Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Secretary of the Senate request the return of the papers with respect to H.R. 1207.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 13; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. I further ask that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of S. 2155. Finally, I ask that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. and that all time during recess, adjournment, morning business, and leader remarks count postcloture on amendment No. 2151, as modified.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, first, this morning, I would like to recognize a remarkable Senate career that is drawing to a close.

Gary Endicott has served in the Office of the Legislative Counsel for 37 years. Since his appointment as the legislative counsel of the Senate in 2015, he has directed that office and has done so with distinction. Now he is embarking on a well-earned retirement. After nearly four decades of service to this body, tomorrow is Gary's last day.

Much has changed during the time Gary has been with us. Over the years, Senators and staff have asked more and more of the legislative counsel's office, but thanks in large part to Gary's hard work and then to his leadership, we can always rely on his team for meticulous professionalism and expertise.

I understand Gary is headed back to his native Midwest. He departs with our gratitude and our best wishes for him and for his family.

Mr. President, on another matter, the Dodd-Frank law became effective in 2010. It ostensibly targeted banks that were deemed too big to fail, but 7\1/2\ years later, Dodd-Frank has proven to be far too blunt an instrument. For one thing, it has imposed a crushing regulatory burden on small community banks and credit unions. Rather than fixing too big to fail, Dodd-Frank has threatened to make many of these Main Street mainstays too small to succeed.

This is especially problematic because of the central role local financial institutions play in each of their communities. Local lenders provide a majority of small business loans and nearly three-quarters of agricultural loans, and in low-income communities, when a local bank closes, research suggests that loans to nearby small businesses plummet by 40 percent.

With farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and vulnerable communities, Americans need community banks, and they need credit unions, but Dodd- Frank is making it harder for these institutions to survive. Millions of Americans, from rural areas to inner cities, now find themselves in what researchers call banking deserts. Fortunately, help is on the way.

Thanks to the leadership of Senator Crapo, Democrats and Republicans

have joined together to cosponsor a modest but important bill that would streamline the obstacles that are tripping up these smaller institutions. It is a commonsense, compromise measure, and Senators do not need to resolve all of our differences on Dodd-Frank in order to unite behind it. I look forward to voting to pass these reforms very soon.

Tax Reform

Mr. President, on a final matter, as I have discussed, a number of America's largest employers are already reinvesting their tax reform savings in bonuses, pay raises, and new benefits for their employees. Higher take-home pay and lower tax rates are helping families cover today's expenses and save for the future.

In Nebraska, the Lincoln Journal Star reports that hometown companies Nelnet and Pinnacle Bank have awarded tax reform bonuses to thousands of workers. In Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports that utilities will pass along $147 million in tax reform savings to their customers. Acadia Healthcare, with operations in my home State of Kentucky, has announced that tax reform will enable it to build additional facilities on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic.

This week, Vice President Pence has been on the road, hearing how tax reform is changing Americans' lives and livelihoods for the better. He visited all three of those States and listened to workers and small business owners.

It is interesting, though. The huge number of early tax reform success stories is not getting the applause it deserves from over here on the other side of the aisle. Every one of my Democratic colleagues in the House and in the Senate made the political calculation to vote along party lines and try to sink tax reform--every single one of them in the House and the Senate. Fortunately, those efforts failed.

Yet, even with tax reform now as the law of the land, it seems my Democratic friends are so unwilling to admit their mistake that they would rather try to sabotage the law that is already helping families and making American job creators more competitive. Just yesterday, for example, Senate Democrats announced they would like to spend $1 trillion of taxpayer money and roll back Americans' brandnew tax cuts while they are at it.

This popular, new tax bill has been in effect for a couple of months, and they want to roll it back already, take the money, and spend it. There they go again. They just can't help themselves. To tax more, spend more, take money away from American families, and give it to the Federal Government is a familiar refrain from our Democratic friends.

Even amidst this tidal wave of good news from tax reform, even in the face of higher take-home pay, new jobs, new investments, raises, worker bonuses, and foreign competitors like China getting nervous, Democrats just can't help themselves. It must be in their DNA. They can't resist turning back to their old, top-down, tax-and-spend playbook.

By lowering the tax burden on companies, large and small, America turned on a bright neon sign that is telling the world we are open for business. Democrats want to unplug it. By lowering middle-class rates and expanding deductions, we gave families all across the country more breathing room to save or pay their bills. Democrats want to claw that money back.

Fortunately, for the American people, the Republicans in the House, the Senate, and the White House will not let them take back your tax relief, your lower utility rates, your bonuses, or your new opportunities. We are proud that we took money out of Washington's pocket and put it back in the pockets of hard-working Americans, and that is exactly where it is going to stay.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I send a modification to amendment No. 2151 to the desk.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk for amendment No. 2151, as modified.

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

Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 598, Kevin McAleenan.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1177 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 4 p.m., Monday, March 12; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. I further ask that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of S. 2155, and notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the filing deadlines with respect to the cloture motions filed during today's session be Monday at 4:30 p.m. for first-degree amendments and 5:30 p.m. for second- degree amendments; finally, that notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, community banks, credit unions, and other small-scale lenders play a vital role in the U.S. economy.

Research from Harvard indicates that community banks provide more than half of all small business loans. Let me repeat that. A majority of small business loans is handled by community banks. This is even more pronounced in rural areas and farming communities, like those I represent in Kentucky. A whopping 77 percent of agricultural loans come from community banks--77 percent.

In this era of online banking and multinational corporations, smaller institutions remain uniquely able to build community connections. Community bankers get to know their residents and business owners on a personal level. That perspective lets them extend credit to small-scale entrepreneurs, farmers, ranchers, and other Americans who might not have access otherwise. So when small lenders close their doors, the effects on communities are very real.

In 2014, an economist at MIT found that, on average, the closing of a single bank cut the number of new small business loans in the immediate area by more than 10 percent for several years. The problem was extremely pronounced in low-income areas, where a local perspective and personal relationships matter even more. In low-income America, a physical bank closure cuts lending to local small businesses by nearly 40 percent.

Long story short, the more vulnerable a community, the more they need local lenders, but since the Federal Government implemented massive new regulations under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, our community banks and credit unions have been getting squeezed. Dodd-Frank's imprecise, inefficient, one-size-fits-all framework dropped these small institutions into the regulatory maze that was intended for Wall Street. For 8 years, they have faced a staggering compliance burden that now consumes, on average, 24 percent of their net income. This has forced many to pare down their offerings or close their doors for good. That leaves out to dry would-be entrepreneurs, job creators, and existing small businesses that want to expand.

Fortunately, we have an opportunity this week to begin putting things right. Today, the Senate continues considering a sensible solution that would streamline regulations and give

smaller lenders a fighting chance. Senator Crapo's Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act is the product of thorough committee work. It is an important step toward unwinding the harm caused by the Obama administration's knee-jerk reaction to the 2008 financial crisis.

Importantly, this bill has strong bipartisan support. On both sides of the aisle, Members with a diversity of views on Dodd-Frank itself have recognized that this set of commonsense fixes deserves all of our support. I encourage all Senators to join them.

Tax Reform

Mr. President, on another matter, just 2 months in, the effects of tax reform are percolating through every corner of our economy. It has made bonuses, raises, and benefits for working families daily news in communities all across our country.

Thanks to tax reform, automakers are planting deeper roots in America. Innovators like Apple are bringing billions back to invest here at home. Retailers, from corner stores to national chains, are rewarding their hard-working teams. There is another sector in which the benefits of tax reform are flowing freely--America's growing craft beverage industry. That is because the new 21st-century Tax Code included a provision known as the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, spearheaded by Senator Portman and Senator Blunt. Among other achievements, that piece of tax reform significantly cut the excise taxes the Federal Government imposes on beer, wine, and spirits.

This was originally a bipartisan bill, with early support from my friend, the senior Senator from Oregon. It is too bad he and every other Democrat in Congress ended up voting against this historic tax reform that included that measure, because it is proving to be good news for a host of American small businesses, including the fine distilleries that contribute thousands of jobs and tourism in Kentucky.

One recent wave of headlines has detailed how tax reform is helping entrepreneurs in the craft brewing industry as well. Across the country, job creators in this popular and growing line of business are making big plans for their savings under this new 21st-century Tax Code.

Matt Matthiesen, a brewery owner in West Okoboji, IA, said: ``I am very excited. . . . As a small local business, those breaks help us tremendously.''

Donn Martens, who owns another brewery just down the road, said: ``We hope to expand with this money. We would like to double our production.''

Remember Matt and Donn when my colleagues across the aisle tell you tax reform is only helping the big guys. Together, their two businesses employ 15 people. They expect tax reform will save them about $15,000 this year. Just try telling any small business owner that is no big deal.

Larry Horwitz owns Four String Brewing Company in Columbus, OH. He expects tax reform will save his business $40,000 this year. ``We invest where we live and work,'' he said. ``We are the blue collar workers in the neighborhood.''

In Kentucky, tax reform has a number of craft breweries excited about the year ahead. At Country Boy Brewing in Georgetown, production manager Daniel Sinkhorn says the new law is helping them plan a new canning line, which will ``add jobs, add equipment . . . and keep Country Boy growing.''

It has been reported that later today my friends across the aisle will unveil a $1 trillion spending plan and propose repealing tax reform to pay for it.

Repeal all these bonuses, pay raises, new jobs, and new investments? Talk about a nonstarter.

At the same time, Vice President Pence will be in Central Kentucky today to hear from small business owners and community leaders about how tax reform is helping them. Daniel Harrison, the cofounder of Country Boy Brewing, will be on hand to meet with the Vice President. I am glad he will be able to share how his business, like so many around the country, is tapping into tax reform savings.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I call up the Crapo substitute amendment No. 2151.

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session for the en bloc consideration of the following nominations: Executive Calendar Nos. 688 and 689.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc with no intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; that no further motions be in order; and that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record.