Floor Statements

Mr. President, today I recognize Macy Steen, an intern in my Washington, DC, office, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and the State of South Dakota over the past several weeks.

Macy is a recent graduate of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD, having earned a degree in legal studies. This fall, she plans to attend the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. She is a hard worker who has been dedicated to getting the most out of her internship experience.

I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Macy for all of the fine work she has done and wish her continued success in the years to come.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, on Monday afternoon, the Senate Finance Committee released the text of the centerpiece of our reconciliation bill, making the tax relief we passed in 2017 permanent.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced tax rates for every income bracket, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction. That, of course, meant more money in Americans' pockets.

But those lower tax rates and the larger standard deduction and the child tax credit are set to expire at the end of this year, and if we don't take action, American families will be facing a massive tax hike starting in 2026. Americans making less than $400,000 a year would face a $2.6 trillion tax hike. A typical family of four making $80,000 would need to send an additional $1,700 to Uncle Sam--$1,700.

Republicans promised the American people that we won't let that happen. With the release of the Finance Committee text, we are one step closer to delivering on that promise. Our bill will extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's lower tax rates. It will extend the doubled child tax credit. It will extend the nearly doubled standard deduction--but not just extend them, Mr. President, make them permanent.

Extending the lower tax rates or the standard deduction was never going to be enough for Republicans. We are making the lower tax rates and the doubled child tax credit and the increased standard deduction permanent so that American families do not have to worry about another looming tax hike a few years down the road. And we are actually going even further by increasing the child tax credit by another $200--again, on a permanent basis.

Mr. President, that is not all we are doing. We are always going to make life better for the American people by growing our economy. In addition to cutting tax rates for hard-working Americans, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also implemented historic reform of the business side of the Tax Code. We lowered tax rates for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, farms, and ranches and made it easier for them to recover the cost of investing in their businesses, which in turn freed up cash for them to invest in their operations and their workers.

We lowered our Nation's massive corporate tax rate--which, prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world--to make American businesses more competitive in the global economy and empower them to invest in wages and benefits for their workers. And we brought our international tax system into the 21st century so that American businesses would no longer be operating at a disadvantage next to their foreign counterparts.

Mr. President, it worked. In the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, our economy grew at a substantially better rate than projected. Real wages increased, unemployment fell to a 50-year low, the poverty rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded, and business investment increased. Everywhere you looked, there was positive economic news.

When we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we were able to make some of that business tax relief permanent. But like the individual tax relief, other provisions have either already expired, are expiring at the end of this year, or are in the process of phasing out. That includes lower tax rates for small and medium-sized businesses, the section 199A small business tax deduction, and full expensing for new capital investment and domestic research and development. Our legislation will permanently extend these key provisions.

In between these and other new pro-growth policies, like a provision to boost domestic manufacturing by implementing full expensing for new factories and factory improvements, we can expect to see further economic growth and more jobs and opportunities for American workers.

The Council of Economic Advisers, which accurately predicted the economic and wage growth that we achieved in the wake of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is forecasting 2.9 percent to 3.5 percent long-run GDP as a result of our legislation. That means more jobs, better wages--as much as a $13,327 increase for a typical family--and more opportunities for American workers. It also means more revenue for the Federal Government--but revenue created the right way, through economic growth, not through higher taxes.

And I should mention that, yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new H.R. 1 analysis, which characteristically underestimates the economic growth--and hence the revenue--this bill will provide. CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, did the same thing with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, when it estimated revenues would be $1.5 trillion lower than what they have actually been.

The Council of Economic Advisers, by contrast--which was most accurate in its modeling of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's effects, including its effect on revenue--tells us that passage of our legislation will increase Federal revenues by $4.1 trillion, more than enough to offset the CBO's deficit estimate.

Mr. President, in addition to promising to make the 2017 tax relief permanent, President Trump outlined multiple other tax proposals on the campaign trail--proposals which were endorsed by the American people with his strong win in November. And with this bill, we are delivering on those promises.

We are suspending taxes on tips for millions of tip workers. We are suspending taxes on overtime for millions of hourly workers. We are suspending taxes on auto loan interest when you buy a new car manufactured in the

United States. And we are increasing the standard deduction for millions of low- and middle-income seniors, making their retirement a little easier and more prosperous.

We are also implementing a program to create savings accounts for newborns, with an initial deposit of $1,000 to help parents save and invest for their children's future needs.

Mr. President, everything we are doing in this bill is for the sake of making America stronger and more prosperous. And nowhere is that more true than when it comes to the tax portion--the centerpiece--of our bill. The tax provisions in our bill--from the permanent extension of the lower tax rates to the increased child tax credit, to the permanent tax relief for small and medium-sized businesses--will help bring security to American families and prosperity to our country. Working Americans--working Americans--are going to have a better life because of this legislation.

I am proud to be a part of permanently extending and upgrading the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. With that, I want to thank Chairman Crapo and his members on the Senate Finance Committee for their incredible work on the tax portion of our upcoming bill. I look forward to delivering permanent tax relief for hard-working Americans and American businesses in the very near future.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 138.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 140.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 93.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to Rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, like all Americans, I was horrified to hear about this weekend's shootings of two State lawmakers in Minnesota and their spouses. Melissa Hortman, a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband Mark were murdered on Saturday. And John Hoffman, a member of the State Senate, and his wife Yvette were seriously wounded.

I am profoundly grateful to law enforcement that the alleged shooter is now in custody, and I look forward to seeing him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

There is no place for this kind of violence in our country. None. My prayers this morning are with the Hortmans' family and loved ones and for the speedy recovery of John and Yvette Hoffman.

israel

Mr. President, for far too long, the mullahs in Iran have publicly aspired to wipe Israel off the face of the map. And for decades, they have fomented a campaign of terror throughout the Middle East, threatening Israel and innocents everywhere and destabilizing the entire region.

It was Hamas who killed more than 1,000 Israelis on October 7, 2023. But it was Iran who made that attack possible through years of funding, training, and weaponry provided to this terrorist organization.

In the early hours of Friday morning, Israel struck back, attacking a number of sites in Iran, including sites associated with Iran's nuclear program. I spoke with the Israeli Ambassador on Friday and assured him of my prayers for Israel's safety during this time and my hope that their operations--and

any to come--will succeed in eliminating the prospect of a nuclear- armed Iran and, ultimately, help bring peace to a region that has for far too long been at war.

While the U.S. military is not involved in offensive operations against Iran, U.S. forces on land, at sea, and in the air have helped defend Israel from indiscriminate missile attacks launched by Iran.

President Trump and our country remain steadfast in our defense of Israel and committed to working towards peace in the Middle East and, first and foremost, for the safety of American personnel stationed in the region.

And should Iran have any designs on Americans, I urge the mullahs to think long and hard about the consequences.

Well, Mr. President, Democrats continue to melt down over the reconciliation bill that Republicans are getting ready to consider, and their statements continue to be heavy on the hysteria and short on facts, and nowhere is this more true than on the subject of the bill's Medicaid provisions. To hear Democrats talk, you would think Republicans were getting ready to rip Medicaid from the hands of needy children and pregnant women, and nothing--nothing--could be further from the truth.

Today, I would like to take a few minutes to set the record straight and highlight the facts on Republicans' efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse from Medicaid and ensure the focus of this program is on the people it was designed to help.

Like other Federal entitlement programs, Medicaid is not on the soundest footing. Between ObamaCare's expansion of Medicaid to able- bodied adults at or about 138 percent of the Federal poverty line and the Biden administration's rules and waivers, Democrats have been growing Medicaid beyond its original scope for quite a while now. And Federal Medicaid spending has soared. Between 2019 and 2023, Medicaid spending grew by more than 50 percent, and that kind of unsustainable growth has consequences, not just for taxpayers who are on the hook for huge, new amounts of money but for the people most in need who have to compete with a lot of new individuals for available resources.

Republicans are committed to preserving and strengthening Medicaid for the people Medicaid was intended to serve, like vulnerable children, pregnant moms, and elderly Americans, and to that end, we are making some commonsense reforms to Medicaid to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse and protect the program for the people who need it the most. That starts with removing people who should not be on the rolls. That means illegal immigrants and other noncitizens, able-bodied adults who can work but refuse to work, and individuals who don't qualify for the program.

We are going to rein in Federal spending to States that choose to direct scarce State dollars to illegal immigrants. We will be instituting basic, commonsense work requirements for able-bodied, working-aged adults who should not be relying on taxpayers for their healthcare unless they are doing their best to find and maintain a job or contribute to their communities, and we will be overturning Biden- era regulations that made it difficult to remove individuals who do not qualify for the program. Are Democrats seriously going to tell us they have a problem with that? Removing these individuals is just basic, good governance. It is fulfilling our barest obligation to ensure that Medicaid is working well for its intended recipients.

I would note that, while Democrat Senators may be melting down over these basic good-governance requirements, some of their States are actually taking similar measures. No less a Democrat State than California is looking to freeze the enrollment of illegal immigrants in its Medicaid Program and charge premiums for illegal immigrants already enrolled. Why? Because the State can no longer afford to cover these individuals and maintain its other obligations. Yet the Democrat Senators here in Washington are melting down because Republicans are daring to focus limited Medicaid dollars on American citizens and those most in need.

In addition to ensuring that the individuals on Medicaid rolls are the ones who should be there, Republicans are making several other commonsense reforms.

Notably, we are taking aim at the rampant abuse of the provider tax loophole. Use of this loophole, which sees States inflate Medicaid service prices in order to garner a larger reimbursement from the Federal Government, was already a problem even before the Biden administration. In fact, President Obama, released multiple budgets featuring measures to rein in abuse of the provider tax, but thanks to waivers the Biden administration issued to California and other blue States last year allowing them to further exploit this loophole, taxpayers are now on the hook for tens of billions of dollars in new spending. Neither the Medicaid Program nor taxpayers can afford that burden, and so we are going to rein things in.

Our bill makes a handful of other modest reforms to restrain waste, fraud, and abuse, but those I just mentioned are the big ones: commonsense reforms to protect and strengthen Medicaid for those who need it the most.

And I would love to know which of these reforms my colleagues object to. We have heard a lot of bluster from Democrats about how this bill will cost enrollment and cost lives, but we have heard very little from them on the actual measures included in the bill.

So I would like to ask them:

Do they believe the Federal Government should still be giving States an enhanced Medicaid match if they cover illegal immigrants?

Do they think individuals who don't qualify for Medicaid should remain on the rolls?

Are they against work requirements for able-bodied, working-aged adults?

Do they think there should be any limits on States' exploiting the provider tax loophole?

Exactly which of our commonsense reforms do Democrats disagree with?

Democrats used to support rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid and getting Americans back to work. So what has changed?

While I can't guarantee the source of Democrats' hysteria, I suspect one or more of the following things is going on here:

One, Democrats are still smarting from their election loss last November and are desperate to regain ground with voters, and I suspect that Democrats think that, if they can successfully--even if inaccurately--paint Republicans as targeting vulnerable Americans, they might be able to claw back some electoral support.

Two, I think Democrats tend to reflexively oppose anything supported by President Trump no matter how sensible that policy might be.

And, three, I think that, with Democrats' increasing embrace of the far left, there are Democrats out there who really do believe that government programs can continually expand without consequences and that there is no limit to the amount of taxpayer dollars available for them to play with.

Still, it is incredible that we can't agree on these commonsense reforms, but we are going to move full speed ahead in protecting and preserving Medicaid for the Americans this program was intended to serve.

I want to thank Chairman Crapo and members of the Finance Committee for their work on the Medicaid provisions of our bill, and I look forward to taking up these provisions in the very near future as part of our final legislation.