Mr. President , the first motion the senate will vote on is a straightforward proposition. The motion says lets send this bill back to the senate on a bipartisan basis and come up with a plan that actually works for the middle class. I will wrap up just by recapping the republican rhetoric on his tax plan. First it was said to be a guaranteed middleclass tax cuts. Then it was merely focused on the middle class. Next it was an average tax cut across a variety of income cohort. But now, the numbers are actually in. Republicans want to run up enough red ink to threaten medicare and Social Security and still raise taxes on more than half of the middle class. The senate on a bipartisan basis can do better than this. I urge my colleagues to support this proposal, to send the bill back and come back h on a bipartisan basis with tax reform that actually works for the middle class. I yeild back. The question on motion. Nay. Is there a sufficient second . The clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] senators voting in the affirmative. Senators voting in the negative. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] mr. President. R. Majority leader. On behalf of of karen for amendment 1618. Quickly for the amendment. Amendment 1618. And i asked the reading of the amendment. Without objection . The senate will resume consideration of hr one with debate remaining. Are there any debate time tonight counts against the underlying bill. Is there objection . Without objection. I asked unanimous consent that a correction to appointments made on november 28, 2007 be printed in the record. Without objection. With the information of the senate this is lclerical and does not change membership of the Frederick Douglass bicentennial commission made by the appointments. Without objection. Ask i asked unanimous consent on 344 submitted earlier today. The clerk will report to request Senate Resolution 344 honoring the life achievements of doctor Robert Lawrence junior. Is there objection preceding the measure . Without objection. I further asked the resolution be agreed to end the motion to reconsider the made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. Without objection. We proceed with immediate consideration of hrt 28 from the house. We will report the amendment. The ending of claimant training and related Services Demonstration act of 1992 and so forth and further purposes. Objection . Without objection. Asked unanimous consent that this be read at their time and emotion to reconsider be laid upon the table. Without objection. I asked unanimous consent for 30 s2 54. The clerk will report. Number 30 as 254 a bill to amend a native American Program in 1974 and so forth. Objection to proceeding . Without objection. Asked unanimous consent to hold an amendment of the desk be agreed to the bilby amendment as amended. And that it be laid upon the table. Without objection. Asked unanimous consent for immediate consideration of number 33 s302. The clerk will report to. Number 33 figure 2 oobjections . Without objection. Asked unanimous consent that the bill be considered one third time and cost. Without objection. Asked unanimous consent of the disenate proceed immediate consideration of 104 as 245. Clerk will report to. One april 2, 1945 the bill to amend the indian Tribal Development and Self Determination act of 2005 and further purposes. I asked unanimous consent that this be considered and read one third time. And emotion to reconsider be laid upon the table. Without objection. Asked unanimous consent of the senate with immediate consideration while 5s 343. The clerk will report to request a bill to repeal laws relating to indians. Ng objection to proceeding . Without objection. Asked that this be read one third time the clerk will report. 193 669 a bill to authorize a secretary of the interior to access sanitary conditions. Without objection. Asked unanimous consent that this be read one third time in a motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. Without objection. Asked unanimous consent for immediate consideration of 209 s7 72. The clerk will report. A bill to amend the protect act for Indian Tribes eligible for amber alert grants. Objection elto proceeding . Without objection. The table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 247, s. 825. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 247, s. 825, a bill to provide for the conveyance of Certain Property to the Southeast AlaskaRegional Health consortium located in sit ca, alaska, and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the committeereported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 249, s. 1285. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 249, s. 1285, a bill to allow the con fed rated tribes to lease or transfer certain lands. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that the committeereported amendments be agreed to, the bill as the time that the two leaders is reserved in morning business be closed the previous order. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senators portman, value hollen, warren and wyden. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Portman mr. President . The presiding officer the senator ohio. Mr. Portman i ask unanimous consent for six additional fullaccess floor passes to be you a equally divided between the minority and majority leaderser majority for the following staffers, randy herndon, zach rdasel, ryan abraham, adam coroso, and sarah snyder. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Portman tonight i want to talk about an opportunity we have before us here in the United States senate and that is for tax reform that can truly help our economy and help the middleclass families we represent. Its a onceinageneration opportunity. The last time we reformed our opportunity in any substantial way was 31 years ago. Ronald reagan was president. Pete rose was still playing for the cincinnati reds. Thats how long ago it was. But that 1986 tax reform gave our economy a muchneeded shot in the arm and it led to more jobs and higher wages in the 1980s and 190s. Now 31 years later after a decade of disappointing growth and flat wages, we need that shot in the arm again. We need a tax code that better reflects the needs of todays workers, todays families, and our 21s century economy. Theres bipartisan agreement that the tax code is broken, hopelessly broken, and it is up to congress to fix it. No one else can. Through the tax cuts and jobs act before us, weve got a job in the congress to create a better economy and future and weve got get this done for the people we represent t starts with tax cuts for the middle class. While the economy as seen some improvement recently and i saw some good numbers today for the last quarters growth the people i represent, hardworking ohioans, people across the country are not feeling these benefits of a growing economy. For more than a decade now, expenses have increased, including health care costs, which have increased the highest, atd a time when wages have been flat. When you take wages into when you take inflation into account, wages have stayed relatively flat for almost two decades. That increase in expenses and flat wages is the middleclass squeeze and people are feeling it. For years my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have been calling for middleclass tax cuts to help easy thisrd about. The tax cuts and jobs act will actually deliver it. The proposal helps us in a lot of ways, but three main ways. First, it has a doubling of the standard deduction. This is a doubling for families of 12,000 to 24,000. This means for a lot of families in america the first 24,000 is a zero tax bracket. Twothirds of ohioans, by the way, already use the standard deduction and the estimate now is we are doubling it, that over 90 of ohioans will use that standard deduction. That helps to keep the tax bill down but is also a tremendous simplifying of our tax code. Second is the doubling of the Child Tax Credit. Thats in this legislation. The American Dream starts with the American Family and parents shouldnt have to reconsider starting a family because of the financial burden that comes with it. This doubling of the Child Tax Credit will help working families afford child care and will help strengthen middleclass Family Budgets all across the country. It also includes increasing the refundability of that tax credit for taxpayers who dont have any income tax liability. Third, of course, is lowering tax rates and there are tax rates that are lowered all across the board for middleclass families. The tax cuts in this proposal will save an ohio family at the Median Income level 2,375 a year. That almost 2,400 a year is a big deal. A lot of people i represent and others represent here in this chamber are living paycheck to paycheck, and this matters. More money staying in the pockets of working families to make that car payment, to pay for health care, maybe put a little money aside for retirement is a big deal. We also know from the Tax Foundation that the lower rates in this plan will benefit families across middleclass income brackets. For example, a family with two i had cans making 15,000 a year will see a36 tax breakers a 36 reduction in their tax liability. For a family with two kids making about 85,000 a year, there is a 25 reduction in their tax liability. So theres tax relief across the board, but the biggest proportional tax cut goes to the folks who immediate it the most. This chart shows this. For people who are in these income at that time egories, 20,000 to 50,000, 50,000 to 150,000, 100,000 and above, right now paying 4. 3 in taxes from 20,000 to 50,000, under this proposal according to the joint committee on taxation and the Tax Foundation, it goes town to 4. 1 . From 50,000 to 100,000, the burden is also lowered from 6. 9 to from 16. 9 to 16. 7 . For those people at 100,000 and above, the burden right is now about 78. . The top ten percent pay about 70 of the taxes. That actually goes up from 78. 7 to 78. 9 . So this notion that weve heard today that somehow these middleclass tax cuts are not proportion legal alien helping those at the lower end, thats simply not true. This is the data. Go on jct committee of the whole house on taxation. Gov, and you can look at your situation and determine how doubling the standard deduction, Child Tax Credit and reducing tax rates are benefit you. The biggest cuts go to the people who need it the most. In total when these are implemented, it is estimated that approximately three million americans who are currently paying taxes will no longer be paying income taxes. Theyll be off the rolls altogether. Thats ta tax cuts for middlecs families, who are families who need it the most. Some of my colleagues on the other side of of the aisle have suggested that our plan will hurt families with incomes under 30,000 because there is a joint committee on taxation report that because of arcane budget rules, counts repeal, the individual mandate as a tax hike. This is an interesting perspective, but i reject it because i dont think stopping the obamacare individual mandate and people choosing not to buy Health Insurance and, therefore, not having both the cost of the Affordable Care act and the Obamacare Tax credits that come with the health care, is a tax hike. What theyre saying is because somebody doesnt choose to buy health care, partly because its too expensive and, therefore, doesnt get the tax credits that come with that, that somehow thats a tax hike. That doesnt make sense to me and i dont think it makes sense to most americans. When the joint committee on taxation did say repeatedly at our Committee Markup is that when you dont consider this issue again, choosing not to buy health care insurance, a hike that our plan does give every single income group, including those under 30,000, a tax cut. As noted earlier, the biggest percentage tax cuts go to those with lower incomes and thats appropriate. Those are the folks that need it the most. What we do know is that the individual mandate right now is an onerous tax by itself. The Supreme Court has called it a tax. Its a tax on people that disproportionately affects lower and middleincome class americans. In fact, 80 of the individual mandate falls on people making less than 50,000 a year and their family. In owe that figures is about in ohio that figure is about 83p83 of that individual mandate tax falls on peoples with households of less than 50,000 a year. Getting rid of this penalty removes the burden on working families and then we use the savings from that, that the Congressional Budget Office says we get from this, to increase the Child Tax Credit and reduce tax rates. Providing immediate relief to the Family Budget is incredibly important but beyond that, the tax reforms on the business side will make American Workers and companies more competitive, create more jobs and better wages understand that to me is just as important in terms of helping middleclass families in my home state of ohio. Why . Because when you reform the business tax code to make it competitive, the benefit goes to workers and workingclass families all over this country. The u. S. Has the highest Corporate Tax rate now in the industrialized world. One study by the bipartisan or nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that workers bear 70 of the burden of our Corporate Tax rate being so heist others say it is less than that. Others say it is more than that. But all say that workers benefit. If we lower that rate below the average of the other industrialized company, our workers will benefit through higher wages and better benefits. And, by the way, that benefits middleclass families well beyond these direct tax cuts that were talking about earlier. A recent study by ernst young, the accounting firm, said that it we had had the tax rate that we have in this proposal, a 20 tax rate on these businesses, if wed had that in place since 2004, there would be 4,700 more u. S. Companies today. Let me repeat that. 4,700 companies that were American Companies have become Foreign Companies because of our tax code. If we had put this place these changes years ago, those companies would still be American Companies. We did some research on this, some investigation in the permanent subcommittee on investigations over the past few years and we determined that in fact when companies are taken over by a Foreign Company because of our tax code or when u. S. Companies choose to go overseas and invert because of our tax code, what happens . We lose jobs and we lose investment in this country. It matters and it matters a lot to the communities where those employees are lost and where those businesses have left. The 20 tax rate is going to mean more jobs and more investment coming to this country. Its also true there will be more Foreign Investment here. Companies now that are trying to decide are they going to invest in america or are they going to invest in some other country with a lower tax rate and with the expensing we have in this bill to be able to write down new investments that theyre make something going to encourage them to make an investment here in the United States rather than other countries. That will increase jobs, too. The Tax Foundation estimates, by the way, that because of this new investment, the higher productivity that comes with it, because of this tax reform proposal, we will create nearly one million new american jobs and more than 35,000 jobs alone in my home state of ohio. In addition to providing relief for middleclass families and making this business rate more competitive for American Companies and workers, the tax reform does a lot to level the Playing Field internationally. This is important. Right now American Workers are forced to compete with one hand tied behind their back because of our tax code, a broken tax code is something that must be fixed because it is irresponsible to tell the American Worker, you have avenue got to get out there and compete, but guess p wha but guess what . Your foreign competitor has a big advantage over you. Companies are actually encouraged to move overseas and makes keep their profits overseas makes no sense. Theres between 2. 5 trillion and 3 trillion of earnings trapped overseas because of this outdated tax code. Any that. That m