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Ways and Means Republicans Achieved Victories For Americans in 2019

January 08, 2020

As Democrats played political games and obsessed over impeachment, Ways and Means Republicans scored big wins for the American people throughout 2019 including moving USMCA, reforming the IRS, and permanently repealing Obamacare’s trillion-dollar tax hikes, lowering Americans’ tax burden.

 

Making Health Care Work for Patients, Not Washington

REPEALED Medical Device Tax: Ends a tax that took a serious toll on innovation in medical devices and cost thousands of researchers their jobs—a major Republican priority.

REPEALED Health Insurance Tax: Saves individuals and families real money, since Obamacare’s tax on health insurers was passed on to consumers and resulted in higher premiums for everyone.

REPEALED Cadillac Tax: Helps working families by eliminating the significant uncertainty caused by Obamacare’s egregious 40 percent excise tax on high-cost employer health plans.

EXTENDED Enhanced Medical Expense Deduction: Ensures people with high health care costs will continue to be able to deduct more of their medical expenses.

STOPPED Nancy Pelosi’s “Fewer Cures” Bill: Revealed Speaker Pelosi’s deadly “Fewer Cures” bill to have no future, while three provisions of a bipartisan alternative offered by Republicans will become a law this year. That’s three more than Pelosi’s bill which estimates showed would lead to the loss of 38 to 100 cures.

EXPANDED Laboratory Access for Seniors: Ensures millions of seniors who depend on essential lab tests don’t lose access to these tests based on insufficient data.

PROTECTED Wheelchairs for Patients with Significant Disabilities: Provides important protections to patients with significant disabilities such as ALS, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and spinal cord injury.

 

Transforming the IRS

ENACTED Major IRS Overhaul: Overhauls the IRS for the first time in 20 years, creates a truly independent appeals process so taxpayer claims are heard, ensures taxpayers and the IRS have the same information, better protects taxpayers’ information, reins in agency abuses, and guarantees fair and due process for families and local businesses. (Taxpayer First Act)

 

Leveling the Trading Field for American Job Creators

PASSED A Modernized and Pro-Growth Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico: Poised to create 176,000 jobs and spur over $68 billion in economic growth while strengthening enforcement and bringing North American trade into the 21st Century. (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement)

ANNOUNCED Enforceable Disciplines on China: New agreement boosts our economy by forcing China to reform and end harmful practices regarding intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange; to be signed January 15.

NOW IN EFFECT More Access to Japan for U.S. Ag and Tech: New phase one trade agreement makes over 90 percent of U.S. food and agriculture exports to Japan either duty free or more accessible, effective January 1, 2020. A digital trade agreement will benefit manufacturers, service providers, and agribusiness.

PASSED Resolution Reaffirming American Commitment to the WTO: Reaffirms our commitment to the WTO and encourages the Administration to continue to urge other WTO members to work to achieve needed reforms.

 

Helping Workers Have a Prosperous Retirement

ENACTED Make it Easier to Save for the Future: Empowers Main Street businesses to offer retirement plans for workers and allows Americans to save earlier and longer for retirement. (SECURE Act)

MARKED UP Better Retirement Planning Through Choice: Allows Americans to choose whether to receive their Social Security Statement online or in the mail.

 

Putting Families First and Supporting America’s Workers

PASSED Keep American Families Intact: Keeps more children safely at home by helping states bring their child welfare programs into the 21st century. (The Family First Transition Act)

MARKED UP Improving Access to Reemployment Services for Unemployed: Invests in our workforce by helping more people get back to work more quickly after they have lost their job through no fault of their own. (BRIDGE Act)

ENACTED Increasing Americans’ Access to Paid Family Leave: Provides 12 weeks of paid family leave to 2.1 million federal workers, extends a tax credit for employers that offer paid family and medical leave, and adds new flexibility to allow Americans who just had a baby or adopted a child to take a withdrawal of up to $5,000 from their retirement accounts without penalty.