Tax Reform Gives American Communities, Job Creators the Opportunity to Flourish
‘[T]he simple fact is that Democratic policies left the rest of the country behind. In small towns, smaller cities, and rural areas, opportunity dried up. Paychecks stayed flat. Hope for a more prosperous future began fading. That’s what President Trump and this Republican Congress were elected to change. Our governing philosophy is very different. We think more of the American people’s hard-earned money should be left in their own hands, to spend or save as they see fit.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the benefits Americans across the country continue to see from tax reform:
“We’ve been talking all week about a big philosophical difference between Democrats and Republicans. Tax reform has thrown it into stark relief.
“On one hand, the Democrats’ governing philosophy is about consolidating as much money and power as possible here in Washington D.C. Under President Obama, we watched Democratic leaders turn every challenge the country faced into an excuse to raise taxes and impose regulations. We saw who wins under this top-down philosophy -- and who loses. America did not recover quickly enough from the Great Recession. And the unimpressive growth we did see during the Obama administration was extremely uneven.
“According to one study, nearly three-quarters of job growth and 90 percent of net population growth from 2010 to 2016 went to metro areas with more than one million residents. So in the wealthiest coastal cities, there was some improvement. But the simple fact is that Democratic policies left the rest of the country behind. In small towns, smaller cities, and rural areas, opportunity dried up. Paychecks stayed flat. Hope for a more prosperous future began fading.
“That’s what President Trump and this Republican Congress were elected to change. Our governing philosophy is very different. We think more of the American people’s hard-earned money should be left in their own hands, to spend or save as they see fit. We think government needs to give workers and job creators some breathing room. We think every American community deserves to flourish.
“So we passed record-setting rollbacks of harmful federal rules that had thrown a wet blanket on the economy. And we enacted sweeping tax reform to help families and reignite growth. The early results? Consumer confidence hit a fourteen-year high. Jobless claims, a forty-five-year low. Millions of Americans receiving bonuses, pay raises, and new benefits. Ninety percent of wage-earners expected to see lower income taxes than last year.
“The philosophical difference is especially stark in states where one Senator voted to let all this good news happen, but the other Senator tried to stop it from taking place. Bonnie Brazzeal from Missouri told President Trump last month that she’s using her tax reform bonus to save for retirement. In West Virginia, Sean Farrell says he’s using expanded 529 savings eligibility to afford Catholic school tuition for his children. Chelsee Hatfield from Indiana is using her permanent raise to pay for community college classes, working toward her associate’s degree.
“At some point, the Democratic senators from these states will have to explain why they voted to stop all that from happening. They’ll have to tell Bonnie, and Sean, and Chelsee that they agree with the Democratic leader, who’s said Washington knows how to spend money better than citizens do. But my Republican colleagues and I will stay on the side of the American people.”
Related Issues: Tax Reform, Taxes, Senate Democrats, Economy
Next Previous
