This is not an official government website.
© 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions members such as John Thune.
Issued
April 20, 2026
senate side of the record
People
2
Linked members mentioned in this section
Legislation
0
No linked legislation in this section
Committees
0
No linked committees in this section
Senate Holds
0
No hold activity linked here
Source Document
Connected Data
People mentioned
Source Control
Reader mode is for comprehension. The linked government PDF is the official published source.
Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. THUNE. Mr. President, tax day was last week, and I would like to read a brief excerpt from a Washington Post article.
The title of this article: “Tax refunds shoot up as Americans take advantage of new deductions.”
And here is the excerpt:
Karen Richardson, 68, has had a predictable tax return
since she retired from her job administering government
benefits four years ago. She lives on a fixed income and
usually owes some money at tax time, so she was surprised to
get a $1,000 refund this year due to the senior deduction.
“The Big Beautiful Bill worked for me,” she said, “I
didn't think it applied to more than the richer people. . . .
I really didn't think it applied to me.”
Well, as Ms. Richardson and many other hard-working Americans have discovered, the Big Beautiful Bill, the Working Families Tax Cuts, does indeed apply to them. It worked for them this tax season, and it will work for them in future tax seasons.
nearly doubled the standard deduction. And all of this made a significant difference to working families' tax bills. But this relief was scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, which meant that starting this January, Americans would have seen a lot more of their paychecks going to the Federal Government.
Republicans were determined not to let that happen. And so last summer, we passed the Working Families Tax Cut to prevent a massive $2.6 trillion tax hike on Americans making less than $400,000.
But we didn't just prevent a tax hike. In addition to ensuring that Americans can keep enjoying lower tax rates, Republicans passed a number of additional tax relief measures. We boosted the standard deduction again. We increased the child tax credit and linked it to inflation so its value will never go down. We instituted no tax on tips. We instituted no tax on overtime and more.
And hard-working Americans are reaping the benefits. This tax season more than 30 million seniors claimed the new bonus deduction for older Americans. More than a million taxpayers bought an American-made car and were able to deduct an average of $1,800 in auto loan interest on that new vehicle. More than 25 million American workers were able to deduct overtime pay from their taxes, resulting in substantial tax savings.
their taxes. And that doesn't even count the parents who were able to
advantaged accounts for their child or all the Americans, all of the Americans who benefited from our further increase in the standard deduction.
The Working Families Tax Cut is working for working families. The New York Times recently interviewed a number of taxpayers. The Times reported:
Many of the taxpayers said they had received their largest
refund in years, money that is going toward paying down
credit card debt, catching up on bills, padding savings
accounts or covering the cost of a vacation.
“money that is going toward paying down credit card debt, catching up on bills, padding savings accounts or covering the cost of a vacation.”
to free up money that families could use to do things like pay down debt or put away for a rainy day or take a much-needed vacation. Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, Americans now have a little more breathing room in their budget.
prescription drugs more affordable at the pharmacy counter, or legislation to address the cost of housing, Republicans will continue to work to make life more affordable for hard-working Americans.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.