[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 24, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2372-S2373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I was reading a piece in the Wall Street 
Journal last week by Kevin Hassett, who was the Chairman of the White 
House Council of Economic Advisers. His piece made an important point 
that doesn't often come out as clearly as it should, and that is that 
when American businesses benefit, American workers benefit. My friends 
on the other side of the aisle like to obfuscate that point.
  Presumably they think they can gain political points by pitting 
businesses and workers against each other, as if benefits for 
businesses and benefits for workers were somehow diametrically opposed 
and as if, somehow, workers could thrive while businesses struggle.
  As the piece I was reading pointed out, ``In a modern competitive 
economy, workers do well when their employers do.'' If you think about 
it, it really is just common sense. The vast majority of working 
Americans work for businesses, whether they are self-employed, an 
employee of a small business, or an employee of a large corporation. 
For those employees to thrive, the businesses they are working for have 
to thrive as well.
  Struggling businesses do not invest in workers; they can't. They 
don't hire new employees. They don't raise wages. They don't improve 
benefits.
  On the other hand, thriving businesses do invest in their workers, 
they do hire new employees, they do raise wages, and they do improve 
benefits. Leaving aside the fact that most business owners want to 
invest in their workers, successful business owners have to invest in 
their workers if they want their businesses to keep thriving.
  For starters, successful businesses tend to need new workers, and the 
way to attract new workers is with good wages, good opportunities, and 
good benefits. Once a successful business has good employees, it tends 
to want to keep them so that the business can keep prospering and 
thriving. How do businesses keep employees? The same way they attract 
them in the first place--with good wages, good opportunities, and good 
benefits.
  As Mr. Hassett notes in the Wall Street Journal:

       Research by economists Alan Krueger and Lawrence Summers, 
     both of whom served in the Obama administration, shows that 
     more-profitable employers pay higher wages. Any company that 
     attempts to pay a worker less than he is worth will quickly 
     lose that worker to a competitor. Thus, firms that want to 
     thrive must invest in their plants and their workers.

  Ask any business owner in the country, and he or she will tell you 
that it is a competitive labor market. Unemployment is at a 17-year 
low. In a tight, competitive labor market, employers have to work to 
keep their employees.
  Our focus with last fall's tax reform was on making life better for 
ordinary Americans, so we set out to put more money in their pockets 
right away by cutting tax rates across the board, nearly doubling the 
standard deduction and doubling the child tax credit. As a result, for 
2018, a family of four making $73,000 will see a tax cut of more than 
$2,000.
  We knew the tax cuts, as helpful as they are, weren't enough. 
Americans also needed access to profitable careers, good jobs, good 
wages, and good

[[Page S2373]]

opportunities. We knew the only way to guarantee access to good jobs, 
good wages, and good opportunities was to make sure businesses were 
prosperous enough to create and maintain them. So when it came time for 
tax reform, we set out to improve the playing field for American 
workers by improving the playing field for businesses, as well, and it 
is working.
  Companies are putting tax reform to work. They are investing in new 
equipment, expanding their facilities, and growing their lines of 
business, all of which mean more jobs and opportunities for Americans.
  Most importantly, companies are passing along the benefits of tax 
reform. Company after company has announced pay raises, bonuses, 401(k) 
match increases, and other benefits for their workers. Others are 
passing tax savings on to their customers in the form of things like 
utility rate cuts.
  The tax reform law has been in place only for 4 months. As businesses 
continue to see the benefits of tax reform, we can expect to see the 
playing field for workers continue to improve.
  Ultimately, by helping American businesses thrive, tax reform will 
help give more Americans access to the kinds of jobs, wages, and 
opportunities that not only will benefit them right now but also will 
give them access to security and prosperity for the long term.