{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-lankford-joins-colleagues-on-senate-floor-to-tout-benefits-of-tax-reform-", "Senator Lankford Joins Colleagues on Senate Floor to Tout Benefits of Tax Reform", "2017-11-15", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "OK", "James Lankford", "L000575", "www.lankford.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.15.17\n\t\t\t Senator Lankford Joins Colleagues on Senate Floor to Tout Benefits of Tax Reform  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Lankford: \u201c\u2026our tax code is full of loopholes, full of confusion, it's complicated.\u201d\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t CLICK HERE to view the video\r\nWASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today spoke on the Senate floor, along with his Senate colleagues, in support of efforts to reform the US federal tax code for the first time in 30-years. Lankford continues to advocate for tax reform that spurs economic growth, simplifies the overcomplicated tax code, and reduces the national debt.\r\nLankford also joined MSNBC Morning Joe today to discuss the Senate\u2019s tax reform proposal and the repeal of the Obamacare tax mandate.\u00a0\u00a0\r\nTranscript:\r\nMr. President,\u00a0our economy is stuck.\u00a0We've had between 1.4 percent and 1.9 percent\u00a0growth over the last ten years.\u00a0Compare that to the ten-year cycles\u00a0before that over and over again all the way back to the Great Depression. Every year in a\u00a0ten-year block, every group of\u00a0that was three percent or more growth.\u00a0We've had half the growth in our\u00a0economy in the last ten years then we\u2019ve had in any ten-year time period going all the way back to the Great Depression.\u00a0We\u2019ve got to be able to deal with that. I hear people over and over\u00a0again say the regulations are\u00a0choking out our business.\u00a0It's driving up the cost of\u00a0products for consumers.\u00a0But, our tax code is full of\u00a0loopholes, full of confusion,\u00a0it's complicated.\u00a0Deductions, when I go through to\u00a0fill out my individual taxes,\u00a0seem like there are deductions\u00a0for everybody else but me.\u00a0And people want to get that\u00a0fixed.\u00a0And quite frankly, no one likes\u00a0paying taxes and everyone wants\u00a0to make sure whatever taxes they\u00a0pay are spent efficiently and\u00a0are as low as possible.\u00a0I can't tell them that, right now, because\u00a0their spending is not on track and it\u2019s not\u00a0efficient.\u00a0And, I can also not tell them it\u2019s as low as possible. We need to fix that.\u00a0\r\nThe tax reform that we have in\u00a0discussion in the Senate right\u00a0now deals with some very basic\u00a0things, beginning with more\u00a0take-home pay for individuals.\u00a0You can either be paid more by\u00a0an employer or you can be taxed less by the\u00a0government.\u00a0Either one of those increases\u00a0the take-home pay.\u00a0This solves the tax-less by the\u00a0government so that individuals\u00a0can have more take-home pay\u2014around 100 bucks a month.\u00a0That\u2019s serious money for most\u00a0Oklahomans\u2026\u00a0The way that happens, it starts\u00a0with the standard deduction that\u00a0doubles.\u00a0It is $24,000.\u00a0To say flat you would make\u00a0between zero and $24,000 as a\u00a0family and you wouldn't have any\u00a0tax on the first $24,000 at all.\u00a0That's a great help.\u00a0So your tax doesn't even begin\u00a0until after $24,000 at all.\u00a0You'd be in that zero percent bracket.\u00a0We double the child tax credit\u00a0for families that are raising\u00a0kids, it is exceptionally\u00a0helpful to them to have a larger\u00a0tax credit.\u00a0\r\nThen we'd take out the\u00a0individual mandate of Obamacare.\u00a0We've already had folks that\u00a0have said, what does Obamacare\u00a0have to do with tax policy? Well, let me it will you very\u00a0simply.\u00a0The individual mandate is a tax.\u00a0That's what the Supreme Court\u00a0labeled it as.\u00a0That's what individuals\u00a0understand it to be.\u00a0If you don't buy the type of\u00a0insurance that Washington, DC,\u00a0approves, you may buy some\u00a0different insurance, but if it\u00a0is not the one that Washington,\u00a0DC, approves, you get an\u00a0additional tax penalty on your\u00a0tax.\u00a0Who pays for that?\u00a0In Oklahoma, 81 percent of the people\u00a0who paid the individual mandate\u00a0tax penalty make $50,000 or less\u00a0a year.\u00a0It is a tax directly at the\u00a0middle class.\u00a0I think that is unfair.\u00a0We want to remove that tax\u00a0penalty away from the middle class\u00a0and to say, they don't have that\u00a0penalty and they're allowed to\u00a0be able to buy insurance that\u00a0they can actually afford.\u00a0\r\nWhat does this mean for jobs?\u00a0Well, if small businesses have a\u00a0better tax code in their\u00a0pass-through, they are able to\u00a0hire additional people. That\u2019s more jobs.\u00a0Based on where our economy is currently growing, right now, the unemployment rate has\u00a0continued to drop over the last\u00a0several years.\u00a0At the spot they\u2019re at\u00a0right now, that means there is more competition.\u00a0There's more hiring, more people\u00a0have to compete for those jobs.\u00a0That means employers have to pay\u00a0a little bit more money to get\u00a0the people to be able to do it.\u00a0That raises wages for people all\u00a0around the country and have\u00a0additional people that are not\u00a0working now actually back to\u00a0working.\u00a0More people working are actually\u00a0paying taxes.\u00a0And it pays for itself.\u00a0Getting a growing economy going\u00a0is essential to us.\u00a0And the way that you do that is\u00a0you take care of the tax code\u00a0for small businesses and you\u00a0take care of the tax code for\u00a0corporate businesses.\u00a0I've had folks that have said to\u00a0me if you drop the corporate\u00a0rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, what does\u00a0that really do?\u00a0 Well, it allows the big companies as\u00a0well as the small companies to\u00a0hire more people, to engage in more investment, to build more\u00a0factories, to buy more machinery.\u00a0\r\nThat's what it allows them to be\u00a0able to do, to grow their\u00a0business.\u00a0But on an international stage,\u00a0right now, our tax code is 35 percent.\u00a0If our tax code is at 35 percent,\u00a0compare that to other countries\u00a0that are somewhere around 22,\u00a023, 24 percent, some of them less than\u00a0that. Let me make it this simple. If you're going online to buy a\u00a0shirt and you can see that shirt\u00a0for $20 on one website or $35 on\u00a0another website, where do you\u00a0buy the shirt?\u00a0Probably from the one that is\u00a0$20.\u00a0If you're starting a business or\u00a0founding a business and you go\u00a0in one spot where the tax rate\u00a0is 20 percent or another spot where\u00a0it's 35 percent, guess where they found\u00a0the business?\u00a0Where it's lower.\u00a0We're the higher right rate now.\u00a0If we don't fix that, businesses\u00a0are going to continue to move\u00a0overseas.\u00a0And we can make fun of them in\u00a0the news, we can yell at them\u00a0and tell them they're\u00a0un-American.\u00a0\r\nThey're going to continue to\u00a0move where they pay less,\u00a0exactly like every American does\u00a0with their online shopping.\u00a0That's fixable.\u00a0In the middle of all this, we've\u00a0got to deal with debt and\u00a0deficit.\u00a0We can't ignore that reality.\u00a0And one of the things that I'm\u00a0still going through in the\u00a0proposal that we're working\u00a0through right now are things\u00a0that are unrealistic in the\u00a0proposal.\u00a0Because at the end of the day,\u00a0we have to get the economy\u00a0growing again, but we've got to\u00a0deal with half a trillion\u00a0dollars in overspending from\u00a0this government right now.\u00a0We can do both.\u00a0We've got to be able to do both.\u00a0I am encouraging this body to\u00a0take seriously a proposal to be\u00a0able to deal with how we get our\u00a0economy going again.\u00a0Let's figure out how to get it\u00a0done and then let's actually\u00a0solve this for the American\u00a0people.\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-lankford-joins-colleagues-on-senate-floor-to-tout-benefits-of-tax-reform-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.710962038487196, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}