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Conference Committee Announcements
Speaker Paul Ryan December 4, 2017
Speaker Ryan Names Lawmakers for Tax Reform Bill Negotiations
WASHINGTON—House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) today named Republican lawmakers to serve on the House-Senate conference committee for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The House passed its version of the measure in November and the Senate passed its version over the weekend.Ways and Means Committee
1. Conference Chair: Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX)
2. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)
3. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL)
4. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN)
5. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
For the purposes of provisions in the Senate-passed version that are outside the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee, the conferees are appointed below.
Natural Resources Committee
1. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT)
2. Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
Energy and Commerce Committee
1. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
2. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL)
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
December 5, 2017
Pelosi Names Conferees to GOP Tax Scam Conference
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today named House Democrats to serve on a conference committee of the House and Senate versions of the GOP tax scam.“After forcing the GOP tax scam through the Senate in the dead of night, Republicans want to put the final touches on their brutal betrayal of the American middle class,” said Leader Pelosi. “House and Senate Republicans are going to conference on a bill that hikes taxes on millions of families and raises health insurance premiums, ships good-paying American jobs overseas and crushes generations to come with exploding debt.”
“The only responsible choice is to abandon this monstrous bill and join Democrats to enact real tax reform that puts the middle class first,” continued Leader Pelosi. “The American people deserve better than this trickle-down product of carelessness and cruelty. Hard-working men and women in every corner of the country will hold Republicans accountable if they do not walk away from this disastrous vote to raise taxes on their own constituents.”
The House Democratic Conferees to the conference committee are:
House Committee on Ways and Means
Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Ranking Member
Congressman Sander Levin of Michigan
Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas
House Committee on Natural Resources
Congressman Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Ranking Member
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Florida
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
December 6, 2017
McConnell Announces Senate’s Republican Members of the Tax Reform Conference Committee
‘The next step in this process is to join our House colleagues in a conference committee to finish our work on this important issue. I know everyone is ready to finalize our tax reform legislation and send it to the president so he can sign it into law.’WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following statement after eight Republican Senators were selected for the Tax Cut and Jobs Act conference committee:
“Last week, Senators answered the calls of our constituents by voting to overhaul our complex and outdated federal tax code. We seized the opportunity to spur economic growth, to help create jobs right here at home, and to take more money out of Washington’s pocket and put more money into the pockets of hardworking American families. Now that the Senate has voted to join our House colleagues in a conference committee, I’m confident that this distinguished group of Senators will work to get the job done for the American people. I know everyone is ready to finalize our tax reform legislation and send it to the president so he can sign it into law.”
Republican Senators Selected for the Tax Cut and Jobs Act Conference Committee:
Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee
Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
John Cornyn (R-TX)
John Thune (R-SD)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Tim Scott (R-SC)
Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
December 7, 2017
Schumer Names Senate Democratic Conferees to GOP’s Tax Scam Conference
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer today named Senate Democrats to serve on a conference committee of Senate and House versions of the GOP tax legislation.“Rather than rush a partisan bill through the Congress that will have a devastating effect on millions of Americans, Republicans should work in a bipartisan way to achieve tax reform that actually benefits the middle class in this country, not the wealthiest or biggest corporations. We have a responsibility to the American people get this right, so I hope my Republican colleagues on the Conference Committee will stop their sham process and finally engage with Democrats in a transparent, thoughtful debate to reform the tax code without saddling the next generation of leaders with larger deficits and debts, limiting our ability to make the kind of investments we need to be making in education, infrastructure, and scientific research.”
Schumer announced the Senate Democratic Conferees to the conference committee will be as follows:
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Finance and member of Senate Committees on Energy and Natural Resources and the Budget
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Budget and member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Member of the Senate Committee on the Budget
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and Member of the Senate Committee on Finance
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Member of the Senate Committees on Finance, Energy and Natural Resources and the Budget
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Member of the Senate Committee on Finance
Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Member of the Senate Committee on Finance
A Few Opening Statements (Prepared Remarks)
Neal Opening Statement at Tax Legislation Conference Committee Meeting
Mr. Chairman, in light of last night’s election, I do not believe we should be holding today’s meeting. In fact, I believe it is imperative that we respect the will of the people of Alabama and delay any further action on this tax bill until Senator-elect Jones can be seated.
This situation is not unprecedented. As recently as 2010, during debate on the ACA, my state of Massachusetts elected Scott Brown in a special election to succeed Sen Ted Kennedy. Following that election, we heard strong words from then Minority Leader McConnell.
He stated emphatically, "I think the message of the moment is that the American people, all across the country, are asking us, even in the most liberal state, Massachusetts, to stop this healthcare bill."
What did Democrats do? We waited and respected the will of the people of Massachusetts. Quite simply, even when it was hard and against our own politics, Democrats did the right thing and allowed Senator Brown to cast a vote on final passage of the ACA. I would hope that the Republicans would do the same today.
Turning the tax bill, the Ryan-McConnell tax package is a bad deal. This legislation raises taxes on millions of middle-class families, increases the national debt by more than $2.3 trillion dollars, and eliminates deductions that help Americans afford to go to college, buy a home, and pay for medical expenses.
From kids with disabilities, to students pursuing a higher education, to seniors with Alzheimer’s, this bill punishes Americans at every stage of life. And as the New York Times reported this weekend, given the Republicans shift in how they’ll tax income, the Tax Code will for the first time substantially punish the wage earner while providing massive benefit to corporations, shareholders, and partners.
We can do better. Democrats’ focus in tax reform is providing ALL middle-class Americans with a tax cut – unlike the Republicans’ bill, which does the opposite and actually increases taxes on the middle class.
The Republicans also claim that their bill helps small businesses but I’m hearing from business owners back home in Springfield who are excluded from any tax relief.
We also must take into account the unique circumstances for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. They just suffered terrible devastation and are still in the process of rebuilding and putting the pieces of their lives back together after Hurricane Maria. The last thing they need is to get hit again.
Finally, the Republicans have shown their cards – they’re going after Social Security, Medicare and Welfare next. They argue we can no longer afford those programs. I’d argue that we can’t afford this $2.3 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and corporations.
The Ryan-McConnell tax legislation does not put the middle class first. American businesses and middle-class families deserve better.
Hatch Opening Statement at Tax Reform Conference Committee Hearing
WASHINGTON – Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today delivered the following opening statement at the conference committee hearing on H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The legislation will deliver a tax cut to middle-class families, raise wages, grow the economy and simplify the tax system.
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
We are on the cusp of a historic moment. Right now, we are closer than we’ve been in more than three decades to overhauling our nation’s outdated and burdensome tax system.
As you all know, I took over as the lead Republican on the Senate Finance Committee nearly seven years ago. And, since that time, my top priority – both as Ranking Member and Chairman – has been tax reform.
The Finance Committee has done a great deal of work in the years since, under three different chairman, including me.
All told, we’ve had more than 70 tax hearings.
We’ve produced options papers, convened working groups, and drafted extensive reports on the current problems facing our tax system and presented various bipartisan proposals aimed at fixing those problems.
This year, House and Senate leaders began talking with the administration about a path forward on tax reform; one that would address the widely recognized shortcomings of our current tax system as well as provide substantial relief to middle class taxpayers.
All of those years and all of that work has brought us to where we are today, with both the House and Senate passing major tax reform bills, giving this conference an opportunity to come together to reconcile any remaining differences in order to produce legislation that can pass in both chambers.
We are very close to producing legislation that will lower individual tax rates across the board and give the largest portion of tax cuts to middle-class families.
We are very close to giving working, middle-class families additional help in the form of larger paychecks, an expanded child tax credit, and a simplified system where more than nine in ten taxpayers will be able to entirely avoid the complex and time-consuming process of itemizing their deductions.
And, we are very close to achieving the bipartisan goal of reducing our corporate tax rate and fixing our international tax system so that we can grow our economy, keep our businesses competitive in the global marketplace, and keep investment, economic activity, and jobs from moving offshore.
Needless to say, I’m pleased that we’ve gotten this far, but we’re not there yet.
With the end of the year approaching, I know we intend to move quickly, but methodically through this process, and I think that’s the right course of action.
I am confident that, as we continue these efforts, we will find a workable path forward on tax reform and give the American people more money in their pockets and a tax system they can be proud of.
Wyden Statement at Conference Committee on Republican Tax Plan
The American people are witnessing a masterclass in how one political party, relying on secrecy, distortion and brute force, can muscle an unpopular, deficit-exploding corporate giveaway to passage. This is the ultimate betrayal of the middle class. It does not give middle class Americans the tax cuts they deserve now, and it takes away Medicare and Social Security later.
News just broke that Republicans have reached a deal on a final bill. So let’s understand that what’s happening today is a sham. This is an obvious attempt to lend credibility to a baseless Republican talking point about following regular order. But nobody should mistake this conference for a serious debate -- not when Republicans and special-interest lobbyists have already wrapped up the real talks in secret. They’ll be throwing parties on K Street while middle-class parents are struggling to determine if their families will be among the millions and millions of losers.
From the top, Republicans have had an undivided focus on delivering the sweetest possible deal for multinational corporations and the powerful. Permanent corporate breaks and huge new loopholes. A tax hike on 13 million middle-class taxpayers in the first year, and millions more after that. Big new incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas. Tens of millions of Americans either going without health care or seeing their premiums jump.
The details are still leaking out, but at every turn in this debate, there’s been more bad news for the middle class. A final bill will come with an astonishing price tag, and it’s bound to do a terrible job getting help to people who need it. It’s clear now that Republicans decided to pass on their final opportunity to take a different tack -- to protect middle class families from harm. They reportedly settled on even bigger breaks for those at the top, a capstone on a budget-busting gift to corporations and the donor class.
Republican deficit hawks went quiet at the prospect of an unpaid-for tax bill piling onto the national debt. But they’re screeching once again, seizing on the deficits they’re causing as the pretext to slash Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, anti-hunger programs, education funding and more.
It did not have to be this way. Democrats agree that the tax system is broken. It is not too late for bold members on the other side to reject this this reckless partisan process, work on a bipartisan basis as Ronald Reagan did, and put the interests of middle class families first.
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Portman Discusses How Tax Reform Will Help the Middle Class at House-Senate Conference Committee Negotiations
Transcript of his remarks can be found below and a video can be found here.
“Let me start by thanking you for your civility and your leadership, Chairman Brady. I think everyone around this table would have to agree that, for years and years, we’ve been talking about doing exactly what’s in this bill. We’ve been talking about middle-class tax cuts, and really for the past decade or so, there hasn’t been an increase in wages and yet there have been increases in expenses. Primarily for most families, the biggest expense is health care. And that middle-class squeeze is real. So middle-class tax cuts are appropriate. And that’s in this bill. And we’re going to hear from Tom Barthold in a minute, and I agree with my good friend Debbie Stabenow—the proof is in the paycheck. People are going to see it. They’re going to see it in January if this thing passes. And that’s real.
“The average tax cut for a median family income in Ohio is $2,375. And by the time this conference committee ends up, it may be more than that. And that’s the proof in the pudding. And, you know, we can go back and forth as to whether that’s high enough—earlier someone saying that’s not enough—I mean, if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, that’s a big deal. And a lot of our constituents are. We’ve also talked for years about a more competitive tax code that enables our workers to compete around the world. And it is irresponsible that here in Washington, D.C. we’ve allowed, for the last 31 years, a tax code that says, you know what, if you’re an American worker, you’ve got to compete with one hand tied behind your back because of our tax code. A recent study came out showing 4,700 American companies have become foreign companies in the last 13 years, because of our tax code, who otherwise would be American companies if we had passed this bill. If we set a competitive rate and a territorial system, they would be American companies.
“So I know there are concerns about is the base erosion tough enough in here? Let me tell you, the status quo is not working. We are losing jobs and investment every day overseas, and American workers are bearing the brunt of that. And the statistics are there. Last year, three times as many companies were taken over by foreign companies as American companies buying those foreign companies. So it’s happening. It’s happening in your district. It’s happening in your state. Companies don’t like to talk about it. But it’s true. And by the way, when they leave, you know what they do? They take their jobs and investment with them. We did a study in the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a bipartisan study, and we have example after example of companies that chose to invert, that went overseas. And they didn’t just go overseas with the headquarters, they took jobs and investments with them. This doesn’t count the bigger problem, which is companies getting acquired by foreign companies. So this is what’s happening. And that’s what this tax reform is intended to reverse. And I believe it will. I strongly believe that.
“We had a bipartisan working group two-and-a-half years ago. There were five of them. One for every area of the tax code. So the notion that we haven’t looked at tax reform, this is new — we've had bipartisan working groups in the Finance Committee. I know you’ve done this in the Ways and Means Committee as well. Those bipartisan working groups came up with different proposals, and on the international side, Chuck Schumer and I co-chaired it, this is where we came out—exactly what this bill says.”
Carper Statement at Tax Bill Conference Committee
WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), former governor of Delaware, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and a member of the conference committee instructed to reconcile the Senate and House-passed tax bills, released the following statement on the committee’s first meeting.
“President Trump made a number of promises to the American people about his plans to reform our tax system. He told us that his proposal wouldn’t enrich people like him. He said it would help middle income families. And he also said it would help foster economic growth and create jobs. Well, the tax bills passed by Republicans in the House and the Senate break all these promises. Just how much worse the so-called deal that my Republican colleagues announced today will be for the American people has yet to be seen as it was written in secret before the conference committee even met.
“This whole process has been a farce. House and Senate Republicans have rushed through bills that create temporary tax breaks for individuals, with benefits for lower- and middle-income families that phase out over the next year. Some of those benefits start going away as soon as 2019! Meanwhile, the plans make permanent, trillion-dollar corporate tax cuts under the guise of economic growth and job creation. In reality, it will just ensure that wealthy shareholders and executives will take an even bigger cut of corporate profits.
“I know a little bit about managing a budget and designing a tax plan. I was privileged to serve as governor of Delaware for eight years. We cut taxes in seven out of those eight years and we balanced the budget eight years in a row. We paid down our debt and earned triple AAA credit ratings. More jobs were created in those eight years than in any other eight-year period in the history of the state of Delaware. It wasn’t just our tax policy, it was because we focused on creating a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation.
“The Republican tax proposal has a price tag of about one and a half trillion dollars. Couple that with the interest the federal government will owe on the money it has to borrow to pay for these tax cuts, and the price tag exceeds $2 trillion over the next ten years. If my Republican colleagues want to spend that kind of money to grow the economy and put people back to work, they could get a lot better bang for the American buck. In fact, making an investment of that size in our roads, highways, bridges, rail, airports, broadband, water and sewer infrastructure, would stimulate the economy and make us more competitive around the globe, all the while growing our GDP by hundreds of billions of dollars and creating millions of jobs. I hope my colleagues with think about that, perhaps, benefit from a little bit of perspective.
“In any case, I always look at tax reform proposals through a prism of four questions: Is it fair? Does it encourage economic growth and job creation? Does it simplify the tax code, or make it more complicated? Is it fiscally responsible? The Republican plan fails all of those tests, but, for me, its impact on our federal deficit is among the most painful. There are times when we have to deficit spend – drastic economic downturns, wars, national calamities – but paying for tax cuts that disproportionately advantage the richest of the rich just doesn’t make sense. Eight years into the largest economic expansion in the history of our country, we should be paying down the debt, not adding to it.
“The good news is, I’m an optimist, and even though I’m incredibly discouraged by how this process has played out over the past few weeks, I know it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s an African proverb that says, ‘if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.’ It’s a shame that we have not traveled together so far, but there’s time to change course. I hope we will.”
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