Robert Pittenger: “I thank the gentleman for his leadership and for providing this opportunity tonight for us to highlight the significance…”

“I thank the gentleman for his leadership and for providing this opportunity tonight for us to highlight the significance and the importance of this tax bill for the American people. Mr. Speaker, when I lived in Washington, D.C., in 1980, it came out of the malaise of an economy that wasn't growing. No jobs, no opportunity. And Ronald Reagan had a vision for a different America, and I worked hard on his campaign. He changed the whole structure of our Tax Code and reduced the regulations that moved this economy forward. Unprecedented growth in jobs. Eighteen million jobs came out of that economy. And that is what this vision of President Trump and this Congress is about today. Who would have thought a year ago--just a year ago--that America would be experiencing what it is today: companies like Apple reinvesting $350 billion; ExxonMobil, $50 billion. You have unemployment that has plummeted to a 49-year low. U.S. manufacturing is expanding at the fastest rate in 14 years. Consumer confidence is at a 17-year high. Wages are up. Opportunities are up. I had a gentleman come to me just this last week who owns two restaurants in Charlotte. He said: Thank you for your tax cut. I am now going to expand and build another restaurant out at the lake, and I can do that because I have got the capital to go reinvest. You know, we have constrained this economy and the American people by these burdensome tax rates that are not competitive.…”