Thune: Democrats Melt Down Over Families Keeping More of Their Hard-Earned Money

Click here to watch the video.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, very soon, the Senate's going to be voting on a budget resolution that essentially accomplishes five objectives, but at least four.

"And one is to prevent a $4 trillion tax increase on the American people at the end of the year, number one.

"Number two, it rebuilds our military by investing in our military readiness in a way that will enable us to deal with and deter the threats that America deals with in a very dangerous world.

"It will restore energy dominance for our country, making energy more affordable to the American people - something that we saw a huge run up during the Biden inflation days.

"Part of that, in a big way, was the cost of energy.

"Obviously, securing the border, and there are resources in there to make sure that over the course of the next four years of this administration, that they have what they need to ensure that our border is secure and that the American people are safe.

"And finally, Mr. President, reducing spending.

"Now, I know that's sort of a novel concept around here.

"We've heard a lot about, you know, massive tax cuts for billionaires.

"That's been a recurring theme that we've heard from the Democrats.

"But the one thing you don't hear a lot about is the run up in federal spending.

"So, tax revenues, as a general rule, have stayed very static as a percentage of our entire economy - around 17.1 percent, thereabouts.

"Government spending as percentage of our economy, on the other hand, has gone up and gone up dramatically.

"So just look, in the last - take a look at this chart - basically in the last five years, the run up that we've seen in spending has been about [54] percent from 2019 to 2024.

"[Fifty-four] percent increase in spending.

"Now, what's ironic about that, Mr. President, is government revenue has also been going up.

"Right?

"Everybody said, 'Well, you're going to cut taxes, we're going to run these big deficits.'

"Well, what happened?

"In 2017 we cut taxes on the American people, we unleashed the American economy, we reduced rates, accelerated cost recovery so people could recover their capital investments more quickly.

"What did they do?

"They invested!

"It equated more, not less, revenue!

"A trillion and a half dollars more than was projected at the time by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the CBO.

"A trillion and a half dollars more revenue than what was projected.

"I think you can say they missed it by a long shot.

"Well, this time around, we've seen estimates, and Senator Graham, Senator Crapo, were down here earlier today suggesting that the Council of Economic Advisers' prediction is that you will see revenue increase by about $4 trillion by making the 2017 tax law permanent.

"So what we have, Mr. President, the reason we're running these big deficits isn't because we tax too little - it's because we spend too much.

"That's the Delta.

"Tax revenues have gone up, and gone up consistently, over time - particularly since 2017.

"What's gone up a lot faster, as I said, is government spending.

"And so we have this deficit, and you know, the way we're going to have to deal with that is to get more growth in the economy, generate more revenue because the economy is growing and expanding.

"People are creating jobs, people are working, they're taking realizations, and they're paying more taxes.

"And that's what happens when you reduce taxes, and that's why it's so important that we extend and make permanent the 2017 tax law.

"This is what we're talking about here today.

"This is what this conversation, frankly, is all about.

"Now, Mr. President, one of the things that has been interesting in this debate, because I heard lots of conversation from my colleagues on the other side about massive new tax cuts for billionaires.

"But let me tell you what, if you vote against this budget resolution, you will be voting for.

"You will be voting for a $4 trillion tax increase on our economy and on the American people.

"Of that $4 trillion tax increase, $2.6 trillion will fall on people who make less than $400,000 a year - something that Joe Biden and I think pretty much every Senate Democrat pledged not to do.

"Well, how does that happen, you ask?

"Well, here's what happens.

"In 2017, when we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of the things, the features, of that bill was a doubling of the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000.

"It also had a near doubling of the standard deduction and it had a lowering of rates.

"It had multiple ways in which working families in this country would benefit.

"If we don't extend the tax relief before the end of the year, $2.6 trillion of that tax increase falls on people making less than $400,000 a year.

"Now, I've heard some- the Democrats' own presidential candidate said last year, and I quote, 'We cannot, and I will not, raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.'

"That was Vice President Harris, who was running for president.

"President Biden made the same promise, as did the current Democrat leader.

"And when the Democrats were considering their so-called Inflation Reduction Act - which perhaps more aptly could have been titled, 'Do Nothing About Inflation Act' - the Democrat leader repeatedly emphasized the Democrats would not be raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.

"Well, that's it.

"That's what you're doing.

"Because this tax increase is going to hit American families - 2.6 trillion of it is going to hit families making less than $400,000 a year.

"So when you cut the child tax credit - let's say you have four kids in this country.

"Now, the tax credit, child tax credit, is a direct credit against tax liability, meaning it's a dollar-for-dollar reduction in tax liability if you have a tax liability that exceeds the amount of the credit.

"So let's say you have four kids, today it's $2,000.

"Well, if we don't move to extend this tax relief by the end of the year, that $1,000 is going to be from 8,000 down to 4,000 - 2,000 per child down to 1,000 per child - and that family's taxes are going to go up by about $4,000.

"Now, if they don't have that big of a tax liability, there's a refundability component.

"And we can have a conversation about the merits of that, but that means they're going to be getting a payment - or not - and probably not, because cutting that child tax credit back to $1,000 is going to fall largely on people who have families in this country.

"Same thing with the standard deduction.

"It will be cut nearly in half.

"And the interesting about that, Mr. President, is when we made that change back in 2017, fewer people started itemizing; more people started taking the standard deduction, because the standard deduction was about $30,000 a year.

"Well, what happens if we don't extend this tax relief?

"That $30,000 goes back down to about $15,000 a year - again, hitting working families, coupled, again, with what I said is higher rates, the rates will go back up.

"So forget about the idea that you're not going to raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year, because you clearly are.

"That's just a fact.

"It's just simply a fact.

"So what about small businesses?

"Well, businesses, small businesses would pay, if we don't extend the current tax policy, $600 billion more if these tax cuts expire.

"Because pass-through businesses - and that's your LLCs, your subchapter S corporations, your sole proprietorships - pay at the individual rate.

"The rates would go back up and we put a feature in that bill called 199A.

"It was a 20 percent deduction for pass-through businesses.

"That also goes away.

"So, small businesses are going to pay… $600 billion more throughout the course of this tax policy, if we don't do something to extend it.

"So, you lose 199A, you lose the lower rates that come with it if you're a small business, and you'll see a lot less investment in our economy.

"Now, as I mentioned, in 2017 two of the objectives on that, particularly on the business side, were to lower rates and to allow for faster cost recovery - and to grow the economy.

"And it did.

"It worked.

"The economy over the past seven years grew, if you can believe this, 5.4 percent more than what CBO had projected in 2017 prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

"Well, what did that mean?

"It meant a 50-year low for unemployment, record low poverty, high median household income, a narrowing of the income disparity gap in this country.

"So, Mr. President, what about deficits?

"As I said before, by any objective metric, revenues dramatically exceeded what was predicted in 2017 about what the effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would be.

"Now, revenues, as I mentioned, if you look at this chart again, on average about 17 percent as a percentage of our economy.

"Unfortunately, spending as a percentage of our economy, which as recently as a decade ago, was about 20 percent, is now over 23 percent and growing to 24 to 25 percent.

"And part of that is all the new spending that was associated with things like, for example, the IRA.

"So the… so-called inflation Reduction Act, there were some provisions in there, some energy provisions for example, that at the time were scored to cost about a little over $200 billion.

"Today, they're actually over a trillion dollars, so CBO missed that one by about 400 percent.

"And as I said earlier, the Council of Economic Advisers projects a $4.1 trillion increase in revenue from extending the 2017 law.

"So, could it be that the run up in deficits happened because of the last two Democrat reconciliation bills?

"Or perhaps some other things that they have done along the way, like the $250 billion in SNAP increase, almost, as I said, without any approval from Congress - something that my colleagues on the other side have talked about, how this executive branch has, you know, ignored the will of Congress.

"Well, that was a $250 billion increase without approval from Congress.

"Then you had the student loan forgiveness program, and as you'll recall, student loans, that program was used as a pay-for back in a reconciliation bill that the Democrats did back in 2010.

"And when they did that, many of us predicted that they would go ahead and use it to forgive student loans.

"So student loan, now forgiveness, which is subject to court action, resulted in several hundred billion dollars of additional spending not approved by the Congress.

"But this, that particular move got no pushback from anybody on this side of the aisle, not a peep.

"Hundreds of billions of dollars of spending by use of executive power.

"And what I concluded from all this is that my colleagues on the other side talk a lot about misuse, or abuse, if you will, of executive power - but that's not the issue.

"It's how the executive power is used, and if it's used in a way that you agree with - which it was in both of those examples I just mentioned - then you're fine with use of executive power.

"Like I said, didn't hear a peep from people over here when that was done.

"Now, my colleagues, both Senator Graham and Senator Crapo, talked about the use of a current policy baseline.

"So, in 2012 the Obama White House came up with something called the alternative fiscal scenario when it came time to extend the Bush tax cuts.

"And that was about a $4 trillion use of the alternative fiscal scenario - translation: current policy baseline.

"There are 18 Democrats still here in the Senate today who voted for that, for use of that baseline.

"And Mr. President, I would simply say that, when it comes to extending tax relief, there's always a, you know, a reluctance by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

"When it comes to new spending, they embrace that idea.

"We have a different view, we have different views of government.

"And the use of reconciliation, which is what this is about - the budget resolution opens the door to reconciliation - is in many respects a great example of the contrast in how we view this.

"The Democrats view reconciliation as a way to grow government, increase spending, new programs.

"The ARPA bill was about $2 trillion in spending.

"The IRA was about a trillion dollars in spending.

"Both were used by the Democrats, through a budget resolution and reconciliation, to increase spending.

"Republicans, a lot of times - and we did in 2017 - use it to reduce taxes and to reform the tax code, which was desperately needed.

"But as a consequence of that, as I said, we got not less revenue, but more - a trillion and a half dollars more than was predicted at the time.

"And on the other side of the equation, when it comes to spending, the estimators, the so-called referees, tend to underestimate how much things are going to cost.

"Example: the… so-called Inflation Reduction Act.

"But the bottom line in all this… Madam President, is that we need to address a lot of concerns in this country, many of which are dealt with in this… budget resolution and ultimately the budget reconciliation bill.

"But one of the most important ones is this number right here: the deficits that continue to grow over time - as a result, not of too little revenue, which continues to increase over time, but of dramatically increased spending.

"That's the issue.

"And my colleagues here on this side of the aisle believe that you get at that by bending the curve down on the spending side and on the tax, regulatory, energy side - pro-growth policies, particularly making permanent the tax policy that was passed in 2017 - that will unleash investment in America, and which will lead, ultimately, not only to better-paying jobs, lower unemployment, hopefully a narrowing of the income disparity that we have in this country, but also, interestingly enough, higher government revenues.

"That's what this is all about.

"Whether you want to vote for extending the tax policy and avoiding a $4 trillion tax increase, or whether you want to vote in favor of this resolution and make sure that the 2017 tax policy that was passed is extended permanently, and that it unleashes the American economy in a way that will continue, not only to create those better-paying jobs, but also make this deficit picture look a lot smaller by comparison, coupled with significant reductions in spending.

"That's what we've got to do.

"That's what this is about.

"And I hope that our colleagues, all of our colleagues on this side of the aisle, will vote yes tonight.

"We're going to have a number of amendment votes, which always happens during a budget resolution 'vote-a-rama,' and we look forward to getting that process underway.

"So let's let the voting begin."

Permalink: https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/4/thune-democrats-melt-down-over-families-keeping-more-of-their-hard-earned-money