Senate the Senate Met at 9:30 A.M
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017 No. 169 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was and that is true whether you are look- That is according to statistics from the called to order by the President pro ing at it from a fiscal perspective or an Small Business Administration. Both tempore (Mr. HATCH). economic one. of these amendments reinforce the f Take the fiscal side first. It reins in goals of the tax reform framework de- government spending. It protects So- veloped by the President, his team, and PRAYER cial Security. It complies fully with the tax-writing committees in Con- The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- the previous spending caps, while also gress. fered the following prayer: providing for an increase for defense re- Today we will consider more ideas Let us pray. sources if a bipartisan agreement can from colleagues on both sides of the Eternal Savior, we thank You for the be reached. In short, it is a fiscally re- aisle. I want to thank, particularly, fellowship of Your Spirit and Your con- sponsible budget that will help put the Chairman ENZI and the members of the solations of love. May our lawmakers Federal Government on a path to bal- Senate Budget Committee for their remember that You are their rock and ance. good work in getting us to this point. refuge. Lord, speak peace to their On the economic side, this budget The budget they produced is important hearts in these turbulent times, guid- can help our country realize better and to our fiscal and our economic future. ing them along the path of Your wis- more sustained economic growth, I look forward to passing it soon. dom. Reward their efforts with a joyful which is critical, given the last decade I suggest the absence of a quorum. harvest, as they strive to build up and of missed opportunities for the middle The PRESIDING OFFICER. The not tear down. Raise them above dis- class. One way this budget can help our clerk will call the roll. cord and division, helping them to economy is by providing legislative The legislative clerk proceeded to work together to keep America strong. tools to advance tax reform. call the roll. We are grateful for the favor You As I have said many times before, tax Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask have given this Nation and for sur- reform represents the most important unanimous consent that the order for rounding us with the shield of Your thing we can do today to get our econ- the quorum call be rescinded. compassion, mercy, and love. Strong omy reaching for its true potential. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Deliverer, accept our grateful praise. Tax reform is all about getting Amer- STRANGE). Without objection, it is so We pray in Your mighty Name. ica going again and growing again. It ordered. Amen. aims to take more money out of Wash- f f ington’s pockets and put more money RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME in middle-class pockets, and it rep- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE resents a once-in-a-generation oppor- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under The President pro tempore led the tunity to replace a failing tax bill that the previous order, the leadership time Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: holds Americans back with one that is reserved. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the works for them. Passing this budget is f United States of America, and to the Repub- critical to getting tax reform done so CONCLUSION OF MORNING lic for which it stands, one nation under God, we can strengthen our economy, after BUSINESS indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. years of stagnation under the previous The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning administration. f business is closed. I know Members are eager to con- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY tinue proposing amendments to this f LEADER budget. We already adopted some good CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. ideas yesterday. For instance, the Sen- THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2018 HELLER). The majority leader is recog- ate adopted an amendment offered by The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under nized. Senator HELLER to provide tax relief to the previous order, the Senate will re- f American families with children so sume consideration of H. Con. Res. 71, they can have more money to make THE BUDGET AND TAX REFORM which the clerk will report. ends meet. The legislative clerk read as follows: Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, the We also adopted an amendment from A concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 71) Senate is taking the next critical step Senator COLLINS to provide relief to establishing the congressional budget for the in passing the comprehensive, fiscally small businesses, which have been re- United States Government for fiscal year responsible budget before us. It is pret- sponsible for the creation of about two- 2018 and setting forth the appropriate budg- ty obvious that this is a good budget, thirds of the net jobs in recent years. etary levels for fiscal years 2019 through 2027. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6593 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Oct 19, 2017 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A19OC6.000 S19OCPT1 SSpencer on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with SENATE S6594 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 19, 2017 The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under lays out our principles that tax reform million, $5.5 million for a single indi- the previous order, the time until 11:45 should focus not on the 1 percent but vidual—a tiny fraction of all the es- a.m. will be equally divided between on the middle class and not savage tates in the country. Eliminating the the managers or their designees. Medicare and Medicaid and Social Se- estate tax isn’t a policy change that The Senator from Oregon. curity, which are our essential retire- has anything to do with helping the AMENDMENT NO. 1302 TO AMENDMENT NO. 1116 ment programs. middle class. It is entirely about help- Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I call up What was striking about the discus- ing the megawealthy—exactly the peo- amendment No. 1302 as provided for sion was that the President said: I ple the President told us yesterday he under the previous order. agree with you on all of those things. didn’t want to help. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The He said: Tax cuts should not go for peo- The Finance Committee Democratic clerk will report. ple like me. I want help for the middle staff put out a report last week that The legislative clerk read as follows: class, and I don’t want to cut Medicare looked at some of the worst schemes The Senator from Oregon [Mr. WYDEN] pro- and Social Security. I made the point— and dodges that are used by the poses an amendment numbered 1302 to I hope respectfully, Mr. President. I megawealthy to avoid paying estate amendment No. 1116. said: Unfortunately, there is a big gap tax. There is a cottage industry of The amendment is as follows: between the administration’s rhetoric crafty lawyers and accountants who (Purpose: To strike the reconciliation on this and the reality of what is really have made careers out of gutting the instructions relating to tax reform) on paper. That is why it is so impor- estate tax by engineering billion-dollar After section 2002, insert the following: tant that we strike these reconcili- tax shelters for the 1 percent. So the SEC. 2003. MODIFICATION TO RECONCILIATION ation instructions and make it clear estate tax is already full of loopholes, INSTRUCTIONS. from the get-go that we are going to but this administration isn’t interested Section 2001(a) and 2002(a) are null and get tax reform right, that we are not in closing them even after the Treas- void. just going to kind of utter these sort of ury Secretary, Mr. Mnuchin, admitted Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and col- sound bites and rhetorical plights and just the other day that it goes mostly leagues, later this morning, the Senate speeches, as the discussions go out to the people at the very top. will be voting on the amendment I am from various administration officials, So there is a common thread in these offering to strike what are known as and we actually focus on what it is proposals. There is a common thread in reconciliation instructions from the going to take to do bipartisan tax re- this debate that is driven by partisan- budget proposal. form. ship and reconciliation, which is why I The reason I will be focused this The President agreed with the prin- want to strike those instructions. morning on that is that it is absolutely ciples that Democrats talked about What is actually on paper—not what is key that we pass this amendment in yesterday. It is very different when you said in the speeches or in sound bites order to get bipartisan tax reform. The see it on paper, and I want to talk a lit- and the like—is that the Republican fact is that reconciliation is an on- tle bit about what is actually on paper. plan doesn’t close the most egregious ramp to the most partisan process First, the Trump tax plan creates a loopholes. It enshrines them as perma- around, and the history of successful massive new loophole, the Grand Can- nent features in our tax law.