WASHINGTON (Mitchell Now) — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:

Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):

“The good news for the American people as they start their new year is that they’re going to have, on average, $3,700 more money in their pocket as a result of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act that we passed this last summer.

“Not only do you get the permanent increase in the standard deduction, you get the permanent increase in the child tax credit.

“You get all kinds of business incentives for businesses to invest, make capital investments in this country – whether that’s bonus depreciation, interest deductibility, R&D, expensing the 199A deduction, permanent death tax relief, something that I worked on.

“Those are all investments that’re going to pay off, because what they’re going to lead to is higher-paying jobs, better wages for people in this country, more money in their pocket to take care of themselves and their families.

“And the other thing that was included in that – and you’re starting now to see as a result of some of the things that we did – the reforms taking place, dealing with, for example, Medicaid, SNAP program work requirements, eligibility checks, making sure that illegal immigrants are not getting the benefit of some of these programs.

“Those were all things that were also included in that piece of legislation that we passed last summer, and that’s really coming into focus now because of what’s happening in the state of Minnesota.

“We are seeing up close and personal a real example of how some of these government programs are taken advantage of and benefits delivered to people who are not eligible.

“Our whole goal in that legislation last summer was to make sure that the people who are supposed to benefit from government assistance actually do benefit and it’s not being abused and gamed by states and people around this country.

“So we think there are just benefits that’re going to continue to play out the course of this next year for the American people.

“And we think this year, when they start filing their tax returns, it’s going to be a good day for them, because they’re going to have a lot more money in their pocket than they would have if the Democrats had had their way and we weren’t able to get the … Working Families Tax Cuts bill passed into law.”