Mr. REID. Mr. President, when President Obama proposed a plan yesterday to simplify our corporate Tax Code and lower rates for businesses, I expected Republicans all over the country but especially here in Congress to jump for joy. I think there are many people around the country who were satisfied and happy, but the Republican leadership in the Congress surprised me and I think a lot of people by their reaction. Just a few months ago Leader McConnell signaled he would be open to a plan to reform the Tax Code. This is what he said:
I'm told President Obama is going to come out for lowering the corporate tax rate. To the extent he wants to do some of these things, our answer is going to be yes.
It is amazing how quickly his answer went from yes to no, no. Republicans have favored corporate tax reform for decades. We have heard them say so. This was one of the mantras during the Presidential campaign. But now that President Obama is proposing it, Republicans are opposing it.
The President's thoughtful approach would couple lower tax rates, corporate tax rates, with investments in job-creating measures, such as roads and bridges and dams, worker training programs, and manufacturing incentives.
He was in the State of Tennessee when he made this announcement. They are a picture book as to how corporate interests there can really move on. They have done a great job in Tennessee, and I would bet that at every corporation in Tennessee they were elated to hear what President Obama had to say yesterday.
It is going to take a balanced approach and include smart spending cuts, closing wasteful loopholes and asking corporations that will benefit from lower tax rates to contribute their fair share. Even Speaker Boehner supported this approach in the past. This is what he said just a short time ago:
If we want to put Americans back to work, I think lowering the corporate tax rate is critically important. And to do that, I think we have to look at the tax-expenditure side, the deductions, credits, and other gimmicks that may be in the tax code and that have accumulated over the last 30 years.
I do not say this very often, but Speaker Boehner was right.
This is the kind of balanced approach to deficit reduction the American people favor--a simpler tax code that lowers rates, makes our businesses more competitive, but also raises new revenue to invest in job creation. We have learned that the sequestration has already cut 1.6 million jobs, so we need job creation. We need to help the middle class by creating jobs. As President Obama said, if we are going to give businesses a better deal, we need to give workers a better deal also. We can use the money we save by simplifying the Tax Code to create jobs now, right away, jobs that can never be outsourced. Both Democrats and Republicans can get something they want, and the economy gets the shot in the arm it needs.
We have already cut the deficit in half over the last 3 years--that is the yearly deficit--and we have already saved $2.6 trillion from the accumulated debt. Democrats know there is more to be done. We certainly do. But we will not agree to any plan that balances the budget by killing jobs even more than already and whacking the middle class, and that is while holding the richest individuals and corporations harmless.
Democrats believe we must offset the harsh spending cuts of the last few years with job creation that puts the middle class back on track. To get the economy back to full steam, we should be making targeted investments in areas such as infrastructure and education--things that have always helped America grow and succeed.