Skip to main content

Scalise: We are going to build on economic success with Tax Cuts 2.0

September 6, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the House Leadership stakeout today, Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) highlighted the good news he has been hearing around his district from families and small business owners that are seeing the benefits of pro-growth Republican policies like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Americans across the country now have more money in their pockets and thousands of businesses like the Gnarly Barley Brewing Company in Hammond, Louisiana are now able to expand, increase hiring, or offer more benefits for their employees. Republicans plan to continue this success with Tax Cuts 2.0 and permanently cut taxes for Americans. He then addressed the Energy and Commerce hearing today with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and his plans to seek answers on the platforms' bias against conservatives.

Image removed.

Click here or on the image above to watch his remarks.

On the benefits Americans are seeing from pro-growth Republican policies:

"I do want to first say my thoughts and prayers go out to our friends along the Gulf Coast who experienced damage from Tropical Storm Gordon, and for all those first responders, the people that are helping their neighbors get back on their feet. We'll continue to support them like they've always supported us.

"You know, I had the same opportunity to get around my district, and other parts of the country over these last few weeks. It's exciting to see people's attitudes, to see just how they're experiencing personal benefits from the tax cuts that we passed.

"And you start with just having more money in people's pockets. The fact that we lowered every single rate and now you're seeing people experiencing more money in their paychecks. They’re also seeing the benefits because so many companies have given benefits to their workers.

"We've been tracking, at majoritywhip.gov, all of the major national companies. We're actually over 700 national companies that have given pay raises or benefits to their employees, but you see the same thing from small businesses.

"And just as Bradley [Byrne] and Cathy [McMorris Rodgers] talked about businesses in their districts, I've been happy to share the success of a number of businesses. The one I have the most fun talking about is Gnarly Barley, a small brewery in Hammond, Louisiana. It was a six-person company. It is a family-run business. They weren't even able to provide health care benefits to their employees before we passed the tax cuts bill. But now that we have, they're actually able to provide health care benefits and set up a 401(k) program for their employees because of what we did."

On making the tax cuts permanent with Tax Cuts 2.0:

"And we're going to build on that success. We're not resting on our laurels. We're seeing this great economic growth, so we're now starting to put together Tax Cuts 2.0. On Thursday, I'll be hosting a member briefing with Chairman Brady to start putting together that next bill so that we can keep this success going.

"Because of Senate rules, some of the tax cuts had to be temporary. We wanted to make them all permanent, and in fact, in our bill, we will make those tax cuts permanent.

"…If you looked at what the rhetoric was when we were moving our tax cut bill through the House, there were all of these statements. You heard Pelosi and all the liberals decrying how it's not going to benefit the middle class. And in fact, now we're seeing the biggest beneficiaries of this bill are the middle class of this country, the hard-working people who had been left behind for so many years. They're finally able to get back in the workforce and experience their piece of the American Dream.

"I would challenge all those Democrats who voted 'no' because of a misunderstanding—we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt with all the lies that were told about the bill, too—now that they're seeing that those hard-working families across the country are benefiting, I challenge them to switch their vote and now vote 'yes' to make those tax cuts permanent to help those working families that are benefiting from this success.

"We've got a lot more success that we're going to build on. We're not resting on our laurels. We're seeing great economic benefits from what we've done as House Republicans with this majority. Let's keep building and growing this economy and letting Americans be part of the American Dream."

On questioning Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about conservative bias:

"And finally, as Cathy mentioned, we're going to have the CEO of Twitter come before our committee on Energy and Commerce today. I know I have some tough questions, just as when Mark Zuckerberg came before our committee, when we saw some of the bias that was coming against conservatives in different parts of social media.

"We see that continuing on. We want to make sure that these tough questions are going to be answered. And let's, at least, have a level playing field with all these different platforms of social media."