Housing for the 21st Century Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, one of the things I noticed about today is that it is March 4. That means it was exactly 8 months ago that President Trump signed into law the Working Families Tax Cut Act.

Now, we knew that this was a massive win for the American people, and what we are seeing now is that is beginning to play out. The American people are realizing what a big win passing this Working Families Tax Cut Act--the Big Beautiful Bill--was.

One of the things that have come up recently is the $150 billion investment it made in our Nation's defense, and certainly we are seeing that in action. It has been vital as our men and women of the military are working day and night to defend our Nation from these attacks from the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the face of the Earth, and that is Iran.

It also provided $170 billion for border security, including funding to complete building the wall on our southern border, building new detention facilities for those that have illegally entered the country and are awaiting deportation, and, to make all of this happen, of course, hiring and training more agents.

I think it is important to note that since this bill was signed into law, not a single illegal alien has been admitted into our country. Think about that. For years, millions--millions--of people were coming into the country, and Heaven knows how many known and unknown ``got- aways'' were getting into this country. But now, not one. And this has been especially crucial to maintain our border enforcement as our colleagues across the aisle, the Democrats, continue their push for a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

When I talk with Tennesseans, the part of the law that they are most excited about is tax cuts, leaving more money in their pockets and sending less money to the Federal Government.

Now, true to its name, the Working Families Tax Cut Act delivered the largest tax relief for Americans in history, and it prevented a $4 trillion tax hike. Of course, that would have been the largest tax hike ever.

So while these provisions went into effect last year, most people are just now beginning to see how this is going to affect them because we are at the point where everybody is trying to get their information together and fill out their IRS filing for the year.

In this law, I was so pleased that my legislation to remove income tax from Social Security for our Nation's seniors was included. Every senior that is 65 years of age and older--every single one--gets a $6,000 bonus deduction. If it is a couple, married filing jointly, their bonus deduction is $12,000. What we know is that this eliminates the income tax for 88 percent of our Social Security recipients.

I think this is a matter of fairness. American workers spend a lifetime paying into Social Security. The Federal Government has that first bite at your paycheck. They take that money out. So why should seniors have to pay tax on that Social Security? It makes absolutely no sense to be taxing taxes. And that is what this provision has done for years. So by being able to remove this, we know that most seniors are going to see an extra refund of somewhere between $670 and $1,300. So for Americans on fixed incomes, these savings are going to help to pay for medicine, food, gas, groceries, and other expenses they may have.

For millions of workers, we have also lowered the taxes on tips and overtime. Americans who go the extra mile deserve to benefit from their hard work, and this provision of no tax on tips or overtime ensures that is going to happen. With the new tips deduction, single filers will see an average savings of $1,370, and some are going to see savings of as much as $5,500. With the new overtime deduction, the average is estimated at $1,440.

So this is delivering historic tax relief and benefits for families.

Earlier this year, I had the honor of joining President Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent for the official summit for the Trump accounts. These are new tax-advantaged accounts that were established in our legislation, and they are going to jump-start the American dream for millions of children across this country.

With the accounts, Americans that are born between 2025 and 2028 are going to be eligible for a $1,000 contribution into their account from the Treasury Department.

Parents and grandparents and uncles and aunts who are always struggling with what to get for birthday, Christmas, or special events can contribute up to $5,000 a year into this account until that child turns 18.

We know these accounts are going to grow to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time that child grows to be an adult. So I think it is so important for those of us that have grandchildren, for those of us that have children--think about what this could mean for those children and grandchildren to be able to have a debt-free college education or maybe a downpayment on a home or, for a child that is truly an entrepreneur, the ability to start a business.

We have been so excited about these, and the American people are excited about them too. Already 2 million families have applied for these accounts. To any of the Tennessee families who are hearing these remarks, I would encourage them to sign up for this. It is IRS form 4547.

Be sure you sign your child up for one of these accounts.

Now, it is impossible to list all the savings that are in the Working Families Tax Cut Act, and there are a few more that are so specific for families. The enhanced child tax credit was made permanent. That is going to benefit 40 million families that are now getting ready to file their Federal income tax.

We also have a new deduction for interest paid on made-in-America new vehicles. You will be able to deduct the interest on that car payment. That is going to yield thousands in potential savings for new car owners.

It permanently extends the estate and lifetime gift tax exemption. This is vitally important for people that own family farms, that have generational small businesses. What we have done for these family farms and small businesses is move that estate or death tax exemption up to $15 million per individual.

So for a couple that owns a family farm and they want to pass that on, that would be up to a $30 million exemption.

It also provides a significant increase to the basic standard deduction and permanently extends the first Trump administration tax cuts for businesses, bonus depreciation, interest expensing, and research and development. These are so important because your mom-and- pop shops that are on Main Street, your small business factories that are in every town across this country--certainly, we have many of them in Tennessee.

Families want to consider these businesses, but so often they have had to sell the business or sell the farm to pay taxes. So often, they end up losing money because interest expensing or bonus depreciation was not permanent or was not there at all.

We are looking, this year, at families seeing an average of $2,600 as a savings on their taxes, and, after they reset their deductions, seeing a take-home pay increase of about $10,000 for the year.

Our working families tax cuts are strengthening the buying power of our families. It is strengthening the growth opportunities for our businesses and our communities in Tennessee and across the country.

And I think it is important to note that I have laid out all of these things that the American people benefit from. But I would remind the Chamber: Not one single Democrat voted for any of this--not one.

So I think that is what our colleagues across the aisle will see. As our senior citizens realize they have got a $6,000 bonus deduction, they are going to ask them: Why did you vote against this?

They are going to ask them: Why did you vote against no tax on tips? Why have you voted for higher taxes? Why did you want a $4 trillion tax hike?

Those are the questions that the citizens are beginning to ask, and I know that, as they learn more about what was included in the working families tax cuts--the Big Beautiful Bill--they are going to have more questions for our colleagues who were against leaving more money in the pocket of our citizens.

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