[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 31, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5640-S5645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and colleagues, if I started the workday
with the opportunity to help 16 million kids from low-income families,
make America more competitive with China, build affordable housing for
hundreds of thousands of Americans, and pay for it all by cracking down
on fraud, I would call that a hell of a good day at the office.
Tomorrow, we are going to find out if Senate Republicans agree. The
vote on the tax bill tomorrow has been more than 6 months in the
making. In fact, I have been working on this in a completely bipartisan
way for 2 full years. The only reason this didn't get done a long time
ago is delay on the part of the Senate Republicans.
So no more delay. It is time to vote. Everybody is going to see where
each Senator stands.
Over the next 45 minutes or so, I am going to have a number of my
colleagues talk about why this bill is so important. So I am going to
start with just a few key points. For starters, the bill was designed
with balance in mind. For every dollar in tax cuts for business, the
Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper of these matters,
has told us that an equal amount goes to children and families as goes
to business.
Our focus on families is on those that are walking an economic
tightrope. And 16 million kids are going to benefit from the bill, half
a million lifted out of poverty--a huge accomplishment. And it is
especially important for the families with modest incomes; families
with two, three, or four kids.
Under the current rules, they get discriminated against because those
big families get only a single child tax credit regardless of how many
kids they have. Think about that. Federal law tells these struggling
families that if you have got a large family, well, try to figure out
how to get by splitting a single child tax credit, and figure out how
three or four kids can split a pair of shoes. Three or four kids can't
do that. They can't split a single meal. This economic discrimination
against large families in America ought to end.
There has been a lot of talk about who is really looking out for the
families. My view is, that is going to become clear when the Senate
votes tomorrow. We will see who is actually on the side of the families
that need a boost, families who are facing the kind of economic
discrimination that I just outlined.
I know that my colleagues on this side want to make sure that
families can get the assistance they need, and we want to end the
discrimination against large families.
There is so much in this bill that ought to bring the two sides
together. That is certainly what happened in the House, with 357 votes.
For example, the bill builds 200,000 new affordable housing units. The
lack of affordable housing is a nationwide crisis. It is not just blue
States and cities; it is everywhere.
On housing, you can call me a supply-sider. We have to build and
build and build 200,000 new units. And in a minute or two we will hear
from my colleague in Washington State, who has singlehandedly led the
effort to meet housing needs in America.
The bill invests in research and development so we can outcompete
China. Changes Republicans made to the Tax Code back in 2017 slashed
the value of the tax incentives for research and development. It is
worth only 20 percent of what it used to be.
Republicans have said in 2018, in 2019, in 2020, in 2021, in 2022, in
2023, and in 2024 that they would fix the research and development tax
credit mess that they singlehandedly created. Tomorrow is going to be
their chance.
According to the Treasury Department, 4 million small businesses
would benefit from this bill. Picture that, Mr. President: 4 million
small businesses, startups, ones that depend so much on research and
development to compete with China. Many of them are in fields that
compete directly with China and other countries.
They want to know why in the world would Congress put this off until
2025. A lot of them say: Ron, we are not going to be around in 2025 if
you all don't act.
The bill also provides help to families and businesses hit by mega
storms and mega wildfires. This is so important to the people in my
State. I have told them at townhall meetings--I have had almost 1,100
of them, Mr. President--that we are going to get this done because, in
Oregon and virtually everywhere in our country, so many of our
communities have been devastated.
As I touched on, 357 votes in the House doesn't happen by osmosis. By
and large, on a normal day, you can't get 357 House Members to agree to
order a piece of apple pie, but that is the kind of support this tax
bill had. Left-leaning groups like it; right-leaning groups like it;
family organizations like it; faith-based organizations like it; pro-
life groups, pro-choice groups--across the political spectrum.
And in the next day or so we are going to see if the Republicans, who
talk so much about these issues--help for small business, help for
families, building housing, preventing fraud--my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle talk about it constantly. Now we are going to
find out if anybody wants to actually follow through on the rhetoric. I
know we do.
We believe, with the Senate voting now, we have got a chance--as I
touched on at the beginning--to have a real day at the office, a day
when you help the kids, when you help the families and the small
businesses and the people who need housing and people who have been
devastated by disasters.
Get all that done tomorrow, Mr. President, and that is one hell of a
day at the office.
I yield my time now to my colleague from Washington State, our leader
on housing issues and many others.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join my
colleague, the chair of the Finance Committee, and thank him for his
incredible leadership on the Tax Relief for American Families and
Workers Act. I can't think of a more critical effort than the
leadership role he has played to negotiate legislation that passed the
House 357 to 70.
Now, when in this institution do you see such a big and tremendous
vote across many different aspects of financial and tax policy that
affect Americans? And yet the House has passed it 357 to 70, and
somehow our colleagues here don't understand there is that much support
behind that legislation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record,
on behalf of 140,000 members of the National Association of Home
Builders, their very strong support for the Tax Relief for the American
Families and Workers Act.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
National Association of
Home Builders,
Washington, DC, July 30, 2024.
Hon. Chuck Schumer,
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Leader Schumer: On behalf of the more than 140,000
members of the National
[[Page S5641]]
Association of Home Builders (NAHB), I want to convey our
strong support for the Tax Relief for American Families and
Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024). Because this bill provides
much-needed additional resources to increase the supply of
affordable rental housing as well as provisions to encourage
small businesses to invest in their future, NAHB is
designating support for the Cloture Motion on H.R. 7024 as a
key vote.
Tax relief and tax certainty are critical for small
businesses. Often overlooked is the fact that most home
builders are small businesses. The typical home builder is
building a median of 6 homes per year with a median of 5
employees on payroll. Restoring and extending 100% bonus
depreciation and expanding Section 179 expensing, along with
returning the EBITDA standard for interest deductibility,
will allow our members to invest more resources in
multifamily rental construction, in land development to build
more single-family homes, and in new equipment to expand
their businesses.
NAHB also strongly supports the inclusion of additional
resources for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).
LIHTC is the most successful affordable rental housing
production program in U.S. history, but the demand for
affordable housing is acute and exceeds the availability of
financing through the LIHTC program. Without a program like
LIHTC, there's no financially feasible way to build
additional affordable rental housing for lower-income
households, which is why these additional resources are
urgently needed.
To solve our country's housing affordability crisis, we
must increase production. This bill includes numerous
provisions to help us achieve that goal, and we urge the
Senate to act without further delay. Again, NAHB strongly
supports Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of
2024 and has designated support for the Cloture Motion on
H.R. 7024 the Cloture Motion on H.R. 7024 as a key vote.
Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,
Lake A. Coulson.
Ms. CANTWELL. I think that is an important organization that knows
and understands how much affordable housing we need in America and how
this underlying bill addresses that by building over 200,000 more
affordable units in the next 2 years.
It really is a shot in the arm at a time when Americans know that the
cost of their housing has gone up because we haven't built enough
supply. And as my colleagues know, especially since the downturn of the
financial crisis in 2008, that from big cities to actually small towns,
the crunch of a lack of a housing supply has meant an increase in
costs. That means it hurts the economy overall. Last month, the
skyrocketing costs were the largest contributor to the 3 percent rate
of inflation.
So that is why we have an opportunity to do something about that
tomorrow. We have the opportunity to do something about the rising
costs of housing and to pass this legislation that will build more
supply and bring down those costs.
Now, I know our colleagues--this is a very bipartisan aspect of the
legislation. They know that expanding supply works. A 2019 study by the
DC Office of Revenue Analysis found that renters basically saved $177
per month for every 2,100 units built in the city per year. So,
literally, you can do the math. When you don't build supply, you are
just making everybody else's expenses go up.
So why aren't we building more supply? Well, I can tell you that the
low-income housing tax credits are a real achievement in bipartisan
efforts to build more supply. It basically is the best tool to build
affordable housing. It expands and improves, just as I mentioned from
the National Association of Home Builders--``LIHTC is the most
successful affordable rental housing production program in U.S.
history.''
That is why it is so important that we remember this analysis.
A New York study found that for every 10 percent increase in housing
supply, nearby rents decrease by 1 percent. Yet our colleagues don't
want to build more supply.
And for LIHTC properties specifically, new data from Moody's
Analytics found that, with these low-income housing projects, the
renters in the Seattle area saved a remarkable $957 per month compared
to the average rents in the region.
Now, I could go on and on with my colleagues about why we got into
this position--certainly, the downturn of 2008 and when we stopped
building more supply. We did have returning veterans who needed
workforce housing. We had workforce housing overall in a community like
Seattle, but it doesn't matter. Yakima or Spokane, it is the same
dilemma. If you are not building affordable housing, people don't have
places to live, and it stymies the economy moving forward. But we have
had seniors living longer. We have had other issues that have made the
need for housing a national priority.
So we want to hear what our colleagues say about this very important
attack on inflation--most of it derived from housing--and study and
analysis that says we will lower costs if we just build supply.
Tomorrow, we have a chance to build that supply. I hope my colleagues
will join us in passing this legislation and driving down costs for
Americans.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague for her good work.
Senator Casey and Senator Brown have been two champions of the child
tax credit. Let's start with Senator Casey.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I am grateful to be here on the floor today
and to join with our colleague from Oregon who has led this fight as
the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to bring us to this moment
where we have the chance to vote on a bipartisan bill.
I will mention what happened in the House in a couple of minutes. But
this bill addresses some of our long-term challenges. One of them is
addressing our low-income housing shortage.
The bill also enables our businesses to continue to invest in
research, development, and manufacturing. The bill eliminates
fraud. The bill eliminates fraud. The bill reduces the deficit. For me,
most importantly, it invests in America's children by expanding the
child tax credit.
That is why groups from across the spectrum have lined up to endorse
the bill. Groups like the National Association of Manufacturers, the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Children's Defense
Fund, and so many other groups support this bill that will grow our
economy, reduce poverty, and reduce the deficit.
The House overwhelmingly passed this bill by a vote of 357 to 70.
That happened back in January. So now we are hoping for a similar
result in the U.S. Senate. I hope the Senate, in a similar bipartisan
fashion, will pass this bill.
We know that, for example, just with regard to one provision in this
bill, the child tax credit provision--in 2021, Democrats passed the
American Rescue Plan, which had as one of its features an enhanced
version of the child tax credit. I have often said we took the child
tax credit in 2021 and we turbocharged it to help families in a much
more substantial way. By passing that legislation in 2021, for 6
months--and only 6 months, unfortunately, but for 6 months--we cut
child poverty in half, according to the Census Bureau.
So after all the years of work, decades of work to reduce child
poverty, helping to set the stage for that reduction in child poverty,
in 2021, we finally--finally--found the solution to substantially
reducing childhood poverty and giving our children freedom from
poverty. That solution was the child tax credit, in addition to other
investments in children.
I want to thank Senator Brown, my colleague from Ohio, who is seated
next to me here today, for his years of work on this, laboring in the
vineyards long before this was popular and long before it had a chance
to pass. I want to thank his work and Chairman Wyden's work to bring us
to this moment.
I am one of eight children. My parents had eight children. I am right
in the middle. I often think about how difficult it was for Mom and Dad
to raise that many children. My mother passed away last August, August
of 2023. We will be coming up on August 11, the 1-year anniversary of
her passing. I was thinking today, what if my mother was not only the
mother of eight children, but what if she didn't have a husband or what
if we didn't have a household income that allowed us to be economically
secure? We never went without food or went without a meal. We never had
to worry about that in my life. But what if that wasn't the case? What
would my life have been like if my mother faced the same challenges
that so many families face today? We had the full measure of economic
security when I was growing up.
[[Page S5642]]
So back in October of 2021, after we had passed the American Rescue
Plan, which contained that enhanced child tax credit, I met another
mother in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, in the southeastern corner
of our State. This was a mom also of eight children, just like my
mother, but she was a single mom. She gave us a sense of what it meant
to have that child tax credit in place.
Her name was Crystal. She said that the extra child tax credit
payments gave her the ability to spend more time with her children and
to allow her children to do more school activities for the first time.
How do you put a price on that? How do you put a price on the
opportunity a child has because their mom or their dad or the person
taking care of them has a little extra money in a month--first of all,
to buy food, which was often the No. 1 utilization of the child tax
credit, the enhanced version of it, or to pay for rent or childcare or
so many expenses of raising children?
Why did it take us so long to finally say that raising children is
really difficult and that we should give families a chance to do that
in a more substantial way? Why is it that every time we have a tax
debate in Washington, year after year--40 years now, by my
recollection--every time we have a tax debate, the most powerful people
in the country benefit disproportionately and the most powerful
corporations on the planet Earth benefit disproportionately? Why is it
that families raising children have always been left behind?
We finally broke that cycle in 2021. The big guys got nothing from
that. We finally said: You have had enough. It is time to help
children, time to help those families raising children.
But how do you put a price on a parent being able to pay for a school
activity that child would benefit from? Maybe they have a chance to
join a math club or to join a science club or to play a sport or to be
in the band--whatever it is. How do you put a price on that--that lost
opportunity because a mom or a dad or someone taking care of that child
didn't have an extra $100 or whatever it cost to pay the fee to be in
that school activity? How do you put a price on having a couple of
hundred dollars more a month to pay for food? It is incalculable.
But we know that because of what we did in 2021, we began--just by
way of one step, but we began to change substantially the trajectory of
these children's lives, millions of them, tens and tens of millions
across the country. We have a chance to do that again in a similar
fashion--not exactly how we did it in 2021 but in a similar fashion.
This bill doesn't fully revive the version of the child tax credit that
we enacted in 2021. We should do that next year when we have a big tax
debate in 2025. In my judgment, the most important tax bill of our
lifetime is coming up in 2025.
This bipartisan bill we are trying to get passed will make millions
of children more economically secure, more secure--closer to what my
family had when we were growing up. This year, it will give benefits to
16 million American children whose families are either in poverty or
near poverty--half a million just in Pennsylvania, half a million
children who are in poverty or near poverty in Pennsylvania. For
example, a single parent with two kids who earns $22,000 a year as a
childcare worker would gain $675 this year. How do you put a price on
that, the benefit to that family just in this year?
Research shows that when the child tax credit was expanded in 2021,
families used that money on essentials like food and housing and
clothes and so much else. In 2021, those payments lowered the distress
that a lot of families felt, that parents felt, especially among single
mothers. No mother should have to worry about how she will put food on
the table. My mother never had that worry even though she had eight
children. She never had that worry because of our circumstances. No
mother should be concerned about or burdened by worrying about buying
her kids new clothes for school or keeping a roof over their heads.
We have the power in one vote to move this bill forward and enact it
into law to help millions of children and millions of families across
the country. I encourage all of our colleagues in both parties to stand
with those children, stand with those families, and vote yes on this
tax bill.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WYDEN. Senator Casey, one of the things that I most appreciate
about the Senator's services, when we bring up a bill, you invariably
say: What does it mean for the kids who are hurting? We thank you for
it.
Senator Brown.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I particularly appreciate the moral
leadership of Senator Casey. As Senator Wyden just said, he always
posts questions: How does this affect family? How does this affect
children?
He knows it from his experience, and he knows it--as he travels the
State of Pennsylvania, from Philadelphia to the Ohio border, he talks
to a lot of families and children and sees what this means.
Senator Casey, thank you.
It seems like, listening to my colleagues--Senator Cantwell, Senator
Casey, and Chairman Wyden--everybody not in DC is for this bill. It is
a bunch of insiders here in this city--it is interest groups that are
always looking for a handout. As Senator Casey said, so many of these
interest groups get great tax advantages for themselves and maybe a few
crumbs for others.
The interest groups that are always looking for tax cuts for the rich
and for their large corporate interests frankly have too much influence
in this body. Fortunately, in the House of Representatives, they
overcame that, and they passed this bill with 357 votes. This ought to
pass close to unanimously here because it really is helpful. It helps
business, and it helps families. But it is still a struggle, and it
should be easy.
I remember sitting on the floor on March 6, 2021, and I remember
voting on this bill. It was on a bigger bill, but it had the child tax
credit that Senator Wyden and others had helped to write. Senator
Bennet played a big role and a couple of newcomers. Senator Warnock
played a role. Senator Booker also played a role, but he was not a
newcomer. Senator Warnock had been sworn in a couple of months earlier.
I said to Senator Casey, who sits next to me, as he just said--I
remember saying ``This is the best day in my career'' because we were
about to pass the expanded child tax credit. I knew what it meant. Most
of us knew what it meant. It passed 51 to 50. Unfortunately, for
reasons I still don't entirely understand, it was a partisan vote. The
Vice President came in and broke the tie. It passed 51 to 50.
Immediately after this passed--the President signed it soon after--I
called Secretary Yellen, the Secretary of the Treasury. I said: We have
to get this up and running.
By July, checks went out to the families of 2 million children in
Ohio. Checks went out to the families of 60 million children around the
country. As Senator Casey said, the child poverty rate dropped almost
in half by September. Think about that. But then that tax break expired
for reasons I won't go into here. But it tells you--I hear these
numbers. I hear people say that the child poverty tax rate dropped by
50 percent. I hear people say, as Senator Casey said, that it means
people can afford school fees for their kids. It means daycare is more
available, good quality daycare.
It is a lot of statistics, and that is really important--these 60
million children and 2 million in my State--but it is the individual
stories we hear from families. After we passed this, people saw what it
meant. We got letters. I got letters from Ashtabula, to Cincinnati, to
Toledo, to Gallipolis, to Athens, to Lyons, OH, about what it meant for
their individual families--probably more mothers than fathers but
mothers and fathers--what it meant to these families, how they just had
a burden lifted. It wasn't just the lowest income families. Families
who are solidly middle class or even who are upper middle class could
just do a few more things for their children. So the question is, How
do you put a price on this, as Senator Casey said? How do you put a
price on doing this when it made such a difference?
Let me talk a little more about the bill, if I could. We had
something called the lookback provision, allowing parents to use the
previous year's income to make sure they get the maximum possible tax
cut. Senator Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and I worked
together on this.
[[Page S5643]]
It is the same option--interestingly, it is the same option that
corporations have in the Tax Code. They are allowed to look back to
reduce their taxes, but we weren't going to do that for families. I
mean, that is the illness of this place. That is the sickness of
Washington. It is why people, frankly, why they hate Washington. We
treat these big corporate interests not even the same as we--maybe we
ought to treat kids the same as we treat corporate interests because we
treat corporate interests with kid gloves and always give them too
much, and kids don't get enough. Families don't get enough.
So it is important that we pass this. It is going to matter. We will
come back next year, and we do it in a bigger way than the way we did
last year.
It also has some provisions that are major priorities for American
companies. I want to encourage companies that will produce in the
United States and will do their research and development here, that
will keep the intellectual property in the United States.
I had a meeting once at the White House. Senator Wyden was there. I
think probably Senator Bennet was there at this meeting. It happened
when President Trump was considering what we were going to do with the
major tax bill.
We had a bill called the Patriot Corporation Act that said simply
this--I had the bill in my hand. It simply said that if an American
company pays good wages and provides good healthcare and provides a
retirement, they would get a lower tax rate. But if this company didn't
pay good wages, so workers got food stamps and workers got Medicaid and
workers got housing tax breaks--housing breaks--if the company wasn't
paying good enough wages and the taxpayers had to step up, they paid
another rate.
In other words, if companies do the right thing, we ought to give
them tax breaks. If companies mistreat their employees and undermine
the dignity of work, we shouldn't. It is really pretty simple.
This bill does it right. It is a bill with good bipartisan support in
the House, passing with 357 votes, thanks to the very adept negotiating
skills of both Chairman Wyden of the Finance Committee of the Senate,
Chairman Smith of the Ways and Means Committee in the House, one
Republican, one Democrat. We have got 169 Republicans, 188 Democrats.
It is our work. This shouldn't be about politics; it should be about
the people whom we serve.
You fight for people in this country who make this country work. We
should come together and cut taxes for working families. We should cut
taxes for companies that want to do production in intellectual property
in this country.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, before he leaves, I just want to say one of
the most powerful things Senator Brown often says on the Finance
Committee is: Whose side are you on? And Senator Brown always is on the
side of communities where everybody has a chance to get ahead--not just
the people at the top, the small businesses and the kids and the
working families. And we so appreciate that leadership.
Next is Senator Whitehouse, and not only is he a valued Member of the
Finance Committee, but he uses the Budget Committee to focus on these
kind of priorities, and we appreciate that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, first of all, let me congratulate
Senator Brown and Senator Casey and all the work they put into this
effort and Chairman Wyden for his negotiation to where we are right
now.
This is a big deal for Rhode Island. We actually tried the child tax
credit during COVID. We know how it works. It helped 174,000 Rhode
Island families through COVID, and what we saw is that it lifted many
of them out of poverty, and what else we saw is that it enabled parents
to get into the workforce.
There is a phony narrative that if you give the child tax credit to
families, they will just avoid work. Our experience was the opposite.
Once you had child tax credit revenues and you could afford, for
instance, childcare for your kid, then you could go to work. And, of
course, we needed a workforce through COVID, so people were paying
attention to this, and that was our experience. This is a pro-child and
pro-work tax credit.
Now, you think it would be an easy slam dunk over here because it
came through the House with a big bipartisan vote and the corporate
benefits included in this bill far exceed the family benefits included
in this bill. So you would think our Republican friends who are all
about corporate tax benefits would be saying, hey, 3 to 1, 4 to 1,
whatever the ratio is, we won this one big, let's close the deal; I
support this even though it is a little bit out of balance. The Budget
Committee did the work that showed the imbalance problem. We can always
go back and solve the balance problem later. Families can't wait for
the child tax credit. This really matters.
I support this deal, and I also support having a memory as we go
forward and as we further decorrupt our Tax Code about how to bring
that better into balance. It ain't forever. The child tax credit is the
key here. I will only add that the low-income housing tax credit that
is in here as well is extremely important. It is very important to
Rhode Island. We have a housing crisis in Rhode Island. We have exactly
zero of our municipalities left in which it is affordable for the
average family to be able to own a home. And we have one--one--in which
it is affordable to be able to rent a home.
So we have a lot of work to do, and the low-income housing tax credit
is a huge lift that allows our very experts and very able housing
community to build more and revamp more and produce more housing to
meet the needs and quell the crisis.
So I will close by thanking Chairman Wyden for his leadership and his
skilled negotiations that have gotten us to this point. And I hope that
common sense, what is good for children, what is good for work, and
what is good for the corporate sector can prevail here in the Senate.
(Ms. CORTEZ MASTO assumed the Chair.)
Mr. WYDEN. Senator Whitehouse, thank you very much for your comments,
particularly if you are talking about the immediacy of what is in this
bill. I have had small businesses come to me--I am sure Senator Hassan
has, too--and they say, look, if this is put off until 2025, you guys
might have your debate then, I won't even be around to see it because I
won't field any payroll and I won't have that R&D money.
Senator Bennet has been in this fight since day one, has really
dedicated his public service to kids.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. I want to thank the Presiding Officer who has been such a
champion on all these texts, the Senator from Nevada, and the Senator
from New Hampshire as well, for bringing together people from both
sides of the aisle to work on this. And you, Mr. Chairman, for your
steadfast leadership over many, many years.
And I am not going to give everybody a long history lesson here, but
you want to know why our politics are so messed up, what feels like we
are having these incredible, disagreeable disagreements and divisions
and all of this in our politics, I believe there is one fundamental
reason for it, and I think that fundamental reason is that people in
America have lost a sense of having economic mobility for themselves
and their families.
You know, the whole idea of the American dream was that, if you work
hard enough, that your kids were going to do better than you did and
that your grandkids were going to do better than they did. And that has
been lost. It is not irrecoverable, but there are so many families in
Colorado, in Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, that are going through the
same stuff that people all over America are going through, which is
they are working harder than ever before and they are bringing less
home.
And more of the benefit has been going, for years and years and
years, to the people at the very top. That is the result of a real
philosophical approach to how to run an economy, which is called
trickle-down economics or supply side economics; it was something that
Ronald Reagan led here. But I have to say this: There are Democrats and
Republicans who supported those tendencies for a long time, and the
result of that is that, today, the bottom
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half of Americans in our economy have less wealth than they did in 1980
when Ronald Reagan was President.
We are the first generation of Americans, the people in this Senate,
that are actually leaving less opportunity, not more, to our kids and
our grandkids. That has never happened before in American history. Half
the people that are in their 30s today are earning less than their
parents did.
And I heard my colleague from Rhode Island talking about housing in
Rhode Island. You can say exactly the same thing in Colorado. There is
not a single place in Colorado where people think they can afford
housing--because they can't.
There is no workforce housing left, as you and I have discussed in
the State of Colorado or the State of Oregon. And all of that is a
preface to saying finally--finally--we have a bill in front of us that
doesn't just cut taxes for the biggest corporations and the wealthiest
people in the country, but actually cuts taxes for working people. And
amazingly, as has been said, amazingly, it got 357 votes in the House.
I know the chairman is fond of saying you couldn't get that kind of a
majority vote for--what?
Mr. WYDEN. Apple pie.
Mr. BENNET. Apple pie. Or who is your favorite, you know, celebrity.
And yet they were able to come together over there in the House of
Representatives and pass a bill with 357 freaking votes.
So we are going to put this on the floor. There is a lot of debate
going on right now about was this party for kids or that party--I
assume everybody is for kids. I assume that everybody, given the
opportunity to vote for a piece of legislation that has that number of
votes, that does not just the important work this does for the child
tax credit, but also does important work on the research and
development tax credit that my colleague from New Hampshire has been
such a leader on, that when we get it here, we will actually all vote
for it.
And then I hope we come back next year and do the work we really need
to do with the child tax credit, which is to once again show that we do
not have to accept, as a permanent feature of our economy or a
permanent feature of democracy, the disgraceful and immoral levels of
childhood poverty we have in this country, that we know--because
President Biden put it in place several years ago--that we have a tool,
the child tax credit, that will actually lift half the American
children out of poverty and give them a fighting chance to contribute
to our democracy and to our economy.
This is one important step in that process. I urge everybody in this
Chamber to vote yes this week on this bill because this will be your
opportunity, before we go home, to demonstrate where we stand on behalf
of the American people and their families.
Mr. WYDEN. Senator Bennet, you have been leading on these issues for
a long time, and I want to take special note of a message for tomorrow.
We have all been reading the press and the discussion about what is
going on, sometimes thousands of miles from here, and there is a debate
about who is for kids. I want everybody to remember what Senator Bennet
said: Tomorrow, every single Senator can be for the kids. That is going
to be our message for tomorrow.
And by the way, our next speaker, our colleague from New Hampshire
really shows her support for that proposition because she has been a
champ on small business issues, and as we went into these debates, she
pointed out, folks, we better be for the kids because kids who have an
opportunity can be better workers down the road, and at every step of
the way, she championed both kids and small businesses.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
Ms. HASSAN. Thank you very much, Chairman Wyden.
Madam President, I rise to join my colleagues in urging Members from
both parties to come together and pass the bipartisan Wyden-Smith
package to lower taxes for working families and for small businesses.
And I want to add my thanks to my colleague from Colorado for his
remarks because this really is about making sure that our families and
small businesses can get ahead and stay ahead.
As you know, earlier this year, Members from both parties in the
House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan package to cut taxes. Like any
legislative compromise, it may not have included everything that people
wanted, but it included commonsense provisions that a majority of
Americans agree on. And as my colleague from Colorado and the chairman
have just said, it has provisions that not only the majority of
Americans agree on, but a significant, really large, outsized majority
of the U.S. House of Representatives agreed on.
This bipartisan package to cut taxes includes provisions that would
help keep our economy on the cutting edge by fully restoring critical
research and development--R&D--deductions. This provision would give
American creators and entrepreneurs the resources that they need to
outcompete countries like China and help ensure that our country and
our economy is second to none. I have been working on a bipartisan
basis to pass this provision and have heard from small businesses in
New Hampshire about the really tough financial decisions that they are
making now that the full R&D deduction has expired.
Not only would this tax cut package help us build a more innovative
economy, it also helps make our economy work better for everyone
through a bipartisan expansion of the child tax credit. We know that
families are still struggling with the burdens of high costs. Expanding
the child tax credit is a commonsense, practical way to put more money
back into the pockets of hard-working families.
And this child tax credit provision would have helped families who
have the most children, the families who, because of their higher
number of children, have the most costs. There is a reason that a
majority of Americans support these proposals. It is because they are
good ideas that will make a difference in people's lives.
But despite what our constituents are telling us in support of this
legislation, despite the good-faith bipartisan discussions that we have
had, and despite the fact that the House was able to come together to
overwhelmingly pass this bill, we still don't have an agreement on how
to advance the bipartisan tax cut package this week. Unfortunately,
some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have seemingly
allowed partisan politics to interfere with good-faith efforts to find
a path forward.
Despite this setback, I am going to continue to work across party
lines to pass the provisions of this bipartisan tax cut package. And I
urge my colleagues to reconsider and come together to pass this
legislation when it comes to a vote tomorrow.
I understand that for some of my colleagues, this bipartisan tax cut
package doesn't have everything that they might want, but we would be
ill-advised to miss this window.
We have the opportunity to lower taxes for the American people now.
Hard-working families struggling to keep up with high costs, they
aren't asking to expand the child tax credit a couple of years down the
line. They want tax cuts so that they can keep more money in their
pockets now.
If we are serious about outcompeting China, we can't afford to simply
hope that we pass legislation restoring the R&D tax credit in the
future. No, we need to give American innovators, creators, and
entrepreneurs the support that they need now. For many small
businesses, even waiting another year will be too late, because,
ultimately, the American people aren't asking for perfect legislation,
nor do they care if an idea is red or blue. They care about results,
and they don't want politics to get in the way of a good idea.
So I urge my colleagues to come together and support this bipartisan
tax cut package that will strengthen our economy, support our
entrepreneurs, deliver for American families, and demonstrate that we
can accomplish great things when we work together.
Thank you, Madam President.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, what we have heard from our friend from
New Hampshire is: It is time for results, not just rhetoric.
Our last speaker will be Senator Padilla, our friend from the West.
Senator Padilla.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I, too, rise today in support of every
parent across the country working multiple jobs to help put food on the
table, parents who are now buying school supplies and clothes as their
kids are preparing to go back to school, parents who are working hard
just to afford basic childcare. I rise in support of every American,
including many in my home State of California, who are struggling to
find housing that they can afford. And I rise today for every
constituent of mine wondering why Senate Republicans continue to block
a bill that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of
Representatives, because we know that the policies included in this
measure are, indeed, bipartisan.
In the bipartisan Wyden-Smith tax proposal, these measures are not
controversial. We know that they are actually effective because we have
seen them work. In 2021, we saw an expanded child tax credit cut the
rate of child poverty in our Nation in half to historic lows.
We also saw a 12\1/2\-percent increase in the low-income housing tax
credit allocation help finance the construction of affordable housing--
affordable housing that in communities across California and across the
country are so desperately needed.
So let's just kind of simplify this conversation here. We know these
policies can work. We know these policies have worked. We know that
letting them expire has been detrimental to so many parents, so many
children, and so many communities across the country. And we have,
today, an opportunity to do right by them once again.
This past week, the Park fire and other wildfires continuing to burn
in California have burned hundreds of thousands of acres. But in
addition to that, they have reawakened painful memories of some of the
worst wildfires in California history, many just in the last decade. So
I also want to spend a moment to highlight what the disaster assistance
provisions of this bill would mean for many, many families in my State.
Now, earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times told a story of Ria
Abernathy, a 55-year-old woman living in Butte County in Northern
California. Six years ago, Ria experienced devastation that most
Americans couldn't even dream of but to which many Californians have
grown all too familiar.
On one morning in November of 2018, Ria woke up to see black smoke
engulfing the land around her, flames moving so fast that, within
hours, the entire town of Paradise, CA, would be nothing but embers.
Fortunately, Ria acted quickly, and she was able to flee safely. But
in order to save her life, she had to sacrifice all of her possessions.
In what would become the deadliest wildfire in California history, the
Camp fire went on to burn everything that Ria owned, and it leveled the
town around her, and it claimed 85 lives--all because of a failed piece
of equipment from a transmission tower that ignited the fire.
So for 8 months, Ria was forced to find shelter in a trailer,
alongside others, along with a lot of her neighbors displaced by this
same fire, living in the parking lot of a local church as they began
the long, emotional path to rebuilding.
And while she was eventually awarded an $80,000 legal settlement, her
troubles were far from over. It turned out that Ria would owe taxes on
the settlement that she recovered. And that year, Ria says--she shares
in the Times:
I lost my whole history . . . and it's not coming back.
But as devastating as Ria's story is, she is not alone. Over 70,000
Californians have been impacted by the destruction of the Butte fire,
the North Bay fire, and the Camp fire.
Now, when a fire victim is wading through the ashes of their former
home and thinking about how to rebuild--not just their homes but their
lives--the last thing that wildfire victims should have to worry about
is how they are going to pay taxes on any settlement they receive.
Disaster settlement funds are not income. Disaster settlement funds
are not assets. It is compensation for what they have lost--and
insufficient most of the time at that. But disaster settlement funds
are also meant to be an opportunity to begin to rebuild your life, an
opportunity that should not be diminished because our government tax
codes are outdated.
So I was proud to see that the Wyden-Smith tax package includes my
bill, the Protect Innocent Victims of Taxation After Fire Act. It would
make sure that people who have suffered from a heartbreaking wildfire
can receive full compensation for their losses, without the fear that
their settlements will be subject to taxes.
And it is not just for my constituents in California looking to
rebuild. This bill would make sure that all recent and future wildfire
victims throughout the country have access to their full settlements.
It is a commonsense, bipartisan solution to protect Americans at,
arguably, the most difficult point in their lives. And for that reason,
along with the historic provisions included in the package to make life
more affordable for working families, I urge my Republican colleagues
to join me in supporting this bill.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I thank my colleague. And Senator Cornyn
said I could take a second to add on.
I think my colleague from California has made a central point. In the
West, in particular, we want to make sure that those who have been
clobbered by these fires don't get clobbered again by an outdated tax
code. So I am strongly in support of Senator Padilla's work.
We have an opportunity to get it on the books tomorrow, if it passes.
Tomorrow, it goes to the President and gets signed into law.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.