Roy Blunt: “as we said when we began to talk about tax reform months ago now, the purpose of tax reform was stronger families and…”

“as we said when we began to talk about tax reform months ago now, the purpose of tax reform was stronger families and expanding opportunities for every American. I think the facts are clear that that is exactly what happened. Over the past year, most people saw bigger paychecks. Many of those people saw bigger paychecks because they had less money taken out of their checks. Ninety percent of middle-class Americans received a tax cut. Pay increases for lots of other Americans set new standards in recent years. I think the pay increases of slightly less than 4 percent in the last year are higher than at any time in recent memory. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the child tax credit doubled from $1,000 to $2,000 per child. That credit is available to many more families than before and obviously is twice as big as before. People are able to keep more of what they earn. We have an economy right now where people actually believe for the first time in a decade that the chance they are going to get a promotion is greater than the chance they are going to lose their job. They have also stopped worrying about their neighbor losing their job or someone else in their family losing their job. At this time, we have an economy where people who want to go to work can go to work with confidence. Unemployment last month was at a 49-year low. Around a year ago, for the first time, more jobs were available than people looking for work.…”