mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. as we all know -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. the senate is in a quorum call. mr. van hollen: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: mr. president, as we all know, president trump is now in china on an important trip where his top priority is obtaining china's cooperation in confronting north korea's nuclear weapons program. while we should continue to seek china's cooperation in applying economic and other pressure on north korea, we here also need to send a very clear and strong message to banks in china and throughout the world that there will be a price to pay for lack of any cooperation. that's why i'm pleased that yesterday before president trump arrived in china, the senate banking committee on a unanimous basis passed a bill to impose and enforce mandatory sanctions against banks and financial firms in china or anywhere else in the world that help prop up the regime of kim j

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. mr. president. >> senator from maryland. >> thank you, mr. president, and i see my friend and colleague from pennsylvania on the floor. and we worked together on a number of things over the years including now, working together to impose and really enforce sanctions against north korea, putting together a bill modeled after the iran sanctions bill so that we're serious about working to get china and other to bring to the table. i like to thank my colleagues for his work on that. when we disagree strongly is on the bill that has emerged on the house of representatives, the so-called tax reform bill. senator from pennsylvania said people should be excited to see. i can assure you, mr. president, that if you're a millionaire or the owner you will be really excited about the bill that's coming out of the house and supported by president trump or i want to talk a little bit about tax reform.d because we need tax reform in america. we need to simplify our tax code. it's been gummed up over many, many years with special tax breaks that are there not

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. let me start by thanking the senator from massachusetts for always telling it like it is. because what we've got before us here in the senate is going to do grave harm to our country not just next year and the year after, but for many years to come. we still have an opportunity, mr. president, to stop that from happening through our votes tomorrow. let me also say at the outset that we need to enact tax reform in the united states of america. we need to simplify. we need to streamline. we need to reform our tax code. we need to get rid of all of those tax loopholes that have been put in our tax code by powerful special interests that have been able to hire high-priced lobbyists and get something in our tax code not because it's good public policy, not because it's good for the majority of americans, but because it's good for some group of special interests. so we need real tax reform. that's not what the bill in front of us does. what this bill does is take a tax code that is already

mr. van hollen: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. we're having a chance now look at the house and senate republican tax plans. both of these plans were cooked up largely in secret, and as more information comes out, we see more and more how much damage they're going to do to our country. and the plans have many features that overlap, and one of those overlapping features is both of them provide a massive tax giveaway to big corporations and powerful special interests. the "wall street journal" in an article just a little while back was looking at the house plan, talked about a provision that's also in the senate plan, and they said, a 20% corporate tax rate -- at a 20% corporate tax rate, banks stand to be among the biggest winners from tax reform, according to an s&p global market intelligence. the five biggest diversified u.s. banks alone might have had tax savings of $11.5 billion in 2016 at that rate. in other words, if that 20% rate had been in place back in 2016, those big banks -- the bigge

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to strongly oppose the legislation that's emerged from the house of representatives that pretends to provide tax relief to middle-class americans. but if you take a look at it and you look at the analyses that have already come out, what it really is is another big tax giveaway to millionaires, billionaires, and big multinational corporations. i believe we should do tax reform. we should take our tax code. we should clean up a lot of junk that's gotten into our tax code that's not there for good public policy reasons. it's there because someone had a high-powered lobbyist. we need to clean up our tax code. we need to reform our tax code, and we need to do it in a way that helps the middle class and doesn't add more big breaks to big corporations. unfortunately, this republican plan does the opposite of tax reform. what it does is doubles down on big tax breaks to big corporations and the super wealthy. let's just take a headline we saw today based on the analysis. "the ne

mr. van hollen? >> no. >> ms. harris? >> no. >> mr. chairman? >> aye. report the bill. >> mr. chairman the ayes are 12 and the nays are 11. >> the bill is reported out. [ chanting ] we'll recess momentarily. [ chanting ] [ chanting ] kill the bill! don't kill us! kill the bill! [ chanting ] don't kill us! kill the bill! don't kill us! kill the bill! [ chanting ] since the vote has been completed, those in attendance do not want anyone else to speak -- if this continues, i will close out the meeting. [ chanting ] [ chanting ] >> again, following the precedent of the committee, most people have submitted their comments. i think that most of the republicans will be submitting theirs for the record. so senator sanders spoke last. go to this side. >> pass at this point. >> thank you. >> senator murray. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member sanders. before i start, i want to make some quick clarifications. since it sounds like some of my republican colleagues are confused and may have actually been at the wrong hearing. if anyone was here to mark up a bill that cuts taxes fo

mr. van hollen? >> no. >> miss harris? >> no. >> mr. chairman?> aye. >> report the vote. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! >> the ayes are 12 and the nays are 11. >> the bill is reported out. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! kill the bill! kill the bill! >> that's how it went. you saw the headlines about that today. it sounded like a neat and tidy process. that was the neat and tidy process. it wish the republicans got their no debate, party line hearing today. what they are trying to do with this really enormous bill will hurt the american poor and hurt the american middle class quickly and significantly and for a long time. and it will throw 13 million americans off their health insurance. and so what they are trying to do is very, very unpopular and that's why they are trying to go fast. that's why they are trying to outrun the resistance to what they are doing. they are also likely to get another non-partisan report on the cost of their bill and who it hurts as soon as tomorrow night and so they have got to outrun that, too. their whole strate

van hollen: you have no reason to doubt those numbers. mr. powell: i have no reason to know those numbers, much less doubt them. sen. van hollen: you have no concern over the debt impact of decisions by the house or senate make? mr. powell: it is a bit of a fine line that we have to walk. i'm hoping i can walk it. clearly, the debt needs to be on a sustainable path. i think we all agree on that. on the other hand, it is not for us to be taking part in the discussion that you and your other elected colleagues are having over this. it is not our role, and there are agencies that have that role. sen. van hollen: both of your immediate predecessors commented , repeatedly, about their concern over the impact of rising national debt. you just indicated that you shared their concern and agreed with their earlier statements. putting aside whether or not you think the cbo analysis of one point $5 trillion of additional debt is correct, if there was another one point 5 trillion addition to the debt, it would make a bad situation worse, would it not? mr.

. >> thank you >> thank you senator van hollen >> thank you, mr. chairman, and to the ranking member. and congratulations, mr. powell, on your nomination you know, both your immediate predecessors at the fed, chairman yellen and chairman r bernanke repeatedly testified about their concern and the impact of the rising debt, national debt, on the economy. here's what chairman bernanke said in 2012 he said, large deficits and debt over a long period of time raise interest rates above levels where they normally would be and crowd out private investment and are bad for growth and productivity they also may involve borrowing from foreign lenders, which is also a drain on current u.s. income, unquote. do you agree with chairman bernanke's statement >> yes, i do >> here's what chairman yellen said this year on july 12th before the house committee on financial services, expressing her concerns about rising debt she said, "current spending and taxation decisions will lead to an unsustainable debt situation with rising interest rates and declining investment

shortly after the plan was released yesterday senator chris van hollen reacted on the senate floor. >> thank you, mr. president, and i see my friend and colleague from pennsylvania on the floor. we've worked together on a number of things over the years including now, working together to impose and really enforce sanctions against north korea, putting together a t bill modeld after the iran sanctions bill so that we are serious about working to get china and others to bring to the table and it want to thankor my colleague for his work on that. where we disagree strongly is on the bill that has emerged from theep house mac, so-called tax reform bill. .. o see it. i can assure you, mr. president, that if you're a millionaire or billionaire, you're going to be really excited about the bill that's coming out of the house an supported by president trump. so i want to talk a little bit about tax reform because we need tax reform in america. we need to simplify our tax code. it's been gummed up over many, many years with special tax breaks that are there not because they make good sense for the american pe

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i see my friend and colleague from pennsylvania on the floor and we've worked together on a number of things over the years, including now working together to impose and really enforce sanctions against north korea, putting together a bill modeled after the iran sanctions bill so that we're serious about working to get china and others to bring to the table. i want to thank my colleague for his work on that. where we disagree strongly is on the bill that's emerged from the house of representatives, the so-called tax reform bill. the senator from pennsylvania said people should be excited to see it. i can assure you, mr. president, that if you're a millionaire or billionaire, you're going to be really excited about the bill that's coming out of the house an supported by president trump. so i want to talk a little bit about tax reform because we need tax reform in america. we need to simplify our tax code. it's been gummed up over many, many years with special tax breaks that are there