A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from colorado. A senator thank you, mr. President. I ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Bennet thank you, mr. President. All year this year, the majority has tried to ram through legislation to repeal the Affordable Care act and replace it with proposals that in effect cut health care for millions of people to finance tax cuts for those who make millions of dollars in income. All year the American People have made it perfectly clear that this was the opposite of what they wanted. Unfortunately, those re and fortunately, those repeal efforts failed. Now instead of listening to the american peemg and learning from people and learning from that failure, the majority has doubled down its tax plan. Like health care, theyve made no attempt to bring both sides together. In the senate we only saw the bill last thursday, mr. President. Im on the finance committee. Ive been on there for years. We didnt see it wasnt even legislative language on thursday. I remember back in the Health Care Debate nine years ago when people were saying, read the bill. Read the bill. We came to the markup yesterday to offer amendments. There still wasnt a bill. There was not a bill. Thomas jefferson used to say that he hoped that when these legislatures were put legislators were put together in the United States congress, that you would have to introduce a bill and it would take 365 days before it could be enacted into legislation. Maybe thats where the Tea Party Got the idea in 2009. Where are they now . Where are they now . We have not had a single hearing on this bill, mr. President. And now they are marking up the most consequential tax policy in 31 years, one affecting every single american and moving around trillions of dollars in this economy. Remember back during the Health Care Debate when it was 16 of our economy and people were saying read the bill . You better read this bill. There is not a school board in colorado that would accept this process. There is not a city council that would accept this process. We have more process for a small decision about where parking meters should go than we have had in this process. And people are upset no good reason. When you rush big things, when you dont listen to different views, you get bad policy. Ive heard the majority leader say that on this floor. And theres a reason why theyre trying to rush it through. Theres a reason why they dont want america to have a chance to read the bill or their representatives to this chamber read the bill. And thats because just like the Health Care Proposals that theyve made, the majoritys tax plan is fundamentally flawed. Over the course of the campaign, President Trump, thencandidate trump, promised the American People, quote, no cuts to Social Security, medicare, or medicaid. Unquote. Thats not fake news. Thats what he said. He said, quote, everybodys got to be covered speaking of Health Insurance, mr. President everybodys got to be covered, he said. Everybodys going to be taken care of much better than theyre taken care of now, end quote. He promised the public, quote, youre going to end up with Great Health Care for a fraction of the price. Thats what he told the American People. And yesterday after a year a year after the election, after eight years of saying repeal and replace, repeal and replace, repeal and replace, it turned out because there was no idea of how to replace it, there was no consensus on the republican side about how to replace it, they failed twice to do it until yesterday. They added changes to a tax bill literally in the middle of the night, literally in the middle of the night that would cause 13 Million People, according to the congressional budget office, to lose Health Insurance. Increase premiums by up to 10 , according to the congressional budget office. On the individual market each year, mr. President you cant make it up to a 25 billion cut in medicare. Thats why what whats happening here while people are distracted by whats going on in the senate race in alabama. How does this proposal in any way square with the president s promises during the campaign . All year we saw tax cuts masquerading as a Health Care Plan. I went home to colorado. People said, michael, you work with people in a bipartisan way all the time. Why arent you working on this Health Care Bill . What i said was, there is no one in colorado who said to me, no one including the critics of the Affordable Care act who said to me, michael, ive got a good idea for helping me with my health care. Give the wealthiest people in america a tax cut. No one. No one said lets cut medicaid by 40 when were facing the Opioid Crisis that were facing. So they masqueraded it as a Health Care Plan. And now weve got a Health Care Plan masquerading as a tax plan. On top of that, this plan doubles down on the claim that tax cuts for the wealthiest for the people in america and businesses, not only trickle down to everyone else but also pay for themselves. And that part is not surprising because that has been the republican answer for what ails our economy. When our economy was up and our deficit was down, they cut taxes for the top 1 of americans making an average of 2 million. When our economy was down and our deficit was up, they cut taxes on the top 1 making an average of 2 million. And now theyre embracing exactly the same game plan in their tax bill, in their tax plan. The senate bill overwhelmingly benefits people and businesses who have done extremely well in this economy. And as a former business person myself, i have nothing against that success. In fact, i embrace that success. My issue is that trickledown economics as a theory for Economic Growth has been entirely discredited by our own experiences. This is not a theoretical exercise anymore. Its not as if these arguments havent been made time and time again and then been proven to be false, which leads me to wonder why this plan or at least the version we debated yesterday not as sure about it today gives roughly 50,000 in tax cuts to those making over 1 million. For americans earning under 200,000, which is 19 million households, theyd actually see a tax increase. Another 54 million households would see virtually no benefit at all. I agree that America Needs tax reform. Its not about a political imperative for doing tax reform. America needs tax reform. Thats why i joined the finance committee to begin with. And tax reform means we should clean up special interest just on that point, i have to stop for a minute, mr. President , and pause. On that point for years as, you know, part of the gang of eight, atheres been bipartisan discussions, always what people said on the corporate side, what were going to do is lower the rate, broaden the base. That ways the plan. And that was the plan. And the way we were going to do that was getting rid of a whole bunch of loopholes. This gets rid of the rate but forgets the second part of the equation. You actually have to take away someones loophole and thats hard to do. Instead what theyre doing is lowering the rate and leaving the loopholes where they are. What a disaster. 31 years to get tax reform in this chamber and that the answer . Today if you dont like a situation where we have the highest published corporate rate in the world, which i dont like, thats uncompetitive for the United States, 35 . But one of the things we know about it is, because of all those loopholes, no one actually very few people pay the 35 . Some do and thats very unfair. Because the average effective rate is more like 23 , not 35 , mr. President. And thats because companies can use loopholes. They can move money overseas. If youre a Newspaper Company or youre a Trucking Company here, you cant do that stuff. And thats why you pay the 35 . And that is not fair. But this bill does nothing to take on those challenges, nothing. We need tax reform to get rid of those special interest carveouts. We should take steps to help our businesses compete to unlock our energy economy, to modernize the electric grid. We need comprehensive and bipartisan reform. This cannot be done i want to give republicans a chance to blame democrats for things they dont like and democrats to do the same so we can actually get a result thats real reform, not something crammed through with 51 votes and a Health Care Bill on top of it. It has been a terrible thing to see this senate slide into the place that it is today. Mr. President , i know enough about you to know youre not satisfied with the fact that weve been running this government on 30 continuing resolutions for the last ten years, that we cant pass a proper budget. We dont have an appropriations process anymore in the United States senate. Its disgraceful. We would not accept it for any other institution of government or business on the planet. We certainly wouldnt accept it in colorado. If when i was superintendent of schools i went to tell people, well, we have a little bit of a disagreement so im going to shut the government down until we can deal with this continuing resolution, they would throw me out. They would throw me out. But thats what weve been doing here for the last ten years. And now we have sunk to a new low. There has been no attempt to bring the parties together on this, none. And the result is a deeply flawed proposal completely at odds with what our economy needs. If you accept the logic of the republican plan, the problem with our economy is that the wealthiest institutions and individuals in the United States dont have enough money to invest and create highpaying jobs for everyone else. Sometimes i hear people at home say, i dont have anything against rich people. Neither do i. Neither do i. But the logic that somehow if you give somebody at the top a tax cut, thats going to result in an increase to other peoples income is completely contradicted by the facts. Heres whats happened in america over the last since 1987, the last 30 years. This is median Family Income, mr. President. This is the middle class in america which basically for 40 years hasnt had a pay raise, has not had a pay raise. This cant be blamed on some socialist named barack obama. This is 40 years of American Economic history, no pay raise. Over that period of time, heres whats happened to corporate profits. And if the logic were true, if the logic were correct or right, we would see the middleclass income lifting better and doing better, as Corporate Income statements and Balance Sheets hit alltime highs, which they have. This is the Great Depression. Heres where we are today. Heres where we were before the Great Depression, mr. President. And here is medium household income, stubbornly flat. The Balance Sheets in this country are awash in cash. The biggest companies, awash in cash. It has not led them to help lift this line. And the result of this has been a huge widening of the income gap in america. If trickledown economics really worked, mr. President , every american would be would do better as incomes at the top rose. Instead, what has happened is the top 10 , which is roughly 11 million taxpayers, 11 million taxpayers out of a total in america not the taxpayers, but of people, of 330 Million People 11 million taxpayers earning an average of 475,000. That top 10 now represents a larger share of americas wealth than everyone else. And everyone else look at this. Here is the top 10 . These are the folks making, on average, 475,000. Obviously, many people in here make a lot more than that but thats the average. They now earn more than the bottom 90 of earners in america. And that is not and that has not been the way this country has been. You have to go back to 1928, the year before the Great Depression, to see that level of income inequality in america. In between then and now, what we saw was a rising middle class, an economy that benefited everybody and lifted everyone up, gave them a chance to save and provide toker their family. Thats not and provide for their family. Thats not happening anymore. The top one percent of inners are earning about 20 of the income. And it steams me that the challenges and it seems to me that the challenge with oury is not that the folks at the very top dont have enough. Theyve got more than theyve ever had. By a lot, by a lot. The top 10 have over 50 of the income in america. The bottom 90 it seems crazy to say bottom 90 . Its not the bottom 10 . Its the rest of america. Its 90 of america earns less. And thats the challenge that we confront, the challenge is that incomes for everyone else havent kept pace with the rising cost of housing or of health care or of Higher Education or child care. A month ago i met a mom i guess now several months ago a mom in rival, colorado, at an Early Childhood center on the west slope of colorado. She was so happy and the other moms were so happy that they had this Early Childhood center because they had had to drive 30 miles before to glenn wood springs to have child care. And this mom said during the course of the conversation, she said to me, i have a job so i can have Health Insurance, and every single dollar that i make, every single dollar that i make goes to pay for this Day Care Center so i can have a job. And i have families all over my state that are stuck in that place where at the end of the every month they have to decide what theyre going to go witho without, cant afford a house, cant afford college, cant afford Early Childhood education, cant afford housing. Thats increasing become a huge issue. And there are too Many Americans that are facing those unbelievably difficult choices. For those of you that are here that might say, well, just tough it out. Thats your issue. Work harder. These folks are killing themselves. They are killing themselves. But theyre having to make choices and decisions because our economy is not working well enough for everybody and not working at all for everybody. Theyring are to make choices theyre having to make choices their parents and grandparents never had to make. Erin barnes is another one of my constituents. She lives in thornton, colorado, with her husband and two kids. Both she and her husband have College Degrees and middleclass jobs. So, again, they are working. They are educated. Erin works in marketing and her husband runs an i. T. Department. She wrote to my office describing how, quote, they dont have luxury describing how they, quote, dont have luxuries like cable television, haircuts, lattes, manicures or even new clothes. My children all wear handmedowns from friends. And yet we make 1,200 less per month than we spend. Its not that were irresponsible. Our monthly mortgage payment is only 25 of our income. How are the pieces not fitting together, she wrote . In america, as the president knows, Consumer Spending drives 70 of our economy. When costs rise and middleclass family wages stay flat, families like erins cut back before buying books for their kids, birthday presents, health care. Multiplied across millions of americans the 90 that were talking about here that has a doctoral effect on our economy that has a dramatic effect on our economy because theyre the folks that drive the 70 of our economy thats driven by consumer products. That is the problem we need to solve. That should be our focus. For their sake but also to drive our economy. Not folks that have done the best in the economy and who are doing great. And im glad theyre doing great. One way to help families like erins is the American Family act i wrote with senator Sherrod Brown which tripless the Child Tax Credit. Erins family would gain 3,000 per child your honord under our plan 300 per child each month. Not only does the republican plan largely ignore families like erins, it burdens their children with another 1. 5 trillion in debt for the favor of doing nothing for them. Republicans claim and youll hear it over and over again that their tax cuts fire themselves for themselves. We heard that in the committee today. Anybody who has lived through what has happened since president clinton was president of the United States knows that is false. And it was the logic that was used in 2001, 2003, and it is what took us from having a 5 trillion projected deficit im sorry, surplus surplus you dont hear that word around here very often a 5 trillion projected surplus when bill clinton finished being president to the record deficits that we have today. Let me make sure i have the right chart up here, mr. President. I do. In 1991 Ronald Reagan signed major tax cuts and claimed they would pay for themselves. Our National Debt rose. In the 1990s president clinton raised taxes at the top and cut spending with a republican congress, i was reminded today by chairman hatch. One of the truly decent people in this place. The economy boomed