Mr. Rubio mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio mr. President , i have a motion at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk the senator from florida mr. Rubio, moves that the managers on the party on the part of the senate shall insist any conference report shall increase the refundable Child Tax Credit be increased to no more than 2,000 and benefit lowwage parents. Mr. Rubio mr. President , this has to do with the Child Tax Credit. We had a debate about it last week. I want to explain to everybody why its so important that we continue to focus on this. Irrespective of whether we agreed with the final outcome and the numbers were high enough in the senate bill, and i continue to believe that they were not, they are significantly better than the house position on this matter and i want to explain why. The loss of the personal exemption hits middle income families to the tune that has to be made up. Because of the last 15 years, the value of the Child Tax Credit declined by over 300. That leads to the conclusion that the breakeven point for a Child Tax Credit that deals with middleincome family hit and the erosion of the value of the credit due to inflation brings you to 1,900. And as a result if you wanted to actually help families be better off than they are today, which is the goal of tax reform, the 2,000 amount in the senate bill is basically the breakeven point plus 100. And the house unfortunately in their bill only calls for 1,600. The first part of this motion to instruct is to ensure that the increase in the Child Tax Credit be no less. Maybe its more but can be no less than the 2,000 that are in the senate bill. The second part which was the topic of our debate was the impact on lowincome workers, firefighters, teachers, police officers, construction workers. Home health aides. These are working people, the backbone of our country, the people who suffered the most over the last 25 or 30 years as the economy has made some people very profitable but left far too many working americans behind, their anxieties, daily concerns, the challenges they are facing underpin a lot of anxiety in our country both electoral, political and economic. Their primary Tax Liability is the payroll tax. You make 40,000 a year, the biggest chumping of the taxes you pay is the biggest chunk of the taxes you pay is the payroll tax. They pay taxes. They take money out of your paycheck. You pay the tax and its irrelevant whether its a payroll tax or income tax. Those are taxes. When i hear people say that its offensive. Working people across the income scale pay taxes. And unfortunately thats not recognized in a lot of the debates that are going on here about working people. And so the second part of the instruction is asking one of the things the senate bill does do is lowers the threshold upon which the tax credit begins to apply from 3,000 to 2,500. Again not nearly enough but certainly better than the house position. We cant regress on that point. The second part of this instruction is it asks the conferees to ensure that the fiebl bill expands final bill expands benefits so more lowincome, lowwage parents, workers will be able to benefit from the Child Tax Credit. I remain surprised that there is not more consensus to support the reality that we need to do more to help working people in this country, and the Child Tax Credit is one of the best tools to do it. And i sure hope that what comes back from that Conference Committee is as good or better than what we put out from the senate. Because if its worse, theres going to be problems, i imagine. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from new jersey. A senator i have a motion at the desk. The clerk at the conference of the disagreeing votes on h. R. 1 be instructed to insist that the final conference report does not contain provisions that would increase the number of individuals who do not have Health Insurance or increase Health Insurance premiums. Mr. Booker mr. President , my motion to instruct the Senate Conferees would insist that the final conference report does not increase the number of individuals who do not have Health Insurance and does not increase Health Insurance premiums. It has been stated on the floor by colleagues on this side of the aisle that it is a blow to our deficit, a blow to the budget, and will hurt families, particularly in states like mine, with the elimination of local and state tax ducks deduction. It is a bill that could threaten the lives of americans as well. The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said it will increase premium costs by 10 and cost 13 Million People to lose their coverage. Increasing premiums, hurting people, making 13 Million People lose coverage. We know that this that this bill will hurt those who rely on medicaid, including children and seniors in nursing homes, because of the inability for states to access funds for their medicaid programs. Again, the state and local tax deduction. Its also going to possibly trigger cuts to medicare, and because the bill that passed the senate would seek to possibly add 1. 5 trillion to the deficit, it could trigger automatic cuts to government programs, includeling an an including an annual cut to medicare, and that will significantly limit medicare patients from cancer screenings to chemotherapy. I urge my colleagues to support my motion. The Senate Conferees must insist that the final conference report of this harmful bill at the very least does not contain any provision that would increase the number of americans who do not have Health Insurance or increase premiums on already cashstrapped american citizens. Thank you very much, mr. President. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Toomey mr. President , i ask consent to speak for one minute in opposition. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Toomey mr. President , this hark inns back to the harkens back to the moment earlier when during this debate when the senator from oregon, the Ranking Member of the finance committee described the repeal of the individual mandate as driving a stake through the heart of obamacare. Think about what a confession this is by our colleagues on the other side of what a disaster obamacare is, that its dead and done, to not have people purchase a product that does not fit their needs. Why kind of person could justify forcing people to buy their product. This is not only a an egregious affront to personal freedom, but theres Proof Positive it doesnt work. Theres another aspect to this as well, mr. President. And that is it the tax that we impose on people who cant afford the obamacare plans they are forced to buy, that tax is a regressive tax that falls wildly on lower and middleincome folks. In my state of pennsylvania 83 of the families that are hit with this tax live in a household that makes less than 50,000. I urge my colleagues to reject this motion. The presiding officer the senators time has expired. Mr. Booker i yield back my time. The presiding officer all time is yielded back. The question is on the motion by the senator from florida. Although say aye, opposed nay. The motion is agreed to. The motion is on the motion by the senator from new jersey. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not, the yeas are 47. The nays are 51. The motion is not agreed to. Ms. Stabenow mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from michigan. Ms. Stabenow mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Stabenow thank you very much. Mr. President , im coming to the floor again to focus on the fact that the clock is ticking for families in michigan and across the country. Men and women, children, older people, younger people who use the Community Health centers as well as those who are having their children covered under the childrens Health Insurance program. The funding, federal funding for those programs stopped september 30, 6 days ago. 67 days ago. Weve had votes, weve had bills. Weve had nominations come before us. Theres been divisiveness and controversy. It would be wonderful, mr. President , if we could stop for one day and do something that has bipartisan support. You know, the fact of the matter is that chip covers nine million children and 100,000 of those are in michigan. We passed a bill out of committee in the finance committee in september. I want to laud our chairman, senator hatch, our Ranking Member, senator wyden. It was a bipartisan bill. Only one no vote reported it out. I assumed we want to get this done before september 30 when the funding ran out. But instead here we wait 67 days later. Nine million children at risk because of this inaction. 100,000 children in michigan. You know the truth of the matter is that today, thanks to chip and thanks to a variety of Health Care Efforts across the country, 97 of the children in our country have access to a doctor. In michigan its actually higher. 97 of our children. So if a child has juvenile diabetes, if they have a cancer or asthma or just fall out of a tree and break their arm or have bronchitis or the flu, whatever it is thats happening for children, parents have the peace of mind under the my Child Program to know that they can take their child to a doctor, a doctor that they have a relationship with, that knows their children, instead of going into the emergency room. Now we also know that Emergency Rooms are the most expensive way to provide care. Theyre necessary. Theyre important for emergencies, but not for the daily routines of life when someone could be seeing a doctor. It costs more. Uncompensated care costs more. And when somebody uses the emergency room when they could be seeing a doctor, then everybody else pays for that with their insurance rates going up to pay for it. So my child in michigan, the childrens Health Insurance program across the country works. It saves money. It saves lives. And in fact as soon as january in michigan, families are going to start to get notices that the funding will go away, that the medical care will go away. Not a great way to start the new year. Merry christmas, happy new year, your childs not going to be able to go see their doctor any more. And we dont have to have that happen because we have strong bipartisan support for this. The same thing with Community Health centers. 25 Million People, 25 Million People are able to see a doctor or a nurse get the care they need through a Community Health center in their community. 300,000 veterans are able to see a doctor through a Community Health center. Seven and a half million children as well. In michigan, our Health Centers are all over michigan. We have some 260 different clinics around michigan that serve 681,000 people. Again, almost 13,000 veterans. And starting in january they are going to begin to lose funding. At different times. Some in february, some in march, some in april because of local funding streams. But starting in january in michigan, Health Centers are not going to have the funding they need. The majority of their funding, 70 of their funding comes through the program that expired september 30. And we know that this also doesnt have to happen. My friend, senator roy blunt, and i have put in legislation. We have a letter signed by 70 members. Not seven. 70 members of this body. Over twothirds of this body signing a letter supporting the continuation of Community Health centers. And yet, we cant get that brought up either. We thought the original plan was to bring up chip, the childrens Health Insurance program, and include Community Health centers with it and get that done before september 30. The clock is ticking every single day, and it has not been done. Now folks may be trying to hold it hostage politically for some reason or trying to get some deal at the end of the year. In the meantime families are worrying, member men and women are worrying, veterans are worrying about whether or not theyre going to continue to get their health care. Let me go back to where i started. Today is 67 days. Tomorrow will be 68 days since the funding for two Health Care Programs that had broad bipartisan support over the years, broad bipartisan support today, 67 days since that funding has stopped. Id like to close, mr. President , with a story from a gentleman named darrin whose life was changed by one of michigans Community Health centers. He shared with me his story. Darrin was an unemployed truck driver when he moved to jackson, michigan, four years ago. He hadnt seen a doctor for a decade. And in his words, he was a complete mess. He had diabetes, congestive heart failure, and he had no energy. He needed an oxygen tank to walk. He started seeing dr. Roy at the center for family health, which is a Great Health Clinic in jackson. He told her he didnt want to just be stable. He wanted to get better. So they went to work so that he could get back on his feet and get back to work. Darrin got his diabetes under control. He improved his lung function, got rid of the oxygen tanks. He quit his pain pills. Darrin said, i went from being hardly able to move to where i feel like i can do almost anything. Dr. Roy saw me at my lowest, and she has seen me improve so much that she celebrates with me. He added, dr. Roy kicked me in the seat of the pants, and i will always thank her for that. Darrin got his kick in the seat of the pants, and, mr. President , with all due respect, i believe members of this body could use one too. 25 Million People who count on Community Health centers for their care, their childrens care, the care of their moms and dads, nine million children who are covered under the childrens Health Insurance program have been waiting and worrying for long enough. 67 days is long enough. Im hopeful that there will be a sense of urgency from colleagues to get this done. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. Hatch mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch is there a quorum call . The presiding officer there is not. Mr. Hatch mr. President , last week the senate came another step closer to providing real tax relief to the middle class and bringing a muchneeded boost to the economy. Im talking about the tax cuts and jobs act. That bill was years in the making. It was my chief legislative focus for many years. Tax reform was not some offthecuff effort. We have been Holding Hearings and working with our friends on the other side of the aisle. And i might say on the other side of the capitol and down the street at the white house for some time now. This bill is going to put another 2,200 in the pockets of the average american family. This bill is going to boost the economy, its going to grow jobs, and finally help end the wage stagnation weve been faced with for years. This bill is going to unleash the american spirit, bringing businesses back home where they started and encouraging other businesses to both come from abroad as well as to grow from within. Once again, america will be open for business. I have not been alone in this process, though, not by a longshot. In fact, tax reform has been a priority for many of my colleagues, including some that are no longer soichg. Im serving. Im talking about people like congressman dave camp and senator baucus. I feel gratified to have been here and worked with my colleagues to get this far. As efforts began in ernest this year, we set out to build on the work of our former colleagues and to give low and middleincome americans some muchneeded relief and to give our country an opportunity to compete in the global economy. Our bill will do that. But, as we all know, these great reforms are not quite yet promised to the American People. There is still work to do as we work to iron out our differences with the house and make sure that every section of this bill is ready to be eased into law or passed into law. That said, i think we deserve to celebrate a little bit and more importantly to thank everyone for their work to get us to this point. So many people, both in and out of congress, have worked hard to get us this far, and i want to express my appreciation for their appreciation for their efforts. I cant thank every one in a single floor speech but i want to thank some who may be in ear short of this chamber. I want to thank secretary mnuchin and secretary cohen, it is finally nice to have an administration that is ready to lead out on tax reform. I p want to thank the majority leader who helped to shepherd it through the senate. I thank chairman brady in the house and speaker ryan over in the house of representatives. They have been great partners and leaders in this endeavor. I also need to thank the staff from the Leaders Office including laura dove, hasen marshall, don steward, a