[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 85 (Friday, June 18, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AMERICAN JOBS CREATION ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RON KIND

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 18, 2004

  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, over the past year, I, along with many other 
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have been pushing for 
congressional action to fix the international trade dispute over the 
extraterritorial income (ETI) and Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) 
programs. We have a bipartisan, fully paid-for remedy that would reform 
these tax provisions, put the United States tax code in compliance with 
the World Trade Organization (WTO), and reduce the tax burden on 
American manufacturers and farmers. Unfortunately, the Majority 
leadership ignored this bipartisan approach in favor of a budget-
busting, controversial bill that does little for small manufacturers in 
Wisconsin and includes multiple provisions completely unrelated to the 
trade problem we need to fix immediately.
  Because of the House majority's previous inaction on reforming the 
FSC-ETI trade dispute, the European Union (EU) continues to ratchet up 
tariffs on nearly 100 categories of U.S.-produced exports. This costs 
American businesses and workers by making our products less competitive 
in the major European market. Unless we reform the FSC-ETI tax 
provisions, EU tariffs on American products will continue to climb, 
potentially costing American exporters over $4 billion.
  With over 2 million American manufacturing jobs lost since 2001, it 
is critical that we act to reverse this trend by eliminating incentives 
for American jobs to be sent overseas and working to end trade barriers 
that hurt American exports. Anticipating the EU tariffs, Congressmen 
Crane, Rangel, Manzullo, and Levin introduced bipartisan legislation 
last year to address the FSC-ETI trade dispute. H.R. 1769, the Jobs 
Protection Act, would have eliminated the American tax breaks found in 
violation of WTO rules, and reinvested the savings back into American 
manufacturers by reducing their tax rates. I, along with 175 other 
Members of Congress, cosponsored this legislation and have pushed for 
the House to consider this legislation.
  Despite this bipartisan compromise, the Majority leadership has 
brought to the Floor today a piecemeal, fiscally irresponsible bill 
that is filled with special interest breaks and will increase already 
record budget deficits. Further, the major provisions of H.R. 4520 
provide over $30 billion in tax incentives for large multinational 
corporations while providing little to no tax relief to small and 
medium-sized manufacturers, farmers, and unincorporated businesses. The 
Republican chairman of the House Small Business Committee has expressed 
his opposition to this legislation because it fails to include smaller 
non-Chapter C corporations in its manufacturing benefit.

  Because of strong bipartisan opposition to H.R. 4520, the majority 
has attached 400 pages of additional tax reforms, complications, and 
unrelated add-ons that dilute from our important mission to fix the 
FSC-ETI trade dispute, add tens of billions of dollars to the budget 
deficit, and curb potential investment in our manufacturing sector.
  Some of the additional provisions included in H.R. 4520 are items 
that I have consistently supported including a temporary incentive to 
repatriate overseas profits in the United States, and extensions of 
important tax benefits such as the research and development tax credit, 
wind and biomass electricity production credit, Work Opportunity tax 
credit, and small business expensing rates. I am hopeful that these 
items can be acted on by the House separately from this unacceptable 
legislation.
  The substitute authored by Congressman Rangel was based on the 
bipartisan FSC-ETI reform bill, H.R. 1769, and would have included 
extensions of the R&D tax credit, renewable energy production credits, 
increased small business expensing provisions, tax deductions for 
teachers, and other important tax provisions. Further, the substitute 
would provide better treatment of small businesses, farming 
cooperatives, and domestic manufacturers, while not adding to the 
federal budget deficit. Unfortunately, the Majority leadership did not 
even allow debate on the Rangel substitute fearing it would gain wide 
bipartisan support and displace the unrelated provisions included in 
H.R. 4520.
  Mr. Speaker, with 2.7 million American manufacturing jobs lost over 
the past years, including over 80,000 in my home state of Wisconsin, we 
should not be playing partisan games on the House floor. We should be 
considering legislation that will end European tariffs on American 
exports, helps domestic farmers and manufacturers be more competitive, 
closes abused corporate tax loopholes, and does not burden our children 
with huge amounts of debt that they will have to pay off in the future. 
The Rangel substitute would do all these things. I urge my colleagues 
to oppose H.R. 4520 in its current form so that Congress can move 
forward on responsible ETI-FSC legislation.

                          ____________________