Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania for his leadership on this issue.

I think Senator Toomey's proposal is an eminently reasonable, commonsense proposal in that we take up the SECURE Act with an equal number of amendments from the Republicans and the Democrats and that we vote on the amendments on the Senate floor.

Now, everyone expects, in a few minutes, we are going to see the Democrats stand up and object to that proposal and say: No, we don't want amendments. We are not willing to vote on amendments. We are going to see the Democrats hold the SECURE Act hostage because they are unwilling to vote on amendments. We are going to see the Democrats hold hostage bipartisan reform that would improve retirement savings and also hold hostage tax relief for Gold Star families that should have passed a long time ago. It is cynical for the Democrats to hold this hostage, but because they are afraid to vote, they are getting ready to object and say that Gold Star families don't get their tax relief. The Democrats are afraid to have a vote in this body, and they are willing to hold the Gold Star families hostage.

One of the proposals they are afraid to vote on is that of commonsense education reform that has bipartisan support. It concerns what are called 529 savings plans, which are immensely popular tax advantage savings plans. Over 18 million Americans use them right now. The vast majority of those who use 529 savings plans are middle-class Americans. What 529 savings plans allow is for parents and grandparents to save for the educational expenses of their kids.

In 2017, as part of the tax reform, I introduced an amendment to expand 529 savings plans not just to college but to K-12 education. The Senate took up that amendment, and it became the only amendment the Senate adopted on the floor of the Senate that added anything to the tax cut. It passed this body at about 1 o'clock in the morning, by a 50-50 vote, with the Vice President's having broken the tie.

It has become the most far-reaching and significant Federal school choice legislation that has ever been enacted, benefiting up to 50 million school kids across this country. That legislation is already done, and it is actually not what this fight is about. That fight was about expanding 529s to K-12 education. The American people won that fight, and the Democratic opposition lost that fight.

This amendment is, instead, a much more modest amendment that takes 529 savings plans and expands them to three groups of people.

No. 1, it allows the parents and grandparents of kids with disabilities to use 529s to save for educational therapies for kids with disabilities and to save for the additional assistance those kids with disabilities need. That is an eminently commonsense proposition.

No. 2, it allows homeschooling families to participate in 529 savings plans. In 2017, the Democrats cruelly carved out of 529s both kids with disabilities and homeschooling families. There is no reason kids with disabilities should be discriminated against by the Democrats in this body, and there is no reason homeschooling families should be discriminated against by the Democrats in this body.

The third group of people it benefits is that of public school students. What this amendment says is that the parents and grandparents who have kids in public schools can use 529s to pay for additional educational expenses. That means they can use 529s to pay for standardized test preparation. That means they can use 529s to pay for tutoring costs or whatever additional educational expenses they have above and beyond their public schooling. This would potentially benefit every child in public school today.

We may see the Democrats suggest that voting on this is somehow partisan or divisive. The nice thing is that we know as an absolute fact that it is not. Why do we know that? My amendment is for the expanding of 529s for kids with disabilities, for homeschoolers, and for public school students.

My amendment was taken up in the House Ways and Means Committee, and it was adopted in the House Ways and Means Committee--and this is important--unanimously. That means every single Republican on Ways and Means voted for it and that every single Democrat on Ways and Means voted for it. The Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee voted for this 529 reform. It was unanimous, bipartisan, commonsense reform. Unfortunately, what happened after that is, when the bill left Ways and Means and went to the House floor, some political leaders and teachers unions got upset, and Speaker Pelosi essentially did a drive-by shooting and, on the floor, took the provision out.

Here is the part that is particularly ironic. Do you know the single biggest monetary beneficiary of the 529 reform for which I am asking for a vote? The single biggest monetary beneficiary would be the public schoolteachers. Why is that? It would allow public school students and their parents to have 529 savings accounts in order to pay for tutoring. Who do you think those parents are going to hire to tutor their kids in public school? They are going to hire other public schoolteachers. We are literally talking about millions of dollars for public schoolteachers that you are about to see the Democrats block.

I would speak to the members of the press corps. Just once, I would like to see the press corps ask a Democrat: Why are you blocking relief for children with disabilities and their parents? Why are you discriminating against homeschooled kids, and why are you hurting public schoolteachers and stopping public school students from being able to get tutoring and test preparation?

It is worth noting that Senator Toomey's proposal is not even that this proposal be adopted. It is simply that we vote on it. Yet the cynicism of today's Democratic Party is such that we are about to see them object to even having a vote. That is unfortunate and it is wrong.

I say let's go back to the bipartisan proposal for which every single Democrat on the House Ways and Means voted and every single Republican. Let's work together, and let's actually serve the people who elected us.

I yield to the Senator from Pennsylvania.

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