Omnibus Tax Provisions
Floor Speech
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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes this afternoon to talk about the tax provisions in the agreement before us. I want to start by making sure that people understand what this is really all about. This is the biggest bipartisan package that provides real tax relief for working families in literally decades. It is the biggest anti-poverty program Congress has moved forward in decades. So being able to do all of this for working families and help millions of Americans find their way out of poverty is, in my view, something particularly important--the largest bipartisan tax agreement in 15 years.
I want to spend a few minutes describing how this came together, why it is such an important piece of legislation, and what it means for the cause of tax reform.
Hundreds of thousands of Oregonians and millions of families across the land count on the child tax credit and the earned-income tax credit to make ends meet. More than 100,000 Oregon students and millions of students nationwide count on the American opportunity tax credit to help them pay for college. These are concerns Senator Merkley and I heard directly from students at the roundtables we held recently at the University of Oregon and at Southern Oregon University. In my view, they are bedrock priorities for working families when it comes to taxes.
Starting more than a year ago, all of my Democratic colleagues on the Finance Committee came together around the principle that when Congress took up the temporary tax cuts known as extenders, these vital individual tax incentives for working families would be our special priority. If our colleagues on the other side insisted on making certain business-related tax breaks permanent, we were going to make clear at every single opportunity that the tax cuts for working families and students would have to be made permanent as well.
Back in 2009 when these working family tax cuts were actually expanded, there were some Members here in the Senate who said they would never allow them to become permanent. In effect, what they said is that working families would get a little bit of relief back then in 2009 but that would be it for those working families. We said that is not good enough. We said that without the certainty of permanent extensions, too many families across this country would be thrown into the dark as the provisions expired over and over again.
Advocates for those who walk an economic tightrope, balancing their food against their fuel and their fuel against their medical care--over 130 groups who advocate for those working families wrote a letter urging lawmakers to make the working family credits permanent. They said: Don't keep those families guessing about their taxes; give them certainty and assistance on a permanent basis. That is what this package does. There is a new measure of certainty and predictability when it comes to taxes. The last tax bill in America passed just over a year ago. It had a shelf life shorter than a carton of eggs. What we are doing with this bill is providing an alternative--an alternative with real certainty and predictability on a permanent basis.
I see my colleague Senator Brown here. He has done yeoman's work in advocating for working families and their kids. I so appreciate his leadership.
Suffice it to say that what we just heard from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is that 16 million Americans, including 8 million children, will be lifted from the depth of poverty or out of poverty altogether in 2018 and beyond because of this legislation.
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Mr. WYDEN. I will be happy to yield.
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Mr. WYDEN. Reclaiming my time, Mr. President, before Senator Brown leaves the floor, I want to thank my colleague from Ohio, whose advocacy and constant tenacity, coming back again and again to talk about what this means for those families walking on what I call an economic tightrope--we wouldn't be here without that advocacy.
I just learned from some of the experts in the field that altogether 50 million Americans are going to benefit from the earned-income tax credit and the child tax credit being made permanent. That is real relief on a permanent basis. Students will be able to count on the American opportunity tax credit to cover up to $10,000 of a 4-year college education. That is an awful lot of money they are not going to have to borrow. There are other important highlights in the package, such as permanent help for the commuter, permanent assistance for low- income housing, permanent tax breaks to encourage charitable giving. That is a huge lifeline for places like the Oregon Food Bank. I was there just a few days ago, and I saw all those young people and volunteers last Saturday morning. They were all pitching in and packing fruit baskets for families to enjoy. They do incredible work to combat hunger.
There will be 5 years of assistance for job seekers, including veterans, long-term unemployed, and people with disabilities. Also, 5 years of aid is included for hard-hit communities with the new markets tax credit, 5 years of certainty for solar and wind energy. This is especially important. We have seen the extraordinary interests in climate change. You can debate whether you think there is a serious problem. Based on the numbers from the scientists at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, I know I certainly do. It is a serious problem, and now we have 5 years of certainty for solar and wind energy, which I think is going to make an extraordinary difference in renewable energy.
Here is what the math of this package looks like: 40 percent of the tax breaks goes to families and individuals. That is a huge improvement over the typical math with these tax breaks. When Congress just passes the same old, same old set of tax extenders, as it has done for years, only 20 percent goes to families and individuals. This package doubles the percentage of families who will benefit as it relates to this particular package.
There are clearly a number of business-related tax cuts and, by the way, I think many of those make a great deal of sense as well. We have the permanent tax break for research and development. Thanks to the good work of our colleague from Delaware Senator Coons, it is going to be available for the first time on a widespread basis for small business and startups. It is in there.
I say to the Presiding Officer--because I have been to his State-- this is going to be a real booster shot for America's innovative economy. Permanent small business expensing is going to help a lot of employers invest, grow, and create new high-wage, high-skilled jobs for American workers.
I have town meetings in every county every year in Oregon. When I drive through rural Oregon, I see all of those little businesses that in effect sell farm implement equipment. Last year they were trying to figure out what was going to happen with respect to the expensing rules, and then they saw it only lasted a few weeks. Now we have permanent small business expensing. That is going to help small employers in rural areas. Research and development credits, which are permanent, will help small businesses in rural and urban areas. In many cases, it will help employers pay wages thanks to those new innovation- related programs. I think the tax breaks I have just mentioned, such as expensing for small businesses and permanent research and development breaks, ought to be the kind of thing that both Democrats and Republicans should approve.
I want to take just a few minutes and talk about the impact of this legislation on tax reform. I will tell you that my wife always says: Don't describe the Federal Tax Code in your typical way because you just frighten the children, but the reality is the American Tax Code, overall, is just a rotting economic carcass. It is infected with loopholes and inefficiencies. Now we have this version virus mutating and growing. This is really a mess of a system. What this legislation does--particularly by making the breaks for working families and the smart policies that encourage business, innovation, and economic growth in our communities, research and development, and realistic writeoffs permanent, this is going to, in effect, clear the deck for tax reform. This lays out the opportunity by giving breathing room to the cause of bipartisan tax reform. That is something I am particularly interested in because our colleague from Indiana, Senator Coats, and I have written a bipartisan comprehensive tax reform bill.
What this legislation does, in terms of creating breathing room for tax reform, is it breaks the chain of just extending these tax extenders every 2 years. What it means is that we have some predictability, certainty, and some breathing room in order to lay out a bipartisan comprehensive tax reform effort.
By the way, the fact is, this inversion virus is something that can't be ignored any longer. That alone is an indication that the Congress cannot duck the need to reform the Tax Code comprehensively. Look at those Members who are in key positions in the Congress and have made it clear that they want bipartisan tax reform--both Democrats and Republicans. For example, Chairman Brady, Chairman Hatch, and myself, as well as a number of colleagues on both sides of the aisle, have said they want to do comprehensive tax reform and want to--as I have described it--pass these extenders so we can break the chain of the every year or every 2 years extension. We are not the ``extender'' Congress. I don't want us to have to come back to this every 2 years, doing the same old, same old. We can do a lot better, and this time we have at least laid the foundation for real tax reform.
I want to thank a number of my colleagues. In particular, I wish to thank Chairman Hatch, our committee members on both sides of the aisle, and the two leaders--Leader Reid and Leader McConnell--for their efforts. We had an awful lot of dedicated staff people working on this issue. Our diligent tax counsel is here, Todd Metcalf. I thank him for his great work. Our terrific staff director, Josh Sheinkman, our chief counsel, Mike Evans, and the members of our tax team, Ryan Abraham, Bobby Andres, Chris Arneson, Adam Carasso, Danielle Deraney, Kera Getz, Rob Jones, Eric Slack, Tiffany Smith, and Todd Wooten. All of them have worked long hours to get us up to this point.
I also want to commend Liz Jurinka and Juan Muchado of our health staff because they joined a very good leadership team. I must thank Senator Reid's chief tax aide, Ellen Doneski, Chairman Hatch, and his staff, led by Chris Campbell, Mark Prater, and Jay Khosla. Brendon Dunn, with Senator McConnell's office and George Callas and Chairman Brady's tax staff were instrumental. All of them came together to help us put this together.
I now believe there is a real opportunity to use this bill as a springboard to real tax reform. I have written two bipartisan tax reform bills over the years, first with our former colleague from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg, and the second with our current colleague, Senator Coats, the distinguished Senator from Indiana. I know my wife would always say: I keep hearing about these tax reform bills, dear. Write me when something actually happens.
I will tell you, I think the combination of this inversion virus-- which if it keeps growing is going to hollow out America's tax system-- and the fact that we have brought some certainty and predictability to the Tax Code added some very sensible provisions in a permanent way. This really gives us an opportunity now. The table is set for real tax reform, and that is not something we have had before.
I just want to close by way of saying that I am so honored to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate. I was director of the senior citizens Gray Panthers for about 7 years before I came to the Congress. I have had a lot of exciting moments in my time in public service, but to be part of this bipartisan legislative effort that provides the biggest tax cut for working families and the biggest anti-poverty plan Congress has moved forward in decades is particularly thrilling.
I thank all of my colleagues and their staff who have done so much to make this possible.
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