Rounds: ‘Goal is to make country’s economy healthy’

HURON – An overhaul of the nation’s tax system for the first time in more than a generation will mean more money in the pockets of everyday Americans while allowing businesses to be more competitive, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said Friday.
His conference call with reporters came a day after the House passed a tax bill and just hours after the Senate Finance Committee voted in favor of its version in a late-night session.
“Our goal is to make the American economy healthy,” Rounds said. “That’s what this is all about.”
Other countries have been lowering their tax rates so businesses are more competitive. The United States has lost more than 4,700 businesses overseas, which also means a loss of their employees and the ability to invest their profits here, he said.
The GOP bill will relieve the tax burden on families, Rounds said.
“They will have more in their paychecks; they can decide what they want to do with that money.”
The Senate version went a step farther in that it repeals the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
By repealing it, there will be even more relief for middle income earners, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., a member of the finance committee, said in a news release.
It will raise more than $318 billion over 10 years, Rounds said.
“I’ve said all along I really do believe that we should eliminate that individual mandate,” he said.

While the House bill passed on a near party-line vote of 227-205, the fate of the Senate version remains unclear as Congress takes its holiday break.
Democrats are criticizing the GOP tax plans by saying they will help the wealthy, but do little for others. Millions of Americans will lose their health insurance, they say.
Thune also said tax reform will mean more growth in the economy.
“Our plan cuts taxes for Americans of all income groups and provides a substantial tax cut for middle-income families,” he said.
“By doubling the standard deduction, cutting tax rates and increasing the child tax credit, we’re able to put more money in the pockets of everyday Americans,” he said.
Rounds said he is convinced, as are others in Congress, that Americans want to have confidence that the economy will be healthy again.
The battle is far from over.
“I do think that there could be some additional modifications,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a done deal yet.”
With its narrow majority, if Republicans are able to pass a bill out of the Senate it must then be reconciled with the House version.
There is no such thing as a perfect tax bill, Rounds said. But he said he believes the GOP plan will be better than what is in place today.
Meanwhile, Rounds was asked about sexual harassment accusations against Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and the growing number of women who are coming forward to reveal that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore had targeted them years ago when they were teen-agers and he was in his 30s.
Rounds said he and others in the Senate have made it clear that with the preponderance of the allegations and the lack of an adequate response that they recommend Moore step aside.
But the ultimate decision on the election Dec. 12 rests with Alabama voters, he said.
Should Moore be elected, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated that ethics charges would be filed, Rounds said. Moore can’t be prevented from being sworn in, but he could be disciplined through the Senate Ethics Committee, he said.
The committee could recommend that the full Senate reprimand or remove Moore from office, he said.
Franken has already apologized.
The complaint in his case came from one woman, stemming from an incident in 2006 before Franken was in the Senate.
“But nonetheless, there is an appropriate process in place in the Senate and that is through the ethics committee once again,” Rounds said.