{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.thune.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=6F06E6F9-75A0-43A9-95F0-0BE056E71389", "Thune: Tax Reform Has Delivered on Its Promises", "2019-12-17", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "House", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Click here or on the picture above to watch Thune's speech.\r\n\r\nWASHINGTON  Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the upcoming two-year anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act being signed into law and the positive results it has delivered to the American people. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became law in December 2017, hard-working middle-income American families have seen lower rates, improved benefits, better job opportunities, and many other positive results.\r\nThune's remarks below (as prepared for delivery): \r\n\r\nMr. President, December 22 will mark the second anniversary of the signing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.\r\nTax reform was a big priority for Republicans.\r\nWe wanted to help American families by reducing their tax burden and spurring the kind of economic growth that would result in better jobs and better wages.\r\nAnd so at the end of 2017 we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.\r\nWe cut tax rates for American families, doubled the child tax credit, and nearly doubled the standard deduction.\r\nWe lowered tax rates across the board for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, farms, and ranches.\r\nWe expanded business owners' ability to recover the cost of investments they make in their businesses, which frees up cash that they can reinvest in their operations and their workers.\r\nAnd we lowered our nation's massive corporate tax rate  which up until January 1 of 2018 was the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world  and brought the U.S. international tax system into the 21st century so that American businesses are not operating at a competitive disadvantage next to their foreign counterparts.\r\nAnd over the last two years, tax reform has done exactly what we intended.\r\nIt's allowed American families to keep more of their hard-earned money, and it's helped spur wage growth and increase the availability of good jobs for American workers.\r\nFor 2018, the average family of four with an income of $75,000 saw a tax cut of more than $2,000.\r\nOn top of that, company after company responded to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by issuing bonuses, improving benefits, or increasing wages.\r\nAt least 100 utility companies around the country announced plans to cut utility rates for consumers.\r\nAnd then of course there's the economic growth the law has spurred.\r\nA whopping 266,000 jobs were created in November, smashing expectations and bringing the average monthly job creation for 2019 to a strong 180,000.\r\nJob creation since President Trump was elected has exceeded the Congressional Budget Office's 2016 pre-election prediction by more than 5 million.\r\nThe unemployment rate is at a 50-year low and has been at or below 4 percent for an incredible 21 straight months.\r\n2019 has also seen record-low unemployment rates for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Americans with a disability, Americans without a high-school diploma, and veterans.\r\nFor 20 straight months, there have been more jobs available than Americans looking for work.\r\nMeanwhile, wages for American workers are growing steadily.\r\nWage growth has been at or above 3 percent for 16 straight months.\r\nBefore the start of this streak, the last time wage growth had reached 3 percent was more than a decade ago.\r\nIncome inequality has declined.\r\nThe poverty rate has fallen to a 17-year low.\r\nAnd the list goes on.\r\nNow that's a lot of numbers and percentages.\r\nBut they all boil down to one thing: American families are doing better.\r\nThanks to Republican economic policies, fewer Americans are having to choose between a car repair and a doctor's bill.\r\nMore Americans are able to put away money each month for their retirement or their children's education.\r\nThere are more good jobs available for Americans looking for work.\r\nOf course, Mr. President, there's still more work to be done.\r\nOur farm economy, for example, is not doing as well as the economy as a whole, and passing policies that will bring relief to our farmers and ranchers and expand markets for their products is a priority of mine.\r\nBut two years on from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we can celebrate the fact that millions of American families are bringing home more money in their paychecks and have access to better jobs and better opportunities.\r\nPreserving and building on those accomplishments is a Republican priority.\r\nUnfortunately, our Democrat colleagues are more likely to suggest tax hikes than preserving the tax cuts that have brought so much economic progress over the past couple of years.\r\nDemocrats opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, despite the fact that many of the ideas included were the product of both Republican and Democrat proposals, because they were determined not to work with this president.\r\nTwo years on, Democrats would still like to pretend that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act didn't help American families  despite the reams of statistics on the economic progress we've made and the fact that an estimated 90 percent of middle-class families received a tax cut.\r\nAfter all, if Democrats acknowledged that tax cuts have made life better for families, it would be even harder for them to defend the massive middle-class tax hikes that would be needed to fund their socialist proposals like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.\r\nIt's unfortunate that Democrats are so opposed to policies that have made life better for millions of families.\r\nI'm proud of all that we've achieved for American families with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.\r\nAnd I will continue to work with my colleagues to keep our economy growing and expand opportunities for Americans even further.", 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": ["http://www.thune.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=6F06E6F9-75A0-43A9-95F0-0BE056E71389"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9485140908509493, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": 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