[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S4380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on another matter, it has been a 
little over 6 months since the passage of tax reform delivered 
measurable relief to working families and job creators, 6 months since 
Republicans implemented a simpler 21st century framework to help 
unleash a new generation of success stories, and 6 months since updated 
tax brackets and withholding tables provided for some 90 percent of 
American wage earners to take home more pay.
  Thanks to lower tax rates, the IRS is withholding less of workers' 
paychecks. Because we doubled the standard deduction, married couples 
will benefit from what amounts to a new zero-percent tax bracket for 
the first $24,000 they earn. And parents are looking forward to the 
bigger child tax credit they can claim going forward--up to $2,000 per 
qualifying child.
  These tax cuts are just the shot in the arm our economy needed, and 
they are exactly what middle-class families and workers deserved. At 
least that is what Republicans believe.
  Our Democratic colleagues seem to see things quite differently. They 
don't think that $2,000--that is the average estimated tax cut this 
year for a family of four earning the median family income--seems like 
very much money, as far as they are concerned.
  After all, every single Democrat voted against giving American 
families these tax cuts. They figured Washington knew how to spend the 
money better than the taxpayers who earned it. Of course, the bill 
became law without Democrats' help. Since then, they have set about 
trying to persuade middle-class families that getting to keep more of 
their own money is a terrible thing, so they should support Democrats' 
efforts to repeal tax reform.
  I am glad I don't have to try and make that case. It looks like more 
take-home pay for workers is already beginning to have ripple effects 
throughout the U.S. economy. Fueled in part by our Republican policies, 
consumer confidence in 2018 reached its highest level since November of 
2000.
  Sure enough, just last month retail sales growth doubled the gains 
that experts had forecast and shot up at the fastest pace in half a 
year. Here is the L.A. Times headline: ``Retail sales post sharp gains 
in May, signaling a surge in U.S. economic growth.'' That is the L.A. 
Times.
  That is more take-home pay for American taxpayers, more prosperity 
for American retailers, more demand for American goods and services, 
and thus, more demand for American workers.
  This is what we call a virtuous circle, and Republicans' commonsense 
agenda is helping to make it happen. Our Democratic colleagues may want 
to put Washington's foot back on the brake by repealing tax reform and 
piling up more regulations, but they aren't just arguing with those of 
us across the aisle. They are arguing with the facts. They are arguing 
with the data. They are arguing with American families who are keeping 
more of their own money. They are arguing with the prosperity our 
agenda is already helping to unleash.

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