[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15628]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, during the Obama years, many of the 
hard-working men and women of America's middle class felt completely 
forgotten. Paychecks often did not keep pace with rising costs. 
Opportunities for work could often seem bleak. For those men and women, 
the promise of a hard-earned retirement seemed to drift further and 
further away. For so many middle-class Americans, the last decade meant 
a weak economy and a decline of opportunities. People of this Nation 
deserve better. They deserve larger paychecks, more jobs, and better 
opportunities to get ahead.
  This Congress is committed to helping the economy live up to its full 
potential once again, which is exactly why we are committed to passing 
tax reform. This is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to overhaul a 
broken tax code that holds us back and replace it with something that 
actually works for the hard-working people of our country. It 
represents the single most important thing we can do today to get our 
economy back on the right track.
  Working together, President Trump, his team, and the tax-writing 
committees in Congress have developed the framework that will help us 
get there. Here is what it envisions:
  For American workers, we want to make your taxes lower, simpler, and 
fairer. We want to take more money out of Washington's pockets and put 
more in yours.
  Helping individuals and families succeed is the first aim of tax 
reform. Helping businesses succeed is the second aim, so we can help 
create more jobs and keep them right here in America.
  American businesses, both large and small, face an increasingly 
competitive global economy. We want to put American businesses and 
workers on a level playing field because when they are, they can win.
  We want to help bring jobs and profits back home, and once they are 
here, we want to give businesses the right incentives to keep them 
right here in America.
  We want to unleash the potential of the American economy--helping you 
keep more of the money in your paycheck, helping businesses grow and 
workers succeed, helping move the economy into high gear so we can 
sustain real prosperity into the future for America's middle class.
  These are the kinds of ideas that should be shared by everyone, 
Republicans and Democrats alike. Our friends across the aisle supported 
the need for tax reform for many years. They used to advocate it 
loudly. But the tone seems to be different now. What changed? The 
President, or so it would seem.
  We know that our Democratic friends are under immense pressure from 
the hard left to oppose everything this President touches, but I hope 
they can resist that pressure and do what they know is right. After 
all, shouldn't we all support cutting middle-class taxes, helping small 
businesses, and bringing jobs and investments back to our country?
  I was always under the impression that Democrats wanted to end 
corporate offshoring, eliminate loopholes for the wealthy, and cut 
middle-class taxes. Well, these are all aspects of the current tax 
reform framework. So there is no need for our friends to invent reasons 
to justify opposing tax reform. There is no reason to launch attacks on 
the tax reform framework based on made-up details that aren't actually 
in it. Tax reform has been a bipartisan effort in the past. It can be, 
and it should be, again now.
  It is up to our Democratic friends to decide if they would like to 
engage in a serious way. I personally hope they will join us in 
advancing this important initiative for our country. I think we owe at 
least that much to the millions of Americans who felt forgotten over 
the last decade.
  Tax reform can help move our economy into high gear. It can help 
deliver more jobs, higher wages, and increased opportunities for the 
American people. The men and women of this country deserve it, which is 
why I am committed to keeping up the work to get tax reform 
accomplished.

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