Republican Tax Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, finally, a word on the Republican tax bill. From the very beginning of our debate on taxes, Republicans insisted that their bill was about helping the American worker, even though the GOP tax bill directs 83 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent. President Trump and the Republicans said it would be ``a middle class miracle.''

Their theory was to give the big corporations and the wealthy a massive tax cut, and the benefits would trickle down to everyone else, even though that theory has been debunked over and over and over again. Still, President Trump repeatedly promised that workers would see a raise of $4,000 or more as a result of the Republican tax bill.

I would like to ask most Americans if they have gotten the $4,000 raise as the White House promised because, according to the April jobs report, hourly earnings have not increased significantly and are actually up just 2.6 percent over the past 12 months. Last month, average hourly earnings increased by just 4 cents--hardly $4,000. No matter how you look at it, the Republican tax bill has failed to deliver anywhere close to the wage growth that was promised.

The harsh fact is that corporations aren't using the bulk of their tax savings to boost worker pay or provide additional benefits or hire more workers or buy more equipment. They are using the predominance of tax savings on something called stock buybacks. The CEO says: Let's buy back the stock. His shares go up. The shareholders' shares go up. The American worker is left holding the bag.

According to a recent analysis by JUST Capital, only 6 percent of the capital allocated by companies on the tax bill savings has gone to employees, while nearly 60 percent--10 times as much--has gone to shareholders. More than $390 billion has been authorized this year on corporate buybacks, something we used to prohibit or make very difficult, while only $6.7 billion has been spent on one-time bonuses and wage hikes.

There is another Republican truth teller who is now getting pommeled a little, but I respect him--Senator Marco Rubio. Here is what he had to say last week:

There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they're going to take the money they're saving and reinvest it in American workers. In fact--

These are his words. They sound like mine.

In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there's no evidence whatsoever that the money's been massively poured back into the American worker.

Let me repeat that. This is Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, who said: ``[T]here's no evidence whatsoever that the money's been massively poured back into the American worker.''

I couldn't have said it better myself. President Trump and the Republicans promised a middle-class miracle, with tremendous raises for workers, but they once again haven't delivered. Instead, the American people have been saddled with higher deficits and a larger debt, while corporations reward wealthy executives and shareholders. Even Republican Senators are starting to admit it.

So I have heard some commentators say: Well, maybe the public says that we don't like the President's tweeting, we don't like that he changes his story, we don't like prevaricating, but at least he is delivering.

Not with the tax bill, where so much of the wealth is going to the top; not on healthcare, where premiums are going up. The American people will have the right to protest come November, which I believe they will.

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