[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Madam President, on one final matter, for months, we have heard the 
firsthand accounts of American workers and job creators who have felt 
the immediate impacts of the Republicans' pro-growth, pro-opportunity 
agenda.
  We have heard from working parents who have received raises and 
special bonuses as a result of once-in-a-generation tax reform. We have 
heard from small- and medium-sized business owners who have been able 
to make larger investments in their workers, facilities, and products, 
thanks to increased regulatory certainty. With every new job created 
and every pay raise passed along, we have seen that these stories are 
not disconnected anecdotes. Rather, they are part of larger trends in 
an American economy that is reaching new heights.
  For example, here on the floor, I have highlighted small businesses 
in Montana and the ways they are using tax reform savings to drive 
their local economies forward--how Stricks Ag has awarded worker 
bonuses and how Thompson River Lumber has invested in new equipment. 
Well, earlier this month, Governor Bullock and the Montana Department 
of Labor released a report that that suggests the State's economy is 
showing signs of wide-reaching prosperity. In other words, the stories 
my colleagues and I have been hearing for months are no fluke. In the 
last year, Montana's entrepreneurs founded nearly 3,000 new 
enterprises, and according to Governor Bullock, the employment rate is 
the lowest it has been in over a decade in Montana.
  Over the past year and a half, this united Republican government has 
implemented a bold, pro-growth agenda to help create the conditions for 
Montana's workers and job creators to write this new chapter. The signs 
we are seeing today are truly remarkable, but they shouldn't come as a 
surprise, for the trends we are seeing across the country today are 
exactly what this united Republican government had in mind when we 
passed generational tax reform. They are exactly what one of Montana's 
Senators had in mind when he voted to deliver it. What a shame that the 
other Senator joined Senate Democrats in lockstep opposition.
  These days, the ball is in the American people's court. They will 
keep taking it and running with it--creating jobs and new prosperity 
all across our country. Here in Congress, the Republicans will keep 
working hard to help them do it.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The assistant Democratic leader.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, what is the business before the Senate?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate is considering the 
Feldman nomination.
  Mr. DURBIN. Thank you.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning 
business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.