On the recordDecember 19, 2017
as I come to the floor today, the Senate is approaching one of our most important votes, really, in years. The tax relief legislation that we will be voting on will be, I believe, great for America, great for the American people, and it will do a lot for the future of our great country. It has been a long process. There has been a lot of discussion, and there has been years of preparation waiting for today's vote. The Finance Committee has held over 70 hearings on the subject over the last 6 years. When we were debating it on the floor, we had about 285 amendments offered to this legislation. There have been a lot of changes over the past few weeks to include as many good ideas as possible. After all that, it is understandable that there may be some confusion about what the legislation does. I want to speak today about the various ways that this legislation is good for hard-working Americans, like the people in my home State of Wyoming. First, most people are going to pay lower tax rates. For a couple who makes between $19,000 and $77,000 a year, the rates are going to drop from 15 percent to 12 percent. So a family might see their tax bill drop by more than $1,000 just from this one part of the Republican tax relief plan alone. The second thing I want to point out is that this legislation roughly doubles the standard deduction. It goes up to $12,000 for a single person who files and then to $24,000 for a married couple. Well, that is double.…
