This browser does not support the Video element.
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - For John Cornyn, grinding out a key for the first time at Southland Hardware came pretty easy, but for the senator from Texas "unlocking" economic growth by reducing taxes has been far more difficult -- a decade-long challenge which culminated around Christmas with a $1.5 trillion cut aimed at producing jobs and raising wages.
"That really was our goal, trying to get the economy growing again," said Cornyn as he visited the store on Westheimer.
Hammered by critics as a "giveaway to the rich", Cornyn and fellow Republicans deeply crave evidence the monster cut is helping Main Street as much as Wall Street.
At family owned Southland, Cornyn hit the jackpot.
Amid aisle after aisle of merchandise, owner Marty O'Brien reported hiring more and paying more thanks to passage of a permanent tax break.
"It will also help us out with bonuses for the employees. You want to hold onto to those good employees you have and they are the ones that really make the business because of the service aspect," said O'Brien
Other family owned businesses are telling the same story -- with taxes cutting less deeply into profits, they say they're finally in position to prosper.
"By lowering the tax rate, it levels the playing field for small businesses to compete against large businesses," said John Cho of Empire Tools, a firm founded in Houston.
"I had an employee come to me after it passed and they had a $150 increase in their take home and that's really all they care about," said Stephen Fraga, President of Tejas Office Products.
But not everyone is a fan. Advocates for the poor say, those who can afford it least will suffer the most from corporations paying less.
"To make up for it, they are going to have to have spending cuts and the spending cuts are to programs that help the average American like Medicare, Medicaid, education, even our roads," predicted Mary Moreno of the Texas Organizing Project.
For his part, Cornyn believes this is the tax cut that will break the mold and actually pay for itself.
"People seem like they had become accustomed to slow growth and no growth and flat wages and that's just not the kind of country we inherited from our parents," said Cornyn.