Republican Tax Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on taxes, one of the chief arguments behind the Republican tax bill was the idea that giving corporations a substantial tax cut would compel companies to hire more workers, give raises, and expand operations.

After a few weeks of news about one-time annual bonuses petered out-- and many of those were staged by CEOs sucking up to the President--we have started to get a look at how corporations are really using the profits from the Republican tax bill. What did Harley-Davidson, the iconic motorcycle company that President Trump talked about in his campaign and even afterward, do with their tax cuts? They cut domestic operations, announced a nearly $700 million stock repurchasing program, and now are moving significant operations overseas. Why didn't Harley- Davidson take that tax break to help continue to employ workers here in America instead of a buyback so the wealthy CEOs and shareholders would get a lot of money? President Trump and Speaker Ryan have held up Harley-Davidson as a success story of their tax bill while they are cutting jobs in America and using the tax cuts for stock buybacks.

It is the same thing with Carrier. There was a great big hoopla with Carrier, but Carrier is cutting jobs and still employs loads of people overseas, even though they got a huge tax break. This tax break has helped the wealthy, the CEOs, the shareholders--most of whom are rich and one-third of whom are overseas--but not the workers and not more productivity in America.

Another one is Walmart. They are cited by the House as a positive example of the tax bill in action. Walmart laid off 1,000 employees in recent months and used the tax bill break for a $4 billion buyback of its own stock.

This tax bill has proven to be a travesty. All the things that were promised aren't happening. I know our Republican colleagues. They talk to their wealthy businesspeople, and they think it is great. Talk to the average person. It has become unpopular again. Do you know why? It has sunk in that the money ain't going to them, and the big corporations that are getting these breaks are not benefiting them, by and large. Listen to this number: $450 billion in stock buybacks have been announced. That doesn't employ a single worker. That doesn't raise the salary of a single worker. That doesn't bring new equipment to a company to make it more productive so they can compete better. An analysis was just done by JUST Capital, and 7 percent of the capital allocated by companies from the tax bill's savings has gone to employees, 57 percent to shareholders--close to eight times as much. We Democrats predicted that, and despite the initial hoopla after the bill, the American people are realizing it is happening.

It seems nearly every week, today with Harley-Davidson, there is a new example of corporate America taking a Republican tax cut and putting it to work--not for their employees, not for new equipment, not for new hires but for executives and shareholders. Let's not forget, 80 percent of the stock is held by 10 percent of the wealthiest people. One-third of the shares in America are held by people overseas. As voters head to the polls this November, they should remember that Republicans spent over $1.5 trillion of the taxpayers' money to give corporate America a handout while working America got left behind.

We Democrats need to fix that.

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