Friday night and you hand out the work product for all the members of the senate to take a look at before they vote on changes in the tax code that will affect the people they represent. This is what happens. 479 pages were handed to us. They tell us some of this has been around for a while. Some of its new. They dont tell us which part is new and which part is old. But, lucky for us, on k street, and there is nothing wrong with lobbyists, but on k street where the federal lobbyists live, they are following this really closely and they have given us basically a cheat sheet. A score card. So we can figure out at least generally speaking how many changes have been made in the 479 pages since the last time we aw this proposed bill. Now, i defy any member of the senate to stand here and take an oath that they have read this and understand what in the world it means to businesses and families and individuals. If they want to take that oath, and maybe some will, then i refer them to, ladies and gentlemen of the american jury, i refer them to exhibit a, page 257 of the 479. Why do i pick this page . Because i didnt have time they didnt have time to type it. They wrote it out in long hand. Were not even teaching cursive in a lot of schools anymore but someone on the staff knew it enough to try. The problem is, they wrote it in cursive along the margin here. Its about sub chapter S Corporations and how much tax they pay and what they dont pay. I defy anybody to read it because the problem was when they copied it they chopped off lines. So there arent full sentences here. Just kind of like little phrases and words. This is your United States senate at work. This is what happens when you push through a bill late at night desperate to pass it without really stopping to ask yourself, will this make us a stronger nation . Will this help legitimate businesses that want to expand and create jobs . Is this good for American Families . Well, the joint committee on taxation told us yesterday thats our score keeper. Theyre the ones we hired to be our score keeper. Theyre nonpartisan. They told us what they learned about this bill before we got the new version with the new amendments that our friends at k street were happy to tell us what the listings were. They told us that this starting bill will add a trillion dollars to the national debt, so our kids and grand kids can pay it off, to pay for the tax cuts. They also told us, that the predicted Economic Growth that is supposed to come out of these pages of 4 or 5 a year is 0. 8 , is it not . Correct. Senator durbin right . Correct. Senator durbin they also told us the biggest beneficiaries under this tax code, this joint committee on taxation, happened to be the wealthiest people in america. Surprise, and the biggest corporations. They told us at least in the second 10 years, maybe before, regular, middle income families are going to pay higher taxes because of this. And they let us know, and we knew already, whats going to happen to programs like Social Security, medicare, and medicaid. You see, when you run up the national debt, and you want to try to balance the books, our republican friends have been very open about this, they want to cut the benefits under Social Security, medicare, and medicaid to try to balance the books. Well, america, are you ready for this . Are you ready for Senior Citizens who are counting on that Social Security check to cut benefits to pay for a tax cut, a tax giveaway to the wealthiest people in america . Are you ready to see medicare cut . Thats reimbursement for seniors for medical expenses in order to make sure that the biggest corporations in america get a tax break . Are you ready to see medicaid, which is a major expense taking care of seniors in nursing homes, are you ready to see those benefits cut in order to give an incentive to businesses to move jobs overseas . Thats what this is all about. Here is the reality. As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, american corporations have never been more profitable. Never. And as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product american corporations have never paid less in federal taxes. So what is the republican response to that . Cut Corporate Taxes. Why . Shouldnt we be focused on doing whats necessary so that middle income families have a fighting chance to pay their bills . Put some money away for their kids and their future . Shouldnt we be working on helping small and medium sized corporations instead of the big boys . Thats what i think we should focus on. I dont know for sure that this bill doesnt do that. In fact, nobody does. Nobody knows whats in here. 479 pages. If they tell you they do, then ask them to explain page 257. Ask them to try to read this. Ive tried. This is going to change the tax laws of america in ways we cant even explain. Weve got to get this done because the United States senate has done little or nothing this year, and so theyre desperate to get something done before the end of the year and, sadly, its a tax bill which weve just been handed one hour and 15 minutes ago. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. President , i want to thank my colleague from illinois for a very insightful analysis and his skill as a handwriting expert may be necessary as the Senate Finance committee tries to divine what that particular page actually means. I thank my colleague for trying to unpack a byzantine area of sub chapter f tax law. Senator durbin if the senator from oregon would yield a moment id like to ask that the infamous page 257 be made a part of the record after my speech, but im really sorry for the members of the staff who have to try to write this out and type it out. Senator from florida . A massr of wealth under the guise of mr. President this is in effect a massive transfer of wealth under the guise of tax reform. Senator nelson under repeating the statement, it will help the middle class. Hat doesnt mean i. You have to look at what the facts are. And i think youve heard a number of the speeches here that will refute that this is not middle class tax relief. It certainly isnt when a lot of those socalled tax cuts for the middle class will evaporate. Theyll cease to exist after seven or eight years. But lets take another part of this tax bill, the Child Tax Credit. Were going to have a couple of amendments out of here on the floor tonight about it. Were going to have one that is going to increase the tax credit substantially like 3,000 per child. When you compare that to the current bill, the current existing republican bill, they have a tax credit that in fact if you have more than three children, if you have a large family, you are going to be penalized. Thats just what the facts are. So lets see how the votes come later this evening on two amendments. One, a democratic amendment. And one a republican amendment. And the Child Tax Credit, lets see what the majority of our friends that are trying to ram this through in the dead of night, lets see what happens. Because clearly their tax bill does not do enough. Now this senator has long supported increasing the Child Tax Credit, including cosponsoring senator browns amendment to increase the credit and make it easier for those who are in a lowincome situation to claim that credit. Im going to continue to support increases for this tax credit for the middle class as long as its done in a fiscally and thoughtful, responsible way. It doesnt make any difference whos proposing it. Lets see how the votes come out here on these two amendments. Unfortunately the bill thats before us does it backwards because it actually increases those who have a number of children. We should be doing the opposite. So i hope that well find a way to drastically change this bill instead of limiting the Child Tax Credit, lets go in and make the Corporate Income tax not at 20 , but at 22 or 25 in order to fund the Child Tax Credit to help those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder. We should be coming together in a bipartisan manner to flip the priorities in this bill and to significantly increase the Child Tax Credit. Obviously thats what the American People want, but thats not the bill of goods that you are getting sold here tonight. By saying something is something, that doesnt make it so. Its what the facts are. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Wyden mr. President , my colleague has a parliamentary inquiry and then well go to senator bennet. Durbin i submitted this page mr. Durbin i submitted page 257 of the record and you gave unanimous consent for that to happen. Ive now been instructed the personnel cannot read this page the way it is currently written. Could i have this entered in the record just at written with the handwritten notations on the side . Could i enter it as a graphic or art work or Something Like that . I ask the president , does that mean if the amendment has this page in it that the amendment cannot be filed . The presiding officer the amendment can be filed with handwritten changes, but the staff will have to change those later. Or correct them. Mr. Durbin id like to ask a parliamentary inquiry further. Why didnt they accept page 257 after i received consent to put it in the record . The presiding officer the amendment has not been filed yet. It was accidentally mr. Durbin parliamentary inquiry. This page which is part of the tax bill, 257, as written cannot be filed in the senate because no one can read it . Is that correct . The presiding officer the amendment has not yet been filed. It can be filed in that form. Mr. Durbin parliamentary inquiry. Why cant this page be filed in that form . The presiding officer the amendment as shown in the handwritten text cannot be printed in that graphic form. Mr. Wyden parliamentary inquiry. The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden when this is filed, we want the American People to know what has actually been written on the side. Will it be possible as part of senator durbins statement to add this written on the side portion as part of his statement so that the American People actually know how outrageous this process is and it at least states as part of his speech what is written in the margin . Can that be stated as part of his statement . Mr. Wyden would the chair answer the question . Mr. Wyden my question is when the amendment is filed, i would like to ensure that the important point my colleague has made about what is written in the margin could be included as part of his written statement that will be entered into the record so that the American People can get some sense of what kind of flimflam is actually taking place here. The presiding officer when the amendment is filed. Mr. Wyden i thank you. The presiding officer the text will appear in linear format with any errors that may be in it. Mr. Durbin mr. President , let me just say, i i have the greatest respect for the senate staff, and i am not trying to say anything negative about them. I was hoping that this could be entered into the record, and i ask for unanimous consent to enter it, believing that the handwritten portion would show up in the record. I have since been advised that there will have to be translators and interpreters who will later decide exactly what this says before its part of the congressional record. I think i have made my point about where we stand in preparation of a tax reform for america. Thank y mr. Bennet thank you, mr. President. Talk about the swamp. All the folks out there that voted in this election do not have a swamp in washington, d. C. , are watching this happen right in front of their eyes tonight. We have a bunch of amendments that were dropped in by lobbyists here last night. We havent seen except we got a list from them, and we have got ill legible amendments now at the desk that the american even if we could read them, we wouldnt be able to. It just doesnt make any sense. I tell you Something Else that doesnt make any sense. It doesnt make any sense that in our economy, 90 of our folks, the bottom 90 earn the same amount of income as the top 10 . The top 10 earn 50 of the income in this country. The bottom 90 earn the other 50 . And you can see the directions that these lines have headed over a number of years. Thats the issue that we confront in our economy. Thats what we all should be working on in a bipartisan way to try to address. Unfortunately, instead of improving the circumstances for people in the bottom 90 of earners, the decision has been made because of an economic philosophy that has to do with trickledown economics to give the benefit to the people who are doing pretty well. Not just pretty well, but better than they have done since 1928. It was stated earlier today on this floor what a miracle the tax policies were in the early 1920s. The presiding officer the senators time is expired. Mr. Bennet may i have two additional minutes . The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Bennet i thank my colleague from pennsylvania. In addition, we cant afford to do this. Right now, we are collecting in revenue today before this tax cut goes into effect 18 of our Gross Domestic Product in taxes and revenue. We are spending 21 of what of our Gross Domestic Product. That leaves us with a deficit. And because this place lacks the courage to deal with the issues that we confront, unlike our parents and grandparents, we have hollowed out discretionary spending. We are spending 35 less than we were in 1980 as a percentage of our g. D. P. , and yesterday we had testimony in the Armed Services committee that we need a trillion additional dollars to modernize our defense. And we know how dangerous this world is with whats happening on the Korean Peninsula and whats happening in the middle east. Why was it okay for our parents and grandparents to invest in us, but were unwilling to invest in the next generation of americans . Not only are we unwilling to invest in them, but we are saddling them with the debt that has arisen from our inability to make proper decisions, and we are doing it now in plain sight of budget projections that show the money just isnt here. I think we have a decision to make whether we want to live up to the example that our parents and grandparents set for us and whether we are willing to make the kinds of investments in the next generation that they were willing to make in us. I yield the floor. Mr. Wyden mr. President , just before we wrap up, id just like to make it clear, because i have heard republicans talk constantly about how the process is being conducted with regular order. I have never seen in my time in Public Service when were talking about 10 trillion worth of tax policy changes and the biggest tax bill in three decades, something along the lines of the flimflam that we have been talking about with handwritten changes in the margins about something that conceivably will affect vast sums of taxpayer money, and i yield back. The presiding officer who yields time . Mr. Rubio mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio thank you, mr. President. As most of my colleagues know by now, we have been working for i believe about a year and a half certainly throughout this tax reform process to address the issue of the Child Tax Credit in an effort to increase it. I am grateful that in this process, we have been able to increase the Child Tax Credit to 2,000. That will help a lot of people. I have been asked by some people why isnt that enough . Why arent you happy with that . And the answer is that the people we most wanted to help are not going to be able to fully use it, and heres why. For them, for people that are making 20,000 or 40,000 or 50,000, youre a construction worker, youre a teacher, firefighter, welder, youre a bus driver, the backbone of americas workers, their main Tax Liability is their payroll tax. And unless you allow the tax credit to apply fully not just to their income tax, many of whom dont have a high income Tax Liability but a payroll tax, theyre not going to enjoy the full benefit. The result is kind of absurd if you do one without the other, and the result is that if you make 500,000 a year and you have enough kids, you can use the whole credit. But if you dont make that much money, if you make like 25,000 a year, you wont get nearly as much of the credit, even though you paid the taxes. It kind of doesnt make any sense, right . Were trying to help people with the cost of raising children by allowing them to keep more of their own money. Its the people who make less that need it the most. And when you only do half of it, which is the 2,000 increase, you only get it half right. And so its good. There are people that are going to be helped by that, but we could have helped so much more. The little we have today that is before us here and will be before us in a few minutes when there is a substitute thats provided, it cuts the Corporate Tax rate from 35 to 20 . And a reduction of the Corporate Tax rate is something i strongly support because i think it makes america more competitive and in the process is going to help a lot of the same people that were trying to help. I know that sounds countercyclical, but it does, because when these corporations are able to save money in taxes, many of them will use some of that job to create new jobs, hiring more people. That money, some of it will be reinvested and perhaps even flow towards workers in the form of higher wages over time. These are positive things. So i am not against a reduction of the Corporate Tax rate. In fact, i ran for president , for the senate and for reelection to the senate on the promise of reducing the Corporate Tax