A Very Very Big Milestone: Speaker Ryan Marks Passage of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

WASHINGTONToday House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Republicans held an open press event in the Capitol to mark passage of H.R. 1 the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Following are the Speakers remarks as delivered:

I want to thank the man in the House who made this day possible: our joyful field general from Houston our good friend and leader Kevin Brady. Ive got to say this is nothing short of extraordinary. Let me just tell you getting 218 members to agree on something as complicated as the . . . well we needed 218. Okay let me rephrase it:  Getting 227 members to agree on something as complicated . . . This country has not rewritten its tax code since 1986. The powers of the status quo in this town are so strong. Yet 227 men and women of this Congress broke through that today. That is powerful. Of course I want to thank not just the members who made this possible today I want to thank the president I want to thank his administration and I want to thank our partners in the Senate who are doing their work as well. From the very start we said that failure is not an option and the president and his team have worked so constructively every step of the way with us. Hes been a tremendous partner on this issue. And you know Ive just got to say how proud I am of this conference. Tax reform is so very hard. But we know that there are people who are really struggling in this country. We know that we are just coming through a decade of real economic anxiety. And we know that this is a nation that has so much more potential that has not yet been tapped. Thats what this day is about. Thats what getting this done is about. This is about giving hardworking taxpayers bigger paychecks more take-home pay. This is about giving those families who are struggling peace of mind. Its about getting this economy to grow faster so that we get bigger wages more jobs and we put America in the drivers seat of the global economy once again. Its about giving people hope and a new opportunity. And its about making sure that America continues to be the best place in the worldthe best place in the worldto live to thrive to start a business to create a job to grow to construct. Weve got a long road ahead of us. This is a very very big milestone in that long road. Weve got a long road ahead of us and we have a timeline to get this done by the end of the year. We have the Senate right now working on doing this. Were excited about going through the legislative process going to conference getting this done making this bill even better. But most importantly I am excited on behalf of the American people who are waiting to see us get this done.