthen our anti-discrimination laws, but I fear this nominee is 
going to do the exact opposite. I urge all of my colleagues to do what 
is best for our students and join me in opposing this nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.