[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20536-20537]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            TAX REFORM BILL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, throughout this process of tax reform, 
Senate Republicans explained time and again that we are fighting for 
the middle class. Our opponents lobbed one attack after another, 
claiming we were selling hard-working families short. Of course, that 
is completely wrong. The tax bill we passed was written to help middle-
class families from the very beginning. Our goal was to make their 
taxes lower, simpler, and fairer.
  Under our legislation, the typical family of four making the median 
family income can expect nearly $2,000 in tax relief next year. Just 
yesterday, we saw that tax reform has already inspired job creators to 
increase take-home pay for thousands of their employees. Yet not a 
single Democrat joined us to pass this tax relief for American 
families.
  What is worse, just before we voted, Senate Democrats raised a point 
of order that proved who is really going after low-income families. 
When given the chance, Senate Democrats, led by the junior Senator from 
Vermont, raised a procedural challenge to strike out a provision that 
protects colleges that provide students with tuition-free education. 
Let me say it again. The junior Senator from Vermont raised a 
procedural challenge to strike out a provision that protects colleges 
that provide students with tuition-free education. They chose to do it 
after the same provision had already passed the Senate before we went 
to conference. They didn't have to raise this challenge. It is not 
required. They chose to. In the process, they knowingly hurt schools 
that provide tuition-free education to students who can't otherwise 
afford to go to college.
  Let me give you an example. Berea College, in my home State of 
Kentucky, is dedicated to educating students from the Appalachian 
region who have limited economic resources--in other words, poor kids 
from Appalachia. Their students' average household income is less than 
$30,000 a year. These are kids from families making less than $30,000 a 
year. They are from Appalachia, and their families don't have the means 
to pay for their education.
  Here is what they do at Berea. Every single student receives a 
scholarship, which covers the cost of their tuition--every student. The 
students work at the school and in their communities to help cover 
additional living expenses beyond the costs of attending school. In 
fact, the vast majority of Berea students are able to graduate debt-
free because of the model. For example, they have a great restaurant 
there. You go there and eat lunch. The kids are cooking, and they are 
serving. They are working their way through school. When they graduate, 
they don't have any debt.
  Berea College, located in one of the most economically challenged 
areas of my State, offers a quality education to students with the 
greatest financial need, and it has done so since 1855--1855. It was 
founded by abolitionists.
  In fact, as my friend in the Chair knows, I am originally from his 
State. Let me tell you about when I first heard of Berea College. My 
grandmother and my grandfather had an African-American family who 
helped them around the house, and they had an adopted daughter. I was a 
little kid, and I remember them talking about her going to college.
  I said: Where are you going?
  She said: I am going to Berea.
  I said: Where is that?
  She said: It is up in Kentucky.
  It was the closest college that would take African-American students 
at that time. Since they didn't have the means to pay for the tuition, 
it was a great opportunity to get a tuition-free education.
  A few years ago, I called the president of Berea College and said: I 
would like to try to locate somebody.
  He said: Well, the privacy rules are such that all I can do is to see 
if we can find them and see if they want to meet you.
  I said: That is fair enough. This would be a person about a certain 
age, who would have originally been from Athens, AL. If you can 
identify this student, I would love to meet her.
  He did. When she came to my office in the Capitol with her daughter, 
who lives in the area, I found out that she graduated from Berea and 
went on to be a nurse. She lived in the north most of her life and is 
now relocated in Athens, AL.
  This is Berea College. This is the college these guys over here--
every single one of them--voted to target by making their endowment 
subject to a tax that would otherwise only apply to the really big 
schools in the country--the Ivy League schools.
  Every year, Berea uses the returns on its endowment solely for 
scholarships, and that sets it apart from nearly every other college 
and university in the Nation. I worked with the Finance Committee to 
include a provision to protect schools like Berea from taxes on 
endowments that apply to private schools who choose to sit on these 
large funds rather than using them aggressively to reduce the cost of 
attending school. But Senate Democrats identified this exemption as a 
bridge too

[[Page 20537]]

far. Instead of allowing the provision to stand, thereby protecting 
these students at schools like Berea, they decided to pick partisan 
politics and attack the measure simply because they could. In the 
process, they assured that Berea would bear the brunt of their blatant 
political calculation.
  Because Democrats stripped this part of the bill, Berea estimates it 
could pay a tax penalty of nearly $1 million every year. Berea's 
president has already explained to us the effect of this tax: The 
school will be forced to offer fewer scholarships to kids.
  The junior Senator from Vermont and his allies, which included every 
single Member of the Democratic conference, have chosen to make it 
harder for low-income students to earn a college degree. This is 
especially hypocritical coming from the man who claims to support free 
college for all. During the Presidential campaign last year, I remember 
he was promising free college to everyone. Apparently, that is free 
college to everyone except at Berea College, where it is already free, 
thanks to generations of donors who built their endowment.
  I am at a loss for words. I don't understand how they can claim to 
fight for students one moment and then make it harder for students to 
afford college the next. They chose to attack the tax bill by any means 
necessary, even though they knew the outcome and, in the process, 
launched a direct attack on the ability of schools like Berea to 
provide tuition-free education to needy students.
  This action by Senate Democrats is deeply disappointing and will 
provide real and lasting harm. I hope my friends on the other side of 
the aisle realize the American people will see their partisan tactics 
for what they really are--an attack on low-income students who want to 
pursue opportunity and find success.
  A number of my colleagues in Congress have said they are interested 
in fixing this problem, including my colleague from Kentucky, 
Congressman Andy Barr. I am committed to working with him and other 
Members of Congress, and with schools like Berea, to help right this 
wrong. It is hard not to repeat. This amendment was offered by the man 
who wanted to provide every student in America with free college 
tuition but at the same time wanted to reduce the number of 
scholarships at a college where it is already free, actually, thanks to 
the generosity of decades of wealthy people who gave to their 
endowment, believing the mission of providing a college education for 
poor kids from Appalachia was a worthy goal. We are going to fix this 
problem. We are going to fix it as soon as we can.

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