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“Every dollar a family doesn’t have to send to Washington in taxes is a dollar that they can use for something better…It’s another dollar a small business can use to pay its workers more, or reinvest in the business and help to grow the economy in that community.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor on how the Senate has an opportunity to cut taxes in a way that will actually help American families.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“One year ago, the American people went to the polls – the American people demanded a change.

“They demanded a change from eight years of too little economic growth, and too much government control and regulation.

“The effect was immediate, and the effect was incredible.

“In the past year, we have gotten a lot of very good news about the American economy.

“Right after the election, businesses became much more optimistic about the direction of our country, and they started hiring.

“Last Friday, we learned that in the United States, we have created more than two million jobs since Election Day 2016.

“Right now we have got the lowest rate of unemployment that we’ve had since the year 2000.

“We’ve seen the economy grow at more than three percent for the past two quarters.

“Consumer confidence has just reached the highest level in almost 17 years.

“All of this is happening since President Trump was elected – and this is very good news for America.

“We can’t stop now.

“We have to do all we can to move the path toward a more prosperous country.

“Americans are optimistic because they know that President Trump is focused on easing the regulations that have held our economy back for the last eight years.

“The president has signed legislation that we passed in this Congress repealing one after another of the Obama administration’s rules, regulations, and restrictions.

“President Trump has issued executive orders cutting back on excessive red tape.

“President Trump has appointed very good people to important jobs, who are committing to reining in Washington’s out of control bureaucracy.

“All of these things are important and critical to keeping our economy growing.

“Another big part of this is what we’re trying to do now in terms of cutting taxes for the American people that they have been paying.

“Here in the Senate we now have a once in a generation opportunity to cut taxes in a way that will actually help American families.

“We can help families directly by raising their incomes – and we can help them indirectly by growing the economy.

“Here’s how we can do both, because that needs to be our goal.

“The first thing we can do is to give people a raise by doing things like doubling the standard deduction.

“If we raise the deduction, people keep more of their hard-earned money, and it makes taxes simpler.

“Right now, the standard deduction for a married couple is $12,000.

“Two-thirds of Americans take that deduction.

“If we roughly double it, people won’t pay any federal income tax at all on the first $24,000 that they earn.

“That’s a big cut.

“It means that a lot more people will decide to take this deduction instead of going through the painstaking process of itemizing their deductions on the tax return.

“That saves them a lot of time –it saves a lot of headaches, and it saves them the costs of the accountants and the lawyers who have to help people figure out the very complicated taxes in this country.

“So millions of families will be better off just from this one tax cut alone.

“A second thing that the Republicans are looking to do is to reduce the tax rate for small businesses—the people who are creating jobs all across the country.

“If someone owns a small business in my home state of Wyoming, she probably ends up paying the taxes on her personal tax return rather than on a separate business tax return.

“If we cut her tax bill, that’s money that she can then use to give her workers a raise, to hire more people, to create more jobs in our community.

“She can put money back into the business, and help to grow the economy as well.

“You know, when you leave people with more money in their pockets, they get to decide how to use that money. What they decide to spend, what they decide to save, what they decide to invest.

“Because people I believe, are much better at watching their own money, than the government ever is at giving people value for that money.

“So we want to make sure that tax reform includes a break for small businesses.

“Republicans also want to bring down the rates that Washington charges other businesses.

“If we can cut the rate that businesses pay from 35 percent down to 20 percent, that could be an enormous boost to the economy.

“The economists that look at this say it’s like giving the average American family a $4,000 a year raise.

“That’s how much the average household’s income, they tell us, would go up.

“It’s because workers actually bear most of the burden of the taxes that businesses pay.

“Now, Democrats actually think that the money belongs to Washington. It doesn’t—it belongs to the people at home who earn it.

“Democrats often think that if you give Americans even a single dollar in tax cuts, that you’re taking away Washington’s money. It’s not Washington’s money. The money belongs to the people at home.

“We know that the exact opposite of what the Democrats believe is true.

“Republicans know that giving Americans a tax cut is the same as giving them a raise.

“Every dollar a family doesn’t have to send to Washington in taxes is a dollar that they can use for something better.

“It’s a dollar that they can use for food, for shelter, for kids, for education – for the things that matter to that family personally.

“It’s another dollar a small business can use to pay its workers more, or reinvest in the business and help to grow the economy in that community.

“Tax cuts mean that people decide how to spend their own money – Washington doesn’t decide.

“Families know how to use the money much better than Washington ever will.

“As we debate these issues and ideas with regard to tax relief, we have an exciting opportunity to give the American people a raise, and to give the American economy a boost.

“This is something that a lot of people have been working on for a long time here in the Senate.

“Over the past six years, the Finance Committee, they have held 70 hearings on how to make our tax code better for all Americans.

“Republicans are working – and we’re listening – to make sure that we get tax reform right that the American people and families need.

“When it comes to tax cuts, I believe the more the better.

“The more people who can get a tax cut, the better.

“It’s about paychecks. It’s about jobs. It’s about prosperity. It’s about a strong and healthy economy for America.

“That’s what we as Republicans are committed to. We cannot let this opportunity pass.”

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