U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today released the following statement after the U.S. Senate passed his amendment to the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spending spree that would protect small- and medium-sized businesses from a brand-new $35 billion tax increase.

“At the last minute, Senate Democrats attempted to sneak yet another tax hike on American job creators into their reckless tax-and-spending spree, but fortunately, common sense prevailed,” said Thune. “The adoption of my amendment will protect small- and medium-sized businesses, many of which are trying to recover from the pandemic and survive a rocky economy, from this onerous tax hike.”

The Democrats’ latest reckless tax-and-spending spree, introduced and made public for the first time Saturday, includes a change that would require separate businesses of any size held by funds or partnerships to combine their otherwise unrelated income to determine if they meet an aggregate $1 billion income threshold – subjecting each respective company to the new tax even if its own income is far too low. Without successful passage of Thune’s amendment, more than 18,000 small- and medium-sized businesses in the United States that employ 11.7 million workers would risk being subjected to $35 billion in tax hikes. This amendment is offset by extending the cap for one year on the state and local tax deduction.