[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 164 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6607-S6608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Nomination of Lily Lawrence Batchelder

  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, today, the Senate is debating Professor 
Lily Batchelder's nomination by President Biden to serve as Assistant 
Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy.
  I am going to be brief, but I just want the Senate to know that Ms. 
Batchelder is an extraordinary individual, and I think she will serve 
in an extraordinary way when she is confirmed.
  She is not a stranger to the Senate, particularly for those of us who 
serve on the Finance Committee. From 2010 until 2014, she was chief tax 
counsel to then Chairman Max Baucus. Members were working hard, looking 
at ways to drive a broader economic recovery following a recession. It 
was also a time when Members were interested in trying to drive a 
little bit of common sense--and I will talk about this more in a 
minute--into America's broken Tax Code.
  Lily excelled in working with Democrats and Republicans to try to 
find common ground. She understood, from the time she arrived at the 
Finance Committee, that if you really want to tackle big challenges, if 
you want to come up with big solutions and make them sustainable, you 
have to find common ground.
  After her service on the Finance Committee, Lily became the Deputy 
Director of the National Economic Council under President Obama. She 
now serves as the Robert C. Kopple Family Professor of Taxation at the 
NYU School of Law. And one of the aspects of her scholarship that I 
particularly admire is her efforts to craft tax policies that bring 
more American workers into the economic winners circle.
  She understands the Tax Code inside and out. She knows the Congress. 
She knows how the Congress and the administration work. And that is the 
reason why the Finance Committee approved her nomination with such a 
strong bipartisan margin, a 22-to-6 margin. Members of both sides 
thought that she would be a great addition to Treasury. The Senate 
ought to vote the same way.

  Second, Lily's nomination has waited long enough for consideration on 
the Senate floor. Secretary Yellen needs a full team in place at 
Treasury. The country is going to be dealing with the aftereffects of 
the pandemic economic crash for years to come. There is a long way to 
go--a long way to go--before full recovery.
  And when we confirm her, she is going to have a chance to really 
bring real insight into some big areas, like dealing with the climate 
crisis, the nationwide lack of affordable housing, and an increasingly 
unfair Tax Code.
  And I just want to give you an example of the kind of issues she is 
going to have to take on. My colleagues here in the Senate have heard 
me talk about how it is that they are reading news stories about how 
billionaires all across America end up paying little or no income tax 
for years on end. Well, there is a little secret to how this happens, 
and it is because these billionaires are advised, in many instances: 
Don't take a wage; don't have taxable income; put your money into 
stocks.
  That was what we did see during the pandemic, and they ended up with 
even more financial resources than anyone imagined, while we read the 
news articles describing how they paid little or no income tax for 
years on end.
  As the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, a top priority of 
mine--and I don't see how anybody can oppose this idea--is to say that 
when nurses and firefighters pay taxes with every paycheck every year, 
that we should say that the billionaires--we are glad they are so 
successful--should pay their fair share every year.
  So I have proposed a billionaire's tax to close this loophole of 
unfairness. It just seems to me to be a basic question of fairness, for 
people in Nevada or Oregon or anywhere else, that we all pay our fair 
share--we all pay our fair share. And that is just one example of what 
Ms. Batchelder is going to be dealing with.
  For example, on clean energy, again, the Finance Committee wants to 
break some new ground. We said: Take the 44 energy tax breaks that are 
on the books--most of them are relics from yesteryear--and put them in 
the dustbin of history, and in the future have one for clean energy, 
one for clean transportation fuel, and one for energy efficiency.
  And then, going forward, we will have tech neutrality. And we will 
say to every company: Everybody involved in the energy area, the more 
you reduce carbon emissions, the bigger your savings. The Senate 
Finance Committee never did anything like this in 100 years. But to 
really carry this out, you are going to have to have really talented 
people like Lily Batchelder there.
  So she is going to understand what it means to make sure everybody 
pays their fair share, and that means billionaires are no longer exempt 
from paying their fair share.
  She is going to be a huge asset as we deal with climate change. And, 
my God, if people think about the last 6 weeks--the Bootleg Fire in 
Oregon, and I know my colleague in Nevada has been clobbered by these 
fires; the storms in the South; and what we saw in the east coast of 
the United States--climate change has hit this country like a wrecking 
ball.
  We are going to have Lily Batchelder confirmed, I hope, here very 
shortly.

[[Page S6608]]

Those are the kinds of policy ideas she is going to be able to pursue.
  The Treasury Department needs a tax policy point guard, somebody who, 
in effect--and everybody knows I went to school on a basketball 
scholarship dreaming of playing in the NBA. You always admired the 
person who ran the floor, who was the point guard, who really made sure 
the work got done and didn't really care who got the credit. That is 
Lily Batchelder. And if ever there was a person who could really help 
chip away at the polarization between Democrats and Republicans, it is 
Lily Batchelder.
  I support her nomination fully. I urge my colleagues to do the same, 
and I yield the floor.
  Madam President, I have one more nomination to discuss, and I would 
ask unanimous consent that I could complete my remarks--and I will be 
brief on this nomination--before we vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.