October 26,2017

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202-224-4515, Katie Niederee and Julia Lawless

Finance Committee Republicans Praise Budget Passage, Paving Way for Tax Reform

Budget’s Finance Committee Reconciliation Instruction, A Critical Step Toward Comprehensive Tax Overhaul

The Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Resolution, with a $1.5 trillion instruction to the Senate Finance Committee, will allow Finance Committee members to produce a comprehensive tax reform bill that will spur economic growth, make the United States more competitive, and allow working families to save more of their hard-earned dollars. With a final budget in place, the Senate Finance Committee is ready to continue its work to advance a comprehensive tax overhaul.   

“…Congress is unified in its effort to advance a comprehensive tax overhaul that will shift the nation’s economic landscape and provide relief to middle-class families. Under the leadership of Chairman Enzi, the Budget Committee produced a strong budget with a reconciliation instruction that will give the Finance Committee the headroom it needs to develop the best pro-growth policies to achieve our goal.” —Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) 

“The budget we are debating this week paves the way for fundamental tax reform. For more than a decade, both sides of the aisle have talked about the need for tax reform that provides tax simplification, tax fairness, and increases our economic competiveness.” —U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) 

“The momentum in Congress and the Administration to comprehensively reform our complex, costly to comply with, unfair and anti-competitive tax code is encouraging. Comprehensive tax reform can not only help set our nation on a more sound and competitive economic course, but also simplifying the tax code would be beneficial to Americans who exhaust finances and time filing under the current overly-complex tax code.” —U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) 

“Our tax code is burdensome, confusing and outdated…There is widespread, bipartisan agreement on the need for tax reform, and I’m pleased the Senate took this important step toward providing tax relief to hardworking Americans.” —U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) 

“This budget resolution is the first step to pro-growth tax reform, as it will provide the fiscal headroom needed for the tax-writing committees in the Senate and the House to produce tax reform legislation.” —U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) 

“The first step to achieving our goal of overhauling our antiquated and uncompetitive tax code is passing a Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Resolution…Helping working families is one of the most important benefits of tax reform...” —U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) 

“Senate Republicans are working toward a pro-growth tax plan that will provide relief to working families and move the economy forward...Today’s passage of the budget resolution is a critical step toward achieving that goal.” U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) 

“I’m very pleased to take the first steps in the Senate towards reforming our country’s broken tax code. It’s been far too long since there has been a serious overhaul of our tax system, and the time to act is now… we are on our way to starting the legislative process to simplify the code, encourage companies to bring money back home from overseas, and put hard-earned dollars back in the pockets of millions of North Carolinians and Americans who need it most.” —U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) 

“This [budget] resolution…paves the way for comprehensive tax reform to fix our broken tax code, provide relief to middle-class Americans and help keep jobs here in the United States.

—U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) 

“Nothing is more important than fixing this broken tax code if we’re going to see the kind of economic growth and improvement in wages that we all hope for…What we have the opportunity to do here in this tax reform bill….” —U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) 

“The budget resolution is about giving us the tool to later this year pass tax reform… What happens if we have stronger economic growth? We increase the standard of living much more quickly. People get to see their kids having a better life, a better standard of living than they had, and they can see that that trend is going to continue.”  —U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) 

“…I know the hard work that goes into every paycheck and that’s why I’m pleased the U.S. Senate made progress toward delivering tax relief to Nevada families. By passing the budget, we are now one step closer to making sure that Nevadans can keep more of their money so that they can invest in their educations, homes, and futures.” —U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) 

“Our goal is simple – we want to help hardworking Americans see a pay increase and make sure the jobs of the future are created here at home. The good news is we can now make that happen.” —U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) 

“Pleased the Senate took this key step in moving tax reform forward. Next step will be working with colleagues on the Finance Committee to produce a bill that gives tax relief to working families and helps accelerate our country's economic growth.” —U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)

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