[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 198 (Wednesday, December 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6960-S6961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Tax Reform

  Mr. President, finally, in a week or so, it will be 2 years since 
Republicans jammed through a massive tax cut for corporations and the 
megawealthy on a party-line vote.
  Two years later, it is worth looking back on the promises Republicans 
made when selling this to the American people. At the time, the 
President said the bill would be ``a middle-class miracle.'' The 
administration promised Americans would get a $4,000 raise. 
Congressional Republicans said giving a corporate tax cut would boost 
jobs and investment.
  Two years later, it is clear the tax bill has failed to live up to 
any of those sunny predictions. Middle-class wages still aren't growing 
fast enough to keep up with the cost of living. Businesses aren't 
investing in newfound profits in jobs or wages. In fact, since the 
passage of the Trump-Republican tax bill, while capital expenditures by 
businesses remain low--that is investing in jobs and equipment and 
things that employ people and give them better wages--corporate stock 
buybacks, which, by and large, benefit wealthy shareholders, explodes, 
setting annual records. Last year alone, over $1 trillion was spent on 
stock buybacks, while millions of middle-class Americans didn't see 
enough improvement in their quality of life.
  As many Democrats, including myself, predicted 2 years after its 
passage, the Republican tax bill has overwhelmingly benefited 
shareholders and corporate executives, not workers and their families. 
America will remember that as we head into an election year.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.


                 Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019

  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise today, and I want to make it very 
clear--it is going to be very short and succinct--that time is running 
out on our coal miners. We need to fix this now--not in 2020 but now. I 
will explain why.
  We have over 13,000 coal miners who will lose their healthcare and 
82,000 coal miners who will lose their pensions next year if we do not 
do something now. That is why I am standing here before you. That is 
why I am putting a hold on all legislative business coming through the 
Senate until we get assurances.
  This is not who I am. Anybody who knows me, knows I don't do this, 
but I am so committed to the people who built this country and to a 
commitment we had in a 1946 agreement with the Federal Government that 
they would be able to have a pension and retirement for the very 
difficult and very dangerous hard work that they do. They weren't 
asking taxpayers or anyone else to bail them out. It was coming from 
the sale of the product, the coal that they mine for the energy for 
this country.
  Only my bill, which is the Bipartisan American Miners Act, has 
bipartisan support on both sides in the Senate and over in the House. I 
know if Congress passed it, President Trump would sign it. I know that.
  Can you imagine being one of the coal miners trying to enjoy your 
holidays this year knowing that you might wake up January 1 with no 
healthcare coverage and a reduction in your pension?
  Let me explain to you the pensions. The average pension of a coal 
miner--most of these are widows now because the miners might have 
passed away--is $600 or less, so we are not talking about thousands of 
dollars. We are not talking about that whatsoever. This is all the 
means of sustaining a quality of life or helping them through a quality 
of life.
  These coal miners and their families deserve the peace of mind of 
knowing

[[Page S6961]]

that the healthcare they have earned and the pensions they have paid--
these are things they have paid into and earned. They didn't take home 
this money. It stayed right there in their investments. We can give 
them that peace of mind today, and no legislative business will pass 
without coal miners first.
  I reluctantly say that we might be here through Christmas or we might 
be here through New Year's, but I will do and make whatever sacrifice I 
can for the people who made the sacrifice for us, and that is the coal 
miners who provide the energy for us to be the greatest Nation on 
Earth, for us basically to be the superpower of the world and the 
leader of the free world. It is because of the energy they have 
produced. If we can't honor that, then what do we honor, whom do we 
honor, and what is our purpose for being here?
  I ask each one of my colleagues to please talk to all of our leaders. 
Let's come together sensibly. Let's make sure this is in the package we 
put together, and we will continue business and be able to go home and 
enjoy the holidays the same as they should be able to enjoy the 
holidays. Our going home and their not being able to enjoy it is not 
who we are; it is not the American dream; and it is not who we are as 
Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.