Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, Relating to ``Contributions in Exchange for State or Local Tax Credits''
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I echo what my colleague said about S.J. Res. 50, a congressional resolution of disapproval we are being asked to vote on this afternoon. I agree with the Senator from Texas. It is a mistake. It is wrong. I think he used the words ``ironic,'' ``mistaken,'' and ``duplicitous.'' I would call this Democratic proposal the height of hypocrisy. That is what we are looking at right here, and I am planning to oppose it.
Two years ago, the Republicans passed major tax reform for this country. What we wanted to do was to make the Tax Code simpler, make it fairer, and have people pay less, and that is what we have seen. To do it, we have also eliminated some tax deductions for the wealthy. One was the State and local tax deduction that was specifically aimed at the wealthy. We eliminated it. That is what our goal was--to eliminate those sorts of deductions so that people all across the country could see the benefits of tax reform.
Let's be clear about who will be benefiting by the Congressional Review Act that is being proposed to be voted on today. There will be 94 percent of the benefits going to those with incomes over $200,000. Those aren't the people who need tax relief in this country.
We made choices when passing tax reform. We wanted to provide tax relief for the middle class, and we wanted to double the child tax credit. It worked. We wanted to double the standard deduction, and that worked. We wanted to lower the tax rates as well. The results are that a great majority of American households are actually paying less in taxes today than they were before.
We have also had this great boost to the economy. We have more people working and one of the lowest unemployment rates we have seen. We have seen wages and incomes grow. We have seen the unemployment rate drop to a 50-year low. We have also seen economic growth beat all previous predictions. That is what we have gotten with the tax reform--the tax relief--that the Republicans have passed and that President Trump has signed into law. The Republicans are going to continue to focus on keeping taxes low for all Americans.
The best description I have heard of this proposal is that it seems to be an effort to give tax breaks to rich people in blue States.
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