mr. wyden. senator wyden: no. the clerk: ms. stabenow. sorry. mr. whitehouse. senator whitehouse: no. the clerk: mr. warner. mr. merkley. senator merkley: no. mr. kaine. senator kaine: no. the clerk: mr. king. senator king: no. the clerk: mr. van hollen. senator van hollen: no. the clerk: ms. harris. senator enzi: aye. the clerk: mr. chairman, there are 12 yeas and 11 nays. senator enzi: the appeal is tabled. next is stabenow number 8. stab tbs thank you, mr. chairman. -- senator stabenow: thank you, mr. chairman. this amendment is straightforward. there is no intent to cut medicare. this simply provides a budget point of order to prevent the privatization of medicare because if medicare is privatized, senior citizens are hurt. that means medicare -- their medicare health care is being cut. and so i think we should take a strong stand together saying that is not the intent to privatize medicare. senator enzi: another point of order for the finance committee so after consultation with the parliamentarian, the chair finds the amendment is not germane and out of o

mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. mr. president and colleagues, later this morning, the senate will be voting on amendments that i am going to be offering to strike what's known as reconciliation instructions from the budget proposal. and the reason i will be focused this morning on that is that it is absolutely key that we pass this amendment in order to get bipartisan tax reform. the fact is reconciliation is an on ramp to the most partisan process around in the history of successful tax reform is working in a bipartisan way. that's, for example, what the late president reagan worked to do in 1986 with a whole host of democrats, and they came up with a lot of very important, bold, progressive ideas. they chose, mr. president, to actually treat income from a wage the same way as you would treat income from investments. so to send in one fell swoop a message that working class people would get a fair shake, that the tax law wasn't about the 1%. back then, it was about working class people, middle class drives 70% of the a

mr. wyden: thank you. the budget has a repeal or he re-place affordable care act and this amendment would strike that reserve fund. and the american people have seen this bad movie before. and they don't like it. and yet it keeps coming back this is the latest effort to take away affordable health care from the american people. i see my colleague here, senator graham who i like very much, he was a co-sponsor of my bipartisan health reform bill. look at what happened at the last hearing. senator cassidy came in, not senator graham, but senator cassidy said we're going to protect people with pre-existing conditions. all the experts said, no, you're not. those costs for those people are going to go up. senator cassidy said, no, they're going to get help. i said let's turn to the cancer society. these are the people with the facts. they looked right at senator cassidy and said no, senator, you're not protecting people with pre-existing conditions. so it seems to me that we ought to be saying no to

mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: ?ok oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, before he leaves the floor, i want to commend our colleague from illinois. he and i have worked together for many, many years, and throughout that time the senator from illinois has constantly been a voice for those who had no voice on these human rights concerns, laying out why the effort to step up is what we're all about as americans. and i just want to thank him. enjoyed listening to him again. you don't really enjoy it because you hear about the suffering. i'm so glad that senator durbin has made this case, and i thank you. mr. president, across the west west, 2017 will be long remembered as the year when fire was seared into our collective consciousness, and ash rained down on homes and cars. there were mass evacuations and scores just lost, their hopes and dreams. devastating fires have hit my home state of oregon, but idaho, california, washington, colorado, montana, nevada, and more all were hit by fires that always seem bigger and hotter and more powerful than wha

mr. wyden: mr. president, some of our republican colleagues said in the last couple of days that the budget debate is all about getting to tax reform. the fact is this is the fast lane for a partisan process for dealing with taxes. when it comes to the republican plan, you get a lot of rhetoric, a lot of happy talk. you hear that it's the biggest tax cut ever. you hear it's about the middle class. this morning the president tweeted the democrats will only are vote for tax increases, but that rhetoric is just out of touch with reality. for example, our 2015 bill, which i was the lead democratic sponsor, cut taxes $650 billion, and it went to the heart of the needs of young people in this country with the american opportunity tax credit, the earned income tax credit, but it also helped farmers, farmers who were concerned about expensing, the research and development credit for our innovators. that's the kind of approach that we ought to take that's bipartisan, that helps people in this country, everyb

mr. wyden: as the ranking democrat on the senate finance committee, i followed our colleague's comments with respect to taxes and the debate over tax reform with considerable interest. and i will just tell you, my goodness, how i wish we could have what our colleague called an uninhibited process with respect to the debate over tax reform. i've written an actual bipartisan tax reform bill with our colleague who is now a part of the trump administration, senator coats. unfortunately what our colleague laudably called for is not on offer. the senate majority leader has said that he intends to use reconciliation, the most partisan process for considering tax reform. so when we were talking about health care, that's one-sixth of the economy, we have the same process, reconciliation, and now we are talking about taxes that involves the whole economy and we're seeing the senate majority leader say that once again it is his intent, his preference, his plan to use that same process. so i sure wish that

mr. wyden: madam president, i don't often come to the floor of the senate to give a speech like the one i'm going to give now. but today plan to start sounding the alarm both from the sound point of the process and the substance on what is known about the republican tax plan as of this afternoon. this morning the house passed the budget so now it is on to tax. the debate, if the republicans have their way, will happen at the speed of light. if they have their way, this all could be wrapped up before most americans have even been able to put a dent in their holiday shopping. that is exactly what the majority republicans are counting on. they are rushing to drive the tax giveaway to the super wealthy, the powerful corporations, and do it so quickly that most of america really has no idea what is going on. it's simple. does it in a way that nobody catches on. so this afternoon, as the ranking democrat on the finance committee, i'm going to look at this from a few different angles. first the proces

senator wyden: thank you, mr. leader. here's what has happened already this year. they've made it a lot harder for states like oregon to help americans save. when they don't have the savings plan at their job. that's what they done already. number two. they're in the process of scrapping a rule that says financial advisors to retirement plans have to work in their clients' best interests. get your arms around that. that is really a radical idea. that the financial advisors should have to actually be working in the client's best interest. that is in the process of being scrapped as well. and now we've got going after 401k's. i mean the reality is, all of this is going to be so harmful to the middle class is going on behind closed doors. and i want to amplify on the leader's point with respect to why. essentially as some of the authors of the trump tax plan have said, like mr. moore, they have overpromised all of their strongest mega wealthy supporters. they've got $4 trillion worth of tax promises. and they've basically at this point got virtually no revenue in orde

mr. chairman. >> thank you. next is senator wyden, and i'll be followed by senator johnson, who is voting, so that he can chair. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this sounds like it's turning into a meeting in the senate finance committee at this point. and i would tell my colleagues who aren't on the committee, that will make you feel like you're part of prolonged root canal. we'll try to lay out a couple different points, particularly, as it relates to taxes. because what we're talking about, to start with, is $1.5 trillion elephant in the room. this entire budget is about setting up another crack at reconciliation. this intensely committed the majority leader on day one ruled that out. he said -- using reconciliation to jam through a republican plan. we came forward with our principles for behind. our reading of section 4111. now, why is this especially troubling? and i think senator crapo was there for this yesterday. is i think when you look at some of the math behind what has been advanced, at least to date, from republicans, there'

mr. chairman. >> next is senator wyden and senator johnson. >> it sounds like it is changing into a meeting of the senate finance committee. that will make you feel like a part of a prolonged root canal surgery. let me lay out a couple of points, with regards to taxes. what we are talking about is a trillion dollar elephant in the room. this entire budget is about setting up another crack at reconciliation for a partisan deficit-exploding tax cut. the majority leader has said, and i share crapo's view on how important it is to be bipartisan on this. senator stabenow out and i sit together on the committee. we are intensely committed to a bipartisan approach. the majority leader ruled that out and he said that we are not going to do a bipartisan approach. he said we are going to do a partisan approach and he is set on using reconciliation to jam through a republican plan. we can forward with our principles for tax reform. republicans said they are for them, like they are for the middle class. if you're making $60,000 or $70,000, you take away the if you're deductions and the family comes out behind

mr. sharpley: yes, i do. senator wyden: thank you. making progress. >> thanks for the long visit we had. we have been able to follow through with a couple of this consecration -- conversation. the committee has oversight over all the intelligence entities, but we are dependent on the ongoing investigations that are happening within the inspector general office. that is you. so i want to get some clarity from you on this as well. covert operations are especially difficult, and there is a perception that covert does not mean they have oversight. havevert operations oversight and should they have oversight the same as any other --anyation any other other operation? mr. sharpley: the answer is yes, and they do. i reviewed all covert efforts at least every three years and those reports are available to you. do you haveford: the facilities you need to do that? mr. sharpley: i do, senator. have beenngford: you there for a wild. you have more time to focus on things that are a longer look. are there structural changes you can look at at this

suspicious act to reading the content of some aspect -- senator wyden: i want to stop you right there, you think that is a valid concern? mr. demers: i do understand the concern, yeah, definitely. and then this brings us to, then if the solution is the warrant requirement as we also discussed last night and talking about today, it becomes a question, then we are putting a warrant requirement in to search information that is lawfully collected targeted and no court has held that a warrant is required to do so and where if you -- we have been chastised for not connecting the dots in the past and that is the worry of the f.b.i. but they should speak for themselves on that and if you are ever interested in the american and really to surveil the american, you would have to go get a fisa warrant, i would say that on balance at least where i'm coming from right now, i don't think you should look at those communications that are in the government's possession. senator wyden: if the government wants to read the content of communications, they could also use the questionery. so we are going to put in these emergency provisions. i th

mr. chairman it would take less than portenza 1% of stronger economic growth in response to tax reform properly done and senator wydenacknowledged tax reform properly done does lead to economic growth. a mere 410 of a% of greater growth and we would more than fill in the chilean dollar hole so the fact is this gives us the headroom the ways & means and finance to draft the kind of tax reform that will allow americans to achieve a higher standard of living that they've been waiting too long to achieve and this is the mechanism that lets us get there. i'm very confident we'll be able to do it and decrease the deficit in the process. >> the time has expired for the young amendment. senator stabenow. >> thank you mr. chairman and before offering my amendment i want to say a little rebuttal to my friend from pennsylvania. we have a finance committee a number of days ago where we asked the republican and democratic witnesses to tax cuts pay for themselves? everyone said no and there's no evidence in history of that. there just isn't traded sounds great and i wish it really did happen but what we have seen in our country is

mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, this amendment provides reconciliation instructions to three senate committees for the purpose of repealing and replacing the affordable care act, in effect, ee running the -- rerunning the same bad movie the senate has now seen three times. by now americans understand what these partisan republican health bills have in store for the middle class, higher premiums, worse health care, and a safety net -- the presiding officer: the anti-is not -- the senate is not in order. mr. wyden: mr. president, i'll close by saying there's now a desire on both sides of the aisle to set aside this my way or the highway approach to governing. bipartisanship is about taking each other's good ideas and i believe the senate can work together to lower people's premiums. this amendment, colleagues, is a vote to look for more partisan ideological trophies when the senate ought to be working together to find common ground. i

mr. wyden: mr. president, yesterday i was at a meeting with the president at the white house along with several members from both sides of the senate finance committee. i said to the president flat out that democrats agree that the tax code is a broken, dysfunctional mess, and finance democrats yesterday laid out to the president our principles for reform, focusing on the middle class, not 1%, and being fiscally responsible so that the congress doesn't turn around and be looking at gutting safety-net programs like medicare and medicaid or social security. and i think it would be fair to say that a whole lot of ears in that room perked up when the president said, hey, i'm for those kinds of things. the president talked to us about wanting help for the middle class and he said, hey, this is not supposed to be about people like him and he said he doesn't want to shred the safety net. unfortunately, as i have indicated, there is a gap as wide as crater lake between all of the administration's statements

mr. wyden: mr. president, i didn't get a chance to hear the distinguished democratic leader's remarks. chairman hatch and i were in the senate finance committee. we managed to pass by an overwhelming bipartisan vote the children's health insurance program, a vital program for nine million kids. that's a bit of good news that that important legislation is advancing. but i know that the democratic leader has touched on a number of very important issues, particularly some of these comments made by top advisors to the president with respect to taxes. i was struck by the fact that mr. gary cohn, the president's top economic advisor, said last week that middle-class folks were going to get $1,000 in tax relief, set aside the fact that that doesn't look true for a number of middle class folks who have kids, but i'm struck with the comment that followed. mr. cohn said not only are middle-class families going to get $1,000 worth of tax relief, but they would be able to go buy a car or remodel their kitchen.

mr. wyden: mr. president, i didn't get a chance to hear the distinguished democratic leader's remarks. chairman hatch and i were in the senate finance committee. we managed to pass by an overwhelming bipartisan vote the children's health insurance program, a vital program for nine million kids. that's a bit of good news that that important legislation is advancing. but i know that the democratic leader has touched on a number of very important issues, particularly some of these comments made by top advisors to the

i would urge a yes vote on the sanders-wyden amendment. mr. enzi: mr. president, for the benefit of my colleagues, this next vote will be the last roll call vote of the day. senator collins has graciously agreed to do a voice vote on her amendment. on this amendment, though, i'm going to urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment. we should not prejudge the finance committee's consideration of tax reform but allow the bill to go through regular order where it will be open to amendment. this amendment sl corrosive to the -- is corrosive to the budget resolution privilege, so it falls outside the scope of what's appropriate for inclusion. adoption of corrosive amendments could be fatal to the resolution's privilege and loss of privilege could compromise our ability to pass tax reform and enforce the budget spending limits. further, this amendment is also nongermane. the congressional budget act requires that amendments to a budget resolution be germane. a statutory requirement we can't ignore. so i raise a point of order against this amendment under the b