[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 156 (Wednesday, December 7, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11194-H11199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McCaul). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2005, the balance of the majority leader's hour is 
re-allocated to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to yield to 
the gentlewoman from North Carolina for a couple of minutes. She is 
going to talk with us about her time on the road this week with the 
President as the President visited in her area in North Carolina, and 
she had the opportunity to not only talk tax reforms with the 
President, but to listen to her constituents in North Carolina and to 
hear what was on their mind as they enjoyed that visit and as they had 
prepared for that visit. At this time, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Blackburn) for yielding.
  I want to reiterate what our colleague from Georgia has said. We are 
grateful to you for the leadership you have provided in these Special 
Orders in trying to get the truth out about the issues. Our colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle seem to think that by saying things that 
are not true, they can make them true. I am glad that we have an 
opportunity to correct the record.
  Mr. Speaker, this past Monday, I had the great honor and privilege to 
host President George W. Bush in North Carolina's 5th Congressional 
District. The President came to discuss our country's impressive 
economic growth at the John Deere-Hitachi manufacturing plant in 
Kernersville.
  It is an honor to have many flourishing companies like Deere-Hitachi 
in the 5th District. I am proud of this facility for being a model of 
how U.S. manufacturing companies can compete successfully in the global 
economy. Employment at Deere-Hitachi recently doubled in size to over 
750 direct employees. These are all good, high-skilled, well-paid jobs.
  A portion of Deere-Hitachi's growth has been fueled by the 
localization of models that were formerly produced in Asia to 
Kernersville, North Carolina. This has had a tremendously positive 
impact on our local economy.

[[Page H11195]]

  Thus, I am sure you can imagine how disturbed I was to hear that the 
political hacks over at the Democratic National Committee tried to 
twist the President's visit to this highly successful plant into 
something negative. The DNC chairman even had the audacity to ask, 
``Where are North Carolina's manufacturing jobs?'' Shame on the 
Democratic National Committee for insulting North Carolina's thousands 
of highly skilled manufacturing workers who are driving our national 
economy.
  The DNC's remarks were a slap in the face to many hardworking men and 
women who work for successful North Carolina manufacturing companies, 
manufacturers like Dell, Sara Lee, American Emergency Vehicles, Vaughn-
Bassett Furniture, Reynolds American, Weyerhauser, and so many more 
that I cannot begin to name them all. We are making great strides and 
putting people to work, and all the Democrats want to do is attack us.
  American workers are the best in the world. If we give our workers a 
level playing field and get the Federal Government off their back by 
cutting taxes and regulations, then the American worker can compete 
with and outperform anyone anywhere.
  As you know, our country has had to endure some trying times during 
the past 5 years, many of which were beyond our control. We have gone 
through a recession that began in the previous administration, the 
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many terrible natural 
disasters and more. However, we have persevered and we are prospering.
  You have heard many facts already presented by my colleague from 
Georgia, and you will hear many more, but the fact that we made it 
through these crises and have a booming economy is a real testament to 
the strength and diversity of the U.S. economy. And it is a testament 
to the hard work and ingenuity of the American worker.
  We all have a lot to be grateful to our President for. Under his 
watch, our economy is flourishing and getting stronger by the day. In a 
report issued last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, our economy 
created 215,000 new jobs during the month of November. Over 4.4 million 
jobs have been created since May 2003, as has already been stated.
  This latest jobs report is yet another indicator that our economy is 
thriving. More Americans are working than ever before in the Nation's 
history. Unemployment is down to 5 percent, which is lower than the 
average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. This is due to the hard work of 
the American people and sound Republican policies such as lower taxes, 
legal reform and less government influence in the lives of our Nation's 
entrepreneurs and small business owners.
  These Republican policies are working. We are cutting taxes and 
letting people keep their hard-earned money, which they can invest back 
into our economy if they choose. Individual families know best how to 
spend their hard-earned money, not the Federal Government.
  In addition to our Nation's job growth, our U.S. economy is showing 
other signs of expansion. The U.S. gross domestic product growth of 4.3 
percent is at its fastest pace since 2004. The GDP growth in the third 
quarter is one full point above the 3.3 percent rate.
  Further, our country is at the lowest rate of core inflation in more 
than 2 years. The increase in the rate of inflation was lower than 
initial expectations with the price index of consumer spending rising 
4.2 percent, compared with initial estimates of 3.7 percent.
  In addition, the sales of new single family homes should be the 
largest 1 month gain in 12 years. Sales of new single family homes 
increased by 13 percent in October and pushed sales to an all-time high 
of 1.2 million units.
  Again, I am proud of President Bush's leadership and agenda for a 
strong economy. My colleagues and I have a duty to keep this economic 
momentum going by making tax relief permanent and working against the 
Democratic leadership's efforts to raise taxes. Look for the Democrats 
to continue their tired political attacks on the Republicans' effective 
economic policies, but do not hold your breath for them to come up with 
good ideas. Their only alternative is to tax, tax, and tax some more.

  As we work to pass the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 
2005, I hope our Democratic colleagues will join us in supporting this 
common-sense bill. The future of America's economic prosperity is at 
stake.
  I look forward to working with President Bush and the rest of my 
colleagues in Congress to make tax relief permanent, exercise spending 
restraint and cut the Federal deficit in half by 2009.
  Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Blackburn) for her leadership in letting us present the facts to the 
American people, not the stories that are being told by our Democratic 
colleagues.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina and I thank her for taking the time this week to look at how 
workers continue educating themselves and preparing and participating 
in a changing economy, a changing job market.
  I mentioned the diversity of experience that comes to this body and 
what goes into looking at these policies and how we remain competitive, 
what we need to do to be competitive and the decisions we make, how tax 
and government budgeting and spending affects the budget. The 
gentlewoman from North Carolina spent her time in education. Ms. Foxx 
came to us after working at post-secondary education and looking for 
avenues to best encourage individuals to become lifelong learners, to 
continue improving and honing those skills so that they were productive 
in the job market, and I thank her for her leadership.
  I thank her for the time spent with the President and with the North 
Carolinians this weekend as they were able to showcase their facility 
and showcase what they are doing to be a leader in being competitive in 
a global economy.
  At this time, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Hensarling) who has worked tirelessly not only on budgeting and not 
only on looking at how we budget, but looking at what happens with tax 
policy and the ramifications that that has throughout our economy, both 
for our large businesses, our small businesses and for our families. We 
appreciate the leadership that he has brought to the budgeting issue, 
looking at both sides of that ledger, your inflows and your outflows.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling).
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I certainly thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding and certainly appreciate her leadership in this body on 
helping promote policies that promote economic growth in jobs and being 
a true leader in trying to help reform government programs that too 
often take away from family programs because they are wasteful, they 
are duplicative, they are inefficient, there is no accountability. She 
is one of the true leaders in Congress on these issues.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of good news that Americans have tonight. 
Clearly, this Nation faces a number of challenges and we know about 
them, and families are still struggling to meet high energy costs. Yet 
this Republican Congress has been bold in enacting new energy 
legislation to help address that.
  Families still have challenges in the high cost of health care, but 
this Republican Congress is doing things to help bring down the costs, 
particularly for small businesses and to make it easier to see a doctor 
in America as opposed to sue a doctor in America.
  But although we still face a number of challenges, as we have just 
have come away from our great Thanksgiving holiday, we need to remember 
the things that we need to give thanks for and all the good things that 
are happening in America.
  One of the things that I do not think a sufficient number of 
Americans appreciate is just how great this economy is today. It is 
absolutely amazing, Mr. Speaker, that this economy, not this 
government, not this government but the economy, men and women all over 
the Nation, rolling up their sleeves and risking capital, have gone out 
and created over 4 million new jobs since President Bush's economic 
growth program was enacted by this Republican Congress.

                              {time}  1930

  That is over 4 million new taxpaying jobs, jobs with a future, jobs 
that allow

[[Page H11196]]

the American families to create their housing program, their 
nutritional program, their health care program, and their educational 
program. That is incredibly good news.
  We have now had 2\1/2\, 2\1/2\ years where the economy has grown at 
over 3 percent a quarter. That is just unparalleled historic economic 
growth that is helping elevate and enrich the lives of millions and 
millions of Americans and allowing them to take care of their families 
and for them to realize their American Dream.
  Now, another aspect that too many people do not realize, because some 
people, particularly the Democrats, tell us that tax relief is a bad 
thing for the American people, that tax relief somehow hurts the 
deficit, well, we know that the deficit is too high. But guess what? 
The deficit has been falling. And why? I wish it were because spending 
was decreasing here. We are fighting those battles. But tonight we are 
here to talk about the values of tax relief and how important it is 
that we prevent a Democrat tax increase. And if we do not act this 
week, we will have yet another huge Democrat tax increase on the 
American people.
  The American people do not realize, or perhaps not enough of them 
realize, that in Washington, DC, spending is forever and tax relief is 
temporary. Unless we enact legislation this week, there will be an 
automatic tax increase on the American people. And besides what that is 
going to do to the American family, it will hurt the deficit. Tax 
relief has proven to be part of the deficit solution, not part of the 
deficit problem.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. If the gentleman will yield for just a moment, 
I appreciate the gentleman's insight and expertise because it really 
crystallizes so importantly the correct way to view tax relief and 
deficits.
  This is a chart I know the gentleman is familiar with, and it shows 
the current deficit that we have and it shows a decreasing deficit, in 
fact, a significantly decreasing deficit, with the deficit declining 
$138 billion. That is $138 billion in the last 18 months, and that is 
at the same time that we have seen tax relief.
  I wonder if the gentleman would mind commenting about that and how it 
is that tax relief can result in deficit reduction.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Well, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his 
insight, and I certainly appreciate his bringing the chart because it 
dramatically illustrates this phenomena: that if you will simply allow 
the American people to keep more of what they earn, allow small 
businesses to keep more of what they earn, they will roll up their 
sleeves and expand. They are going to go out and create a new 
transmission repair shop on one street corner or a new barbecue stand 
on another corner. Somebody will have the capital to finally go out and 
maybe create the new generation of some revolutionary new software.
  But you cannot have the benefits of capitalism without capital. And 
the Democrats on this side of the aisle, they want to take away the 
people's capital. They want to feed this wasteful Washington 
bureaucracy. They want to grow the Federal budget. We want to grow the 
family budget. And when we do, jobs are created. And guess what? People 
go to work and they pay more taxes.
  As the gentleman knows, it is not just us creating figures out of 
thin air. It is not just somebody's opinion. It is fact. I hold in my 
hand here the latest report from the U.S. Treasury. This is the 
Treasury report. What does it tell us? It tells us that from last year 
individual income taxes, after we decreased the rates, we decreased the 
rates, guess what? Individual income tax revenues rose almost 15 
percent. Corporate income taxes. Corporate income taxes. We cut their 
rates, and guess what? They paid more taxes. There was almost 47 
percent more tax revenue from corporate income taxes once we cut the 
rates.
  Again, you cannot have capitalism without capital. So what we need to 
do is we have to work this week to prevent that automatic Democrat tax 
increase. Increasing taxes, sending more money to Washington, that is 
going to ultimately fuel our deficit. And the American people 
inherently know that when it comes to the fiscal challenges that we 
face, it is not because the American people are undertaxed; it is 
because Washington spends too much.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield, I want us to talk a 
little more about the deficit dropping, because that is one of the true 
benefits that we do see from this.
  And individuals who are at home and watching and listening to this 
conversation that we are having tonight, they can go to the Treasury 
Department Web site, they can go to the Congressional Budget Office and 
they can pull up these figures so that they can see these are solid 
figures. These are not our numbers. This is not political spin. These 
are figures and facts. This is what has been reported.
  We know that Federal tax revenues increased in fiscal year 2005 by 
$274 billion. We know that that is the reason this deficit is $138 
billion lower than it had been estimated to be. Now, this is the reason 
that we are seeing such a change in what the deficit is. This is the 
reason we are seeing growth.
  The gentleman mentioned the policies, the robust economy and what are 
some of the benefits that come from this. What happens with small 
business when there is more money left at the end of the month and they 
can get in there and say, you know, we want to do some things. Business 
investment. Reinvestment in the business that you own. That is up over 
10 percent. It is up over 10 percent. That is men and women that 
believe in what they are doing.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. If the gentlewoman will yield.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I will gladly yield, yes.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's 
pointing out the increase in tax revenue and the gentleman from Texas 
pointing that out, because it is lost on some folks.
  It was not lost on President Kennedy, by the way, nor was it lost on 
President Reagan, who understood clearly that if you decrease tax rates 
for individuals and corporations, what happens is that the economy 
becomes vibrant. It becomes enthusiastic in its zeal. And what happens 
is that you increase tax revenue.
  This is a chart that shows the tax revenue, total tax revenue for the 
Nation in 2003 of $1.78 trillion. And, remember, that is when the tax 
relief, the tax cuts went into effect. As the gentlewoman and the 
gentleman from Texas so clearly stated, now we have tax revenue of 
$2.14 trillion in 2005. And that is a done deal. That is fiscal year 
2005. That year is over. That year is over.
  So what we see is a decrease in tax rates for individuals and 
corporations and an increase in tax revenue. And as has been so clearly 
stated, if we allow, if Congress allows the Democrat tax increase that 
they are planning on this week, if we allow that to occur, then what we 
will see is a decrease in revenue and a decrease in the vibrancy of the 
economy.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield, let us talk about some 
of these provisions that are in the bill that is going to be before us. 
Because we do not want the Democrat tax increase to take place, and 
that is why the leadership in this House is working to be certain that 
we pass our Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act. And if individuals 
are going to go on and look at this, it is House Resolution 4297. I 
think they would like to see some of the provisions that are in here.

  The gentleman from Texas and I have worked long and hard on one 
provision which is in here, which is continued deductibility of State 
and local sales taxes from your Federal income tax filing. In my State 
of Tennessee that is something that is mighty important, because we are 
one of those great States that does not have a State income tax. We 
have fought hard in Tennessee to be sure that we stay income-tax free, 
and we are.
  We want to continue this deduction. It is a deduction that we worked 
hard last year to get restored, and we thank another gentleman from 
Texas, Mr. Brady, for his incredible leadership on this issue, and we 
thank the leadership of the House for working so closely with us on it. 
But that sales tax deductibility is something we encourage everyone in 
this body, everyone who is in a State that does not have a State income 
tax to support this legislation tomorrow because it is so important to 
the individuals in our States. It is estimated that in Tennessee this 
is worth about $1 billion a year to the State of Tennessee.

[[Page H11197]]

  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. If the gentlewoman will yield, I want to get 
this straight, because I think it is incredibly important for the 
American people to understand what is going to happen this week in the 
House.
  As I heard the gentlewoman say, if an individual in this Chamber 
votes ``no'' on H.R. 4297, that means that they want to see the 
American people not be able to deduct sales tax, State and local sales 
tax?
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield, yes, for those of us in 
nonincome tax States that means that you are voting to take that 
deduction away from them.
  Another one that you would be voting to take away is the above-the-
line deduction for out-of-pocket teacher-classroom expenses. Extending 
that deduction for our Nation's teachers is included in this bill.
  I have so many of my friends that I went through college with who are 
teachers, and many of them have been teaching for about 30 years now. 
This is something that is important to them, because they spend a lot 
of their out-of-pocket money buying little things, buying little things 
that are going to enrich the classroom day.
  The above-the-line deduction for higher education expenses, as I was 
saying earlier, the research and development tax credit, now that is 
something that is so important to our companies in this country. When 
you talk about the BioShield projects, biotech developments in 
agricultural products, in pharmaceuticals, when you talk about 
technology and the needs that we have there for our Nation's first 
responders, for our military, all of that comes in research and 
development.
  When you talk about looking at what businesses are investing in as 
they are working, our small business manufacturers, whose output is up 
for the first time in a couple of decades, they are investing in this 
research and development to build a better mousetrap.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas for comment on this.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Well, this is an excellent line of debate that the 
gentlewoman is developing here. And again it is very important that the 
American people know this week we do not have a bill on the floor to 
provide tax relief for the American people. We have a bill on the floor 
to prevent a Democrat tax increase. There will be an automatic tax 
increase on the American people if we do not pass this legislation, and 
one of the things that we will lose is the ability of small businesses 
to expense what we call depreciable assets up to $100,000.
  Now, before I became a Member of Congress, I was a small businessman. 
I have gone out there, I have rolled up my sleeves, and I have risked 
capital. I have signed the front of a paycheck. I helped start a 
business that had a dozen employees, and it was not easy. It was not 
easy. We could not have started that business without capital. Yet the 
Democrats want to take away our ability to form capital and create 
small businesses, which is the job engine of America. That is where all 
the new jobs come from, is small business.
  Now, what is going to happen if we lose this? Let me give one 
example, one story from my congressional district. I am very proud to 
have the ability to represent the Fifth Congressional District of 
Texas. It starts in east Dallas and goes through great communities like 
Mesquite. It takes in rural east Texas, which is a wonderful place to 
live and raise a family, but sometimes a tough place to make a living.
  I went to visit a business, small business called Jacksonville 
Industries, in my congressional district, located in Jacksonville, TX. 
They are a zinc and die cast business, and I do not totally understand 
what they do; but they had 20 employees when I went to visit them. 
Well, due to competitive pressures, prior to being able to benefit from 
our tax relief economic growth program, they were on the verge of 
having to lay off two people. Now, that is 10 percent of their 
workforce. They were going to have to lay off 2 of 20 workers.
  Thanks to this provision, small business expensing that we passed way 
back, they were able to go out and buy a new piece of machinery. Now, I 
do not recall what it is called or precisely what its function was, but 
I know what it did. It made them more competitive. And instead of 
laying off two workers, they hired three new workers. And that is one 
small business in one rural part of Texas, but that is happening all 
over the Nation.

                              {time}  1945

  We are allowing families and small businesses to keep more of what 
they earn, and yet the Democrats want to take that away from them. They 
want to take that capital back.
  We were talking earlier about how do you cut tax rates and increase 
tax revenue. Think about this one example in Jacksonville Industries. 
They were getting ready to lay off two workers, and they end up hiring 
three because they are more efficient and keep more of what they earn 
and buy new equipment and machinery. That is five people that could 
have been on unemployment and food stamps and welfare, five people 
taking from the Federal Treasury because they had dire needs. But 
instead of five people taking from the Treasury, it is five people 
paying into the industry.
  That is how it happens. That is how you cut tax rates and increase 
revenues. That is five Americans who are putting a roof over their 
family's head and start putting money in the college fund. That is the 
difference that this has made. And yet the Democrats want, at 
Christmastime, if you can believe that, want to present the American 
people with a big, fat tax increase.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is exactly right because 
that is what it would be. At this time of year, coming in and voting a 
tax increase, voting a tax increase on our Nation's small businesses, 
voting a tax increase on our Nation's families. To us, that is 
unacceptable. We know that the rate of economic growth in this Nation, 
the jobs growth, has shown that the tax reforms that have been passed 
work and they yield results.
  Another provision that is included in this bill is the welfare-to-
work tax credit. As the gentleman from Texas was saying, individuals 
who may not have had a job are able to get a job because of the growth 
we are seeing in the small business sector. And the welfare-to-work tax 
credit for those businesses that are hiring individuals who have 
received public assistance for an extended period of time, that would 
go away. So then it becomes a tax increase on those businesses if they 
are no longer able to avail themselves of that.
  The 15-year depreciation period for restaurants and for leasehold 
improvements for that industry, that is included in this bill. I know 
in so many of my towns in the 7th Congressional District in Tennessee, 
this is very important to these small businesses. They depend on this. 
They need this.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman 
pointing out some of the specific provisions of H.R. 4297 that we will 
be dealing with tomorrow.
  I served in the Georgia State legislature, and we worked for years to 
try to get tax deductibility for teachers for their out-of-pocket 
expenses. I do not know a single teacher that does not spend some of 
their own money to kind of fill the hole, to provide some of those 
items in the classroom, especially in the elementary grades, that make 
so much more valuable the education that our children receive.
  As I understand it, a no vote on H.R. 4297 means you do not want to 
allow for those deductions, you want to increase taxes on teachers if 
you vote against this bill? Is that accurate?
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. The gentleman is accurate on that. Individuals that 
vote no on this tomorrow would be voting to increase that on our 
Nation's teachers. They would be voting no on State sales tax 
deductibility. They would be voting against that, for all of our 
constituents in Tennessee and Texas and Washington State and Wyoming 
and other States across the Nation that enjoy that sales tax 
deductibility.
  Another one they would be voting no on is the savers' tax credit for 
low-income workers who contribute to retirement savings accounts. We 
talk about doing things that will assist those who are working and need 
a hand up and need a little bit of help. Focusing on that savers' tax 
credit, that is something we want to do and we want to see that 
continue.
  The gentleman from Georgia is exactly right, that is something that 
is

[[Page H11198]]

included in this bill, the provisions for our Nation's teachers.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of other items 
that are included, and one that I want to highlight is the 2-year 
extension on the reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends. It 
is so incredibly important for Americans to understand and appreciation 
that if a Member of Congress votes no on this provision, it means that 
they do not want to extend that tax rate decrease on capital gains and 
dividends, which is so incredibly important and vital for small 
businesses, as the gentleman from Texas talked about so eloquently.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, that is a very important point. I know 
when this debate takes place tomorrow, and we have heard about so many 
of the great tax relief provisions which have been passed for American 
families and small business, and how they are going to be taken away 
tomorrow if we do not defeat this Democrat tax increase, but the 
capital gains and dividends, we know the rhetoric. The class warfare 
rhetoric of our friends on the other side of the aisle, we know it is 
coming. Yet I sit here and I think they claim they love jobs, they just 
seem to hate the people who create them. Capital gains and dividends is 
all about investment. Again, you cannot have the benefits of capitalism 
and job creation without that capital in the first place.
  Since I was quite young, I have held a number of jobs in my life. My 
first job, I come from an agricultural family. We raised poultry. 
Frankly, my first job in life was cleaning out chicken houses. It was a 
job I did not want to hold for later on. Later I bussed tables at the 
Holiday Inn in College Station, Texas. I used to be a desk clerk at the 
Ramada Inn. I used to load windows at a window factory in Bryan, Texas. 
I am trying to live it down, but I actually practiced law once. I was 
an officer in two different corporations.
  The point I am making is of all of the jobs I have had, I have always 
tried to work hard and tried to learn something and tried to improve 
myself and move up that ladder. And guess what, in all of the jobs I 
have had, no poor person ever hired me. No poor person ever hired me. 
It was somebody who had managed to amass some capital, and he or she 
went out and risked that capital in a business enterprise that 
succeeded and because of that I got a job. I received a paycheck.
  Again, you cannot love jobs and hate the people who create them. By 
trying to increase the taxes on capital gains and dividends, you are 
attacking investors, you are attacking job creators and you are taking 
away jobs from American families, and that is wrong and that is another 
reason we must defeat this Democrat tax increase tomorrow.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, there are over 91 million Americans who 
own shares of stock in companies in this country, 91 million Americans 
who have invested in that capital creation process, invested in these 
companies. When we talk about capital gains and dividends, sometimes we 
think as you are saying, well, that is just somebody else. That does 
not apply to me. But for individuals that have 401(k)s and retirement 
plans, yes it does. What we are seeing is that 51 percent of our tax-
paying senior citizens are claiming dividend income, and 47 percent of 
total dividend income earned in America is by senior citizens.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, over half of Americans are invested in 
the stock market. They do have some form of dividend or capital gains 
and it is really their nest egg. Those are the 401(k) plans to help 
them in their retirement years. That is money that is put away for 
education for their children, and yet our Democrat colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle want to tax away that dream. They want to tax 
away that nest egg by passing a huge tax increase tomorrow. That is 
over half of Americans in just this one provision. Just this one 
provision would see a huge tax increase right before Christmas if we do 
not defeat this Democrat tax increase tomorrow.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is precisely right on 
that. Again, the bill tomorrow is H.R. 4297. It is the Tax Relief 
Extension Reconciliation Act, and it is called the tax relief extension 
because these are reliefs that were passed in 2003. As we have 
continued to talk through the evening, these are the provisions that 
have really created this robust economy that we are seeing, 4.1 percent 
GDP growth just this last quarter. I think it is so important that we 
keep our focus there. This is a booming economy. This is a growing 
economy. We are seeing regularly that there is jobs creation that is 
taking place in our communities.
  I love it when I am out in my community, and I know the gentleman 
from Texas has the same experience, and you are driving down the street 
and all of a sudden you see an entire group of new stores that are 
going in. Generally they are small businesses. You walk inside and 
there is an excitement and energy there that is just indescribable. 
There is so much of that happening in this Nation's small businesses.
  As people have seen their rate of taxation reduced, they have had a 
little bit more income left with those businesses that they can go back 
in and reinvest in those businesses, or gather that capital together to 
start that business or start that small manufacturing plant. That is 
why we see the business reinvestment dollars up 10 percent. That is why 
we see jobs creation taking place, why we are seeing over 4 million 
jobs, 4.46 million jobs created since we started down this path of 
reforming taxes, reducing those taxes and freeing up free enterprise.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate again the gentlewoman 
yielding, and I appreciate her point that is so important that tax 
relief has driven job creation. You take away the tax relief, as our 
Democrat colleagues are trying to do, and you end up taking away the 
jobs.

  Let me again return to my congressional district. As I said earlier 
this evening, how proud I am that I have the honor of representing the 
Fifth Congressional District in Texas. There is a small business there 
named Hugh Dublin, who has a company called East Texas Right of Way. He 
has been in business for 8 years. He works hard. His company 
specializes in the leasing and purchasing of right of ways for 
different corporate clients. Before we passed tax relief, his company 
had two full-time employees. That is a small business. But thanks to 
tax relief, his business expanded and he went out and hired two more. 
He hired a gentleman by the name of Dan and another gentleman by the 
name of David. They were unemployed. But thanks to the tax relief 
package, they got jobs in a business that was growing.
  But yet this week, the Democrats want to increase taxes on Hugh 
Dublin and East Texas Right of Way. They want to take away the 
paychecks of Dan and David and replace them with welfare checks, and 
they call that compassion.
  Let me tell you another example. There is a gentleman in my 
congressional district named Eddie Alexander. He has a small business 
called Triple S Electric. It is an electrical contracting business for 
residential and commercial. For the past 3\1/2\ years, he worked alone 
and he had one part-time helper. But thanks to the boom in the economy 
brought about by tax relief, and we have not even talked about the fact 
that we have the highest rate of homeownership in the history of 
America and each and every one of those homes needs electricity, since 
the economic growth package with tax relief was passed, he went out and 
hired two full-time employees. He hired a gentleman by the name of 
Jarad, who was unemployed and he hired a gentleman by the name of John, 
who was also unemployed in Henderson County, Texas. Now all of a 
sudden, the Democrats want to raise taxes on Eddie Alexander and Triple 
S Electric.

                              {time}  2000

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. A couple of other provisions. Talking about your 
district and the way this bill tomorrow will affect your district, in 
this bill, H.R. 4297 tomorrow, there will be a technical correction in 
there that affects this Nation's songwriters, which of course, so many 
of them live in my district, and I do believe that they are definitely 
some of the most creative people and such an important part of our 
creative community.
  But for years, when a songwriter wants to sell their catalog, which 
is their life's work, it is like selling that small business that Eddie 
has and that so many of our constituents have, then

[[Page H11199]]

they have been taxed at ordinary income tax and had to pay self-
employment. This is their retirement. This is their nest egg they have 
pulled together. And a correction that we will make tomorrow will 
affect so many of those songwriters that are in Memphis and Nashville 
and down in Austin and in those areas because it will allow those 
catalogs to be sold and those individuals to pay a capital gains tax 
like other small business owners, there again, leaving more money and 
more of that nest egg for them as they retire and as they are seniors, 
and allowing them to look at how they do things better, how they grow 
those small businesses. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. HENSARLING. And it is just so important that everybody realize 
this connection between preserving tax relief, preventing a tax 
increase and preserving our jobs. Again, over 4 million new jobs 
created in this economy since we passed tax relief. Why would we want 
to go back? Why would we want to take that tax relief away and pass a 
huge tax increase, because that affects real people all across America.
  Let me give you another example. I talked earlier about the fact that 
we are enjoying the highest rate of homeownership in the history of the 
United States of America. I mean, home ownership, part and parcel of 
the American Dream. Well, somebody has to go out and help renovate 
those homes and build new homes. And one of those gentleman is in my 
congressional district back in Texas, a gentleman by the name of Gil 
Travers of Travers and Company. He is a home builder. Prior to us 
passing the economic growth legislation with the tax relief, he had 
just a handful of workers; but once we passed the tax relief, he had to 
hire extra workers. He hired a lady named Jan, who was unemployed, to 
help him clean up some of his job sites. She got so busy that she had 
to hire two people who were unemployed to help her clean up the job 
site, a gentleman by the name of Calvin and another lady by the name of 
Christy, all because of tax relief.
  And yet this week the Democrats want to raise taxes on Travers and 
Company Home Builders. They want to jeopardize the pay checks of Jan 
and Calvin and Christy and replace them with welfare checks, and they 
call that compassion.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Talking about our homes and construction and home 
sales. In October, home sales reached 7.1 units in October. And the 
thing that is so interesting is that is just off the historic high of 
home sales which was in June of this year when there were 7.3 units 
that were built or were sold. So whether it is new homes being built, 
whether it is existing homes, the home sales, how amazing that we are 
seeing home sales reaching such high numbers in both the new 
construction and the existing home sales category. And I yield back to 
the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Well, again, it illustrates just how valuable the tax 
relief has been to our economy. We have spoken this evening at length 
about over 4 million new jobs. Four million new jobs in the future that 
have been created. Four million new paychecks. That is what compassion 
is all about. Compassion is not measured by the number of welfare 
checks that are printed in Washington. It is measured by the number of 
paychecks that are printed all over the United States of America.
  Our GDP growth, 2\1/2\ years straight where each and every quarter of 
economic growth has been over 3 percent. We have consumer spending that 
is advancing, advanced 4.2 percent during the third quarter. Retail 
sales are up. Real disposable income for our working families is up 
since we passed the tax relief package in our economic growth 
legislation. And manufacturing, which has faced many, many challenges 
in recent years, manufacturing production is continuing to expand. We 
have increases in productivity, and the list goes on and on and on. And 
all of this is threatened if we permit the Democrats to offer their 
Christmas gift to the American people, a huge tax increase; and that is 
why it is so vital, so vital tomorrow that we do not allow that to 
happen.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Texas, and I thank him so 
much for being here to talk with us tonight about why this is important 
legislation and why it is important that we stop a tax increase on the 
American people. And we have talked about so many of these issues 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, this economy is booming. Inflation is low. Unemployment 
is near historic lows. We saw that 4.1 percent growth with the quarter 
that ended in September of 2005. And I think it is important to realize 
that this just did not happen. It did not just happen. And I know that 
my constituents certainly remember the recession the President 
confronted when he took office, and they remember the impact that 
September 11 had on our economy. We did not bury our heads in the sand 
when that happened. We rolled up our sleeves. We got to work. We passed 
tax reforms and tax relief, and tomorrow is our opportunity to extend 
that.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members of this body to join us in 
supporting H.R. 4297 tomorrow.

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