{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-the-working-families-tax-cuts-is-delivering-for-working-americans/", "Thune: The Working Families Tax Cuts Is Delivering for Working Americans", "2026-06-10", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s been almost a year since Republicans passed the Working Families Tax Cuts.\n\n\u201cOne year since Republicans delivered permanent tax relief to the American people and put more money in their pockets.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m proud to say that it\u2019s working.\n\n\u201cMr. President, at the start of this year, hardworking Americans saw their take-home pay go up as the new tax law took effect.\n\n\u201cThey saw its impact again in April when they filed their taxes, and many Americans saw a significant boost in their tax refunds.\n\n\u201cThe New York Times interviewed three dozen Americans and reported that, and I quote, \u2018Many of the taxpayers said they had received their largest refund in years, allowing them to pay down debt, save more or cover the cost of a vacation or a new bed.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd, Mr. President, last week, we got yet more news that shows that the Working Families Tax Cuts is working.\n\n\u201cThe Treasury Department released data showing that [97] percent of Americans who filed taxes this last year actually got a tax cut.\n\n\u201cSo, take a look at that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a pretty stunning number, if you think about it.\n\n\u201c97 percent.\n\n\u201cThanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, 97 percent of taxpayers got a tax cut this year, collectively saving about $82 billion on their tax bills.\n\n\u201cAnd who was it \u2013 who was it \u2013 that benefited from the Working Families Tax Cuts, Mr. President?\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ll give you a hint: It\u2019s in the name.\n\n\u201cWorking families.\n\n\u201cAlmost every one of the 97 percent of American taxpayers who saw a tax cut this year earned less than $200,000.\n\n\u201cNearly 70 percent earned less than $100,000.\n\n\u201cSo, if you take a look at this chart, Mr. President, you\u2019ll be able to see just exactly what I\u2019m talking about.\n\n\u201cIf you look at the dark blue line, those are the number of people who are making less than $100,000 a year who benefitted from the new tax deductions in this bill.\n\n\u201cAnd if you look at the light one, that\u2019s the number of people under $200,000 who got a benefit.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ll get into each of those specifics here in just a minute, but I think it\u2019s important to point out that the beneficiaries of the Working Families Tax Cuts were working families.\n\n\u201cIn other words, Mr. President, the Americans benefiting from this bill are people who get up every day and go to work to provide for their families.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re not rich.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re people who spend nights at the kitchen table putting together their budgets, trying to make ends meet and save a little bit for the future.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s who Republicans were thinking about when we wrote the Working Families Tax Cuts, and as the numbers show, that\u2019s who\u2019s benefiting.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve said that the Working Families Tax Cuts is about putting more money into hardworking Americans\u2019 pockets.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly what this bill did.\n\n\u201cIt let working Americans keep more of their hard-earned money.\n\n\u201cMoney that they would have to send to the IRS if not for the Working Families Tax Cuts.\n\n\u201cAnd that they can now spend, invest, and save as they see fit.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Working Families Tax Cuts delivered real tax savings to the American people through a number of tax relief policies.\n\n\u201cPermanent lower tax rates reduced Americans\u2019 tax burdens across the board.\n\n\u201cAnd the now-permanently doubled standard deduction helped 127 million Americans reduce and simplify their taxes this year.\n\n\u201cNearly 40 million families claimed the newly enhanced $2,200 child tax credit in 2025 \u2013 and as you can see from the chart, Mr. President, almost all of those families had incomes below $200,000.\n\n\u201cAnd, I said before, two-thirds earned less than $100,000.\n\n\u201cAnd again, that\u2019s from the enhanced child tax credit, which is the bottom number down there.\n\n\u201cMr. President, a New York Times story in April on \u2026 this year\u2019s larger tax refunds highlighted Nicole Mendoza, a 68-year-old Georgian who \u2018works a couple of shifts a week at a Cracker Barrel in Canton, Georgia, to supplement her Social Security income and savings. All told, Ms. Mendoza said, she earned about $38,000 last year and paid $551 in federal income taxes.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd as Ms. Mendoza told the Times, and I quote, \u2018I got back every penny.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, this year millions of hardworking Americans like Ms. Mendoza were eligible for additional tax relief thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts.\n\n\u201cAmericans earning between $100,000 and $200,000 last year who took advantage of new tax relief in this bill saw an average tax cut of $1,250.\n\n\u201cOlder Americans were able to take advantage of the enhanced senior deduction, which helped 35 million seniors this past year.\n\n\u201cAnd 7.5 million tipped workers were able to take advantage of no tax on tips.\n\n\u201cFully 90 percent, Mr. President, of Americans who took advantage of the no tax on tips earned less than $100,000.\n\n\u201cNinety-nine percent \u2013 99 percent \u2013 earned less than $200,000.\n\n\u201cAnd so, if you look at the tipped wages, the number there on top, Mr. President, the dark blue \u2026 bar represents the number of people who were making less than $100,000 who benefited from the no tax on tips; the lighter blue bar represents the number of people making less than $200,000 in their income this year who benefited from the no tax on tips.\n\n\u201cSo look at that.\n\n\u201cI mean, 90 percent of people \u2013 90 percent of people who get tipped wages \u2013 who get the benefit of no tax on tips make less than $100,000 a year; 99 percent less than $200,000 a year.\n\n\u201cThat is pretty stunning, if you think about it.\n\n\u201cIf you talk about actually working families out there, people who are trying to make ends meet, and those numbers, I think, represent just how important that particular provision was in the bill.\n\n\u201cAnd the savings they\u2019re seeing is significant.\n\n\u201cThere was a bartender in Beloit, Wisconsin, said that he more than doubled his federal tax refund.\n\n\u201cKatie, who is a DoorDash driver in Oklahoma, said, and I quote, \u2018It increased my refund from $300 to $2,000.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd another DoorDash driver in Oregon, said, and I quote, \u2018[No Tax on Tips] has changed life. I worry less about being able to cover all my expenses and I am able to work less which is better for my health and family.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, that\u2019s the Working Families Tax Cuts in action.\n\n\u201cAnd I haven\u2019t even talked about no tax on overtime, which \u2013 like everything else I\u2019ve talked about this morning \u2013 is overwhelmingly benefiting middle- and lower-income Americans.\n\n\u201cMr. President, last year, Republicans promised to deliver lower tax bills for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cAnd the data released last week proves that is exactly \u2013 exactly \u2013 what this bill does.\n\n\u201cThe Working Families Tax Cuts is delivering for working Americans.\n\n\u201cMr. President, as they have every time that \u2026 Republicans have lowered taxes for working people, Democrats have resurrected their dusty old talking points about tax cuts for the rich.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t count \u2013 I can\u2019t count \u2013 the number of times that I\u2019ve heard a Democrat senator say this bill was just about tax cuts for billionaires.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, look at the data.\n\n\u201cDoes this look like a billionaire tax cut to you?\n\n\u201cSeventy-five percent of Americans taking the overtime deduction make less than $100,000 a year.\n\n\u201cNinety percent of those taking no tax on tips made less than $100,000 a year.\n\n\u201cAnd 97 percent of Americans who filed their taxes this year got a tax cut.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this is real tax relief for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cAnd the American people are seeing it with their own eyes.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-18T06:41:00Z", "2026-06-18T06:43:25Z"]], "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.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-the-working-families-tax-cuts-is-delivering-for-working-americans/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.833733007311821, "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"}