WASHINGTON, D.C. –  House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) delivered the following remarks at House Republican Leadership’s stakeout celebrating the six month anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

CLICK HERE to watch the stakeout.

Remarks as delivered: 

“Six months ago Republicans in Congress joined with President Trump for the most sweeping tax cuts and redesign of our tax code in a generation.

“We were determined to make sure families and local businesses kept more of what they earned.

“We redesigned this code so our local businesses and our local workers can compete and win anywhere in the world, especially here at home. ​

“We created a tax code built for growth that leapfrogs America back into the lead of the pack as one of the best places on the planet for that next new job, that next new manufacturing plant, that next new headquarters.

“So to show you the difference between then and now, we’ve gone from a nation that’s asking where are the jobs to a nation asking where are the workers.

“Main Street is roaring back, growing, and hiring.

“Businesses are bringing back their dollars from overseas and investing in America again. Families are not only keeping more of what they earn, for many of them their utility bills are lower and their benefits at work are better.

“But now there is a new hope and a new optimism that wasn’t there before. And remember where we started: for the last decade America was in slow-growth mode, it was like our economy was going through a school zone. ​

“And every signpost — high taxes, uncompetitive tax code — certainly slowed America’s economy down. Now we’re back on the highway where America used to be, where every signpost says ‘hitting on all cylinders, let’s grow faster.’

“And we’re seeing this around the country, literally I cannot go to a community, I cannot find a business that isn’t looking for more workers and looking to pay their own workers more. All this is incredibly important.

“Under the old tax code, economists told us, ‘slow growth from the last decade: just get used to it. Those American companies moving overseas every month: just get used to it.’ Students coming out of school who couldn’t find good-paying jobs, they told us, ‘just get used to it, it’s the new normal in America.’

“Well we refused to accept those forecasts, and this new tax bill has delivered a new era of prosperity for America. And I believe the best is yet to come because I believe so much of this work with congressional Republicans and the President was designed to change where businesses put their manufacturing plants, their research, their patents in technology to create a giant sucking sound back to the United States of these jobs and investments. That’s exactly what we’re seeing.

“I was in New England the other day visiting with a medical company that has had three breakthrough medicines and working on its fourth. And their CEO said, ‘look, this new tax code has changed everything: our research won’t be done in London, it will be done in the United States. Our patents won’t be located in Ireland, they’ll be back here in America. And if we can find the workers, the advanced manufacturing of our products will be done here in New England.’

“We’re seeing this all throughout the country, so there’s new hope and there’s new opportunity. And we’re going to continue, as the Speaker said, every year.

“We are changing the culture in Washington where Congress waits thirty years between improving our tax code while our global competitors continue to distance themselves.

“Those days are over.

“America’s going to stay in the lead pack. Every year we will work to make America more competitive, more innovative, and make sure our tax code is family friendly.

“Every year.

“So there’s only one party looking out for the pocketbooks and the hopes and the paychecks of middle class America and that’s the Republican Party. Period. Thank you.”