Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, under President Obama, our economy languished. Recovery from the recession was historically slow and economic growth for his last year in office was an anemic 1.6 percent. Of course, all of that meant reduced economic prospects for American families. Wages were stagnant, and jobs and opportunities were often few and far between. Republicans knew that if we wanted to improve life for American families, we needed to get our economy going again.

As soon as we took office in 2017, we got right to work. We knew the biggest thing we had to do was overhaul our outdated Tax Code, which was acting as a major drag on economic growth. The Tax Code has a huge effect on economic growth and the kinds of jobs, wages, and opportunities available to American workers.

A small business owner struggling to afford a heavy tax bill is unlikely to have the money to hire a new worker or expand her business. A larger business is going to find it hard to create jobs or improve benefits for employees if it is struggling to stay competitive against foreign businesses paying much less in taxes.

Prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, our Tax Code was not helping American workers. It was taking too much money from Americans' paychecks. It was making it difficult for businesses to grow and create jobs. So we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to put more money in Americans' pockets, to spur economic growth, and expand opportunities for American workers. We cut tax rates for American families, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction.

We lowered tax rates across the board for owners of small- and medium-sized businesses, farms, and ranches. We lowered our Nation's massive corporate tax rate, which up until January 1 of last year was the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world.

We expanded business owners' ability to recover the cost of investments that they make in their businesses, which frees up cash that they can reinvest in their operations and in their workers, and we brought the U.S. international tax system into the 21st century so American businesses are not operating at a competitive disadvantage next to their foreign counterparts.

I am proud to report that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is doing exactly what it was supposed to do. It is growing our economy. It is creating jobs, and it is expanding benefits and opportunities for American workers. Economic growth from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018 was a strong 3 percent. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in February, the 12th straight month that unemployment has been at or below 4 percent. That is the longest streak in nearly 50 years.

The Department of Labor reports that the number of job openings has exceeded the number of job seekers for 11 straight months. The economy has added more than 5.3 million jobs since President Trump was elected. Job growth has averaged 209,000 jobs a month over the past 12 months, exceeding the 2017 average by 30,000 jobs a month.

Wage growth has accelerated. Wages are growing at a rate of 3.4 percent, the seventh straight month in which wages have grown at a rate of 3 percent or greater. Median household income is at an alltime high. Business investment is up, which means more jobs and opportunities for American workers. U.S. manufacturing is booming; small business hiring recently hit a record high; and the list goes on.

So what is the Democrats' response to tax reform success--continue or expand the policies that have made life better for American families? Well, the answer is no. Instead, Democrats are proposing policies that would result in massive tax hikes on just about every American.

Consider Democrats' Medicare for All proposal, which would strip Americans of their private health insurance. The pricetag for this program is estimated at $32 trillion over 10 years. To put that number in perspective, the entire Federal budget for 2019 is less than $5 trillion. Democrats are talking about increasing Federal spending by more than 70 percent. One Medicare expert estimates that doubling the amount of individual and corporate income tax collected in this country would not be enough to cover the cost of Medicare for All. I don't know about my Democratic colleagues, but I don't know too many working families who would be able to afford to have their tax bill double.

While $32 trillion is an insane pricetag, it is dwarfed by the pricetag for Democrat's comprehensive, socialist fantasy, the Green New Deal. An initial estimate suggests that the Green New Deal would cost $93 trillion over 10 years--$93 trillion. That is more money than the 2017 gross domestic product for the entire world. It is more money than the U.S. government has spent in its entire history.

Democrats like to talk about taxing the rich to pay for various initiatives, but the fact is, there aren't enough rich people in America to even come close to paying for the Green New Deal, even if you taxed every one of these people at a rate of 100 percent.

Democrats' socialist fantasies would be paid for on the backs of working families. Families would face huge tax hikes that would permanently lower their standard of living, but that is not all. Families would also see a steep decline in the jobs and opportunities available to them. Tax reform has enabled and encouraged businesses to invest in and grow, which is resulting in better wages and benefits and increased opportunities for American workers. None of the growth we are seeing from businesses would last under the tax hikes businesses would face to pay for Democrats' socialist fantasies. Instead of thinking about expanding, companies would be thinking about how they could shrink their workforces or move jobs and investments overseas. Instead of raising wages or improving benefits, companies would be avoiding wage hikes and looking to trim their benefit packages.

Under Democrats' socialist fantasies, American families would face a double economic blow: huge tax hikes, fewer jobs, lower wages, and reduced economic opportunity.

There is no one in Congress who doesn't want to make life better for American families. Socialism and the massive tax hikes it would bring is not the answer. Socialism would reduce opportunities for Americans, not expand them; it would decrease Americans' standard of living, not improve it; and it would rob Americans of their choices and many of their freedoms.

Republicans will continue to fight to expand economic opportunity for American families, and we will do everything we can to ensure that hard-working Americans never have to live under the miserable reality of Democrats' socialist fantasies.

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