Hatch hatch he has an interesting mr. Hatch he has an interesting way of trying to get his point of view across. It shouldnt b done here in this august body. The senate will soon vote on h. R. 1, the tax cuts and jobs act. Ive waited a long time to give this final statement in support of tax reform legislation. As you know, mr. President , ive been in the senate for a little while. Ive been party to a number of major legislative achievements like the passage of the americans with disabilities act, the creation of the chip program the Child Health Insurance program and the religious freedom restoration act, which has given, just to name just a few. These are landmark bills, and ive had a lot to do with them. The legislation before us is as important and farreaching as anything ive been privileged to work on. Its beyond gratifying to see the senate reach this point and i look forward to finally seeing real tax reform legislation signed into law. I apologize for this type of intemperate action and mouthing off inside of this august chamber. People feel very deeply about these things on both sides of the issues. Passage of this important bill will be historic. The combination of years of work for people by people in both parties, in both chambers, and on both sides of pennsylvania avenue. Many of us in this body have been waiting for years for this opportunity, and millions of americans outside of this body have been waiting even longer. Its no secret, mr. President , that our tax code is broken. Members of both parties acknowledge this. If you walked across the country and asked americans of all backgrounds an and ideologies, u wouldnt find being who would be willing to defend the status quo. In fact, i dont think you would find anybody. There is one apt phrase my good friend senator wyden uses to describe our tax code. He calls it, quote, a dying carcass. Unquote. Indeed our tax code is dying and rotting. It has hampered job creation, wage growth, investment in the United States, and has chased American Companies to foreign shores. I dont know how it could more harmful than it has been. It has also given Foreign Companies a leg up on u. S. Businesses in the global marketplace, leading to a Record Number of foreign takeovers and inversions. The bill before us will address these problems and help us turn the ship around. Our legislation will reduce the Corporate Tax rate to 21 , something thats long overdue. The lowest level in the modern history of the United States, placing our country slightly below the average of industrialized countries. These changes will once again give American Companies a Competitive Edge and bring more businesses back home instead of losing them the way weve been losing them. Hundreds of economists have said that our bill will boost Economic Growth, and Numerous Companies have indicated that once our bill becomes law, they will invest heavily in expansion and job creation right here in the United States of america. In addition, as the joint committee on taxation has made clear, reducing the Corporate Tax rate has distributional effects that go beyond the companies themselves, their highranking officers or even their richest shareholders. In fact j. C. T. , the joint committee on taxation, estimates that workers bear 25 of the Corporate Tax rate. And other economists have found that this number can reach as high as 75 . This means no matter how you slice it, americans will see their wages go up when Corporate Tax rates go down. Further, over the last few decades weve seen a massive expansion of pension and retirement assets, much of which are invested in corporate stocks. While many of my colleagues like to decry any business for merely earning a profit, the truth of the matter is that the continued rise of corporate profits has significantly expanded the wealth of middleclass workers and taxpayers who have continually set aside funds for the future. A representative from the Tax Policy Center testified before the finance committee in the spring of last year. At that hearing he stated that 37 of corporate Stock Ownership was held in Retirement Plan accounts. 37 . That was the largest share of overall Stock Ownership, and that statistic syncs up with the distribution tables put up by the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation. For all these reasons lowering the Corporate Tax rate has been a bipartisan goal for over a decade now. I said it before, president s clinton and obama, senators wyden and schumer and most of the other democrats on the Senate Finance committee have at some point in the recent past endorsed a significant reduction in the u. S. Corporate tax rate. Our bill will achieve this bipartisan goal and place our country well within the mainstream among our international competitors. This is a good thing. Not just for business, businesses and rich stockholders, but for the working middleclass families as well. Lets be clear, this bills chief focus is about helping the middle class. I know theres a tendency among some in this body, in which chamber to act and speak as though all money in this country inherently belongs to the government. I wont speak for everyone, but those of us who have worked on this bill tend to think differently. Aside from business reforms that will grow our economy, increase wages, and create jobs, our bill will lower individual tax rates across the board, allowing hardworking americans to keep more of their money. And our bill we also nearly double the standard deduction for individuals and married couples. This feature will significantly reduce the burden of tax filing for millions of middleclass families and decrease even further the overall Tax Liability of millions more. For the first time in more than 30 years, nearly every american will get more money back by just filling out an filing out an easy form. This fulfills our goal of simplifying the tax code. For individuals who are concerned about being able to itemize, again we believe the number of people with this concern will decrease dramatically under our bill. We retain a number of key provisions that benefit many in the middle class. For example, this historic legislation will allow individuals and families to continue to claim deductions for state and local taxes up to 10,000 a year. It will keep in place with relatively minor adjustments the deduction for mortgage interest. And americans who itemize and want to deduct their charitable contributions will be free to do so. This has made America Great and has helped us at the same time to be more charitable. Were also expanding the Child Tax Credit with this bill doubling it from 1,000 to 2,000 per child and making the credit far more refundable than ever before. The adoption credit will stay in place. The deduction for medical expenses will still be available. Credits in assistance for students and their families will be untouched. We made all of these changes. And when necessary preserved current law with an eye toward helping the middle class. I no he a number of my colleagues i know a number of my colleagues like to argue that this bill will have different results. So lets look at the numbers. Under this bill a typical family of four earning the median Family Income of 73,000 will see their taxes go down by more than half, about 58 . Mr. President , that number means something, more than just a simple percentage. It means that an average American Family will be able to keep 2,058, 2,058 more of their own earnings next year. Thats a mortgage payment. A downpayment for a car or several months worth of groceries. What about a single parent . Under our plan a single parent with one child making 41,000 will see their taxes slashed by nearly 73 . Thats almost a three quarter reduction in Tax Liability. That means a savings in more than and more than 1,300 over the course of a year. That could be a month of day care expenses, multiple car payments, on a family vacation. These are things that matter to American Families, mr. President. And they well should. But our friends on the other side have been so caught up in partisan politics that theyve decided to ignore the americans who will benefit from this legislation. I think it started with the election of President Trump and the retention of the Senate Control by republicans. Their base protested, occupied and disrupted the transfer of power from president obama to President Trump. Here on the hill the, quote, resistance, unquote, was in full effect right off the bat with a coordinated effort to stall nominations in committee, which included unprecedented boycotts and refusals to meet with nominees. In his and its only gone downhill from there. While we heard words from our friends on the other side about participating in tax reform, their actions showed otherwise. I dont know how they can stand here and make some of the arguments they do. Unprecedented process demands were made. Resistance was the plan. And that plan was carried out. Now we hear about massive tax cuts for the very rich and huge breaks for corporations, but these claims fall apart when you look at the facts. Again, this isnt unchartered territory for my friends on the other side. Accusing republicans of hating the poor and loving the rich is one of their goto moves. Ive seen it for over 40 years. Every time you turn around its one of their goto moves. It has nothing to do with reality. But i do think theyre getting more desperate and vicious in their attacks because they regret their own decisions to sit out of this endeavor. And thats precisely how it happened, mr. President. Our colleagues were apparently so preoccupied with denying President Trump and Congressional Republicans any success that they chose not to engage and instead to sit in the peanut gallery throwing out baseless attacks. As ive said literally dozens of times over the past few years, i wish the democrats had joined us in this process, put aside their ultimatums and preconditions and helped to advance policies that theyve claimed to support for years now. But we are where we are and while the bill before us includes a number of ideas and proposals the democrats have supported, we are prepared to pass it without their votes, if thats what it takes. There have been some democrats who have worked with us, but theyve been few and far between. Once again this is a historic bill, mr. President. Im proud of the work weve done on the finance committee here on the floor and in conference to get us to this point. I again invite our friends on the other side to also support the bill. Im proud of my colleagues who have put in so much effort to get us here, and im proud of the staff on capitol hill who have labored day and night to assist in this endeavor. Like i said, mr. President , this legislation has been years in the making. I urge all of my colleagues to support the conference report and help us send it to the president s desk. You will not regret it. Those who support this will not regret it. Now, mr. President , i think we ought to get rid of this hatred for donald trump that currently exists in this country and in this body. I think we should give the man a chance. He hasnt even been president for a year yet. Give him a chance. Even though he hasnt been president for a year yet, weve had some amazing changes in this country for the better. And i think we could have many more. What really interests me is that donald trump six or seven years ago was working with democrats as well as republicans. He offered to work with the democrats on these matters. They have not taken up the off offer. Instead its as though theyre still bitter because he beat their candidate for president. Id like to have us get over that type of petty politics and see what we can do to Work Together. Heaven knows on the finance committee, i believe we have good democrats on that committee as well as good republicans, and i think we can Work Together. I have to say i dont think we have as well as we should, but i think we can. And im hopeful that we will. This is an important bill. Its a bill that really does need to pass. Its a bill that will help this country. Its a bill that will help the middle class. In fact, its going to help everybody but it certainly will help the middle class most of all. Mr. President , i hope our put aside politics on both sides and come together to support this bill which literally could help save this country an awful lot of pain over the next number of years. And give the government the kind of resources that it needs to be able to do what the federal government needs to do for its people. I think we can. People in this body know that ive spent years here. Ive been here longer than any other republican that i know of. And i have the legislative record to back it up, a record that has included working with democrats almost every step of the way. So im offering to make sure we Work Together but i havent seen it on the other side. Can they get over the bitterness that they have . Weve heard this loudmouth up in the gallery who has no good sense and a total lack of etiquette and a total lack of respect for this government and this senate. If i was on his side, id be humiliated. Because he was just a big loudmouth that didnt mean a doggone thing. Unfortunately, i think there are more people like that out there who are so bitter that theyll raise these type of issues without really trying to Work Together. Now, i have to say im won who has a reputation for working together. Im chairman of the finance committee. Ive enjoyed my work with the distinguished democrat leader on the finance committee, senator wyden. I care for him i care for the other democrats on the committee as well as all of our republicans. We work pretty well together, but its getting harder and harder to Work Together when all we see are screaming and shouting because they cant get their way because theyre no longer in the majority. I hope they get over that. I hope they start working with us. And if they will, we can do an awful lot of good things for this country. And we can bring people together across this whole country, people who right now are divided because they dont know what to do. They see us screaming and shouting around here and a total lack of willingness to get together. Well, id like to change it. Im open to changing it. But this bill that we have is a very, very important bill and we need to pass it. And my friends on the other side need to realize that. And i hope well get some of them to vote for it. They know its right. Deep down they know its right. They may not be everything they would like themselves. Its not everything i would like myself. But its a doggone good bill and something that could really help this country pull out of the mess that its in. Mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from georgia. Mr. Isakson mr. President , am i next . I see the distinguished senator from washington on the floor. Would she like to be id ask unanimous consent that after i speak, that she the presiding officer without objection. Mr. Isakson with the exception of broken glass, it looks like that works fine. Mr. President , id like to take a moment and commend senator orrin hatch. You know, i listened to the debate over this bill. Not just today but for the better part of three years ive been a member of the finance committee. Ive never heard a more dignified, deliberate, intelligent delivery on any subject than we all just heard from orrin hatch on the tax bill. Regardless of your politics, regardless of where youre from, its good to know that america has dignified statesmen like orrin hatch who take the tough issues, simplify them, get people to join hands, Work Together, and pass whats right for the American People. And im glad the American People are going to get to see that over the next couple of days, and i publicly want to thank senator hatch for all that hes done during the last three years. In the three years on this committee, ive seen us republican and Democratic Committee and subcommittee work on every facet of the tax code to simplify changes down to doable amounts and doable jobs. Ive seen everybody have input. Ive seen everybody Work Together. Sure, weve had differences. Senator hatch has always kept the mainstream there, kept his hand on the tiller and saw to it we never lost sight of what we need to do which is reform our tax code. I want to commend senator hatch and senator enzi as well for the work hes done on the Budget Committee to get us to this point and the Unsung Heroes that all of us know about, our staffs that we cannot do without, jay, mark on the finance committee have been outstanding and have made this thing work and i commend them for their work. On my staff i could not have done without monica mcgwire and jay schultzman, and others, who all worked hard to make sure that we made the right decisions for the people of georgia. Im very proud to be a part of the senate and will prove to be a historic day in the future. There are a lot of nay sayers saying that it will not work. I want to for just a minute talk about what i think this tax bill means for the American People, for the folks who voted for me to come represent them and for whats going to happen in the years ahead. I ha