Vote the presiding officer on this vote the yeas are 52. The nays are 48. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the bill. The clerk calendar number 266 h. R. 1 an act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles 2 and 5 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate that senator wyden or his designee be recognized to offer a motion to commit the bill, text of which is at the desk. I further ask that the time until 8 00 p. M. Be equally divided between the leaders or their designees and that at 8 00 p. M. The senate vote in relation to the motion to commit with no intervening action or debate and that following the disposition of the wyden motion, the majority leader be recognized. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Wyden mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden i ask unanimous consent that the following individuals, my personal and finance Committee Offices be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress, claudette, carmen, warren, jonathan harris, robert and mike michael cecil. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Wyden mr. President i call up the motion that i have at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk the senator from oregon mr. Wyden moves to commit the bill h. R. 1 to the committee on finance with instructions to report the same back to the senate in three days not counting any day on which the senate is not in session with changes that, one are within the jurisdiction of such committee and two eliminate provisions that would raise taxes on millions of middleclass taxpayers. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi mr. President , i ask unanimous consent for six additional full floor access passes to be equally divided between the majority and the minority during the consideration of h. R. 1 for the following staffers, for the majority eric, rebecca Paul Vinovich and for the minority, Mike Jones Joel Harrelson josh smith. Finally, that natalie reko, a fellow in senator Sanders Office be granted floor privileges during the consideration of h. R. 1. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Enzi mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi this is a historic day as the Senate Begins consideration of tax reform that will help boost americas economy, that will create more jobs, and that will leave more money in peoples paychecks. The house and Senate Passage last month of the fiscal year 2018 budget resolution marked an important first step toward tax relief for american families, job creators that will jumpstart Economic Growth. The resolution gave the Senate Finance committee the head room to come up with comprehensive tax reform, and it instructed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee to save 1 billion. Finance Committee Chairman hatch and energy Committee Chairman murkowski bowt deserve praise for developing legislative recommendations that fit with the budget resolutions reconciliation instructions, and i thank them for their efforts. Yesterday the Senate Budget committee took the next step by combining the legislative recommendations from the finance and the energy and Natural Resources committees and reporting the combined bill to the full senate for consideration. This put our nation one step closer to real tax reform while advancing American Energy security. It is past time for us to act. A lot of things have changed since the last major tax reform in 1986. And unfortunately our tax code hasnt kept pace with those changes. Its an outdated mess thats hurting American Workers and holding our economy back. Thats why we need tax reform that will make our system simpler and fairer and allow people to keep more of what they earn. The bill before us will do that. It will help grow the economy. It will help create jobs. And it will ensure that hardworking americans arent missing available tax relief. This bill also will provide relief to small familyowned businesses. We want to make sure that Small Businesses which currently employ the majority of the private sector in wyoming and are the backbone of our communities all over the country have the opportunity to grow and provide more jobs. If you care about jobs, if you care about American Companies staying here and being able to compete globally, then you should also care about reforming our business tax system. America has the fourth highest corporate rate in the world. We need to encourage companies to bring back their overseas money to increase the number of jobs here in the United States. Lowering our uncommonly high and uncompetitive business tax rate would be one of the quickest ways to solve the problem. Its time we make america a more inviting place to invest, to do business and to create jobs. We heard a lot of rhetoric yesterday in our Committee Meeting where we reported this bill and i expect well be hearing a lot more of the same arguments over the next couple of days. So i want to address some of the claims made my my colleagues on the other side of the aisle yesterday. Several members complained that there have been zero hearings on this reconciliation legislation and that this has been a rushed process. Nothing could be further from the truth. The entire 2018 budget reconciliation process has been open transparent and subject to regular order starting with the passage of the Senate Budget resolution. The Senate Budget committee marked up the budget over two days and accepted amendments from both sides of the aisle to make the Resolution Resolution stronger. In fact, for the First Time Ever the minority was given a copy of the chairmans bill five days prior to the start of the markup. According to many of my colleagues it was one of the most transparent budget resolution markups in history. The budget resolution complete with reconciliation instructions being used this week was then debated on the floor in an open process that allowed every senator the opportunity to offer and vote on amendments, to improve the resolution before its final passage. That set in motion the instructed committees process for producing recommendations. Over the last six years the Senate Finance committee has held 70 hearings on how the tax code can be improved and streamlined to work better for all americans. Earlier this month the Senate FinanceCommittee Held a fourday markup before finally approving tax reform legislation designed to modernize our tax code. The markup lasted 23 hours and 34 minutes over the course of those four days. Of the more than 350 amendments filed, 69 were asked to be considered in committee. An additional 35 amendments offered by both democrats and republicans were included in the final bill reported out of committee. On november 2 the Senate Energy and Natural ResourcesCommittee Held a hearing to receive testimony on the potential for oil and Gas Exploration and the development in the socalled 1002 area of the Arctic National wildlife refuge or anwr. And on november 15 after adopting a bipartisan amendment the Committee Approved with bipartisan support legislation authorizing responsible development in the 1002 area and meeting the 1 billion reconciliation deficit reduction target. Let me explain what were talking about here, mr. President. Anwr is 19. 3 million acres. Its about the size of south carolina. The 1002 area is 1. 57 million acres, about the size of delaware. And the area within 1002 that were talking about for development is just 2,000 acres which is smaller than the Fargo North Dakota airport. When the Budget Committee met yesterday consistent with our responsibility under the congressional budget act we were only allowed to combine the recommendations of the two committees. We reported the combined bill to the full senate. As provided by law no amendments were allowed because under the budget act our committee is prohibited from substantially changing either committees approved recommendations. Now that this bill is on the floor, however it will be subject to the amendment process. For reconciliation bills like this, the amount of amendments that can be offered is unlimited. Several members yesterday accused us of no longer caring about overspending and the debt. Again this is completely false. Better tax policy will boost the value of everything we produce and this will mean more revenue for the federal government. The cost of this bill that you will hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle argue assumes the bill has little effect on the economy. That assumption is based on the sluggish growth weve had recently. In 2016, annual g. D. P. Growth was one and sixtenths percent. Our historic average growth is three and twotenths percent and under President Trumps efforts our economy has grown at more than 3 the last two quarters. If we only get to 2. 4 growth in the private sector, this bill will be paid for and if we reach 3. 2 growth, part of the debt will be paid down from the extra revenue that will be generated. We tried stimulus and it left us at the 1. 6 . Weve tried cutting and in washington if you dont give the amount of increase that people are asking for but you give them more money than they had last year, thats considered a cut. So cuts havent worked here either. So whats the other option that we have . Growing the economy. I want to repeat. In 2016 the annual g. D. P. Growth was 1. 6 but our historical growth is 3. 2 and President Trumps efforts and the hope hes brought to working americans, our economy has grown at more than 3 the last two quarters. Without this, if we only get to 2. 4 growth in the private sector, this bill will be paid for. I believe that we can reach the 3. 2 growth and part of the debt will be paid down from the extra revenue that will be generated. Some people will say that after tax cuts before, that the deficit has gone up. I hope you check and see that the revenue has gone up but the spending went up bigger. Its like someone winning the lottery and spending their winnings twice. This reconciliation bill will make concrete reforms to the broken u. S. Tax code and put the American Economy back on a growth track. This tax plan is an investment in hard hardworking americans, one that will produce more jobs, result in higher wages and a stronger and more competitive American Economy. You probably are going to hear a lot of screaming going on in sweeches this week. Speeches this week. Please dont confuse volume with veracity or truth. I look forward to working with my colleagues to help pass this bill that will not only benefit hardworking americans but will make our economy and our country stronger. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. Wyden mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden i listened to the remarks of my colleague from wyoming, the distinguished senator, and he said there were 70 hearings on taxes. I think its important that the American People know that there was not one single hearing, not one, on this bill. There were no discussions of the specific provisions in this legislation. There was no hearing on the personal responsibility requirement in the Affordable Care act that is so essential to that law and what we ought to be looking at strengthening in the years ahead with respect to cost containment. So i just want to set the record straight right at the outset of the debate, since ive heard once again that there were 70 hearings. I think its important that the American People know that there was not one on this bill and contrast this to 1986 when democrats and republicans got together and there were more than 20 hearings, more than 20 discussions on specifics about how to Work Together and find Common Ground on this enormously important issue. Mr. President , the senate is 20 hours of debate away from a broken promise of truly historic proportions. This was supposed to be the year the year that the working people of america regained a powerful voice in washington. Instead of a strong voice what they got instead was a big con job. If this republican tax bill passes, washington is going to reach into the pockets of working americans and cut a big check to multinational corporations to tax cheats, and to the politically powerful and wellconnected. The bill before the senate would enshrine an economic double standard that makes permanent secondclass treatment of americans who work hard and do their best day in and day out to provide for their families for the cops, for the nurses, for the mechanics this republican tax plan is one big gamble. They dont get any special tax dodges. No Cayman Islands deals for them. Those folks are stuck clinging to the hope that they wont be among the millions hit with an Immediate Tax hike. Even for those lucky americans who do see some benefit, there is bad news coming down the pike pike. All they get out of the republican plan is the fleeting sugar high of temporary tax cuts. Thats not the case, though, for the multinational corporations or powerful high flyers who wield the big political power in this town. Under this tax plan, the basic message to them is, you can pay what you want when you want to. And if youre lucky really lucky, you may pay hardly anything at all. That certainly is not what working people were promised in the Fall Campaign of 2016. Thats not what republicans have spent month after month telling americans that their tax plan would do. The republican rhetoric doesnt match the reality of this tax plan. And every day we get news reports frightening news reports about the harm its going to do to working people and the middle class. Just yesterday i received a letter from the independent congressional tax experts known as the joint committee on taxation and they gave us really Important Information about the bill. Buried in one of those answers was information that ought to put a scare into millions of americans who work hard every day to get ahead. This bill showers trillions of dollars on multinational corporations but the fact is these multinational corporations are already awash in cash. What it means according to these independent congressional tax experts is Interest Rates are going up. The Federal Reserve will have to tighten the screws of the economy. Heres the bottom line for what it means for a middleclass american in North Carolina or oregon or anywhere else in the United States. If you want to buy a house this bill is going to make it more expensive. If you want to buy a car this bill is going to make it more expensive. If you want to get a credit card this bill is going to make it more expensive. If you want to take out a student loan, this bill is going to make it more expensive. And its not just harm for typical families. The cost of doing business is going to rise for the brewery owner or the tool and diemaker who wants to build a new facility, purchase new equipment. Theyd like it hire new workers the ones that were talking to, but theyll find the money they need to do it is getting drained by higher Interest Rates. In short higher Interest Rates will wipe out the benefits of this bill for a lot of Small Businesses and add pain to the tax hikes that are going to hit millions of families. The only businesses and individuals who wont feel the effects i just described are those sitting on mountains of cash. Those who will never need to borrow to get ahead. And that is just one of the latest truly frightening details about p what this destructive about what this destructive bill would do. Now, if there was any doubt remaining its clear based on those tax experts that individual working americans and families are going to be on the hook for handouts to multinational corporations. Republicans have spent months shouting from the hilltops that they were bringing jobs back. The president made it a centerpiece of his campaign. Jobs are coming home, he said. Corporations that ships jobs overseas are going to be punished. The plight of so many mill towns and factory towns was over. Its too bad that those talking points from the stump speeches and interviews never made it into the proposals on paper because the tax plan that is actually before the senate does the opposite. Under the new notion of taxes for American Companies overseas to be called a territorial system corporations will get a bigger tax cut if they lay off their American Workers their workers here in the United