WASHINGTON—Today, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will deliver his first major speech on tax reform at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) 2017 Manufacturing Summit. The following are excerpts from the address, which will be live-streamed on NAM.org and speaker.gov/live at 12:45pm ET:
On a more confident America
“We want an America where people are confident we can withstand any challenge, and emerge even stronger. This, to me, is the great task before us. Because these are anxious times. We all feel it. It is not something we often think about in the rush of our daily lives, but we are being tested. Our capacity to come together and to always move forward toward a better, stronger nation is being tested.”
On the importance of this moment
“So in just five months, we have made some real progress getting government out of your way. And your support has been a big reason why. Thank you. But once in a generation or so, there is an opportunity to do something transformational—something that will have a truly lasting impact long after we are gone. That moment is here and we are going to meet it. We are going to fix this nation’s tax code once and for all.”
On the need for individual AND business reform
“Finally—and most importantly—we will use the savings from eliminating these loopholes to lower tax rates. Let me say that again: We are going to cut taxes. But if we are going to truly fix our tax code, we have to fix all of it—both for individuals and businesses. Why? Because this will create jobs. That is what this is all about: jobs, jobs, jobs. Good, high-paying jobs.”
On keeping jobs here in America
“We are actually unique in the world in the way we discourage capital from coming back to America and how we incentivize off-shoring jobs. This is not the kind of exceptionalism we should aspire to. Today, U.S. companies are leaving to become foreign companies. It should be the other way around. We want foreign companies to become U.S. companies. We must think differently, so that once again we make things here and export them around the world. There are a number of ways to achieve this—we in the House have our own idea—and that is one of the things that we are discussing with the administration. But the bottom line here is this: We cannot accept a system that perpetuates the drain of American businesses overseas.”
On the need for permanence
“There is one last piece to this puzzle, and it goes back to the idea that all of this is about looking down the road, and planning for the future. These reforms—these tax cuts—they need to be permanent. Every expert agrees that temporary reforms will only have a negligible impact on wages and economic growth. Businesses need to have confidence that we will not pull the rug out from under them. They need the certainty from permanent tax cuts to hire more workers, invest in their businesses, and plan for the future.” |
