Positive Impacts of Tax Reform

Floor Speech

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Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, I especially thank my good colleague and friend from West Point, Georgia, for managing this hour so that we can share, really, the excitement that we are seeing back home for what adding a little bit of money in the people's paycheck is doing.

Mr. Speaker, I have often contemplated what transformed America from an enthusiastic ragtag rabble that had this idea of freedom into the strongest economy, the freest Nation, and the strongest military in the entire world?

The reality of that is the freedom that this government and the rights that were given by God that we protect has given to the American people. When you think about the innovation that has come from America, innovation that has changed the face of the world, most of it came from here because of the freedom that we have.

Now, if you go right down the road here to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, you will see a testament to that freedom in that building where two bicycle mechanics from Ohio were able to accomplish to what, for centuries, scientists and engineers couldn't accomplish, because they had the freedom.

We have taught our children in this Nation to dream big. In America, you can accomplish anything that you want to dream. But in the past couple of decades, we have squelched the dreams of these kids because, as we have put out the fire that we tell them they can have in America, we are quenching that fire with wet blankets of bureaucracy and obstacles.

But I want to share with you a story from back home. It was a letter I received from a young man, a 14-year-old, thanking me for the tax reform bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which put more money in the back pocket of his parents.

You see, he had a dream. He dreamed of being a pilot. He wanted to be a pilot. But I can tell you, as a pilot myself, that is a difficult thing to accomplish. Not only is the training difficult, but it can be very expensive.

But he wrote me this letter thanking me. Because of the bonus that his dad received from his company because of the corporate tax cut, and the money that they are going to save because of the individual tax cuts, his parents are using that money to ensure that he gets flight lessons at 14 years old. He is accomplishing a dream because we removed government out of the way.

And one thing, quite frankly, is we need airline pilots. Up here, we start looking at what government programs we can put in or incentives to get people to fly, when all we have got to do is get out of the way and let our children, once again, dream big. That is all that we are doing, is getting us out of way.

When you look at Georgia, the results have been astounding. Even Home Depot, which is headquartered in my district, is investing $50 million to train 20,000 tradespeople to fill the gap.

With this closing, Mr. Speaker, let me bring up that the number of jobs that we have available in this Nation is about equivalent to the number of people we have unemployed. We need to continue to get out of the way.

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