[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H236-H237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HOUSE LEADERSHIP URGED TO CONSIDER ACCELERATED DEPRECIATION IN STIMULUS
PACKAGE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of
January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, today our Nation is at war. We are in a war
against terrorism. We are working to build our homeland security, and
we are suffering an economic recession. Our Commander in Chief,
President Bush, is demonstrating strong, resolute leadership in the war
against terrorism. We must not forget that the war against terrorism
will last a long time, not just months, but likely years. The war
against terrorism will not end in Afghanistan. The al Qaeda terrorism
network has a presence in 65 nations, and tens of thousands of
terrorists have gone through their death training camps.
Part of winning the war on terrorism is also getting our economy
moving again. Clearly, the terrorist attack was directed at our
economy. If we look back and remember 1 year ago this month, when
President Bush was sworn into office on the east front in inaugural
ceremonies, he inherited a weakening economy, an economy which was
getting weaker and Americans were beginning to lose their jobs. He
proposed a tax cut, a tax cut he said that would put extra money in the
pocketbooks of America's consumers, giving them more money to spend at
home for their families' needs.
[[Page H237]]
That was enacted into law in June. By Labor Day, economists were
telling us the tax cut was working on getting our economy moving again.
Unfortunately, the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on September 11
occurred and that tragedy cost thousands of Americans their lives. It
was a terrible tragedy, but also it also gave a psychological blow to
our economy, causing investors and consumers to step back from
decisions they had made prior to September 11. Unfortunately, by
stepping back from those decisions, it cost hundreds of thousands, and
almost a million, Americans their jobs.
Today, over a million Americans have lost their jobs since the
terrorist attacks on September 11, tens of thousands in the area that I
represent in the Chicago area. To win the war against terrorism, we
must get this economy moving again. We must give Americans the
opportunity to go back to work.
I would note that this House, the House of Representatives, has
twice, in October and in December, acted to get the economy moving
again, passing a bipartisan economic stimulus plan and sending it over
to the Senate. Unfortunately, partisan politics prevented our efforts
from succeeding in getting to the President's desk and signature into
law. I believe we must not give up on our efforts to revitalize this
economy and give Americans the opportunity to go back to work.
During these times, some Democratic leaders have called for a tax
increase. I am proud to say that this past week the House spoke loud
and clear stating opposition overwhelmingly to a Democratic proposal to
repeal the Bush tax cut. No economist says that we should raise taxes
in a recession, but that we should bring spending under control.
I want to take this opportunity to urge our leadership, as they
consider what to do next, to once again move legislation to stimulate
our economy and to bring economic security for American workers. I want
to rise to suggest one provision that I believe must be included in
that package that we send to the President, a provision that is a
strong stimulation for our economy. Many of us know it as accelerated
depreciation, or depreciation reform, or expensing, or bonus
depreciation.
The provision, which has strong bipartisan support in this House,
provides for 30 percent expensing, giving faster or quicker cost
recovery for a business that buys an asset. Think about it. When
someone buys a pickup truck or a computer or security equipment, there
is a worker somewhere in America who manufactures that product. There
is a worker that is going to install it and service it. And of course
there is going to be a worker who is going to operate that piece of
equipment. Accelerated depreciation, the 30 percent expensing provision
rewards investment in those kinds of jobs.
I would note the only way to take advantage of that tax incentive is
to invest and buy and create jobs. Many businesses back home that I
know of, since September 11, are also upgrading their security and
their safety measures in their plants. Accelerated depreciation will
help them better afford to make their plants and places of work safer
and more secure for their employees and visitors.
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Over the next few days, decisions are going to be made on how we can
better help by extending unemployment benefits. The gentleman from
California (Mr. Thomas) and President Bush have urged a tax credit to
help the uninsured with health care insurance. That is a good idea, and
I believe that should be part of that final package. But I also believe
that we mean to combine the unemployment benefits and the health care
benefits with incentives to invest in the creation of jobs. Accelerated
depreciation of a 30 percent expensing component will help put
Americans back to work.
Mr. Speaker, I have a letter signed by almost three dozen Members of
this House, a letter circulated by myself and the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Dooley),
urging our leadership to include accelerated depreciation in any
package that goes to the President, and I include that for the Record.
Washington, DC,
February 6, 2002.
Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
Speaker of the House,
The Capitol, Washington DC.
Dear Speaker Hastert: We are disappointed by the recent
breakdown in negotiations in the Senate on a meaningful
economic stimulus package. We firmly believe that Congress
can help balance the desire to promote economic growth with
efforts to help those workers who have lost their jobs due to
the recession.
If the Senate sends the House a bill extending unemployment
benefits by 13 weeks, we would encourage you to add the one
major economic growth component that is bipartisan and agreed
upon by almost everyone, the 30% accelerated depreciation
bonus for new investments. Not only is this provision
bipartisan, but it is widely supported by most businesses and
business groups.
The combination of a temporary unemployment compensation
and the 30% bonus depreciation proposal would provided an
excellent balance between providing a helping hand to workers
out of work and struggling because of the recession and the
desire to foster economic growth. The most important feature
of the accelerated depreciation proposal is that in order for
businesses to take advantage of the bonus, a decision must be
made to purchase and invest in new equipment. When businesses
make these investments, employees are put back to work
engineering, building, installing and operating the new
products, thereby stimulating and growing the economy. This
type of stimulus is exactly what the economy needs to pull
out of the current recession.
We appreciate your consideration and look forward to
working with you on this proposal.
Sincerely,
Jerry Weller.
Fred Upton.
Cal Dooley.
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