No Tax on Tips Act

Madam President, I remember, as a kid in Sunday school, thinking what it would have been like to live in Israel in the age of the apostles, in the time of miracles. And yet, perhaps we have been transformed to another time of miracles.

Yesterday, I was at the White House, where President Trump signed into law bipartisan legislation--my legislation--the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which I authored with Senator Amy Klobuchar to protect women, to protect teenage girls, to protect young people online from nonconsensual intimate images.

We saw both parties come together and pass landmark legislation, and just a moment ago, 24 hours later, we saw the same thing happen.

So I thank my colleague from Nevada for moving for this to pass by unanimous consent. And I want everyone to reflect on what you just saw happen because it is consequential.

Last year, in the midst of the Presidential campaign, President Trump, at a rally in Las Vegas, announced his policy proposal of no tax on tips. And the Presiding Officer will recall that, the week after he announced that, he came and had lunch with the Republican Senators, and he told us the backstory of where the idea came from.

He said he was sitting at a hotel in Las Vegas, getting ready to go to his rally, and he said he was having lunch there. And he said a waitress came by, and he said: She was beautiful; she was beautiful-- which I believe him. And he said she was complaining about the burden and the paperwork of paying taxes on tips and how challenging it was.

And he said he pulled out a pad of paper, and he just wrote on the pad of paper: No tax on tips.

He said: What do you think of this?

And she said: Great.

And he went to the rally, and he announced it. And as he told us, the entire crowd went nuts.

Now, I have to say, when he announced that policy, I thought that was policy genius. The next week, I drafted legislation to implement no taxes on tips, and I introduced it in the Senate the very next week. And within days, both Senators from Nevada joined my bill as cosponsors.

As the Senator from Nevada just described, she told me on the floor-- she said 25 percent of all workers in the State of Nevada are tipped workers. And this is commonsense, bipartisan tax reform.

Look, I think we ought to be fighting for waiters and waitresses. We ought to be fighting for bartenders, taxicab drivers, Uber drivers. We ought to be fighting for beauticians and nail salon workers. We ought to be fighting for all the men and women who are working and working hard. We ought to be fighting for casino workers. Sorry to leave them out. As a longtime poker player, I certainly don't want to leave them out. But we ought to be fighting for blue-collar workers across this country.

And I will say, I have been urging--I have urged the House of Representatives and I have urged the White House that we should take up No Tax on Tips in the House and pass it. And I said: Look, if the House passes it, I think there is a very real chance the Senate will pass it. It is bipartisan legislation.

And what we just saw is the Senate passing No Tax on Tips 100 to 0. Every Democrat voted yes. Every Republican voted yes. And, by the way, the backstory--just kind of pulling the curtain back on how this process operates--the way the process operates is, when you are seeking to pass something by unanimous consent, you circulate what is called a hotline, and every Senator gets the chance to say: Are you going to object?

And on the Republican side, every Senator said: Nope, good by me.

And on the Democrat side, every Senator said: Nope, good by me.

And so this is now passed, and we are sending it to the House of Representatives.

Here is the good news. With what we just saw now, the certainty that we will see No Tax on Tips become the law of the land, I think, is very close to 100 percent. As the Senator from Nevada mentioned, it is included in the House's One Big Beautiful Bill, and whether it passes freestanding or as part of the bigger bill, one way or another, No Tax on Tips is going to become law and give real relief to hard-working Americans.

So I am proud of what the Senate just did, and I commend Democrats and Republicans, even at a time of partisan division, coming together and agreeing on this commonsense policy. I think that is terrific for workers in all 50 States.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, hard-working families in Nevada and all across this country are struggling to make ends meet because of rising costs on everything, from groceries to housing, all of which has been made worse by Donald Trump's tariffs that are driving prices even higher.

Nevadans, our families, we are being squeezed, and they need real relief. They need us to work together to lower costs for them. That is why I introduced the No Tax on Tips Act alongside Senator Ted Cruz from Texas, which would eliminate Federal income taxes on tipped wages.

For so many service and hospitality workers, tips aren't extra; it is part of their income that they use to make ends meet. Tips are how Nevadans pay their rent, cover their groceries, take care of their families, their kids.

And Nevada has more tipped workers per capita than any other State. So this bill would mean immediate financial relief for countless hard- working families.

No tax on tips was one of President Trump's key promises to the American people, which he unveiled in my State of Nevada. And I am not afraid to embrace a good idea wherever it comes from. So I agreed we need to get this done.

This is not a time for politics. It is a time for progress for hard- working Americans. This bipartisan bill is a good idea that has support from Democrats and Republicans. So we should pass it as soon as possible without any poison pills.

The problem is that the House Republicans have included a version of the No Tax on Tips Act in their bigger budget bill--a bill that cuts Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs families rely on, to give more tax breaks for billionaires and the ultrawealthy.

So we shouldn't be forcing working families to choose between keeping their healthcare or keeping their tips, which is why we want this bipartisan bill to pass on its own--on its own--not part of a harmful, extreme budget bill.

If we are serious about providing service employees with financial relief, let's do it now. Let's do it today because the American people, they get sick and tired of Washington games.

So let's pass this bill without playing politics, without taking away healthcare and food assistance from families who need it the most. Let's pass it by itself.

That is why I am calling on the Senate to pass the bipartisan No Tax on Tips Act right here, right now, as a stand-alone bill. We are going to cut taxes for real hard-working Americans, for Nevadans, for everyone, not just for billionaires. We are going to cut taxes on service workers' tips without cutting Medicaid or SNAP. And let's get this done with strong guardrails so CEOs and the ultrawealthy don't exploit loopholes meant to help working people. Let's pass it today.

Nevadans sent me here to fight for them, and so I am going to keep working to lower costs, to raise wages, and to make sure people who power our economy--our working families--can keep more of what they earn. And through this bipartisan bill, it shows that I am not going to allow Washington gridlock and partisanship to block a bill without a fight. That is why we are going to pass it today, taking matters into my own hands, with the support of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to pass our bipartisan No Tax on Tips Act by unanimous consent.

And so, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of S. 129 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Madam President, I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, before I yield my time to the Senator from Texas, I just want to say this is great news for Nevada. Our bill just passed. Our hospitality and service staff are working harder than ever while being squeezed by rising costs. This bill is not the be-all and end-all, but it is going to offer immediate financial relief while the Senate continues to work to lower costs and find other avenues of relief for hard-working families.

Madam President, I yield the floor.