[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 126 (Thursday, August 1, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5721-S5722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



            Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today, as the Senate prepares to leave 
town for the August State work period, the Democratic leader has 
decided to squeeze in one more vote that isn't ready for prime time. To 
our colleagues on the Finance Committee--and to anyone paying attention 
in recent months--it has been clear that the Tax Relief for American 
Families and Workers Act that Chairman Wyden wrote with the House 
needed some serious revisions in order to earn 60 votes here in the 
Senate.
  We don't need a vote today to tell us that is still the case. 
Colleagues on this side of the aisle have serious unresolved concerns. 
They don't like how more than 90 percent of the supposed benefits of 
the bill, as written, come as a $30 billion expansion of cash welfare, 
instead of relief for working taxpayers.
  They are concerned about how it would weaken the work requirements 
tied to those benefits under current law. For a bill with the potential 
to so seriously impact working Americans, one might expect its 
proponents to engage seriously on resolving obstacles to bipartisan 
support.
  You might have expected the chairman of the Finance Committee or the 
Democratic leader to provide regular order, to schedule a markup, to 
give this bill a shot at actually passing the Senate, but, alas, you 
would be wrong. Of course, months without progress on

[[Page S5722]]

this front aren't for lack of effort from Ranking Member Crapo, and I 
am grateful for his dedication to addressing Republican concerns.
  Today's vote doesn't seem to be intended to produce a legislative 
outcome. In fact, the Democratic leader himself admitted this week that 
even losing the vote would still be a political benefit for vulnerable 
Senate Democrats running for reelection. Well, I am not so certain the 
American people are impressed by message votes, and I don't think they 
give out points for incomplete work.