Tax Reform
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, there has been no shortage of recent reporting on the economic progress that is flooding across our country. Take a New York Times headline from earlier this month: ``We Ran Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are.''
Let me say that again. This is from the New York Times: ``We Ran Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are.''
This is from a Wall Street Journal editorial:
The U.S. economy is picking up speed, and it's paying dividends in an expanding job market. . . . President Trump's tax reform and deregulation agenda appears to be working.
And here is a welcome development for America's parents:
Workers age 25 to 34 made up 1.04 million of the 2.58 million jobs added over the last year. Job and wage growth may finally be inducing young people to move out of their parents' basements.
More jobs, more wage growth, more opportunities for middle-class Americans--it is good news, plain and simple.
Well, apparently, it is not so simple for our friends across the aisle. While Republicans and the rest of the country are cheering on this new prosperity for working families, our Democratic friends are trying to pretend that the facts don't matter and things aren't actually getting better.
Here is how the leader of the House Democrats, the distinguished Congresswoman from San Francisco, tried to sarcastically brush away the facts a few days ago:
Hip, hip, hooray, unemployment is down! What does that mean to me?
I couldn't make this up. ``Hip, hip, hooray,'' she scoffs. Unemployment is at an 18-year low, the fewest Americans on unemployment insurance since 1973, and Democratic leadership can't quite fathom why this would matter for American families and small business owners. I know plenty of families and job creators in Kentucky who would be happy to explain.
Texas Roadhouse is a restaurant chain based in Louisville that employs more than 2,500 Kentuckians. They shared recently that tax reform will allow them to invest in their company, customers, and employees. Plus, this economic climate has them planning to open 30-- 30--new locations across the country next year. Maybe the new cooks and wait staff at 30 new restaurants could explain to the House Democratic leader why a falling unemployment rate is a victory for American families.
Just today, Glier's Meats in Covington, KY, is sharing similar good news. Tax reform is enabling this small business, famous for its German-inspired sausage, to make life better for its nearly 30 employees and plant deeper roots in Kenton County. Since the new law passed in December, Glier's has been able to make capital investments, including new machinery, which is critical to the daily operations of the business. They have been able to resume offering comprehensive health benefits, which it had to give up 6 years ago as costs soared under ObamaCare. They have been able to significantly increase employees' wages, and they are on track to hire five new workers in the coming months.
Our Kentucky State treasurer, Allison Ball, had it just right. She said in a recent column: ``Kentuckians have immediately benefited from federal tax reform.''
These immediate benefits are only the beginning. More and more stories like these are being written all the time as tax reform, regulatory reform, and the rest of Republicans' opportunity agenda continue helping American workers and job creators.
There are transformative new equipment purchases for Main Street small businesses, pay raises for hard-working middle-class employees, and new job openings all over the country so that new workers who are just starting out have more opportunities, and midcareer professionals who have been on the sidelines have the opportunity to clock back in.
Unlike leading Democrats, apparently, Republicans don't need it explained to us why this news matters to workers and families. It is exactly what we hoped to achieve. It is exactly the result that our policies were meant to produce.
The distinction could not be more clear. On one side of the aisle are those who mock multithousand-dollar tax reform bonuses as ``crumbs,'' who can't grasp why an 18-year low in employment would matter to American families, and on the other side of the aisle are those of us who have helped make it happen.
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