Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, just 2 days ago, the White House announced its plans to reduce gun violence in our Nation's schools. This is an important issue, and the White House's recommendations should be taken seriously. I certainly do.

The President's blueprint attempts to address this pervasive problem from multiple angles during what has been a period of heightened tension and discord across the country. Parents and children continue to grapple every day with the aftermath of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. But, of course, the problem didn't start with that single event and what I think can only be fairly called a catastrophic failure across the board, which resulted in this terrible tragedy.

One important piece of the White House plan is to train school staffers. The President strongly supports a bill introduced by the senior Senator from Utah that would authorize funding for school safety improvements. You wouldn't think that would be controversial. Those school safety improvements include training efforts, school threat assessment, and crisis intervention teams. This bill is called the STOP School Violence Act. We ought to pass it, and we ought to pass it today.

As Senator Hatch said last week, there has been little disagreement but a lot of discussion and debate and not much legislative progress. He said: ``To break the impasse, we must unite on the issues where we agree.''

I couldn't agree with Senator Hatch more. We must unite on the issues where we can agree. One of those issues relates to a bill that I have introduced with the junior Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Murphy, to improve background checks on gun purchases.

NICS is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. As of earlier today, the bill called Fix NICS now has 69 cosponsors. That is nine votes more than we need in order to pass legislation, so clearly we could and should get it done.

The numbers speak for themselves: 32 Republicans and 36 Democrats want to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Why? Because we want to save lives.

There have been some who have come to the floor and have said in public comments: Well, we want to do more.

Well, God bless you. I hope that we will have other ideas presented that could do even more, but we know this has the political support and the critical mass we need to get this done in the Senate and to get it done now.

The reason this particular legislation is supported by so many Senators is, essentially, that it enforces current law. In other words, current law states that a felon--a person convicted of a felony in any court in the Nation--cannot buy or possess a firearm. It also says that a person who has committed and been convicted of an act of domestic violence cannot purchase or possess a firearm. If you entered the country illegally, you cannot possess or purchase a firearm, and so on and so forth. There are also provisions that if you have been adjudicated as a person with mental illness, you cannot legally purchase or possess a firearm. The problem is that many States and the Federal Government have done a very poor job of uploading the appropriate information into the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, so there are gaps in the system.

The most notable one recently occurred in Sutherland Springs, TX, outside of San Antonio, where 26 people were killed and 20 more were injured by a gunman who purchased the guns illegally. He lied on his background check and, sadly, the Federal Government had failed to discharge its duty to upload the appropriate information, which would have revealed that at the point of sale. I am convinced that those 26 people who are dead would be alive today and the 20 more who were wounded would not have been shot if an appropriate background check system had been in place. We have reached critical mass, and I believe we are at a tipping point.

I believe the public is demanding that we do something. That is what we usually hear when these mass shootings occur. People say: Well, do something.

My question is, OK, what is it that you want us to do?

This is something concrete and specific. It enjoys broad political support and will save lives, so I believe it is worth doing, and it is worth doing today, if possible. Tax Reform

Mr. President, the other topic I want to address is the legislation that was signed into law in December called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That is the formal name of the comprehensive overhaul of our Nation's Tax Code. The tax change we made was a change in the law that doubled the standard deduction, meaning that for the first $24,000 a married couple earns, they will pay zero income tax. It doubled the child tax credit. It lowered tax rates across the board, and for the first time in a long time, it made the United States more competitive when it comes to attracting investment and businesses around the globe.

(Mr. CRUZ assumed the Chair.)

We know that our Tax Code had been a self-inflicted wound. With the highest tax rate in the world, businesses were moving offshore to lower tax jurisdictions--such as Ireland, for example--in order to avoid the highest taxes here in the United States. We changed that by lowering the business tax rate to attract people to bring that money back to the United States rather than leaving it overseas.

Today, I want to briefly mention one of several portions of the law that is frequently overlooked. They don't steal the headlines, but they actually deserve more recognition.

The one I am thinking of is the one sponsored by the junior Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Scott, called the Investing in Opportunity Act. Importantly, this measure helps incentivize long-term private investment in communities that need it most. That is why it is called the Investing in Opportunity Act. It provides a new way for investors across the Nation to pool their resources through newly created opportunity funds established specifically for making investment in economically distressed communities, so designated by State Governors.

As any businessperson will tell you, private capital formation is a necessary ingredient for planting the seeds of job creation and opportunity. Our economically distressed communities need this sort of investment, and this provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act makes that possible and more likely.

That is just one of the provisions we need to keep reminding folks back home about because they get so much disinformation, and, of course, there is so much information coming at us that it easily gets lost in the day-to-day shuffle. These are important provisions, and I think they bear some emphasis.

The Presiding Officer and I have the great privilege of representing 28 million Texans. He and I hear from them from time to time on the legislation we pass. On the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, I heard from Pam from Amarillo, TX. She prefers that her last name not be mentioned, and I will certainly respect that. She thought she had made a mistake when she was figuring out her payroll at her company at the end of February. Because the pay increases to employees were just that big, she thought she had made a mistake. She said the differences in withholding were ``significant'' and a real ``boost in salary.''

Similarly, we heard from Glenda from Midland, TX, who wrote to me recently. Glenda has been retired since 2013, which, she reminded me, means that she is living on a fixed income with no possibility of pay increases or year-end bonuses. That doesn't mean she is not grateful for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. She said that the reduction in her income taxes feels like a raise, even though she is retired and living on a fixed income.

She took the critics to task for calling her additional income crumbs. She said that maybe to them it is crumbs, but ``every single dollar makes a difference'' to her. She called the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act an ``absolute blessing.''

I want to express my gratitude to Glenda and Pam for sharing their stories because I think it is really important to make sure that the facts get out.

According to what the Bureau of Labor Statistics said last week, Midland--where Glenda lives--had the largest employment increase in the country over the last year. This past January in Midland, the increase was 10.4 percent. In Texas, they also had the lowest unemployment rate of 2.4 percent, a significant decrease from 4 percent at the same time last year.

Of course, as the Presiding Officer and I know, Midland is the epicenter of energy production, and they are basically trying to get as many people as are willing to work on the jobs that produce energy to fuel our economy. Glenda is actually a part of a larger story that involves not only the place she calls home but also the entire country.

After years of economic stagnation, Americans are finally getting some good economic news. In February, the U.S. economy added 313,000 jobs--313,000 jobs. That is about one-third of a million. The unemployment rate is at a 17-year low, and it would have been even lower but for the fact that the number of people actually in the workforce increased by 806,000 in February alone. Let me say that again. The reason the unemployment rate actually didn't dip statistically lower from 4.1 percent is that 800,000-plus Americans reentered the workforce. To me, that is a remarkable statistic and a reason for hope that our economy will continue to grow and people will continue to find work, provide for their families, and pursue their dreams.

Since January of last year, our economy has added nearly 3 million jobs. Consumer confidence is at the highest level since 2000. The good news is that it is happening not because the Federal Government is spending the money but because the people who are actually earning it are getting the money and spending it as they see fit.

Glenda and Pam are just two of the examples I have mentioned, but they are proof that spirits are high, people are hopeful, and the economy is gaining force.

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