[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 130 (Monday, October 11, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4520, AMERICAN JOBS CREATION ACT OF 2004

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                               speech of

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 7, 2004

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, this week the price of oil rose to more than 
$53 a barrel, a record that will translate into higher home heating oil 
prices this winter and higher gasoline prices at the pump.
  Last night, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives 
responded to this news by passing a tax bill that renews an expiring 
tax loophole for small businesses to buy huge, gas-guzzling SUVs, like 
the Hummer.
  Our tax code should offer incentives for people to conserve energy. 
Unfortunately, the SUV tax loophole does just the opposite. The 
Republican Hummer tax loophole entices Americans to buy the biggest, 
heaviest, and least fuel efficient vehicles on the market. Under this 
loophole, a small business that purchases a large SUV, such as a Hummer 
or Cadillac Escalade, can deduct up to $25,000 of the vehicle's cost. 
In contrast, citizens who purchase a fuel efficient hybrid vehicle this 
year will be entitled to just $2,000; starting in 2006, the hybrid 
vehicle tax deduction will shrink even further until it disappears 
entirely by 2009.
  In 2003, nearly 1,000,000 large SUVs were sold in the US, 
outnumbering the number of hybrid vehicles sold by a ratio of 23 to 1.
  The best-selling hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Prius, achieves an 
estimated 55 miles per gallon. In contrast, the Hummer H2, Ford 
Excursion, and Land Rover Range Rover all achieve less than 15 miles 
per gallon.
  The Toyota Prius emits 3.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually; 
the annual greenhouse gas emissions for the Hummer H2, Ford Excursion, 
and Land Rover Range Rover each emit more than 4 times the amount of 
greenhouse gases than the Prius.
  Instead of working towards independence from Middle East oil, the 
Republicans have voted to extend tax loopholes that will only help make 
us even more dependent. So far, we have had 1,066 American soldiers die 
in a misdirected, misguided attempt to stabilize the government holding 
the world's second largest oil supply. The war in Iraq has made our 
country more vulnerable to the extremists of the Middle East.
  Instead of making our air cleaner and protecting our environment, the 
Republican Hummer tax loophole is making our air dirtier, making our 
planet warmer, and contributing to the pressure to drill for oil in one 
of the last pristine ecosystems remaining in not only America but on 
the planet. Large SUVs are extremely polluting, particularly in regards 
to greenhouse gases. Due in part to the oil wasted by large SUVs, the 
Administration would like to open the ecologically pristine Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge to drilling in order to extract a total of 6 
months worth of oil--oil that would be pumped right into the tanks of 
Hummers and other SUV gas guzzlers.
  Instead of working to pay down the nation's debt, the Republican 
Hummer tax loophole is digging our children's financial hole even 
deeper. For every 100,000 taxpayers that drive through the Hummer 
loophole, the Treasury is denied almost $900 million.
  Instead of helping the poor, the tax loophole is once again aiding 
the wealthy. Because Hummers and other large SUVs use an inordinate 
amount of fuel, they increase the demand for gasoline, which in turn 
causes the price of gasoline to rise. The price of gasoline in 
Massachusetts currently is $1.93 a gallon. The price of oil is almost 
$53 a barrel. These price increases make a disproportionately higher 
impact on the bank accounts of the nation's poorest households. In 
addition, because the SUV tax poolhole is designed for type-S 
corporations, the beneficiaries include lawyers, doctors, and real 
estate agents.
  Clearly, something needs to be done to help wean the United States 
off of oil and free ourselves from the chains of OPEC. A step in the 
right direction would be for the United States to promote the use of 
high fuel economy hybrid vehicles.
  This problem could be solved easily if we only had the willpower to 
do so. By changing one sentence in the tax code, we could preserve the 
tax deduction to small businesses owners, such as farmers, who were 
intended to benefit, and eliminate the benefit to those who abuse it. 
In the current version, some long overdue language was added to 
distinguish between large SUVs and industrial vehicles. That change 
somewhat improved the situation, dropping the deductible amount for 
large SUVs from a ridiculous $100,000 to a sublime $25,000; however, 
the fact that $25,000 deductions for large SUVs are being extended 
until 2008 while the already minuscule deductions for hybrid vehicles 
are disappearing is ludicrous.
  By not extending the SUV tax loophole and not eliminating the 
deductions for hybrid vehicles, we can help to increase our nation's 
security, protect our environment, reduce the national debt, and ease 
the financial burdens of the poor. It is time for the majority in the 
Congress to steer our nation in the right direction by saying no to the 
special interests who are working to keep this loophole open. The House 
vote last night to approve the Republican tax bill represents a failure 
of vision. We can only hope now that the Senate will block this 
legislation to extend the Republican Hummer loophole from 2006 until 
2008.
  Last year when we tried to get rid of this loophole during the energy 
conference, I resorted to bad poetry as a way of prying my colleagues 
free of this obscene subsidy. It didn't work. But I am told by people 
in the business of psychological operations that you can sometimes free 
a hostage by playing the same thing over and over again until the 
hostage-taker comes screaming out of the house saying ``Stop It! I 
Can't Take It Anymore!'' So, for the sake of good policy, I am 
resorting once again to the same bad poetry.

   ``A Taxpayer's Lament,'' or ``Why Am I Paying for Other People's 
                               Humvees?''

     I don't mind paying taxes, for energy and such
     As long as I don't have to pay very much,
     And as long as I don't end up subsidizing trucks
     Called ``Humvee Ones'' and ``Humvee 2s'' for 25,000 bucks!
     They don't fit in a parking space; they guzzle gas like a 
           hog,
     And they leave our children gasping for air turned in to 
           smog.
     I'm not for banning Humvees--some people think they're cool.
     But subsidizing this luxury treats taxpayers like a fool.
     With our soldiers now in Baghdad fighting for the oil
     Wasting gasoline this way just makes my blood boil.
     Voting for this subsidy is impossible to defend.
     All we want to know out here is when will this end?

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