use later in the day. further, following leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each until 11:00 a.m. i further ask that at 11:00 a.m. senator strange be recognized for up to 30 minutes. finally, that at 1 1:45 a.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider the balash nomination as under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that the senate stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate is adjourned until

differences are crippled can leaders have said they hope to have a final bill to the president by christmas. the senate is back tomorrow morning and here our floor speeches about the tax reform bill and daca. >> mr. presidentnt. >> the senator from maryland. >> i take the time to talk about pending business. tax proposal going into a conference committee between the house and senate as i'm sure the american people now know that 2:00 a.m. in the morningno on early saturday morning the senate passed its version of tax reformef. of the house had already done that and we are working on a house bill. the motion before us is to take that bill and send it to a conference. we would be better off sending it back to committee so that we could have public hearings and

understand what we are voting on rather then send it to a conference committee. i hope we will take advantage of the conference to deal with the three fundamental flaws included in both the house and senate bill. first was the prospect used that did not allow us to really know what we were doing as a result and it's my understanding their numerous provisions in the house and senate bill that will not work and will require changes. secondly we profess to want to do this to help middle income families, but in reality this bill hurts middle income family, both house and senate bill. i hope that will be corrected in conference and the third and there's no dispute about this, the house bill or senate bill will add anywhere between one to make true-- $2 trillion to the deficit of this country and we should not be deficit financing

a tax reform bill. let me first talk briefly about process. let's not repeat this mistakes we made. it was outrageous that late friday night we got a 500 page plus amendment t to the bill and tried to read it and could not even read the handwritten changes put in the margins and then we were asked to vote later that evening. that's process is not fitting the u.s. senate's and is not sitting a democratic process in which we have an opportunity to read, understand and the public has opportunity for inputs before we attempt to modified it and change dramatically the tax code of this country, so i hope the conference committee has a " process that there will be opportunitiess for input and tht we all understand what's being done. secondly, it's critically important that this bill be corrected so that it really does

help middle income families. of this bill doesn't do that. it provides massive tax cuts for the wealthy and significant cuts in business taxes which are made per minutes while a relief given to middle income families is temporary and many end-- middle income families will pay more in taxes. that's neither the house bill or senate bill. it has that fatal flaw. one of the premises is that if we give businesses tax cuts they will take those tax cuts to give workers higher wages spirit that happen.sn't there has been significant profits by american companies spirit what we have seen into many of the cases is the prophets have gone to buy back their stock and increase the value for their shareholders. that's their right to do that, but we should not pretend we are cutting taxes to help workers of these companies when in reality

their first priority is to the shareholders and increasing the value of their stock. we need to make sure this bill come at the end of the day, will help buildlp income families and that is our focus, not either the house bill or senate bill that focuses on our most wealthy taxpayers and this business community rather than focusing .n middle income families third, the deficit and here i find it unconscionable. i just laid this out. i find it unconscionable that we work to say the deficit is heard in our country and we need to work together to rein in the deficit of america and yet we find the republican party prepared to acknowledge a one and a half trillion dollar deficits in their budget instructions. in reality, the deficit if this bill were to become law and passed by the u.s. senate would

increase the deficit by 2 trillion and to extend the tax provisions and even if you accept dynamic scorekeeping, which is changing the rules a chilean dollars in deficit. under any of these years we aret to the debt. that's plain wrong. if our priorities is to recognize our debt is something that is wrong for our children and grandchildren. we must make sure that the bill that returns from our conference committee does not add 1 penny to the deficit and that should be a commitment we are all willing to make. lets me also bring up as couple held there issues i hope the comments committee will look at. the senate bill includesde the elimination of the required coverage under the 04 will care. what is that mean? well, it means when it's fully

implemented 13 million americans won't have health coverage. that's what it means. it means we will see an increase in those that use the emergency rooms of our hospital as their primary care center because they have no health insurance. it meansit people will enter our healthcare system in a more costly way because they won't get preventative health care because they have health insurance to cover preventative healthcare. it means we will see a lot of people who can't afford their healthcare because they don't have health insurance . before the affordable care act the bankruptcy of healthcare was the number one reason for it. we will see bankruptcies increase. we will see uncompensated care go up and of the caught-- when uncompensated care goes up guess who pays the bill. all of us do through higher premiums. it's called cost shifting to why he is it in this tax reform bill? because it gets scored as a savings by the congressional

budget office and joint committee on tax. a savings because we will spend less money and health subsidies and medicaid programs. cuts to medicaid programs. and now, this is a phony savings from the point of view of our texte-- tax code, but guess what the senate did with that savings they used it to make permanent tax cuts for businesses at the expense of savings in the tax code. to help corporations with permit tax changes. i hope the conference will correct that by eliminating this health provision from the tax code. it should not be in this billhos took its wrong on policy and it's wrong on process and it's wrong on fiscal responsibility and i hope for those reasons the provision will be eliminated. then, the bill passed by the senate includes another

provision that should not be in the tax reform bill and that's opening up alaska for drilling. first of all the policy is wrong. we should protect this pristine area of our nation. secondly, we don't need more sites for fossil fuels. we know where future is in renewableswa and in a more carbn friendly environments, so from that point of view it makes no sensed and for putting in this bill it makes no sense at all, so i hope my colleagues will correct that mistake that is in the senate bill and then both the house and senate bill still have on state and local government. we make it so much more difficult for state and local government to handle the problems in our community. speaking to the mayor of baltimore this week about our problems on public safety. i know the challenges is that the general assembly will occur in january in dealing with

transportation infrastructure and public education and the challenges of our environment. all those issues will be more difficult for the state of maryland and all of our state and local government and municipalities to handle if either the house and senate bill become law, but to add insult to injury we take away the state local tax deduction so that county taxpayers and state taxpayershe with the same people paying federal taxes will have to pay income tax. on the first income tax passed by the us congress, the deduction they allowed was for state and local taxes. zero course the constitution had to be amended in the states had to consent to the amendments and that's how we got the income tax.

it was a fundamental decision made that under federalism and respect to the different levels of government that we would not vote a tax on a tax and now over 150 years later we are talking about removingov that deduction. that's outrageous from the point of view of the constitution and the principles of the constitution on federalism and there is also some consequences on sure my colleagues have not thought about as to what impact that will have on property values, what impact it will have on other issues. they have not thought that out, but it's wrong from a policy point of view. there are many provisions in the house bill that are not in the senate bill, but now that we go to conference we have to be concerned. are we going to restrict what individuals can deduct for medical expenseshe? that's in the house bill, so if you are a family that happens to have a child with severe medical

needs will we now say we are not going to allow you to deduct p those costs you have to pay out a pocket for b? the house bill contains restrictions on the deduction of educational costs for those student loans. are we going to make it more expensive for families to have higher education. it's already too expensive. are we going to increase that cost? we also have a restriction in the house bill that deals with mortgage interest deductions. we restrict the deduction on mortgage interest with even a dog-- more dramatic impact on property values. there is a lot of work that will have to be done in that conference. as i said the best way to proceed is to send the bill back to committee. let's work together. i will tell you, i know my

colleagues on both sides of the aisle. i have worked with my democratic and republican colleagues and i know when we work together we produce some great results, really great results. it's not hard for democrats and republicans to work together on the tax code because we share the same goal. we know our tax code needs to be reformed. we know that there are burdens in our tax code that need to be east and i believe democrats and republicans believe we should not add to the debt and we should help of middle income families. it seems to me this is not a heavy lift for democrats and republicans to come together. so, i hope we take advantage of this opportunity as we have a to deal at the tax code with the fundamental flaws that -- i'm not terribly optimistic because i know what

the house and senate have passed , but i would urge all of my colleagues, let's find a way that we can really fix our tax code. a way to help middle income families a and certainly not add to the deficit of this country. that should be our mutual desire of all members of the us senate and with that i suggest the absence of a quorum., ..mr substantial tax relief. this legislation is exactly what people were asking for last november and it's exactly what this country needs now. because of this republican plan, people will be able to keep a lot more other hard earned money. they will be able to find that their taxes are going to be simpler and fairer.

they will see our economy getting stronger and healthier. that's good news for our country and it is certainly good news for the american people. thisla legislation was an important promise of republicans made, and it's a promise that republicansub have kept. it's just the latest republican accomplishment that is helping americans. mr. president, another thing that's been going on has been the tremendous relief from washington regulations that republicans are providing. i think a lot of people lost track of exactly how much damage democrats in the obama administration have been doing to the american economy. the obama administration added 285 major regulations during the course of the previous administration. every one of them imposed a burden on americans. the total cost of these, $122 billionea per year.

that's both the direct cost in terms of the money and also counting the time, the time needed to fill out paperwork created by these excessive rules. 21 of these rules were actually finalized after the 2016 presidentialpr election. that's after the american people had spoken and said that they wanted change. president obama went straight on to poly moreac regulations onto the backs of the american people. so one of the first things republicans and the congress did this year was to start striking down unnecessary, burdensome, costly regulations from the obama years. republicans wiped 15 of these major rolls off the books, and a major rolls are able that boasts over $100 million in terms of the complaint costs, the actual cost, the time cost. that's going to save as much as $36 billion over time.

one of these roles was the important part of president obama's war on coal. it was called the stream buffett rule. it was designed to shut down a lot of coal mining that's going on in this country. would a destroyed up to one-third of cold one jobs in america. so we passed congressional resolution that protected gold-mining jobs and protected american energy independence. we struck down 14 regulations like this one in the first few months of this year here in october republicans block a 15th rule. that was a new regulation from the consumer financial protection bureau. the rule was written during the obama administration and obama appointees at the agencyhi finalized it last summer. this is the agency that's been in the news recently because it's so out of control. republicans in congress had to step inul and get rid of the unnecessary rules that really just was really in my opinion just a payoff by the democrats

to trial lawyers. so republicans have stayed americans $36 billion by getting by getting rid of a rule and regulations. democrats on the other hand, cost the american people 102, a year in costs due to rules and regulations. republicans innocent also took a major shift in relief legislation by repealing the obamacare insurance mandate here this takes obamacare from being a mandatory program to a voluntary program. it's going to save a lot of americans a lot of money. in 2015 there were over 6.7 million americans who paid this tax. the average tax penalty by the american people this past year has been $700. it's a big deal to give american families relief from that tax burden. it's also a big part of rolling back this idea that washington

knows best what works all across the country. the obamacare insurance mandate is more thanax a tax year the damage it does is more than just the paperwork and the money that people have to pay. it's an outrageous and unfair requirement that people have to buy something that isn't right for them and the family, but the government says they have to rbuy. the republicans struck down this mandate and get people back the freedom to decide for themselves and to make their own choices. so republicans in congress have been very busy saving americans fromin the burdens and the injustice of these obama regulations. i can telly you that we've a vey strong ally in the form of the trump administration. president trump is been that the regulator in chief. since his very first day in office he been rolling back the regulations the people have been straining under for the previous eight years. hea froze action on nearly 2000 obama administration rules that

are not taken effect yet. he wrote a new rule for his administration. one new rule, one roll in, to go out. this said that for every significant new regulation, his administration would offset it by getting rid of two other rules. that site to make a difference in washington. that's how the president was able to remove 860 860 ineffec, duplicative, obsolete regulations in just his first six months in office. it's a very big difference from what democrats in washington did and we all restart seeing the results. the american economy has created 2 million jobs since president trump was elected ale a littler a year ago. our economy grew at a rate of 3.3% the 3% the last quarter. the an appointment rate has dropped to 4.1% last friday the "washington post" had two items on one page in the paper. thet first one said consumer spending had increased in october and incomes grew. theth article says, quote, the

october rise indicates the consumer spending which accounts for 70% of economic activity began the fourth quarter with healthy momentum. the second article sameas day "washington post" friday noted that weekly applications for unemployment aid fell foror the week. it said that when the number of unemployment applications are low like this, it's a sign that hiring is helping. healthy. it's the sign that employers are competent enough to keep workers on the payroll. mr. president, during the obama years washington democrats piled on all these regulatory impacts on the economy. because of them economists said they expected future growth to be around 1.8%. 1.8%. president trump and republicans in congress president trump and republicans in congress are cutting the regulations and the economy is growing at 3%.

that's the kind of change that's possible under republican pro-growth policies. that's why we are confident that we are on the right track. it's why we're confident the economy is going to continue to accelerate under the tax relief that we passed this past week. it's why c we're confident that america will continue to thrive when we give people relief from washington regulations, and start to unwind the red tape. that's what the american people voted for a little over a year ago. that's republicans are delivering in congress and in the white house. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. >> the senator for rhode island. >> thank you, mr. president. i rise today to join my colleagues in reminding all of our members but particularly my friends on the other side of the aisle and the administration the very human cost each day we delay taking corrective action

on president trump's unnecessary decision to in the deferred action for childhood arrivals program,ru or daca. there was no need for the compensation to create this crisis. there was no reason to throw 9,800,000 dreamers and the fans into such uncertainty. yet the president, despite the fact most americans of both political parties poured a solution for dreamers decided they need to overturn this initiative for little more reason than it was put in place by president barack obama. now, these young people who are american in every way but on paper may be forced to be uprooted and moved to countries that they are wholly foreign to. yes, their parents broke the rules to bring the nurse children, but their departure now would be our loss. these are the basic economic fax and common sense, and moral easy and cannot become a classmate, neighbors and coworkers and

pairs of our children's friends and undeniable part of our american community. i think many of my colleagues to put names andeo faces to young people affected by this crisis. i would like to associate myself with remarks. i've also the opportunity to meet with the dreamers in rhode island who are brave enough to share their stories with me and with my staff. i hope to meet more of them butt i can tell you now that these are exactly the kind of hard-working young people that we should be encouraging to put down roots in our communities. skeptics should know the facts. dreamers have been subject to deep scrutiny. they have paid significant fees and they have followed the rules. it is simply untenable to continue to delay resolution of their status in our country in the longer. indeed, too many of my colleagues seem to be number to reach agreement on passing the

bipartisan dream act. dream back. i want to underscore this has beenha an effort that has been d i members on both sides of the aisle because many, unfortunately not enough yet, on both sides of the aisle believe that these young people are american in their values and their commitment to this country. and will contribute to this country. they already are. now, there seems to be this allusion that we have gotten into a monitor, the official in data daca. to continue to try to fix this problem. and then there are others who simply this crisis which was prompted by president trump's decision is an opportunity to gain concessions in other areas. this approachon to waiting and o try to gain this is wrong. it is certainly wrong for young

people that are waiting nervously, in fact, nervously is too mild a term, to determine whether they can stay and contribute to this great country, as they are already doing. we have i think the opportunity but we have to take it quickly to ensure that these young men and women can find a way to stay in this country and contribute to this country. it remains my sincere hope that my colleagues who come to the table in good faith to pass a bipartisan dream act. again, let me recognize that there are members on both sides who recognize that these young people are making great contributions to the country, that this is the only country they have -- nougat many of them were infants when they were brought here. they are american in everything except the official paperwork to declare them so.

we need to make progress on this here we don't have until march. we have to do it as quickly as possible. with that i will yield the floor, mr. president. >> the senator from oregon. >> mr. president, colleagues, the republican tax plan is now racing tog completion in secrecy and shame. republicans are finishing it in secret because it is a shameful scheme, the american people overwhelmingly oppose. today the city is going to debate whether to go to conference. to go to conference with the house to resolve the differences between the two plans that the have passed on a wholly partisan basis. not a single democrat in the house, not a single democrat in

the senate is in support of this bill. and i think it's clear that the conference committee that will meet in the days ahead is nothing more than theater. it is not going to be an honest debate in the light of day. there won't be an honest debate if the american people can listen to on the prospects of $10 trillion worth of tax policy changes that will reach into corners of every part of this country and every household in america. the truth is, republicans from the other body in the senate, are hashing outre differences right now, right now behind closed doors. they are packing the bill with even more goodies, even more loopholes for the well-connected

and the special interests. there is no telling what swap creatures have crawled up to h capitol hill to get their fingers on this bill at the 11th hour. the basic proposition on offer, taking money and health care away from middle-class americans to pay for tax cuts for the multinational corporations, and the powerful, the well-connected. that proposition isn't going to change. and now apparently the trump a administration is calling for even more speed, even more secrecy just so that the president can claim a victory, and republicans in congress can appeasemega- donors. what unfolded here last week is a black mark on this story into

stitching, the united states senate. it was a climax of a process marred by recklessness and partisanship. and this took place, mr. president, after 17 moderate senators, moderate democratic senators tried again last week while the senate still have the opportunity to have a bipartisan plan. when i renewed my plan, my ideas, the only two bipartisan federal r income tax bills in decades written by senior republicans, moderate senators and bipartisan plan for discussed yet again last week before the senate took off on its reckless course. senators did come to the floor last wednesday and thursday prepared for a debate, but it was cut short by the partisan

reconciliation process. 20 hours evenly divided between the two sides. wednesday turned into thursday and there was no final republican bill. then thursday became friday, and still republicans had their plan hidden in the shadows. and then late friday, late friday well after dark, i was handed, handed personally, a new version of a 500 page bill by vicki official in the republican caucus who said here, there's the bill. there was no opportunity for review or debate. the majority leader, the distinguishedha majority leader had said to me personally during the course of thein afternoon wn i was asking every 30 minutes, he said, there would be plenty of time, plenty of time to

review the bill. not only, mr. president, was there not plenty of time, there was essentially no time. and it reached the point as we heard from our colleagues last week that no tactical material the margins. in we hadsk to ask questions about education provisions that seemed to benefit what academic institution, there are plenty of them that are deserving in oregon and pennsylvania. this seemed to benefit just one, and special interest had that were airdropped right up apparently to the very last minute. huge giveaways to oil companies and hedge funds. and the unintelligible lines became a metaphor for what this whole debate was all about. haphazard work that not a

schoolteacher in america, mr. president, would give a passing grade two. if some kind of work product like that was submitted to denver now of course this is what -- . this is what the senate majority republican said was a full and honestat debate. the tactical term here is regular order, but the fact is those $10 trillion of tax changes, $10 trillion of tax changes were made in secret when the bill that was brought to the floor finally appeared, and it was clear, republicans had played hide the ball with their tax plan until the very last minute. there m was not a single hearing on the specifics of the legislation. i heard so many times in the debate, there was 70 hearings.

my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, i wish i had a nickel for every time i heard it that there were 70 hearings. there was not one single hearing, not one on the specific provisions of that legislation. no bipartisan input. no member of this body can possibly claim to have read everything before they voted. and now the recklessness continues. republicans stick to conjure up on the middle-class and can work work out the b differences betwn the two plans, again behind closed doors. whatever product comes outgo of these negotiations is still going to raise taxes on millions of middle-class americans, and drive a dagger into the heart of the affordable care act. and why? to carry for yet more handouts, to faceless, multinational

corporations. there are still going be a biggergg tax cut to the multinational corporations that ship jobs overseas vendor will be for those businesses that create when white and blue jobs here at home. what ought to cause even more alarm for americans of the special interest goodies that are still being passed in, the handouts nobody yet knows nothing about. doubt on k k street they seem o be licking their chops as they read the bill the republicans wrote so quickly and carelessly. it looks to me like a whole flock of tax lawyers are scheming and planning their next move. according to report, the big sticking point in the negotiations between a republics is about how you going to help middle-class families or how you're going to protect -- isn't -- or protect healthcare. they're debating whether the corporate and handouts on to get

bigger they are already slashing the corporate down to 20%. they are debating whether corporations should be required to pay it. mr. president, i note that in vote of the tax plans i put together, they were bipartisan written with two conservativese republican senators close to the majority leader during all of those talks we didn't hear about corporation saying that they had to have a tax rate of 20%. mr. president, the american people do not want this plan to law i heard that this past weekend.that this i had to attend meetings in communities where hillary clinton had a lot of support, and inti communities where donad trump had a lot of support. and i'm telling you, this tax bill is unpopular all over. it's hard to write a tax bill

that's unpopular, but some of senate republicans actually managed to do it. that's what her in town halls and when ih met with folks last weekend, , fred myers, our iconc store. we heard it all over. i can promise every member of this body, the american people have a sense of what's coming now. the republican deficit hawks who flew away for the proposition of a $1.5 trillion budget busting tax bill came up. they will come flying back. they will be flying over the horizon, returning, there's already a whole lot of frightening republican talk about the fiscal crisis facing our country, exploding deficit, spending run amok. in fact, republicans have even waited for this tax plan to become law to crack out the fiscal crisis talking points. and we hear all the talk president at

rallies talking on national television about entitlement reform. it's a whole lot of focus tested code for cutting the safety net, the lifeline programs for the vulnerable, medicaid, social security, medicare, the antihunger program. that is what's next on the slash and burn to do list. here in the congress the speaker said if you receive go we've got a lot of work to do in cutting spending. ways and means chairman brady talked about welfare reform and tackling the entitlements. the freedom caucus, as far what folks in the freedom caucus, using the tax bill to lock-in promises on spending cuts in the safety net program. >> nobody knows yet what secret guarantees they have been given. last week as republicans were getting ready to spend $1.5 trillion on handouts to

corporations, just put your arms around that for a moment, mr. president. i heard for years in the finance committee, in the budget committee about how republicans want to be fiscally minded and tight with the dollar. right away out of the gate they said we will spend $1.5 trillion, and that the corporation or corporations already awash in money. what we heard is the leadership of the other side of the aisle saying we all were spending ourselves into bankruptcy, and they were blasting what they call liberal programs for the poor. the chairman of our committee whom i admire greatly say when it comes to helping the vulnerable, we don't have money anymore. we don't have the money anymore for the vulnerable? but somehow we can borrow, borrow billions of dollars to have a $1.5 trillion handout to

multinational corporations? awash in money. sure indicates to me some out of whack priorities. and then we heard our colleague from pennsylvania, senator toomey, say on the floor that there wasn't a secret plan to cut medicare and medicaid and social security. i give my colleagues from pennsylvania credit for his honesty. because he's right about onebo thing. they are not keeping this tax plan a secret. republicans are talking about the tax plan as the prospect of these entitlement cuts now in the open. the tax plan may be secret, but the plans for cutting entitlements are going to be right out in the open. colleagues, i want to close with this. i heard this weekend, i hear every stop i make that the people of this country do not

want this partisan tax plan to become law. they understand what's happening now. the working people in the class that are being forced to pay for handouts to multinational corporations, that the plan, the republican plan puts the interest of the politically connected above the interest of hard-working american families.o and i believe the american people are going to stand up and fight against any fear mongering attacks launched by the so-called deficit hawks who, as they come flying back, are clearly looking at cutting medicare, medicaid antihunger and antipoverty programs. it's not too late. it's not too late while this process continues between the house and the senate to change course. instead of going to a sham conference, a sham conference

that is little more than diversionary theater, there could be a real bipartisan debate on the tax plan that would give every american a chance to get ahead. mr. president, i've been particularly struck by my conversations with our former colleague, senator bill bradley, of new jersey. he called almost every few days because he, along with president reagan, where the authors of a last bipartisan plan. and i am particularly struck by howho he described what democras and republicans came together, bill bradley, former nets celebrity all of the country, he would fly all over the united states to meet with colleagues like the distinguished president of the senate from north carolina. he would fly all over. now we can't get republicans to

walk down the corridor of the dirksen building to have a conversation about how we ought to have a chance to give everybody a good tax plan so that everybody in america can get ahead. that's what i sought to do with republican colleagues, former senators, plenty conservatives here so it is not too late for my republican colleagues to do an about-face and say that we can do better than this. i don't for the life of me understand why we can't have republicans and democrats on the basis of the overwhelming unpopularity of this bill now say we can t do better than thi, and change course. mr. president, i yield the floor and i would note the absence. >> mr. president, last week i came to the floor to talk about why we needed to pass the tax

cuts and jobs act. i'm proud to say that the senate has passed that bill. ie expect the senate to move to conference with the house this week, and i'm confident that the final bill will be an even better bill than the bill passed by either the house or senate. but more importantly i'm confident that this will get us on track forel real tax relief r working families and will have this built on the president desk by the end of this year. .. the facts that we are hearing. maybe the alternative facts. the one thing i think will happen is that working families

will see their first paychecks next year, that this tax bill, these tax cuts really affect them. whatever your paycheck is that reflects what you start getting paid on january 1. in virtually every case, working families will have more take-home pay and the numbers are pretty big. ga few weeks ago i was a patriot machinein st. charles missouri and spoke to the employees that work there. they one thing that they were concerned about was what does this mean for me? what does it mean for family for what is my take-home pay going to look like next year and mr. president, you and i said many times during this debate, the two things here that we are committed to do is more take-home pay immediately by taking us out of it and even more take-home pay in the future that make our economy

more competitive and paycheck figure to start with. a middle-class family, working class families and this country has lost a lot of ground with the slow growth that we have had and no growth in almost 7 eayears we have had in the past 10 years. better jobs, we need whigher wages, and we need the government plto elect people ãt let people to come work -- to take home what they earn. the standard deduction is now about $6000 suddenly it is $12,000. for a couple is $24,000. and soyou start the test proces on something the size of a postcard for you start the process by deducting that 12,004 the 24,000 off of what your w-2 forms say. senate bill doubles a child tax

credit. it was from 1000 to 2000. then you take that off of the tax obligation. 90 percent of people thought taxes just that way. a form that you may not even have to turn over. sign the bottom and just say this is what you need to send me back or here is what my tax obligation was. helping families has been and continues wto be at the heart what the whole debate should be about. at one end, more take-home pay and another and, more competition that allows better jobs to start with. i am absolutely convinced that the united states of america with more money on the sideline right now than ever before, and history of the country and more money overseas because of our barriers to bring money back. as a tax code did not really anticipate the international competition in the way that it

is developed. more money that wants to come back than ever before. those things are going to make a difference. the security that our country has, the access to the world marketplace, we couldn't be better located to compete all over the world. then we are but those things long of what has happened in the effort to stop the regulatory overreach. the effort to put people on judicial benches and based on what the law says. now there's a tax bill on top of that and capital coming into the economy. it will make a big difference. it will help main street businesses that want to reinvest and want to innovate and expand, want to create jobs. that is going to happen. this bill, came through the regular order process. it came through a committee that knew how to defend it. every senator had the opportunity to offer any

amendment they wanted to offer to improve the final product. american families have been stuck now with a broken tax code for the last couple of decades. that is going to end when the president signs this bill. we should not have to wait any longer. we need to get this done this year. and we can. i want to talk a little bit about another bill mr. president, that we have passed for the 56th consecutive time. a lot of things congress doesn't manage to get your vehicle at the one ndnumber one the federal government is to defend the country. and we show that in how we prioritize the authorization bill that gives those who serve in uniform, the very best possible opportunity to serve us service safely. senator mccain would be the first to say that we have fallen behind in the last eight

years and what we need to be doing to maintain the advantage that we always want the troops to have. and of course he is right. they brought a bill to the floor and the bill has passed into law that would make a big difference in our obligation to provide for the common defense. and when we send men and women in uniform into harms way, whenever want that to be a fair fight.we want to give every possible advantage. training, equipment, intelligence advantage to the people that we asked to defend us and in the next few weeks as we appropriate the money, to do it the r,authorization bill cal for, we are going to see a step up in a way that has not years now and will happen i am convinced, this year. this bill meets the responsibility. i want to talk about trethe provision in that bill that i think particularly is reflecting of the families that

serve. the strength of our military is in the families of the military. somebody said to me not too long ago, we generally in the military, recruit single young adults and we retire men and women with families. and those families that have become part of this process for most soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines as they serve, during the time they serve, provide the real backbone of military strength. they have a million responsibilities when somebody in that family deploys. they look at the holidays that we are in the middle of now. differently than most other families looked at the holidays. the person who is there keeping the family together and somebody deploys has often more and more of the time now, their

own career, they are paying the bills, there keeping kids in school. they are thacting with, for mos purposes, with the challenge that so many other single parents face today. but these are single parents based on one of the two partners in the team being deployed somewhere else. they had to do these things while worried about the person that they care so much about in harm's way and then when the active serving family, when that part of life is over they become a family supporting a veteran. and whatever challenges that veteran has from their service. answer this bill, the bill that we passed d this year demonstrates our appreciation for our military families by including the military family stability act. this is a bill that i introduced with senator gillibrand. that act really provides for

more flexibility for military families. it allows military families for the first time to meet one of the challenges that they had every two or three years and they get a new assignment. if you're trying to stay as your house needs to finish a job your kids need to finish a school year. or the opposite, that is not really part of the process anymore but it can be now. we have a provision in long -- a child starting or finishing the school year when your family, their family thinks that they should. a spouse because to complete a job or start a job based on their schedule rather than the military schedule. this will help people arstay in the military. it rewards the support that families give the military. it allows the family to move

early, remain at the current duty station for up to six months while their spouse begins a new assignment or while their spouse stays a little longer behind to complete that assignment. the spouse has to assume the responsibility for how they take care of themselves but the money follows the family. for stays with the family. right now we ask you family over and over that wants to deal with that timing in a different way, you can move early but you have to pay to move early. or you can stay later but you have to pay to stay later. i talked to so many people in the military that have stories to tell of reasons they left for reasons that they almost left because we just did not have this reasonable ability for a spouse or for a work purpose for an education purpose where kids or spouses.

one that we had in as a witness on this was finishing her phd. and she needed to go a little earlier to get the semester started. teaching as a graduate assistant. needed to be there a little earlier to get the semester started. i think she was told at the time, if you get a divorce from your husband, we will see that you relocate but if you are married you will have to go when he goes and he did not go at the time they were told he was going. all of those things can be much easier dealt with now and fortunately, that is not part of the law and once again i want to thank chairman mccain particularly and samantha clark on his staff he works so hard to finalize this provision. i also want to recognize an individual who has been absolutely vital to my work on the national defense

authorization act. my work on the defense appropriations committee. and really the overall national security issues that we deal with. captain sam burke has been with us for the last year. our military detail the. i think this has been a benefit for him and it has been a benefit for us. he is proud missouri. he is othe first we've had and by the way, one of the military was instrumental in the family stability act and experience to our office with that.and sam was instrumental in helping us. his family still live in missouri. his father is a farmer in mississippi county. his eannmother is a special education teacher that retired recently.

his brother is carrying on the farming tradition and works with his father as fifth generation farmer. and as you would imagine, sam was raised the right way. with missouri values but the missouri values i'm sure were delicately enhanced by the effect of the united states naval academy where sam went to school and graduated in 2010. he is deployed to okinawa, japan. and has supported multiple exercises through southeast asia including cambodia and thailand. he has been a resource for us. he has really provided important perspective on a number of foreign policy issues ranging from columbia to australia to russia. he has been a great help on veterans issues and really a tremendous asset to our office from day one. i wish captain burke all the best in the next chapter of his military career. i think his fiancce sarah and

all of his family and friends who supported him for the sacrifices he has made serving the country and we continued to make. he is a first-class marine. a professional and an exceptional individual. we will miss him but the country will continue to benefit from his service. for sam burke and all those who serve, mr. president, we are grateful and for the hard-working families in america. i think we are taking the right step with these tax act. just as we did with the military family stability act and i am prepared to yield the floor.

>> mr. president. i enjoy hearing the remarks of my fellow senator from missouri. i wish sam and his next deployment epwell as his milita liaison and i thank him as well for serving our country. i come to the floor today to talk about tax reform and its benefits for middle-class families. across the nation. but first i would like to highlight a program that is critical to these families. especially the children. especially the children.and that is the state children's health insurance program. or referred to as a christian nation, chip. when i started serving this was first programs i became a strong champion four.

and that is because i understand how critical it is. it was denver families in west virginia and what it is now. when i was in the legislature in the 90s i served on the committee charged with creating and implementing a state children's insurance program. and as a member of the house of representatives and now in the united states senate, i have voted numerous times to fund and expand the chip program. in my state of west virginia, 22,000 children are in the west virginia chip program. it includes over 10,000 families. and it is essential for working families and it is essential that we recognize that some working families are unable to get insurance. maybe they can get it for the person is working with a spouse. but a lot of times it is prohibitive for them to get insurance for the children at

the same time. that is where chip comes in. it is preventive, it is for sickness and illness. it has really helped i think, increase the health of our young people in the state of west virginia. i am pleased that this test the finest committee with strong bipartisan support. i would like to thank them for their efforts. i've also spoken with leader mcconnell and he is very favorable and the need to reach a solution for this by ethe ye end. thousands of west virginia families and children who rely on the program need to know that it is going to be there. and we know we are going up against a funding deadline and exploration. liberty oopast the expiration date. look forward to looking together with everyone to reauthorize chip and the chip program as soon as possible. that will be a good christmas present i think. and another thing know that you talked about as i think we will

greatly benefit, films and west virginia across the nation. that is the tax cuts that we passed last week. i was very proud to vote for that. i understand with the legislation can mean. for the working families and so many people in our state. today, i would like to explain why i did vote for the bill. first of like to talk about the 83 percent of west virginia families who file do not use itemization. they filed the short form. for those families, 83 percent of those filers, that is double the standard deduction, double the child tax credit. which means significant tax savings. i voted for the bill because it cuts taxes for all income brackets. these are the people who are tired of washington telling them how to spend their hard working dollars or even yet, washington spending their hard

working dollars for them. now you're telling hard-working men and kwomen that they can keep more of their own dollars to make the decision. then you decide how to spend it. not a novel idea but i think very welcome increase in our tax dollars coming home. we will be welcomed by individual families. whether their spending on something absent today or tomorrow or if it is saving for the future, let's let them make that decision. the plaintiff is is that the decision should be theirs. for this bill because it helps america's businesses of all sizes.it will empower small businesses to grow and thrive. we had a small business that came last week from the panhandle. many different reasons why this is going to help the small business. yes, tax cuts in more money for them to invest in their own business. it is a big positive for many

of them. one particular small business said you know what i really want?i want more time with my family to devote to my family, to my church. while i am devoting all of my time to my small business, give me the time back that it takes me to comply with the us tax code! typify this. and give me that time to devote to my family and my church. i also feel that not just small businesses are going to grow. but it is also going to help men and women have more job opportunities. higher wages. when it comes to the larger on businesses and corporations it makes them more competitive. even in the small state of mind. 50 percent of the workforce the private workforce works in a larger rather a small business i think 30 percent work for a larger corporation but it becomes more competitive globally. and the products are more

competitive. that result will be higher wages, more jobs, more opportunities into our state. not beyond our borders. this gives our economy a big boost. i challenge anybody who is watching this closely or feels this in their family or state or personal budget. s says that the countries economy is growing fast enough. or it is robust enough. for everybody's benefiting. we know that is not the case. we see it in our town. i live in a terelatively small area. communities in my state of west virginia and across the country have been forced to deal with the consequences of a struggling economy. shuttered stores, closing schools. falling real estate prices. this is what happens when everything contracts and stays stagnant. it is really affected many

aspects of our lives. i voted for the tax bill because you know what? i'm not okay with that. i'm not okay with this. if you are staying then you are losing p we need to move the economy forward. we need to make it work for everybody. and so basically i've had enough. the tax cuts that represent a new direction for america. when it provides hope, prosperity and a chance to really turn things around for a lot of people. of course, many legislative accomplishments of this magnitude, concerns have been raised and some of those are different. that is what a conference committee is about. to hear concerns. heard them in our constituents. i should houses are from their constituents. that is what the conference committee is all about. and i've been raising the ones i've heard in west virginia to my friends who are going to be part of the conference process. so that said, this is a significant moment for our country.

i believe we have not done major tax reform in 31 years. we are well past time. it would provide a significant opportunity and requires big and bold action. we do a lot of little things around here that help people and those are great. but it is rare that we can do something big and bold that will help so many people in this country. i go back to my statistics. 83 percent of the people in west virginia file without itemization. they're going to be getting doubling of the standard deduction. a doubling of the child tax credit. a tax cut. tax relief. keep the money, make the decision in your own family. and it is because of the simplification factor. it is that number 83 percent that will rise and in many states mine included. i think this big and bold

action we are about to embark on is something we can look at with great pride. i asked my colleagues on both sides to sincerely look at this. there are efforts to provide tax relief, tax reform, tax cuts and an economic boost to our country that we so desperately need. with that mr. president, i yield the floor. >> this evening on american history stevie on c-span3, saturday at 7 pm eastern, and yale universities during joanne freeman on alexander hamilton. >> now washington became president in 1789, he had the secretary of the treasury and and that he extracted a national financial system and pushed to strengthen and empower the national government. a really fierce political battle against those who wanted a far left powerful national government. inevitably thomas jefferson and

madison were his foremost political opponents to request sunday at 4 pm eastern on reel america. the 1980s training film, unwelcome affection. about inappropriate behavior in the workplace. >> you are new here on the staff right? and we like to imagine that -- i make decisions. and when it except evaluation reports. i assign passes and a word of advice, if you want to get a loan on the sale, it will be beneficial to you to be able to be nice to me. >> and historian -- to cripple the bank of the bryan llenas days in the 1830s. >> no president before had said anything like this. other presidents had warned americans against entangling foreign alliances. they had warned americans against sectionalism and excessive partisanship at home.

jackson warned them against control of their own government by in his words, the rich and powerful. >> american history tv. all weekend, every weekend only on c-span3. >> several lawmakers including democratic leader, chuck schumer, or calling for senator al franken to resign following sexual misconduct allegations. earlier today, the sender talked about the allegations and the call for him to resign. [inaudible conversations] >> we can't force him to resign. but hopefully he will do the