Ways and Means opening: lawmaker lauds 2017 tax law, warns against OECD global minimum tax

An unidentified member of the House Ways and Means committee opened the hearing by thanking witnesses and using his opening statement to defend recent Republican tax legislation and criticize proposed international tax rules.

The member praised the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, saying it "made this nation the best place in the world to build, to invest in, and to create jobs," and credited the law with reversing an "unstoppable trend" of corporate inversions. He said Republican lawmakers later worked to strengthen that policy and that, on "07/04/2025, president Trump signed his signature Working Families Tax Cuts act into law," a measure the speaker said "protects and creates over 7,000,000 American jobs." These figures and the job-creation claim were presented by the speaker as his characterization of the legislation.

The speaker cited an analysis "by the Joint Committee on Taxation," saying "The United States was slated to lose over a $120,000,000,000 in tax revenue over 10 years under the global minimum tax." He used that figure to argue against OECD proposals known as "pillar 1 and pillar 2," calling the international rules and related technical language an "alphabet soup" that confuses the public and, in his view, would harm American businesses and taxpayers.

The speaker also alleged that "President Biden and Secretary Yellen bypassed congress on these negotiations," presenting that as a criticism of how the prior administration handled international tax talks. He said the Trump administration then reversed those policies and that Treasury officials and other administration staff had worked to secure a different international tax deal. The transcript includes one garbled title for an additional official referenced; that title was not clear in the transcript and is reported here as unclear.

Direct quotes are attributed to the opening speaker. Examples include: "In 2017, president Trump, Congress, and specifically, Republican members of Ways and Means Committee passed the greatest tax reform seen in decades" and, on the potential revenue impact of a global minimum tax, "The United States was slated to lose over a $120,000,000,000 in tax revenue over 10 years." The speaker ended his remarks by yielding to Ranking Member Thompson.

What happened next: the speaker yielded the floor to Ranking Member Thompson for his opening statement; no formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript segment.

Note on transcript clarity: several administrative titles and one phrase in the transcript are garbled (for example, a referenced "secretary of descent"). Where the transcript text is unclear, this article indicates claims and quotations as attributed in the transcript without asserting identities beyond those clearly named (for example, "Secretary Yellen" and the referenced presidents).