Telecommunications giant AT&T is paying $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees and plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the U.S., crediting the new landmark Republican tax overhaul for its decision, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

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The company said bonuses will go to “all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers.”

"If the president signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays," AT&T officials said.

The company is in the middle of a proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner that President Donald Trump has criticized. But at a White House celebration Wednesday of the passage of the new GOP tax legislation, the president opened the gathering pointing to AT&T's announced bonuses as proof that the bill will indeed prompt more corporations to reinvest in the U.S.

Corporations benefit the most under the new tax law, with a major and permanent reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

The overhaul also doubles the standard deduction for individual taxpayers and drops the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.

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8/26/17 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia leaders, including Gov. Nathan Deal, Sandra Deal, members of the King family, and Rep. Calvin Smyre,  were on hand for unveiling of the first statue of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the statehouse grounds, more than three years after Gov. Nathan Deal first announced the project.  During the hour-long ceremony leading to the unveiling of the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the state Capitol on Monday, many speakers, including Gov. Nathan Deal, spoke of King's biography. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of King's famed "I Have Dream" speech. BOB ANDRES  /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Bob Andres