[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 130 (Wednesday, August 1, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on one final matter, the U.S. economy 
continues to receive a lot of attention.
  In June, from the New York Times: ``New milestones in jobs report 
signal a bustling economy.''
  In July: ``Sales of small businesses are going through the roof.''
  Just yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal: ``U.S. workers get 
biggest pay increase in nearly a decade.''
  Let's explore the last headline.
  According to data from the Department of Labor, employee compensation 
grew by 2.8 percent over the past 12 months. That is the fastest 
employers have increased what they spend on employee pay and benefits 
in any 12-month period since the one that ended in September of 2008. 
Given what we know about the labor market, this is hardly surprising. 
From Main Street businesses to manufacturers, job creators are faced 
with heightened demand. That means more Americans can come off the 
sidelines and find a quality job, and that means that businesses 
compete to hire and retain workers.
  Every week--practically every day--yields more impressive headlines, 
more testimony from middle-class families and small businesses about 
how this economy has improved their lives.
  It has been little more than 7 months since a united Republican 
government passed historic tax reform, and it has been about as long 
since the House Democratic leader predicted our policies would bring 
about ``Armageddon,'' and about 7 months since my friend the Democratic 
leader, here in the Senate, predicted that no part of tax reform would 
turn out to suit the needs of the American worker--none of it.
  But Republicans saw past the scare tactics and did what we knew to be 
right for the country. We pursued a pro-growth agenda to get 
Washington's foot off the brakes that were restraining job creators, to 
take Washington's hand out of the pockets of working families, and to 
help create the conditions for communities across the country to 
succeed. Any one of these goals could have been a bipartisan priority, 
just like all of the other good work I have discussed this morning.
  Tax reform, historically, had been bipartisan, but this time, our 
colleagues listened to the far left and decided to stand in complete 
partisan opposition to letting Americans keep more of their own money. 
Now the American people are reaping the benefits of a pro-growth, pro-
opportunity agenda. Now they see whose policies benefit them.

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