Floor Statements

Mr. President, I wish to recognize a dedicated public servant and proud student of West Virginian and American history, Dennis E. Frye, on the occasion of his retirement from the National Park Service. Innumerable visitors to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park benefited from his wealth of knowledge and notorious performances that brought history to life.

As Dennis tells it, at a young age, he wanted to be either a historian or an astronaut. Once he found out that becoming an astronaut entails being very good at math, he decided history was the way to go. He studied at what was then Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, WV, while volunteering at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, becoming a park ranger in 1977. Eschewing the traditional route of advancement in the National Park Service through moving from park to park, Dennis stayed put and advanced within the park, and set about the task of changing perceptions of Harpers Ferry in the Civil War history community.

As staff historian and later chief historian at the park and through his work in various historical societies concerned with the Civil War, Dennis emphasized the importance of Harpers Ferry to the history of the Civil War. Thanks, in large part, to his efforts, the Battle of Harpers Ferry and the importance of the town in the history of America are better recognized by the historical community, of which he is a vocal member. Indeed, Dennis's dedication to his passion as an advocate and student of history is apparent from the 10-year sabbatical he took to focus on writing historical works and to serve as president of the Civil War Trust, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Civil War battlefields. He is also a recipient of the Shelby Foote Award from the Civil War Trust, the National Park Service's Freeman Tilden Award for excellence in interpretation and education, and the Nevins-Freeman Award for outstanding contributions to the study of the Civil War.

Dennis later returned as chief historian of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where his work of inspiring and educating visitors, including my staff and myself, through meticulous detail and dramatic performances continued to the present day. If the job of a historian is to both impart knowledge and ensure the lessons of history remain with us, then Dennis Frye is a master in his field.

No one who knows him doubts that Dennis E. Frye will continue to be a forceful advocate for his passions in retirement, which includes being an ardent fan of the Boston Red Sox. I believe I speak for many when I say that I sincerely appreciate his public service and the contributions he has made to a better understanding of the history of West Virginia and America. I am proud to call him a friend, and I wish him well in his future pursuits.

Mr. President, I wish to acknowledge the recent loss of one of West Virginia's best and brightest and recognize the life of a good man, kind friend, and dedicated public servant, Emmett Pugh III.

Emmett was widely known for his accomplishments as the city of Beckley's longest serving mayor, and while his positive impact on the city was immeasurable, Emmett was the sort of person who had a positive impact on the lives of everyone he met. Countless people benefited from the work, words, and kindness of Emmett Pugh throughout his life.

Emmett was a native son of Beckley, WV, and came from a long tradition of public service that followed him to the University of Alabama. While at Alabama, he cultivated a deep love for two things: the Crimson Tide and his hometown. After earning a degree in political science, with a focus on State and local government, Emmett returned home to serve as the president of Bowl-Wick, Inc., a bowling center that brought joy and entertainment to the citizens of Beckley for many years.

In 1979, Emmett began his long career in public service as a councilman-at-large. In 1988, upon the death of the current mayor, Emmett stepped up and began his tenure as the longest serving mayor in Beckley's history. During his time in office, he expanded city limits, led a razing campaign on deteriorated properties, and established two new fire stations. He also helped lead the development of the Beckley Intermodal Gateway, the Rahall Company Store at New River Park, Thornhill Courts, Freedom Park, Jim Word Memorial Park, and the Lewis McManus Trail, among other accomplishments. In 1988, he was named Mayor of the Year for his efforts.

When Mayor Pugh left office in 2013, his positive impact on the community and State did not stop. He continued to inspire all whom he encountered and acted as a mentor to his successors and any who sought his advice. He also continued in his role as a family man, and he is survived by his wife, their three children, two step-children, and eight grandchildren. Emmett's passion for Beckley and West Virginia lives on, and I think I speak for many when I say that he will be sorely missed.

Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the retirement of William P. Getty as president of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. Since 1999, Pat has served as president of the foundation, and during his tenure, the region has been blessed with significant opportunities to grow and diversify the economy.

Established in 1944, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation issues grants primarily in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. The region served by the foundation is a tribute to the founder Michael Benedum's native home of West Virginia and his strong connection to Pittsburgh, PA, where he built a successful oil and gas exploration business. The foundation administers grants that support education, economic development, health and human services, and community development.

Pat's leadership as president has focused on regional collaboration to capture economic opportunity. First and foremost, the discovery of the Marcellus, Utica, and Rogersville shale deposits have created tremendous opportunity for West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to not only explore these natural resources but to also capture more downstream value in affiliated sectors of the economy. Pat's leadership in fostering a regional approach and cooperation between leaders in the three States has been instrumental to creating initiatives like the ``Power of 32'' site development fund and the tristate shale agreement that will help the region maximize the benefit of this opportunity. In addition, he has been an invaluable partner and ambassador for the Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub project, participating in meetings with private sector leaders and government leaders to stress the importance of this project to the region. By working together, we can truly realize the potential for thousands of new jobs and billions in private sector investment.

Pat's contributions as president extends well beyond the energy sector. Under his leadership, the foundation has been a leader in focusing on the importance of STEM education, advanced manufacturing, and transitioning the region to a more technology based economy. Each of these areas is a significant growth opportunity for the region, while at the same time is a tribute to the region's history as a leader in manufacturing and developing natural resources. Pat has also been instrumental in working with community, State, and Federal leaders to maximize Federal resources and partnerships to spur economic growth.

I wish Pat the best in his retirement and hope that he enjoys this special time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. I know that he will remain engaged as an ambassador for West Virginia and the region.

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

Mr. President, I am glad to be here today to be on the Senate floor to rise to urge my colleagues to confirm Mike Pompeo as our next Secretary of State.

The Senate is an institution built on history and tradition. We hear that quite a bit as we walk the halls, particularly where it comes to confirmations.

Confirming the President's Cabinet, confirming judges, confirming a Supreme Court Justice, I think, is one of the greatest honors that we enjoy as Senators.

Recent Secretaries of State have enjoyed strong bipartisan support from this Chamber during their own confirmation process. Hillary Clinton was confirmed by a vote of 94 to 2. John Kerry was confirmed by a vote of 94 to 3. These are overwhelming, bipartisan votes, and it is not because everybody in this Chamber agrees with everything Secretary Clinton or Secretary Kerry would have done on most of the foreign policy questions. The result is the Senate's strong tradition of confirming qualified nominees to represent the United States on the world stage. This very crucial position, Secretary of State, gives the President his or her voice around the world in the diplomatic realm. But when it comes to the confirmation of this nominee, Mike Pompeo, many of my colleagues have

seemed way too ready to brush aside this long-held tradition. What is the reason for this? I think you would agree with me--the reason is pretty obvious--that it is just flat-out partisanship. Partisanship is the only explanation because it certainly could not be, is not, and will not be the nominee's qualifications.

We have all heard Mike Pompeo's resume by now. His list of experience and accomplishments make him more than qualified to serve as this Nation's top diplomat. I think some of his qualifications are worth repeating.

He was first in his class at West Point. He was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army and served honorably. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

After law school, Mike worked at one of the country's very prestigious and top law firms before he cofounded a company where he served as CEO. He then joined another company where, again, he served as the CEO.

That was all before Mike was elected to serve four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where I was very fortunate, in my years as a U.S. Congresswoman, to serve and work alongside him and to call him my colleague.

During his time in Congress, he served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Just on the title alone, ``Permanent Select''--it is a committee selected by the Speaker and the minority leader--you know that it is extremely important because it deals with all of the Nation's intelligence.

We know that after he left that position as a Congressman, he became President Trump's Director of the CIA. By all accounts and by all reports, he has done an absolutely exceptional job. He revitalized the morale within the CIA and put us on even footing on one of our core missions.

I think it is an impressive list of qualifications that he has, especially when you compare some of our previous Secretaries of State.

I would ask the question: What does it take for a military officer, a lawyer, a CEO, a Congressman, and now a CIA Director to get one Democratic vote out of committee? Why is there such pushback on such a qualified nominee? I believe it is because of a partisan campaign to obstruct. We have seen it on other nominations and certainly on this one.

This sort of obstruction does not help our government function. It doesn't help the career folks over at the State Department do their job--and they are ready. It doesn't help our country lead on the global stage, and it certainly doesn't help the people we serve.

This is an important time in our Nation's history, particularly around the world. You and I just heard the French President--the Chief Executive--talk about the needs of Europe and his views on terrorism and America's place as a world leader. Now, more than ever, we need a strong and qualified Secretary of State. We need a leader to negotiate with North Korea. These negotiations are coming up rapidly, and we know that Mike Pompeo has already developed a relationship.

We need him to counter the Russian aggression we see cropping up in other areas all around this globe. We need a strong leader to address the chemical weapons situation in Syria, as tragic as it is. The list could go on and on.

And do you know what? Mike Pompeo is up to this job, and we should give it to him. We should give it to him in this Chamber by confirmation.

The American people want Washington to work. They want us to work together. They want us to work as a team. That is how we are set up. So how can that happen if the President can't even get the opportunity to put his own team in place?

I am going to vote for Mike Pompeo to be our next Secretary of State because I want the President to have his team. I want the Nation to have a strong leader. I want our State Department to be functioning as fully, as vibrantly, and as aggressively as we can around the world in these dangerous times.

With that, I urge my colleagues to put partisanship aside and confirm Mike Pompeo as our next Secretary of State.

I yield back.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to speak today about the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be the Deputy Administrator of the EPA--an extremely important position.

Mr. Wheeler's expertise and experience make him extraordinarily qualified to become the Deputy Administrator. I am a little biased when it comes to Mr. Wheeler because he has great family roots in the State of West Virginia, which, to me, is a good recommendation in and of itself. I think his wealth of knowledge over the years working on environmental policy in the public and in the private sectors is just incredible. His knowledge and experience will be a tremendous asset to the Agency and to the American people. He understands--watching policy being made and helping policy being made himself but also then transitioning to the private sector and watching how that policy then influences the private sector as well. He has had an active hand in significant environmental--energy--and infrastructure policy achievements and debates and probably some of the failures that we have had, as well as the confirmation of numerous Presidential nominees. So Andrew will have a head start. He will hit the ground running, and that is what we need at the EPA.

Andrew was also tasked with coordinating and working with the various agencies within the committee's jurisdiction. Most importantly, he has been and was tasked with this, so he worked with other agencies while he was a staffer.

Beginning in 2009, Mr. Wheeler went into the private sector, continuing his work in environmental and energy policy. Throughout his career, he has worked with individuals and stakeholders who run the political gamut, and he has left a very positive impression on them.

During his confirmation hearing in our EPW Committee, he was very forthright in his answers, very willing to look deeper into certain areas, and very willing to not express an opinion if he didn't really know or was unsure of some of the details. Actually, I think he exhibited a real curiosity as to how he could make the EPA run smoother and better and be more reflective of what the President and we here in the Senate and people across this country see as a vision for the EPA.

I have also been impressed by the number of individuals who know Mr. Wheeler and who have come forward and spoken about his expertise and his willingness to collaborate on issues all across the country. He has had an active role in my State of West Virginia, which is a high energy-producing State.

I urge my colleagues to vote to confirm Mr. Wheeler. They will have no regret. I look forward to working with him at the EPA on issues that are important to my State of West Virginia and across the country.

I yield back.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the bill we have in front of us, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. That is a mouthful right there, but what it is, is a culmination and reaction to the Dodd-Frank bill that was passed in 2010 as a result of the crisis of 2008 and 2009.

I think it is important for us to note where this is directed. In Dodd-Frank, so much of the focus was placed on large banks and larger institutions, but what has been lost in the debate and what really is an unintended consequence, I think, is that the massive and burdensome regulatory legislation would affect the smaller banks, the community banks, and the credit unions.

Senator Rounds of South Dakota and Senator Blunt of Missouri and my State of West Virginia have more rural areas for the most part, and these community banks and credit unions are absolutely critical to our individuals but also to our businesses. They have been bearing the brunt of Washington's response to that in the form of Dodd-Frank.

We know that larger financial institutions have the capital, resources, staff, and expertise to handle a lot of these regulatory requirements that are placed on them, but smaller institutions have really struggled under the weight of Dodd-Frank. We didn't come to this point today without a lot of discussion, compromise, and thoughtful input from a lot of different entities to figure out the best way to serve all our States. These smaller institutions play a critical role in a State like West Virginia. Our small businesses rely on them to open and succeed, our communities rely on them to expand, and our economy relies on them to grow, especially in our rural areas.

Our community banks and credit unions really had to shift their attention away from what they know best, which is relationship-based lending and borrowing, and put it more into this regulatory environment to devote bank resources, time, energy, effort, and legal resources to make sure they are complying with regulations that were really intended for larger financial institutions. It has been tough.

From 2010, which was the year Dodd-Frank was enacted, until 2016, the number of community banks in our country has decreased by 1,600. That is a significant decrease in the number of community banks. With little or no access to community banks, our Main Street borrowers have been forced to turn to larger institutions for loans. That is fine, but a lot of times our Main Street businesses and individuals get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes it is stiffer terms, and sometimes it could mean rejection.

We are talking about farmers, families looking to buy a home, and of course our small businesses. We are really talking about the hard- working men and women trying to live that American dream.

With smaller institutions constantly forced to merge with larger ones to help shoulder the cost of regulation, that relationship-based model that has served our communities for decades is disappearing.

I think it is time now, after much thought, to ease that burden and rightsize those regulations on our smaller financial institutions, and that is exactly what the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act does. It is a balanced approach to regulation. It takes into account the differences--some of them vast differences-- between larger and smaller financial institutions.

It improves access to mortgages, which is something I have been interested in since my service in the House when I was on Financial Services and I chaired the Financial Institutions Subcommittee. The mortgage issue was something that I introduced, and we worked on many, many pieces of legislation to provide rural areas with greater access to mortgages.

Let's just talk about what happens. If a young couple is trying to get a mortgage or maybe it is even a med student coming out of medical school, trying to get a mortgage for a loan with no real income yet but in a relationship banking situation, that small community banker knows that is going to be a safe bet at the end of the day. A lot of our mortgages have been so constructed by Dodd-Frank that people haven't been able to get mortgages. Let's face it. The ones who face the biggest challenges are the ones we were supposed to be trying to help with Dodd-Frank, and those were in the mid to lower income range who maybe had a credit issue or some other extraneous issue. In a cookie- cutter environment, one-size-fits-all doesn't fit their size, and they end up without the opportunity to own a home.

There are also very critical consumer protections in this bill-- protections for our seniors. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this is probably one area in which we haven't, as a Congress, joined together with financial institutions and other consumer advocates to protect our seniors from being preyed upon financially. It is rampant. Sometimes you are preyed upon by your own family. So the Senior Safe Act, which is Senator Collins and Senator McCaskill's bill, protects our seniors from financial exploitation--this is part of the bill--and fraud. This has been a consistent priority of mine.

It also works to protect our veterans, who can be very vulnerable when seeking financial assistance, and also for individuals who have gone through tough times financially. The legislation clarifies a lot of the CFPB regulations to help benefit those consumers.

Student borrowers and student loans--we talk a lot about the increasing debt that our students are incurring, the difficulty that students, after they graduate, have in paying down these debts, but a bill that I helped to introduce with Senator Peters is included in this agreement. It says that when student borrowers from private loans have the opportunity, they can rehabilitate their credit following a default. They can't do that now. If you have a government loan, you can do that, but if you have a student loan through a private institution, you can't do that. So we are seeking parity between a government loan and a private loan, and we think this will help those students repay and relook at their finances.

Finally, in light of recent data breaches that have put many at risk, this legislation puts in place important cyber security standards and safeguards. Every committee we are on talks about cyber security. The financial institutions, I think, have been on the leading edge of trying to detect cyber invasions into information or into their financial institutions. We have to stay one step ahead here because this is very fast-moving.

These are all priorities and solutions on which I have worked hard, both as a leader on the House Financial Services Committee and now, as I chair the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee.

For community financial institutions, regulatory relief and economic growth go hand in hand. We just passed the tax relief bill, and a lot of our small businesses are able to increase their bottom lines, grow their businesses, grow jobs and wages. We want to see those financial institutions grow alongside that.

Working men and women and small business owners deserve a fair shot at mortgages. Owning a home is the American Dream. They also deserve a process that takes into consideration the kind of community where they live.

We deserve relief from these burdensome and unbalanced regulations we have been forced to contend with for too long. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act does just this. It gives us an opportunity to send a clear message to Main Street, and that is: We support you. We support you.

I encourage all of my colleagues to stand with me. I want to thank Chairman Crapo for his dedicated insistence that this come to the floor of the U.S. Senate and that we have bipartisan support. It is very well thought-out. It doesn't have the whole kitchen sink in it. It has the provisions that I think are the top priority for our financial institutions but also for all of us who represent Main Street here in the U.S. Senate.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I have 9 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:

Committee on Armed Services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed hearing.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Joseph E. Macmanus, of New York, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia, Marie Royce, of California, to be an Assistant Secretary (Educational and Cultural Affairs), Robin S. Bernstein, of Florida, to be Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and Edward Charles Prado, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Argentine Republic, all of the Department of State.

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension

The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: John F. Ring, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, Frank T. Brogan, of Pennsylvania, to be Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, and Mark Schneider, of the District of Columbia, to be Director of the Institute of Education Science, both of the Department of Education, Marco M. Rajkovich, Jr., of Kentucky, to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, and other pending nominations.

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing the following nominations: John B. Nalbandian, of Kentucky, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, Kari A. Dooley, to be United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut, Dominic W. Lanza, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, Jill Aiko Otake, to be United States District Judge for the District of Hawaii, and Joseph H. Hunt, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice.

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a joint hearing.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Open Hearing on Security Clearance Reform.''

Special Committee on Aging

The Special Committee on Aging is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, at 1 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Stopping Senior Scams.''

Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal

Courts

The Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts of the Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Small Business Bankruptcy: Assessing the System.''

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Missouri for his terrific explanation, 60 days hence, of voting for the tax reform bill and the effects it is having in his great State. I would like to join him today to talk about what I think are the positive effects of tax reform, not just across the country but particularly in my small State of West Virginia.

Last Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross came to West Virginia to talk about this at a small business, Worldwide Equipment, which employs 1,100 people across the country, 200 or so of which are in West Virginia at 7 different locations. We learned from owner Terry Dotson how he feels about tax reform and the effect it has had on his business, his employees, his ability to grow his business. What we learned is that Mr. Dotson is going to be investing $8 million more in the operations and in his workforce, whether it is through bonuses, expanding the facilities, buying new equipment. But particularly for the men and women working for Worldwide Equipment, it is the bonuses that are going to have people seeing the immediate effect. He attributes this all to tax reform.

The men and women of Worldwide Equipment join hundreds of thousands of workers all across this country at companies like Walmart, AT&T, Comcast, Fiat Chrysler, and many others who will receive bonuses or salary increases because of this bill. The good news doesn't stop there, and that is good.

Those of us who voted for this bill--and I did, very proudly--said that the effects of this tax reform are going to be felt in many different ways. Mr. Dotson has a relatively small business. He mentioned how he is feeling it. But many workers will see their take- home pay increase in the coming weeks, as employers are adjusting the tax withholding based on the new law.

People like Robert from Berkley Springs, WV, wrote me last week:

Thank you for helping my family by voting yes on the tax

bill. My family saw a significant increase in our take-home

pay today.

Edward from Hurricane, WV, said:

I really want to thank you and the President for the tax

breaks! Please keep working to help the American workers.

Dennie from Charleston wrote:

The recent tax bill that was passed will provide a great

boost to our economy in many ways including more employment

opportunities and money in people's pockets.

And Robert, who is a small business owner from Huntington, wrote:

I want to thank you for your yes vote on the Tax Cuts and

Jobs Act. This legislation recognizes the importance of small

business.

In a State like ours, 95 percent of the businesses are small businesses. Many of them are family-owned. Other West Virginians will soon see the benefits.

I would like to tip my hat and congratulate our State auditor, J.B. McCuskey, because he took the time and made the effort to figure out what kind of impact the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will have on State workers and the workers from West Virginia University or Marshall University--the three largest workforces the State of West Virginia does payroll for. He announced that, in total, all three of those entities will have $50 million more in their pockets throughout the year--an average for a State worker of $1,000 or $1,200 more per year. These are significant amounts of dollars for young families trying to buy new shoes, buy books and school supplies, use the gas to go visit or go on a vacation. We could go on and on. It seems that the coldest day--a wet day like today--is always the day the furnace breaks down. How nice it would be to not have to borrow or worry or put more credit on the credit card and have the cash to be able to do these things.

I would say, $50 million more for West Virginia workers is $50 million more going into the local economy, into the State economy. Better yet, people are making their own decisions on how they are going to spend it.

Just 2 months after the bill became law, Americans are already seeing the benefits. The jobs report that was released last Friday showed over 200,000 jobs that were created just in the month of January. The report showed--and I think this might be even more significant than job growth--that wage growth is accelerating at the fastest rate in the last 8 years.

People talk about stagnated wages and how they haven't had a raise or how their dollars are not going as far. By increasing the standard deduction and the child tax credit for middle-class families, we are making life better for the people we represent. By making our Tax Code more competitive, we are allowing American companies to bring home money that had previously been left overseas.

There was a big controversy on this when we began discussing it: Are they really going to bring their money home?

Apple announced plans to return as much as $250 billion in cash that it had kept overseas. That is billion with a ``b.'' That move is expected to create 20,000 new American jobs and a tax payment of $38 billion on the repatriated cash. I think that is, obviously, one of the largest examples but also one of the best examples of an American company.

Under our previous, outdated Tax Code, corporations were faced with a 35-percent tax if they brought their foreign earnings home. Because the U.S. corporate rate was the highest in the developed world, American companies often made the financial choice to leave their foreign profits overseas, which meant that under the old system, the Federal Treasury was frequently left to collect 35 percent of nothing because people weren't bringing the money back. Jobs that could have been done in America were being done elsewhere. That was a big problem. In December we fixed it with this bill. We said that a more competitive tax code would allow our companies to bring their money back and provide more opportunities for Americans all across this country. That is exactly what we are starting to see.

Today I want to highlight another part of the tax reform effort. I thank my colleague from South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott, who spearheaded this. He was the sponsor of the Investing in Opportunity Act, and I was a cosponsor. This bill, which became part

of the law in the tax reform bill, will help spur growth in economically distressed areas. Under the bill, investors can defer their capital gains tax if they invest in opportunity funds.

In rural areas, particularly those that have difficult economic conditions, such as many of the areas of my State, it is hard to spur investment, to get more people back to work, to create new opportunities. These funds must be invested in distressed areas and census tracts that are designated by Governors--who knows best but the Governors where these distressed census tracts are--and create opportunity zones. That will provide capital to help grow new businesses and also create jobs in parts of our country that really need them the most. If those parts of our country rise, the rest of the country will continue to rise.

According to the Economic Innovation Group, one in six Americans lives in an economically distressed community. These distressed areas lost 6 percent of their jobs between the years 2011 and 2015.

The New York Times recently highlighted the benefits of the Investing in Opportunity Act, writing that rural areas accounted for just 3 percent--only 3 percent--of the job growth in the years 2010 to 2014. Rural communities saw more businesses close than open over that time period.

Many West Virginia communities are continuing to suffer the consequences of the previous administration's anti-coal policies. Their economies could use this boost, and this is exactly what tax reform and the Investing in Opportunity Act, in particular, will provide. Passing tax reform fulfilled a promise that we made to the American people to make jobs and economic growth our top priority.

Two weeks ago, the Senate fulfilled another major promise by passing the longest extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program. In West Virginia, approximately 22,000 children rely on CHIP for access to their healthcare. It has been a successful program. It has been one that really helps a lot of families, a lot of working families. Over the years, it has helped improve the health of our State's children. These working families deserve the long-term certainty that the CHIP program will be there to provide access to critical services, and I am proud we provided that certainty. I have been a strong supporter of the CHIP program for over 20 years. I was on the conference committee in the State house in the late nineties when we forged and implemented the program in our State, and I have been dedicated to it ever since.

When I came to the Senate 3 years ago, in my maiden speech, I made long-term funding for the CHIP program one of my main priorities. Passage of this bipartisan legislation to extend it for the next 6 years was a big win for the children of this country and across West Virginia too. Hard-working Americans are the beneficiaries of both tax reform and the CHIP reauthorization.

I am confident the benefits will keep coming. It seems that every day something good is happening in the American economy with businesses and raises and bonuses and lower tax bills. People are beginning to see this in their withholding. Struggling communities in West Virginia welcome this. Cities and suburbs in rural areas across the country will see greater economic growth, all because of the tax reform bill. It has been presented to us as that. Many of the companies making announcements are not making these announcements in a vacuum. They are saying, very exclusively, that because of the tax reform bill that the Congress passed and the President signed, we are able to do these things we have been wanting to do for our employees: Give them a bonus, put more money in their pensions, help give more charitable contributions in the communities where they live, provide more long- term certainty.

Have no doubt, we will continue to work to add to the list of accomplishments, and I will probably be on the Senate floor talking about them.

I yield the floor.

I see my colleague from Indiana is here to talk about tax reform.

Mr. President, I wish to thank Senator Blunt from the great State of Missouri for his leadership on this issue. He chairs the subcommittee that is very pivotal--the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services--and has moved forward so aggressively to up the funding in this area. We have the pedal to the metal now.

As he said, when we are moving and coming to a final spending bill, this has to be a top priority for us. It is absolutely critical. I am really pleased to be on the subcommittee, but I want to thank him for-- I know he works diligently with NIH, which holds big promise. We are always looking for solutions. Can we treat ourselves out of this? Can we law enforce ourselves out of this? Can we prevent ourselves out of this? I think we can do all of those. We have to have a component of research that looks at the alternatives to pain medications and pain management.

The current bill we have looked at is $816 million for programs to combat opioid abuse issues, and that is a 440-percent increase from the previous year.

I am going to go through this. It might sound a little mundane and detail-oriented, but people say: That is great to ``up'' the amount of money that you are spending, but where are you really spending this money?

The Senator from Missouri, Mr. Blunt, mentioned that it has to be done locally, and there is a lot of emphasis on where these dollars are going.

Some of them are going, of course, to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for prevention issues, which is critical, while $50 million is going to our community health centers. In States such as Alaska, West Virginia, and Missouri, community health centers are seeing hundreds of

thousands--millions--of people every day and many more who are dealing with mental health and substance abuse. SAMHSA oversees the mental health grants that go to our States, and there is $15 million for a new SAMHSA program for opioid prevention. We have our drug-free communities program, which works well in my State. It is a total grassroots-up, bottom-up, when you get everybody from your local county or public health and others in the room to try to solve this issue. Then again, there are some block grant programs to our community health centers along with the funding to NIH. This is a broad-based look at where the funding is going.

We have an opportunity here in the next several weeks to ``up'' that funding, to make sure that the national priority that we feel, as Senators from States that are highly affected, is reflected in our funding. I believe that with Senator Blunt's leadership on the subcommittee and with other members on the subcommittee, that is something we are going to be doing.

I happen to chair the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, which appropriates the money for the high- intensity drug task forces. Our State has over 22 counties that are in that. Is that a branding that you really want--that you are a high- intensity drug trafficking area? Not really. What that does is coordinate Federal, State, and local resources to help meet the challenge and face what a difficult problem you have. I work with funding on that, with the drug-free communities, and also with the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy. We have done a lot, and we have pushed for resources.

The Senator mentioned resources for our first responders. He mentioned how dangerous it is. There have been local stories about our first responders who have just touched fentanyl--just touched it--and have gone into overdose situations. We were at the White House yesterday and were talking, and the President mentioned drug-sniffing dogs that have had reactions to fentanyl. So this is a very lethal substance. Actually, I saw in the statistics for West Virginia that more of the recent overdose deaths are attributable to fentanyl than to heroin itself, and that is rising. We need the money for enforcement, prevention, treatment and recovery, and more resources for research, and I have mentioned how critical that research will be.

Nationwide, we had over 63,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, and a number of these were attributed to heroin and fentanyl. In my State of West Virginia, we had the highest deaths per 100,000 for overdoses. I would like to say it is happening somewhere in which maybe we would have predicted that it would happen, but it is happening everywhere. It is happening to the children of friends of mine.

Ryan Brown, a young man in West Virginia, lost his life. He had a loving home, loving parents, and had been through treatment. He just couldn't fight it. He went back and injected himself with a lethal dose. He died in a very public place too. It was very tragic. To his credit, his parents have taken up the mantle for Ryan to try to get more treatment centers in the State of West Virginia. I thank them for that.

We were just at the White House--Republicans and Democrats--for the President to sign the INTERDICT Act. I sponsored that bill with Senator Rubio, Senator Markey, and Senator Brown. What it does is help give our Customs and Border Patrol folks the ability to detect fentanyl when it is coming in. We know it is coming in from across our borders, principally from China, maybe China through Mexico. We need to equip our Border Patrol agents to be able to stop that--interdict the flow of that lethal substance.

Just this week, The Hill newspaper published an op-ed about the Martinsburg Initiative. Martinsburg is in West Virginia, in the Eastern Panhandle. Everybody needs to visit Martinsburg. They have an innovative police-school-community partnership that is spearheaded by the Martinsburg Police Department, the Berkeley County Schools, and Shepherd University, along with the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA. This is a comprehensive strategy of intervention and treatment for families to help prevent the beginning of the addiction to opioids.

In December, I attended the kickoff of the Bridge of Hope Fund, and I want to highlight what some of the local communities are doing in my State to try to get a comprehensive spectrum of solutions. This is a new scholarship program that was developed by Fruth Pharmacy, which is a locally-owned, family-owned pharmacy, that will allow people who have completed addiction recovery programs to get a jump-start on their college educations and career training.

The founders of the program started it because they wanted to encourage people who have reclaimed their lives and been successful to be able to get back into the mainstream. We know one of the roadblocks to recovery is getting back into the work environment--to be able to get a job. Many of these young folks who are in this position have already burned through their education grants and their availability of Pell grants. So this Bridge of Hope scholarship is an organic, from- the-ground-up scholarship program for those who have been through treatment.

We had a young man who talked about his road to recovery and how important getting his education and getting back on his feet was. We need more everywhere. I think that is essential to all of us. We have to prioritize our Federal funding for States like mine that have been the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic.

I see my colleague from New Hampshire here. Both of us have joined together on the Targeted Opioid Formula Act so that those of us who have high statistics and greater need are able to have those funds more squarely targeted toward us for prevention and treatment.

There are a lot of good ideas out there. There are a lot of things going on, but there is a lot of tragedy around all of us. I would say to the folks in the gallery and certainly to everybody on the floor that you probably know a family or you probably know a community or you probably know somebody who has been hard hit by this. It is absolutely crushingly sad, heartbreaking, because it is preventable. It is something on which we can have an impact. If we don't, we are going to lose another generation.

I have great fears that we are going to look back on this moment in time and think we didn't do enough. So I think, with Senator Blunt's help and the help of others, particularly with Senator Blunt's chairing the Appropriations Committee, this is the direction in which we need to go. We need to have more targeted funding so those local resources can be creative in order to stop the scourge, to handle the scourge, and to educate the next generation as to how devastating this could be if one were to ever begin to go down this road.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Madam President, I wish to thank my colleague from Missouri for highlighting a lot of the good work of this past year in the Senate and touching on some highlights, particularly in the veterans area, that have great impact across the country. It is something on which we all joined together compassionately, wanting to help our veterans and wanting to make sure they get the best care in the best way as quickly as possible, and I appreciate his highlighting that.

I wish to highlight the positive change that this Republican majority has brought to the American people in the first year of President Trump's administration. I am going to talk about a few different things than my colleague from Missouri, and I think you would expect that. I come from the State of West Virginia. Certain policies impact us differently, and so that is what having the time to talk about our accomplishments over the past year gives us the ability to do.

I can't begin without talking about one of the biggest and boldest actions that we have taken this week, and that is our pro-growth tax reform bill. Throughout the process, I traveled across the State and heard from many constituents--friends and many strangers--all about this effort. Not only at the beginning did they realize what a difference this will make in their lives, but, as my colleague from Missouri said, as we move through this year, when you start to see your paychecks change and you bring home more of your own money because your rate went down or when you begin to file in April, realizing that this is the last time you have to file this complicated thing--I am going to be able to make it easier on myself--families, workers, and small businesses across our State are really counting on relief, and this week we delivered on that.

In West Virginia, particularly when asked ``How is this really going to help the bulk of the people in the middle-wage earning families?'' I like to highlight the fact that in my State in particular, 83 percent of our tax filers don't take itemizations. They file with the standard deduction. That has now been doubled.

The child tax credit has been doubled, as the gentleman from Wyoming said. It gives that child tax credit, and that goes right to the heart of the middle-wage earning family trying to make ends meet at the end of the day.

They are predictions, but we feel certain that with the doubling of these deductions and this credit, more people will file on the smaller form and also push that number to maybe over 90 percent.

This year, we also delivered on significant regulatory reforms, especially in the energy realm, which is absolutely impactful in my area of the country. Under the Congressional Review Act, the Senate has repealed 14 of President Obama's very onerous regulations.

I led the effort to enact a CRA to fix the burdensome stream protection rule. This rule really threatened what was left of the coal industry in our region. The Obama-era rule would have prohibited many forms of coal mining in Appalachia. I kept saying: Let's balance this.

Under Scott Pruitt's leadership, the EPA repealed the Clean Power Plan--another onerous regulation with minimal benefit. We can do it better, and I believe, in this EPA, we will.

For years, I asked the Obama administration--Madam President, we serve on the same committee--I asked the EPA to come to my State and see what the impacts are of the rules and the regulations that they are putting forward. They never came. This year, the EPA finally answered my calls and came to the State of West Virginia--the State capital, Charleston, WV--to listen to both sides of those who will be impacted by any regulations that the EPA puts forward.

We also reformed the waters of the United States--or WOTUS--rule, which has severe impacts not only in the mining community but particularly in the agriculture community and other industries in and around the country.

Many parts of West Virginia continue to feel the impact of the devastating floods that we suffered a year ago June. So with my service on the Appropriations Committee, I worked diligently with others to ensure that our community needs are met.

That is the great thing about this country. I know Texas certainly and Florida, Puerto Rico, and other areas are weaving through these devastating weather-related and natural disasters. With all the sadness that is occurring and all the destruction that we see, the one thing we appreciate as Americans is our ability to come together and help one another. The first person I met when I was going to see the floods had traveled 51\1/2\ hours with their church to come and help those who had been flooded out of their homes. On the Appropriations Committee, we were able to get more funding for damage to roads and other property and individuals so that West Virginians could get back to work and provide for their families.

I also focused my efforts on ensuring that our State had the resources it needs to fight back against the continued devastation wrought by the drug epidemic.

Just yesterday or today, the CDC came out with a report that had lines on a graph that showed the different age groups and the number of deaths that occurred because of opioids, and every line was going up.

The State of West Virginia has been particularly hard hit with this. We have the highest rate of opioid drug overdose deaths per 100,000 of any State in the Union.

I worked with the new CMS to try to help secure a Medicaid waiver that would allow West Virginians to expand substance abuse treatment and also services for Medicaid members and expand the ability for treatment to be offered to folks who have Medicaid. I partnered with officials from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to hear directly from West Virginians at a roundtable. The Chief of Staff of the White House office also participated in roundtables at the White House.

In honor of West Virginian Jessie Grubb, Senator Manchin and I saw the passage of Jessie's Law. This law bolsters our fight by requiring HHS to develop standards for hospitals and health professionals on a patient's history with addiction. Jessie Grubb admitted she was addicted when she was in the hospital. She wasn't in the hospital for addiction issues; she admitted she had an addiction problem. She left with opioids. She didn't live another 24 hours. In her honor, Senator Manchin and I have worked hard to see that this doesn't happen to another family.

As West Virginia continues to be ground zero for this epidemic, I won't stop my work for those who are suffering, including looking at innovative solutions like those we have at Lily's Place in Huntington for the babies who are born drug-exposed--again, innocent victims of those rising lines I saw in the charts the CDC put forward.

We have been working with law enforcement to ensure that they have the tools they need to administer emergency assistance, such as naxolone, to those who may be overdosing, or build on telehealth projects, demonstration projects that can help with substance abuse treatment.

I have always said that we need a spectrum of solutions. As we look back, we have done a lot. As we look forward, we have to do more because the problem is getting worse.

I think we also have had tremendous success and impact in our quest to connect West Virginia. I created a program called Capito Connect that would move high-speed internet connectivity into the rural parts of our country, in places like West Virginia that are underserved. Through Capito Connect and my GO Act, we have seen accelerated broadband access in West Virginia certainly but also in rural America. I was able to work with the USDA to get our local communities a consortium to secure a USDA loan to be able to move broadband to 9,000 more West Virginians.

So working with other agencies, EDA and others, on not just moving on broadband but economic development projects, we have seen impacts in 45 of

the 55 counties that I represent but also being able to create an associated 1,400 jobs.

Federal grants like these help not only our communities but our universities, such as Marshall and West Virginia Universities, which provide great benefits to our communities.

These are tangible achievements over the last year--both more global, such as the tax reform, and more local, as in broadband deployment.

The Senate also plays an important role by giving advice and consent on President Trump's nominations and confirming them. This year, Republicans made significant progress in shaping the judiciary, most certainly starting with the confirmation of our Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. His strong record and straightforward approach are just what we expect from a Supreme Court Justice. I was proud to vote for his confirmation this year. We have also confirmed 12 circuit judges-- the highest number during a President's first year since 1891.

I am pleased to say that as of yesterday, we had confirmed both of our U.S. attorneys in the State of West Virginia. I am very grateful for that because this fight against opioids has to have the U.S. attorney's help. It has to have the U.S. attorney aggression--not just with law enforcement but also helping with treatment.

So this year, I am proud that we addressed a lot of America's concerns. We have tackled challenges head-on and delivered real results. I am proud that President Trump and his administration are listening to the needs of small States like mine, West Virginia, and working with me to deliver that relief.

It has been an honor for me to host some Cabinet members in the State of West Virginia--I didn't see that over the last 8 years--Secretary Perry, Secretary of Energy; Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary of Treasury; and also the Secretary of Labor. We went on a coal mine tour with Secretary Acosta. This helps them see the kinds of ups and downs of life in rural and central United States--in Appalachia in particular.

We have a lot we have to do. We have a lot on our plate. I think it is always this time of year that, in my personal life, I like to look back at some of the great things that we have accomplished as a family or for those whom I love or some of the things that happened to us that maybe haven't been quite as good as we would have hoped. I also take this time to be a grateful person, to be a grateful American, to be a grateful West Virginian because we are so blessed with where we live and how we live and the bounty of our friendships. But I also take the time to look forward to what we are going to be able to do. So when I see tax reform kicking in next year, in 2018, that is what I am going to be looking forward to for so many hard-working West Virginians, so many hard-working small business owners, and so many people who have been waiting for years--decades, in some cases--for the kind of reform that we put forward.

With that, I would like to yield back my time, but first I would just like to say that I am grateful to be serving with the three Members who are in here with me today. I wish everybody here and everybody listening in this country a very wonderful holiday season.

Thank you.

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

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I come here today to again speak in support of comprehensive tax reform. For weeks, I have worked to highlight the enormous benefits that our tax reform efforts will have for the economy. I am very excited about the point where I think we are now because I know this will help our middle-income families, workers, and businesses of all sizes.

I think it should not be lost that the tax reform bill doubles the standard deduction. In my small State of West Virginia, 83 percent of the people living there don't itemize. They are going to use the standard deduction, and that is going to be doubled. It also significantly increases the child tax credit, which is great for families and great for young families with children trying to make ends meet.

It will make America's businesses more competitive around the world, which I think will lead to higher wages and more opportunities for our workers.

I encouraged my colleagues to join these efforts as the Senate proposal worked its way through the Senate Finance Committee and again as it came to the Senate floor for debate. Next week, we hope to see the conference committee report on the Senate floor.

Last week, I explained why I was proud to cast my vote for this critical legislation. I expressed my optimism that the Senate and the House would come together, reconcile the differences between the two bills, and settle on an agreement that would provide real relief and real opportunity for the American people.

Today, we are closer than ever to getting comprehensive, pro-growth tax reform across the finish line, and that is why I am standing here to explain why it is so important that we move it all the way through this process and pass these reforms.

I asked you to take my word, and I have for the last several weeks and months, but now, today, I ask you to not simply take my word on this. Throughout the process, when I have been back at home in West Virginia, I have heard from constituents, friends, and even strangers who are really rooting for this effort. They are rooting for it because they understand what a difference it will make in their lives. Whether I am at a roundtable discussion or at the grocery store, so many West Virginians have shared with me what tax reform would mean for them and their families. They have encouraged me and they have encouraged us to get this done because they know what tax reform would do for our State in terms of jump-starting the economy.

One West Virginian I recently heard from, Donald from Beckley, recently wrote to me on behalf of his sons and grandchildren, who he said will ``reap the rewards'' of the tax reform bill. He wrote:

There are too many minimum wage jobs in West Virginia and

not enough higher-paying jobs for advancement. There is no

ladder for the young people to climb anymore.

Donald added that he would be very surprised if the tax bill doesn't help solve this problem. If we don't see higher wages, which we believe we will, Donald said that he would be surprised. I know we are going to see higher wages. He said: ``I really hope that the Senate and House get this bill to the President's desk before Christmas so he can sign it.''

This week, similar support was echoed by a number of groups and organizations in West Virginia. The National Federation of Independent Business said that both the House- and Senate-passed tax reform proposals ``recognize the need for small business tax relief, which means businesses could reinvest in their businesses and employees, create local jobs in rural and urban areas of West Virginia.''

I had to kind of laugh when they said ``urban'' areas in West Virginia. I am not sure we truly have urban areas. We have many rural areas. But we have great towns in West Virginia.

The NFIB went on to say: ``We can't afford to miss this once-in-a- generation opportunity to help Main Street businesses grow and create jobs.''

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses small and large in the State, also expressed support for the tax reform effort this week by calling it a ``real win-win'' and noting that ``by making tax rates more competitive, small businesses will be able to reinvest in growing their operations and creating more

jobs, and individuals will be able to determine how best to spend their hard-earned money, further stimulating economic growth.'' The chamber also pointed out that this effort is expected to grow jobs in our State by roughly 5,000 new jobs. To some States, 5,000 might not sound like a lot, but in a State such as ours, 5,000 jobs would be welcomed and welcomed heartily. They also highlighted that West Virginians are expected to see an average reduction of nearly $2,000 in their Federal taxes that they pay. That is a significant amount of money for hard- working families across our State, to be able to determine how they want to spend their money.

Additionally, the State director of the West Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity recently said:

This is a huge step for taxpayers. This is going to make

American businesses competitive again. It's going to put more

money in the pockets of West Virginians.

Finally, our West Virginia manufacturers--we have a great manufacturing sector--weighed in by saying:

Manufacturers large and small know this reform will mean

more jobs in America, more investment in America, and more

men and women making things in America. . . . Our elected

leaders now need to seize this opportunity, get tax reform

across the finish line, and send it to President Donald

Trump's desk.

I couldn't agree more.

Many of the folks I have quoted represent numerous businesses and numerous people who work in and for those businesses.

To get this economy growing is incredibly important, and that is what we are going to do. It is time to seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity. It is time to get tax reform across the finish line. It is time to send this pro-growth legislation to President Trump's desk. Families, workers, and small businesses in West Virginia and across this country are counting on us. They are counting on us to do the right thing, to be big and bold, to get this economy moving. That will result in more jobs, higher wages, more investment, and more opportunity and optimism about the future of our country.

I thank the Presiding Officer, and I look forward to voting for this bill.

Mr. President, I enjoyed hearing the remarks of my fellow Senator from Missouri. I wish Sam well in his next deployment as a military liaison, and I thank him, as well, for serving our country.

Children's Health Insurance Program

I come to the floor today to talk about tax reform and its benefits for middle-class families across this Nation. First I wish to highlight a program that is critical to these families, especially children; that is, the State Children's Health Insurance Program or, as it is referred to across the Nation, CHIP.

For more than 20 years--and really since the very beginning, when I first began serving in the West Virginia House of Delegates--CHIP was one of the first programs for which I became a strong champion. That is because I understood how critical it was then for families in West Virginia and how critical it is now.

When I was in the State legislature in the nineties, I served on the committee charged with creating and implementing the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

My voting record on this issue has been very clear. As a Member of the House of Representatives and now in the U.S. Senate, I have voted numerous times to fund and expand the CHIP program.

In my State of West Virginia--a smaller State--22,000 children are in the West Virginia CHIP program. That includes over 10,000 families. It is essential for these working families. It is essential that we recognize that some working families are unable to get insurance. Maybe they can get it for the person who is working, or the spouse, but a lot of times it is prohibitive to get insurance for the children at the same time. That is where CHIP comes in. It is preventive. It is for sickness and illness. It has really helped to improve the health of our young people in the State of West Virginia.

I was pleased that the bill passed out of the Finance Committee with strong bipartisan support, and I want to thank them for their efforts.

I have also spoken with Leader McConnell, and he is very favorable about the need to reach a solution for this by year's end. Thousands of West Virginia families and children who rely on this program need to know that it is going to be there. We know we are running up against a funding deadline and expiration; we have already passed the expiration date.

So I look forward to working together with Members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle to reauthorize CHIP and the CHIP program as soon as possible. That will be a good Christmas present.

Mr. President, another issue I wish to speak about is a policy that I think will greatly benefit families in West Virginia and across this Nation; that is, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that we passed last week. I was very proud to vote for that--proud because I understand what this legislation can mean to the working families and so many people in our States. Today, I would like to explain exactly why I did vote for the bill.

First I wish to speak about the 83 percent of West Virginia families who file and don't use itemization. They file the short form. For those families--83 percent of those filers--that is double the standard deduction, double the child tax credit, which means significant tax savings.

I voted for the bill because it cuts taxes for folks in all income brackets. These are the people who are tired of Washington telling them how to spend their hard-working dollars or, even yet, Washington spending their hard-working dollars for them. Now we are telling these hard-working men and women that they can keep more of their own dollars to make those decisions. They can decide how to spend it. This is not a novel idea, but I think a very welcome increase in our tax dollars coming home. They will be welcomed by every individual family. So whether they are spending it on something that helps them today or tomorrow or whether they are saving for the future, let's let them make that decision. The point is that decision should be theirs.

I also voted for this bill because it helps American businesses of all sizes. It will empower our small businesses to grow and thrive. We had a small business that came to Capitol Hill last week from the Eastern Panhandle. Many of them had different reasons as to why this was going to help their small businesses. Yes, a tax cut means more money for them to invest in their own business and is a big positive for many of them. But one particular small business owner said: Do you know what I really want? I want more time with my family, more time to devote to my family and my church. So while I am an owner of a small business and devote all of my time to the small business, give me the time back that it takes me to comply with the U.S. Tax Code. Simplify this, and give me that time to devote to my family and my church.

I also feel that not just small businesses are going to grow, but it is also going to help men and women have more job opportunities and higher wages. When it comes to our larger businesses and corporations, it makes them more competitive. Even in a small State like mine, 50 percent of our private workforce works in a larger--well, actually works for a small business; I think it is 30 percent who work for a larger corporation. But as that corporation becomes more competitive globally and our products become more competitive, the result of that is going to be higher wages, more sales, more jobs, more opportunities, more expansion into our State and not beyond our borders.

I voted for this bill last week because it gives our economy a big boost. I challenge anybody who is watching this closely or feels in their family or in their State budget or in their personal budget--who says that this country's economy is growing fast enough or is robust enough or everybody is benefiting. We know that is not the case. We see it in our towns.

I live in a relatively small area. Communities in my State of West Virginia and across this country have been forced to deal with the consequences of a struggling economy--shuttered stores, closing schools, falling real estate prices. This is what happens when everything contracts or stays so stagnant. It has really affected many aspects of our lives. I voted for this tax bill because I am just not OK with that.

I am not OK with standing still. If you are standing still, you are losing. We need to move this economy forward. We need to make it work for everybody. So, basically, I have had enough.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act represents a new direction for America--one that provides hope, prosperity, and a chance to really turn things around for a lot of people.

Of course, as with many legislative accomplishments of this magnitude, concerns have been raised from some of those who feel differently. That is what a conference committee is about. We hear concerns. We have heard them from our constituents, and I am sure the House has heard them from their constituents. That is what the conference committee is all about. I have been raising the ones that I have heard in West Virginia to my friends who are going to be a part of the conference process.

So, as I have said many times, this is a significant moment for our country. I believe we haven't done major tax reform in 31 years. It is well past time. It will provide a significant opportunity, and it requires big and bold action. We do a lot of little things around here that help people, and those are great. But it is rare that we can do something big and bold that is going to help so many people in this country.

Let me go back to my statistics. Eighty-three percent of the people in West Virginia file without itemization.

They are going to be getting a doubling of the standard deduction, a doubling of the child tax credit--a tax cut, tax relief. Keep the money; make the decisions in your own family. It is predicted because of the simplification factor that that number of 83 percent will actually rise in many States, mine included.

I think this big and bold action we are about to embark on is something we can look at with great pride. I ask my colleagues on both sides to sincerely look at this and join us in our efforts to provide tax relief, tax reform, tax cuts, and an economic boost to our country--which we so desperately need.

With that, I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I come to the floor to voice my very strong support for the tax reform legislation that will come before the U.S. Senate this week.

This bill will power economic growth and provide great opportunities for American workers. It will lead to increased wages, and it will help our small businesses expand. I have said often on the Senate floor that small businesses in West Virginia comprise 95 percent of the businesses in West Virginia and over 50 percent of the workforce. Small businesses want to thrive, and they want to expand.

It will provide much needed tax relief for middle-class working families in my State and across the Nation, and for many in the working class, the increase in the standard deduction will lower rates and provide for a much simpler process. I have talked about this on the floor a lot. I think that one of the things that is underemphasized and not talked about in this great tax relief package is the simplification model that many Americans really want and deserve in the Tax Code. So let's talk about our State of West Virginia.

In my State of West Virginia, 83 percent of individual tax filers take the standard deduction--83 percent. This bill will nearly double that deduction--from $6,300 to $12,000 for an individual and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples. That is for 83 percent of the filers in my State of West Virginia. For West Virginians who are already taking the current standard deduction, this provision means less taxable income and lower tax bills--more money in their pockets at the end of the day that they have earned.

Others who itemize will find that they are actually better off with the increased standard deduction. At tax time, they will make the determination: Should I take the standard deduction? I used to itemize in the past. They may make the determination: I am really better off taking the standard deduction because it is almost doubling. That is what I am going to do. That means that they will benefit financially and avoid the complications that come along with itemizing.

Families with children will benefit from the child tax credit that is doubled. This will provide real help to working families who are trying to afford education costs, pay rent or their mortgages, and simply make it to the end of the month. Whether they want to put money aside for their futures or they need money to get through the

tough child care or health costs, more money is a significant factor in a lot of people's families. They are working hard, and they want and deserve more money.

I was interested in an editorial that was in my local newspaper today, written in a negative way about this bill. It is funny, but it is not humorous. It actually does not mention the 83 percent of West Virginia earners who are going to be having the benefits of this simply by doubling the standard deduction and by doubling the child tax credit.

This bill also eliminates the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, which is a penalty that mainly impacts the middle class. Let's talk about this. In 2015, more than 34,000 West Virginians were penalized under this mandate, and 81 percent of those people--81 percent of the 34,000 people--who were penalized with a tax penalty, because they could not afford to buy insurance or they chose not to, were assessed a tax penalty for that decision. That 81 percent earns under $50,000 a year.

There has been a lot of misinformation about this provision, so let me just clarify. No one is being forced off of Medicaid or a private health insurance plan by the elimination of the individual mandate. By eliminating the individual mandate, we are simply stopping penalizing and taxing people who either cannot afford or decide not to buy health insurance plans. I, for one, want everyone to purchase and be able to purchase a health insurance plan, but that is a personal decision, at the end of the day, that a family makes. If you opt not to purchase, which I hope you would not, your government shouldn't be taxing you, and that is what has happened.

Working families will also benefit from the higher wages and increased opportunity that this bill will create. The Tax Foundation found that this bill will create more than 4,900 jobs in the State of West Virginia. It doesn't sound like much, I guess, to a larger State. Yet, to a small State, almost 5,000 jobs is significant. A typical middle-class family in our State would see its after-tax income grow by over $1,900. Nationwide, this bill could create as many as 925,000 jobs in this analysis, which is significant. These new jobs and higher wages result, in part, from lower tax rates and the shift to a territorial system.

This will make America more competitive. We want our jobs to be competitive not just here but globally. I mean, let's face it. We are in a global economy. Many of the companies, particularly the larger companies that are employing over 30 percent of West Virginia workers, are competing globally. If we can make it more competitive for those businesses to compete globally, that is going to mean higher wages, more jobs, and more products that will be made here in the United States with our American workers.

Quite frankly, our current system is driving American companies and jobs overseas. The United States has the highest statutory corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. That drives behavior when you look at investing. After 30 years--30 years ago was the last time we modernized this--it is past time to modernize our business Tax Code and make America more competitive--hire more people, raise wages, buy more equipment, and invest more capital. We know by estimates--and some of these say they are conservative--that there is more than $2 trillion-- with a ``t''--in U.S. corporate earnings that is kept overseas. This tax reform package can bring those resources home, which will lead, again, to more jobs and higher wages here at home.

It is important that communities across our country benefit from this growing economy. Half of our Nation's job growth since 2010--almost 8 years ago--has occurred in only 2 percent of the counties across this country. I will add that none of those counties are in the State of West Virginia. That demonstrates to me the need to help lower income areas attract more jobs and investment. That is why I am very glad to support this tax reform bill, because it includes a provision called the Investing in Opportunity Act that Senator Tim Scott, of South Carolina, introduced and that I was proud to cosponsor. This bill is designed, as a part of this tax reform bill, to attract investment into areas that have been left behind in our Nation's economic recovery, including areas in my State of West Virginia that continue to struggle in the wake of the Obama administration's anti-coal policies.

Besides making the Tax Code more competitive and helping to create and attract investment in economically distressed areas, this bill will also help our small businesses. We know that small businesses are a major economic driver in our economy. As I said earlier, half of West Virginia's workforce in the private sector is employed in small businesses, and this bill will provide significantly needed tax relief to our small businesses.

I have been traveling across the State, listening to those at small business roundtables, and talking to a lot of people. What I have heard is that small businesses are eager to take the tax relief they get and raise wages so that they can keep their good employees. They want to pay them more. They want to hire additional workers so that they can expand their work or buy new equipment. I met with a communications company that wants to invest in more IT. These investments will have a positive effect on the economy in local communities across the country--those that are not in that 2 percent that have had the growth over the last 8 years.

I believe that this tax reform bill will help the Nation as a whole and the people I represent. I am excited to have this bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate this week.

The Senate Finance Committee, of which the Presiding Officer is a terrific member and is from the neighboring State of Pennsylvania, has held over 70 hearings on tax reform and has put together a very good piece of legislation. It has held over 70 hearings and an amendment process and has listened to many constituents and many individuals who will be impacted by this. The House has acted. President Trump stands ready to sign a tax reform measure into law. What remains now is for the Senate to do its work--for us to do our work--and pass this legislation. Some Senators will have a choice. Soon, Senators will make a choice. We can accept the slow economic growth that has occurred over the past decade or we can take big and bold action.

To my colleagues, I say, if you want to help the middle class benefit from tax cuts, higher wages, and more job opportunities, then you should vote for this bill. If you want America to become more competitive in the global economy, then you should vote for this bill. If you want small businesses to expand and thrive, then you should vote for this bill. Our country needs this, and our constituents are demanding it. I call on my colleagues to join me in passing this bill on the Senate floor this week.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.