Tax Reform Benefits

Floor Speech

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Mr. BANKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Chairwoman Brooks, for her attention to the positive effects of tax cuts on our Nation's economy, especially back home in Indiana.

Mr. Speaker, when this body was debating the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we were told that 3 percent growth was impossible. We were told that the middle class and small businesses would not see any benefits. And we were told that manufacturing jobs would never come back.

Mr. Speaker, all of these so-called experts were dead wrong.

Since December, the U.S. economy has been growing at 2.9 percent and the Atlanta Federal Reserve bank estimates that growth this quarter will exceed 4 percent.

This is hardly the ``secular stagnation'' that so many on the left insisted was the inescapable future for the U.S. economy.

The bottom line is this: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has unleashed record growth by lowering taxes on America's families and businesses.

When I am back home in northeast Indiana, I am constantly hearing good news as a result of tax reform.

In Bluffton, 20/20 Plastics is increasing annual wages by $1,200 and looking to invest in new manufacturing facilities in 2019.

In Fort Wayne, Quake Manufacturing is adding $1,000 bonuses and dental insurance for its employees.

Hoosiers across northeast Indiana have experienced the benefits just from turning on their lights, as Northern Indiana Public Service Company requested that customers' utility rates be lowered.

It is no secret why this is happening: Washington is taking a page out of Indiana's playbook.

During my time as a State senator, I was proud to work with Governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence to significantly lower taxes on individuals and businesses.

As a result, Indiana has one of the strongest economies in the country, with an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent and a labor force participation rate well above the national average.

Unemployment claims are at a historic low, and Indiana consistently ranks as one of the top States for business investment and economic growth.

For example, the annual report ``Rich States/Poor States'' ranks Indiana as having the country's third best economic outlook, while CNBC has consistently ranked the Hoosier state as one of the best places in the country to do business.

Finally, Indiana continues to be a manufacturing powerhouse, with 536,000 Hoosiers employed in the industry, and this number will only grow thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Monthly manufacturing job gains have more than doubled under Republican control, with over two-thirds of manufacturers creating new jobs to fill.

Even more impressive, 86 percent of manufacturing firms plan to increase capital investments thanks to the tax cuts passed by Republicans.

As the district with the most manufacturing workers in the country, this is great news for Hoosiers as companies across northeast Indiana are hiring more employees and increasing wages.

Additionally, 47 percent of U.S. small businesses plan to use their tax savings to increase business investments.

We know from the data that there is a 99 percent correlation between business investment and wages, and there is no question that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has spurred business investment.

This was the largest increase of wages since mid-2009.

Mr. Speaker, some have said the good news has amounted to crumbs and have promised to undo all of the gains we have seen from tax reform.

We owe it to the American people to make sure that that does not happen, but instead, we need to make these tax cuts permanent.

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