Cornyn: As Republicans Work Towards Tax Reform, Democrats Refuse to Join Process

Recently on the Senate floor, I urged my Democrat colleagues in the Senate to join the Republican effort to overhaul our outdated tax code and continue their support for tax reform principals they have endorsed in the past. Excerpts of my remarks are below, and video of my remarks can be found here.

I want to address the work that the House Ways and Means Committee is currently engaged in and what we will be doing in the United States Senate to reform our overly complex, burdensome, and self-destructive tax system.

Chairman Hatch will continue to guide the committee through an open process and members will have the chance to engage in productive discussions and debate.

Some of our colleagues across the aisle have, instead of contributing to the solution to this overly complex and self-destructive tax code, have been lobbing insults from their partisan bunkers, even though many of them have endorsed many of the aspects of the plans in years past.

It's ironic that as they were criticizing us for giving tax relief to businesses, that people like President Barack Obama back in 2011 endorsed the very same concept, not to mention the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Wyden and the Democratic Leader, Senator Schumer. All of them have endorsed similar proposals yet were quick to criticize our proposal doing exactly the thing that they themselves had previously endorsed.

People are crying out for Democrats and Republicans to work together in the best interest of the country. And unfortunately, our Democratic friends are simply ignoring the urgency of the situation.

The tax code has not been comprehensively overhauled since 1986. Now that some of us are trying to, the Swamp is fighting back.

We can't let them stop us because hardworking families are waiting.