Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) holds a press briefing.
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00:00Good afternoon, everyone. I think as everybody knows, this is Small Business Week, which is the week we celebrate our nation's small businesses, which do represent the backbone of our economy.
00:15If you look at the definition, 99% of the businesses in this country are considered to be small businesses. They are folks that are out there investing every day, creating jobs, and making our economy pump.
00:31So as we think about Small Business Week and what they need in order to keep them doing the things that they do to create better-paying jobs, invest in their economy, grow their businesses, we think the tax code is a big part of that.
00:45In the 2017 Task Cuts and Jobs Act, there were clear provisions that were designed to incentivize buy incentives for our small businesses to invest and grow, and many of those are going to be expired at the end of this year.
01:00And so we believe that we need to not only extend, but make permanent those very provisions that, in the 2017 law, I was involved in writing that bill.
01:13There were a couple of key issues. We wanted to lower rates, and we wanted to accelerate or create faster income, cost recovery for businesses, so they wouldn't have that incentive too fast.
01:22It worked, and we had remarkable results in our economy. So we think that making those provisions permanent will lead to even more growth in our economy.
01:32In fact, the National Federation of Independent Businesses estimated that making the 2017 Task Cuts and Jobs Act permanent would lead to 1.2 million jobs,
01:43graded each year. And there's some suggestion that could be significantly larger as time goes on.
01:50In the alternative, if we don't extend and make permanent the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, at the end of this year, our small businesses are going to be facing a $600 billion tax hike.
02:03And that is what the Democrats here are going to be voting for if they choose not to work with us to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
02:12What I can tell you is Republicans are totally committed, Senate, House, and White House, to ensuring that we have conditions for small businesses in this country that are favorable to economic growth, favorable to investment, favorable to creating better paying jobs, and ensuring that workers in this country have the best economy available for them and their families that leads to higher wages and better benefits.
02:37But that, I would love to have you.
02:42It's an amazing question.
02:44Democrats are threatening to vote against this stable point bill that's coming out of the committee.
02:49Aren't you still planning to go to buy a vote on that?
02:51Are there any changes to do that?
02:52Well, I've made it clear to the Democrats that we welcome any suggestions they have about changes.
02:58And remember, there have been a ton of changes made already.
03:01So, the Republican authors of that bill, working with the Democrat authors of the bill, have produced six different versions in response to feedback that they've gotten.
03:10And so, if you look at Bill Hadrian, Cynthia Lummis, Kirsten Gillibrand, the people who have worked on it and authored this bill,
03:18they have now gone, put a draft out there, got it back, put it back out there, got it back, and a lot of the feedback they've received is from Democrats.
03:27Six different times have done it.
03:28So, this is like an iterative process that's been going on for several months.
03:31And it had a markup on the Senate Banking Committee, which is what I've always said.
03:35We want to go through regular order.
03:36We want to make sure that these bills have a process whereby other members have a chance to offer amendments.
03:43And they did.
03:44There were 40-plus amendments that were considered at the Senate Banking Committee in a three-and-a-half-hour markup.
03:49So, there has been a ton of process already for this.
03:53I guess my question is, when will the Democrats take a yes-per-answer?
03:57And if they have other suggestions of things that they want incorporated into the draft, we are certainly welcome to taking a look at and working with them on that.
04:06But we need to start moving forward.
04:08This is a piece of legislation that has brought bipartisan support.
04:11I think we did it on the floor.
04:13It could be really good to all of the Republicans and Democrats.
04:17But we've got to get it there.
04:19And right now, Democrats are talking about filibuster, blocking, even proceeding to the bill.
04:26And we think it's important that we proceed to it.
04:28And hopefully, ultimately, we can stop.
04:30We have a few of your raised concerns regarding cuts, spending, too much spending.
04:37So, it's appropriate for Trump to be going for a military parade and also rebuilding Alcatraz, both of which would be extremely expensive.
04:45Well, I mean, I think that what sounds to me like the military parade is something we may have.
04:50And it's the 250th anniversary birthday, if you will, of the Army.
04:54And I think it's something that, you know, obviously, our country probably will enjoy, celebrating the heritage and history that we have of the Army and how we can use our national security.
05:07So, I don't, I think that's something that sounds like, to me, that already works.
05:11The other proposal Alcatraz could know about.
05:14We haven't seen any formal proposals along that.
05:16The President has made suggestions about it.
05:18So, you know, we'll take, we'll look at all of these proposals that come out of the White House as they come up to us.
05:25But we haven't seen .
05:26Leader, Senator, Leader, Senator.
05:28Can Republicans flip the Georgia Senate seat at Martin to agree with the nominee?
05:31And will you move to discharge Ed Martin from the advisory committee where the foundation is from as well?
05:37Well, I think on the first question, we believe Georgia's going to be competitive.
05:40We have no idea who the Republican nominee would be at this point.
05:44But, as I said earlier, I'm encouraged by the fact there's a lot of interest in the Republicans of Georgia,
05:50both sitting house members and some statewide office officials who are taking part of the race.
05:56And we'll see how it all shakes out.
05:58But I expect Georgia will be a competitive race.
06:01We'll be close to the event.
06:02But I think it's a race that we can win.
06:04And Ed Martin, obviously, is a big decision that's going to happen by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
06:11My understanding is they haven't said anything on that yet.
06:14And so, you know, we will cross that bridge if and when we come to it.
06:18But it's ultimately going to be a big decision that the Judiciary Committee makes first.