[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 26 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H1455-H1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE COUNTDOWN CREW
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, we return again for the fifth
consecutive leadership hour with the Countdown Crew.
I would like to welcome all of you here tonight who are watching from
home. We have been surprised at the tremendous amount of response that
we have received talking about the reality of tax policy, of small
business policy and the impact that it has on the lives of ordinary
citizens in this Nation.
In fact, the feedback has gotten so great that we have received
hundreds and hundreds of calls, e-mails from around the country.
What we would like to do is invite you to become part of the
Countdown Crew, as we are only 1,416 days from one of the largest tax
increases in American history. We have a Web site. We would encourage
you to e-mail with questions, with comments, your perspective on ways
to make life better for working families to create jobs and to
strengthen small business, which creates 88 percent of the jobs in the
United States.
If you look behind me, our e-mail
address is here. It is [email protected]. And we would
invite your comments and your feedback, and also invite you to share
your stories of why the tax cuts of the last several years have made a
difference for you, why a more relaxed and more structured regulatory
process that focuses on sound science versus on politics allows
businesses to work to create jobs, to create opportunity to create a
future for our children and our grandchildren.
And there is a reason for this. In the election on November 7, so
much of the emotion and so much of the focus had to do with issues
related to the national security policy in the Middle East. But one
thing that was forgotten in that time was something else that was voted
for by the American people.
All of the tax cuts that have created 7 million jobs, that have
created record revenues to the U.S. Treasury actually are on time
lines. And they have to be extended by the House, and they sunset at
the end of 2010. And without a President to advocate those policies,
without a House of Representatives and a Senate that is going to pass
those policies, all of the tax cuts that have created millions of jobs,
that have created these record revenues in time of war are going to
end. And that means that in 1,416 days, the average working family in
the United States of America will experience a tax increase of $2,098.
And that translates across every sector of America.
And the one thing I think that often gets lost, and I will speak as a
former small business owner myself, is the fact that small businesses
create 88 percent of all new jobs. Those are companies with under 500
employees. These are companies that pay health benefits, that do
research and development, that open new doors.
The tax revenues that are generated from those businesses and those
employees are what fund the infrastructure of our communities. They pay
for our teachers; they pay for our public safety. They contribute to
our national defense.
And one saying, I think, that is important for all of us to remember
is, the focus that we need to have is not to raise taxes but it is to
create taxpayers. And the way that we can create taxpayers is give
those who create the jobs more resources to invest in the economy,
allow working families to keep more of what they own so they can save
it and build a nest egg for the future that will ultimately lead to the
growth that we have experienced.
We have got several distinguished gentlemen tonight. Before the
gentleman from Oklahoma begins, I would like to recognize the
leadership of Congressman Bill Shuster from Pennsylvania who has been
the principal architect of the Countdown Crew.
Remember, if you would like to
contact us, that is [email protected] if you have a question
for any of the Members participating tonight or would like to share
your own story of how being allowed to keep more your own money, more
of your own resources has helped to create a future for you.
But before I share some stories about some friends back in Kentucky
who started and created jobs that are affecting not only our region and
our economy, but also the defense of this Nation, I would like to
recognize Congressman Sullivan, the gentleman from Oklahoma, to share
his perspective on this.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Thank you, Congressman Davis. And I want to thank you
for doing this tonight.
I also want to thank Congressman Bill Shuster from Pennsylvania for
the Countdown Crew. Tax relief is very important to the American
people, the American families, American business. And we are about
ready to embark on the largest tax increase in the history of this
country, and it is going to be very detrimental to our economy.
And I can remember when I got to Congress just a short time ago,
almost 5 years ago. Congressman Shuster came in a little bit before me.
And since that time, with some of the tax relief measures that have
been put in place, we have seen just 167,000 jobs were created in
December alone. Payroll, nonfarm payroll employment increased.
Since August 2003, more than 7.2 million jobs have been created.
Workers are finding jobs faster.
I remember when I came to Congress back in 2002, one of the votes
that I had to make, along with others, was to extend unemployment
benefits. And we don't have to do that now, in large part, because of
the tax relief measures that have been put in place.
A lot of people think that we need to keep taxing and taxing and
taxing our way to prosperity. And that is wrong.
And my friends on the left, the liberals on the left, think that this
money belongs to them, it belongs here in Washington with the
politicians. And that is not where it belongs.
{time} 2000
It belongs to the people who earn the money in the first place,
working families, small business people. And how does that apply to
somebody, let us say, that lives in Oklahoma, a small businessman or
woman? Well, I will tell you how it applies to them. When I go around
my district, one of the biggest things I hear about are complaints from
small- to medium-sized business people, and small- to medium-sized
business people employ 85 percent of the people in our economy. They
either work for, own, or operate small- to medium-sized businesses. And
if we allow a small business to keep more of their money, what are they
going to do with it? Well, they are going to hire more people to work.
It is going to create jobs, which it has done. They are going to buy
equipment to expand their business, and that money is going to bounce
around the economy, that dynamic economic effect of that money bouncing
around the economy, and it is going to find its way back to Washington
anyway, but we get to do things with it before it does.
One of the things too, Congressman Davis, that I hear about a lot is
small business people are really complaining right now about providing
health insurance for their employees. Either they have to go to their
employees and say, hey, I can't cover you anymore or they have to
lessen the benefit to the employee or they have to make the employee
pay more of their health care cost. Now, if we provide tax relief to
them, they are able to use that money to provide health insurance for
their employees. The Democrats, if they allow this tax increase to take
place,
[[Page H1456]]
we are going to have more uninsured people in this country.
Tax relief has been used many, many times. I remember last week or
the week before that, Congressman Shuster talked about how tax relief
was used when John F. Kennedy was President, a member of the other side
of the aisle. And it works. He used tax relief, reducing all marginal
rates. Also Ronald Reagan proposed tax relief, and it was wildly
successful. We had a roaring economy. Tax relief is used by other
countries in economic slow times to get out of that. It is one of the
economic tools that are used.
We have to realize too that Washington is getting too big. Government
is too big. It is unaccountable. There is runaway spending here in
Washington. There is no accountability, no light of day on the
budgetary process. People talk about the budget like it is a
complicated thing here in Washington. Well, heck, a chimpanzee could do
the budget here in Washington. You get what you spent last year; you
try to get more money. You want $10 million, you ask for $1 billion and
you get $10 million more, and you spend that and that goes to your
baseline for the next year.
Instead of throwing money at all these supposed problems around here,
we need to find the problems first and scrutinize the spending here in
Washington, D.C. And we certainly don't need to free up more money for
the politicians in Washington, D.C. to spend by allowing massive tax
increases to occur.
So I really commend you for doing this countdown, the Countdown Crew.
I want to commend Congressman Shuster for all he has done, Congressman
Davis, Jack Kingston from Georgia. This is very important. And when I
go around my district, even in Oklahoma, we are hearing a lot of things
about what you guys are doing on this Countdown Crew. People do not
want to see these tax increases occur. I talked to someone the other
day that said, I am afraid that our child tax credit will go away, from
$1,000 to $600. That will be critical. I have four kids. It is going to
affect me. It is going to affect a lot of people. And that is what we
are dealing with, people. And we want them to keep the money that they
worked so hard to earn in their pockets, not here in Washington.
And, again, I want to thank you for having me here.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Thank you very much, Congressman Sullivan.
I think it is so important what he highlighted here when he mentioned
four children. My wife Pat and I have six children. For families what
this translates into, just the loss of the child tax credit alone for a
family of four is $2,000. That could be a semester of college tuition.
It could be an investment in savings. There is an opportunity cost that
comes with that that has real effects. And when that money is in the
economy, it is creating jobs.
And I would like to take a moment and share one small business story
that is close to home about an environment that creates opportunity.
You may have heard me say this before: The role of government is not to
create jobs. Government doesn't create jobs by itself. What government
does should be to create a framework that empowers people to create
jobs, to create opportunity, and to protect that opportunity we pass to
future generations.
We have seen tremendous change that has taken place in our region,
the Fourth District of Kentucky. And specifically in the northern part
of that district, right across the river from Cincinnati or, as we like
to say, the greater northern Kentucky area, we are seeing economic
explosions in great numbers in a variety of industries. In particular,
a group of far-seeing businessmen wanted to change the view of our
community, joined with community leaders. And they worked with Northern
Kentucky University, first with President Jim Votruba, and talked about
the need for bringing high-technology jobs and creating a climate for
high-technology jobs. Dr. Votruba recruited an information technology
professional named Bob Farrel, who is an entrepreneur, a great success
in the business world, but also a teacher and a mentor. They
collaborated in turn with the chamber of commerce, with local
government, with State government, and created a zone in downtown
Covington, Kentucky, on Madison Street, called the Madison E Zone. And
into that came some friends of mine to build on the foundation that was
given to them, those boundaries in which they could create opportunity.
Three men, Kevin Moore, Norm Desmairis, and Greg Harmeyer, I know all
three of them. I have watched what they have done professionally with
their business. I have watched how they have grown from a very small
company to create many, many jobs; how they left one facility and had
to move down the street to an even larger facility. And they are the
true ideal of the American entrepreneur, a small business person who
starts with a vision, pursues that vision, and wants to bring about
change. And what Kevin and Norm and Greg have all done with their
business that is remarkable in information technology is they have
provided needed services in the preservation of knowledge and improving
the efficiency of systems, helping the employees of other job-creating
companies to be more effective and more competitive in this global
economy. And where it comes home full circle is the idea of working
with the university in conjunction with the Department of Defense and
the Department of the Air Force to help preserve knowledge and help
strengthen the information technology systems of our Armed Forces, of
our national security establishment.
What is exciting about this is tier one with Greg and Norm and Kevin
represent hundreds of small businesses that are creating thousands and
thousands of jobs around the country. And what they shared with me, and
Kevin shared with me tonight, is that these tax increases are going to
hurt their ability to provide for health care, as Congressman Sullivan
pointed out. It is going to hurt their ability to make needed
investments in equipment. It is going to hurt their ability to compete
effectively. And I believe it is better to let them keep more of what
they have earned because that is going to be recycled into the economy
to create more jobs.
And the model we are following, as Solomon said in the Bible, there
is nothing new under the sun, was the same model that birthed Silicon
Valley. There were intellectual partnerships and entrepreneurial
partnerships with Stanford University that led to the greatest
explosion of technology and research in the history of modern man. It
changed the life of virtually every citizen in this Nation, provided us
with technologies and tools and improved a way of life that had never
been known before. And now we stand with an opportunity to build that
type of a future right in Kentucky. As my colleague, Congressman Hal
Rogers down in the Fifth District, likes to say, representing eastern
Kentucky, we may not have Silicon Valley but if we have the right
economic policy and the right focus on research and the right focus on
developing our young people and especially the right focus on creating
an environment to stimulate small business, we may not have Silicon
Valley but we can have Silicon Hollow. We can make a difference that
provides not only for the next generation that follows us but to keep
this Nation competitive in the long run.
And we stand at a crossroads right now. As we mentioned before, in
1,419 days, the average working family in this country is going to see
a tax increase of $2,098. Money that has created 7 million jobs will be
taken out of the economy. And what we need to do is look at policies
that are proactive, that make a difference.
One colleague who is here with us tonight who also came out of the
small business world, who has been in Congress for a long time, who
understands both the political side, but most important to me is that
he has created jobs, has made a payroll, and he has helped other people
deal with these benefits and understand this importance, and that is my
friend Congressman Jack Kingston from Savannah, Georgia, and I would
like him to share some of his perspective.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
First of all, I want the record to show that Mr. Sullivan has four
kids and you commented that you have six kids. Are you saying that he
does not have a commitment? Is that is what is going on here? The rest
of us are getting by with one or two kids. Actually, I have
[[Page H1457]]
four. But I wanted to say you two families are doing your share for the
economy.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I would have to say, Congressman Kingston,
that based on these tax increases that are coming and these regressive
policies that will begin to take effect in 1,419 days, I would say that
my six children will become my retirement plan.
Mr. KINGSTON. Well, I will tell you what. Also, you and I know people
across America will lose that family tax deduction for the children,
which is very important.
But I wanted to get into the perspective of a business person, but
the way I explain tax increases to school kids, it seems that maybe it
should apply to some of these bureaucrats here in Washington, D.C. But
yesterday I was speaking to a group called the People to People
Exchange, a student ambassador program. And I asked for a volunteer. A
young lady who had a job, a young girl who was, I guess, in about the
ninth grade named Tracy, she works at Holton's Restaurant in Midway,
Georgia. Tracy makes $5.50 an hour. So I got her up in front of the
class, and this was an extracurricular thing. They were actually
meeting on a Sunday afternoon. And I said, Okay, Tracy, so you work for
2 hours, $5.50 an hour. After those 2 hours, you bring home $11. And
she looked at me like, You really are stupid in Washington, you know I
don't do that.
I said, How much do you bring home?
She said, Well, it is about nine something.
So I said, Okay. Let us just say for 2 hours' work you bring home $9
and you send $2 to me in Washington. Now, what do I do with that tax
money?
And, of course, these students know you pay for schools, you pay for
roads, you pay for our military. And, Mr. Davis, you know Midway. You
probably have eaten at Holton's Restaurant. It is right down from Fort
Stewart, where you were stationed. Have you eaten there?
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I have been in Midway many times going between
Fort Rutger and the Hunter Army Airfield.
Mr. KINGSTON. Well, they have a good fish and shrimp platter that is
waiting just for you. It has got your name on it.
Anyway, I said to Tracy, Okay, for the $2 that we get from you that
goes to the soldiers at Fort Stewart, goes to the schools, to the
building, to the teachers, goes to the roads, goes to the police
officers, you are okay with those things because we all agree we need
them?
And she says, Yes, sir.
And I said, Okay. Now, if you know I could do it for $1.50, would you
want that extra 50 cents or would you let me have it? Because, you
know, if I had that extra 50 cents from you, I could spend money. I
could go out and maybe improve some health care and take care of some
farm programs. And who knows? I might even get a little bit more of the
Federal Government dollars down to our part of the State.
She didn't like that idea. She felt like she could manage her 50
cents better than we could in Washington, D.C. And I serve on the
Appropriations Committee, and I have to say for a high school girl, she
is certainly accurate. She can manage her money better than we can
manage her money. And yet we have this attitude in Washington that if
something is going to happen, government has to be the one to initiate
it. So we want the whole $2.
And the interesting thing that you have already underscored night
after night is that if we let her keep that extra 50 cents, taking less
of her $2 in taxes, what is she going to do? She and all the other
millions of Tracys and millions of other people like the six Davis kids
who will one day be working, they would go out and they might buy more
hamburgers, more shoes, more clothes, more tires, more dryers, more
washing machines, go out to eat more. And when they do, small
businesses react by expanding. They increase their inventory. Then they
have to have more people to sell their inventory; so they hire more
people. Less people are on welfare. More people are paying taxes. And
so the money comes into Washington, D.C. Small businesses win. People
who are working win. And the government, at the end of the day, gets
more revenue. That has been the case now with George Bush, Ronald
Reagan, and John F. Kennedy.
Tax cuts, giving the people the right to keep more of their own hard-
earned money actually brings in more revenue. Therefore, to let these
tax breaks end and increase taxes on small businesses and on families
across America is an absurd policy. And we have got to get folks
motivated to realize that this is something that is going to happen
unless people back home start raising Cain about it.
So I am glad you are doing what you are doing. And I wanted to yield
back because I know we have some other speakers here, but I thank you
for your leadership on it.
{time} 2015
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I appreciate that, Congressman Kingston. It
just highlights all the more what you point out, that in 1,419 days,
that every working family in America is going to have a $2,000 tax
increase. We think about where that money could go and what it is doing
in the economy.
Just for those who might be joining us tonight, we are the Countdown
Crew. We meet the first night of every vote and talk about issues that
make a difference to creating jobs, that make a difference to our
pocketbook, for working families, for small business owners that create
the preponderance of our jobs.
We would like for you to join with us, to communicate your stories,
to share your experiences. You can contact us at
[email protected]. We are standing by to hear those stories
right now. And I just want to thank again Bill Shuster's vision to want
to execute this program.
As we get ever nearer to those tax increases, we have had Members
that are coming to the floor that haven't been politicians their whole
life, that have had what I would like to say are real jobs, who have
been out there, who know what it is like to have to make a profit.
I know what it is like to make that decision to go without a paycheck
to make sure that employee health benefits are paid. And I am not
saying that to impress anybody, simply to point out to you, that is a
common decision that many small business owners face, making sure that
our employees are taken care of. And when taxes are raised, that takes
away even more of that flexibility to meet employee and family needs,
but also it takes dollars out of the economy or dollars out of the
potential of those businesses to create jobs.
One Member who is joining us here tonight who I think has lived a
great success story in small business with her husband is Congresswoman
Thelma Drake from Peninsula, Virginia. She represents the Norfolk area.
The thing that is very exciting about her story that is very
consistent with other small business owners who have gotten to taste
that piece of the American Dream and all the families that have worked
with them or have been benefited by them, is her story coming up as a
Realtor, seeing many, many facets of the economy and the impact of
these income tax policies, of regressive policies against small
business, and yet at the same time the positive impact by allowing
people to keep more of what they earn. It has created record revenues,
as Congressman Kingston mentioned.
Among all the doom and gloom stories, one thing that I would share is
that many times when we talk about our global economy, there is a great
fear of competing on that global stage. If we compete on a level
playing field, the American worker, the American entrepreneurial and
creative genius is going to win. But when we talk about competing with
countries like China, an emerging superpower, one thing that I would
point out is that just in less than 3 years, the U.S. has added to its
economy, the increase in our economic output has been $2.2 trillion.
That is bigger than the entire economy of China.
Folks, if we create taxpayers instead of raising taxes, that growth
will continue and our children and grandchildren will have the
opportunity to compete.
I would like to recognize the gentlewoman from Virginia to share her
perspective on this.
Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman for that
and thank him for his commitment to
[[Page H1458]]
telling America how important it is that we keep our tax cuts that are
in place and the very positive results that have taken place from the
tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. Those are real savings that are helping
Americans today. At the end of 2006, that tax relief that Americans got
to keep in their pockets was valued at $1.1 trillion. That is a lot of
money for families, for small businesses.
You mentioned my experience as a Realtor. I want to tell you, when I
was new in the real estate business, I couldn't figure out how to put
more time in the day, how do I do all the things that I needed to do.
It took me just a while to realize there is no more time in the day,
and there are only seven days in the week, and the only answer for me
was to hire other people to do the things that I didn't have the time
to do.
What that meant for me in my little real estate business was I became
an employer. All of a sudden I was paying payroll taxes on employees,
as well as paying double for myself as a self-employed individual in
the real estate industry. At the end of each year, when I would look at
a really good year and sell a lot of real estate, I would say, I am
really not making any money for as hard as I am working because so much
is going to the Federal Treasury in the way of taxes. So I appreciate
that in 2001, when the tax cuts were put into place that we reduced
those income tax rates to Americans.
I think a lot of people don't realize that today we have a 10 percent
tax rate for our lowest payers, down from 15 percent. That is slated to
expire in 2011 if we don't act then and keep that in place. Our other
rates dropped by 3 to 4 points, not the full 5 points for our lowest-
income Americans.
I have heard you talking in here tonight about your children. I have
two children and I have four grandchildren. When I was ran for office,
because it was something I felt I needed to do, but not something that
had always been a goal of mine, the way I made myself do that every day
is I took a picture of my granddaughter, who was then under 2 years
old, taped it to the dash of my car, and every time I got in the car I
said, Caity, I am doing this for you.
I stand here today now as a Member of Congress and say Caity, and the
other three, because there are three more now, I am doing this for you.
Because if we want to leave our children the America that we have
enjoyed, we have got to make sure that our tax policy supports our
economy, that it grows our revenues and it allows Americans to be the
ones to decide how they are spending their money.
One of the big changes in growing revenues for our country, of
course, is the capital gains tax, which has been reduced from 25
percent to 15 percent. As a Realtor, before coming to Congress, I can't
tell you how many times I would hear from people, I can't sell that
rental property because I can't pay that capital gains tax. But in
2003, when that was dropped by 10 percent, that made a lot of
difference for people, and people were allowed to take assets and free
them up and not be looking at such an overburden of taxes in order to
do that.
We have talked about it. Congressman Kingston has mentioned President
Kennedy. I wrote a quote of his down that I thought I would share
tonight with America. This is from President Kennedy. He said: ``An
economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough
revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough
jobs or enough profits.''
That is the from the 1960s. Here we are in 2007 still having the same
discussion and still trying to point out to America that when you keep
your own money, that you spend it, you save it, you create jobs, you
create wealth for yourself.
We have heard a lot about taxing the wealthy and how we should do
more of that. But what people don't realize is by allowing people to
grow their own wealth, we do raise taxes on the wealthy. They have
actually risen 39 percent. Our income taxes are up 8.8 percent on
personal income tax, while corporate income taxes are now up 22.2
percent. What better way is there to raise revenue than allowing people
to be successful and spend their own money the way they see fit?
I am dismayed by two actions that were taken by this Congress in the
very early days. There is a three-fifths majority that is needed to
raise taxes. However, by a simple majority vote of this body, we now
have a simple majority vote that is able to waive that. America needs
to watch what this body does, and they need to hold us accountable.
The other thing that this Congress did in those early hours is pass
something that is called PAYGO. It sounds very good, and Virginia is
actually a pay-as-you-go State. We are not allowed to have a deficit in
our budget. So it sounds good to everyone, until you stop and realize
what it means.
What that means is when these taxes are ready to begin expiring, that
in order to keep them in place, that other taxes either have to be
raised or spending cuts have to take place to offset them. That doesn't
take into consideration at all the positive impact we have seen of
reducing taxes. It only looks at things on the surface.
It is like the philosophy that is out there that if we are bringing
in a lot of money today with tax policy, let's raise it just a little
bit and we will get more. It is actually the opposite that takes place.
I believe our responsibility is to grow our economy. Our responsibility
is to have a tax policy that grows revenues for us and makes sure that
we have the economy and the future for our children and our
grandchildren.
I thank you for letting me join you today.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I thank you, Congresswoman Drake, for being
with us this evening. I think one thing I would like to recognize is
that Thelma and her husband are real people who started and ran a real
business that created real jobs and a real future for many others.
If you are just joining us, we are the Countdown Crew. We are
counting down 1,419 days to one of the largest tax increases in
American history if Congress does not take action to make sure that the
tax cuts, the benefits that have made such a difference for so many in
this country by allowing people to keep more of what they earn, are
extended and hopefully made permanent.
I would just like to point out if you would like to communicate with
us, we are the countdowncrew@
mail.house.gov. If you have questions or would like to share your story
of how being able to keep more of your own money, of your hard-earned
resources has benefited you, how it has helped you build a future, we
would love to hear from you.
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Davis, if the gentleman will yield, I was
wondering, I was listening to Mrs. Drake talk about something she went
over. I think we need to maybe get a good explanation here in terms of
Congress voting on a simple majority now. Maybe you could explain that,
because under the Republicans it was required to have, was it a three-
fifths majority?
Mrs. DRAKE. A three-fifths vote in order to raise taxes.
Mr. KINGSTON. That was in place for 10 or 12 years under Republican
leadership. So now the Democrats on their first day changed it from
three-fifths required to raise taxes on working people to what?
Mrs. DRAKE. What the rules that were changed were is that by a simple
majority vote you can waive that three-fifths vote. I have not seen
that written anywhere. Everyone that I have told about this back at
home is shocked. Their eyes get big. I think they felt safe to think it
would take a three-fifths supermajority vote to raise taxes in America,
and they are very distressed to hear it. That is why I wanted to
mention it tonight, because so few people know that that took place in
the opening of this session in our House rules. I think that is unfair,
and I think America should know it, and I think America should watch
what we do.
Mr. KINGSTON. Thanks.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I appreciate you pointing that out. That was
one of those surprises that I think affected a lot of people or that
will affect a lot of people in the months and the years ahead. The
reason for that 60 percent or three-fifths majority was to make sure
that it was clearly the will of the American people to raise taxes
instead of cutting spending, that people would be accountable.
In effect, what we were doing was something similar in line to the
way
[[Page H1459]]
the Senate works, with their rules of cloture to end debate. They have
to have a 60-vote supermajority. Certainly, over there that would be
absolutely necessary for any type of a measure that would raise taxes
or lower them. In the same vein, I think it was right for us to have
that in this body, because in 1,419 days we will be raising taxes.
The one thing that we all believe in the Countdown Crew is that the
goal of the government should not be to create new taxes, but to create
taxpayers. We want to cut taxes, allow people to keep more of what they
earn. And that is why we have had 7 million new jobs created and record
revenues into the Federal Treasury, because the economy is working.
Even in a time of war, it continues to grow, and it is incredible that
we are able to compete so effectively in a global economy. We need to
allow people to keep their resources to build that future for their
children and grandchildren.
With that, I would like to recognize another real person who helped
run a real business creating jobs out in the economy before he came to
Congress, and that is our leader of the Countdown Crew, Congressman
Bill Shuster from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky. I appreciate your
leadership down there on the floor, and I appreciate everybody that has
been here tonight. As always, with those of us down here on the
Countdown Crew, we all come from business backgrounds, most of us, if
not all of us, small business backgrounds. I ran a business that
employed between 30 and 40 people. And many, many Americans, small
business owners, know just how difficult it is to meet payroll every
month, to pay your bills.
There are many people here in Congress that talk about the escalating
costs of health care and how difficult it is. But there aren't that
many, there are few that are in Congress that have experienced that,
like Mr. Davis has, I know Mr. Kingston or Thelma Drake or myself. We
saw it happen year after year, and it is something that we are all
concerned about. It is something that we all want to make sure we find
an answer to, seeing that health care costs don't continue to climb.
But the answer is not to raise taxes. That works just the opposite.
And I am very, very concerned that the American people are not aware,
that was one of the reasons that getting together with Mr. Davis and
Mr. Kingston and Mrs. Drake and others, we came up with this idea to
talk about the countdown to the tax increase, because we are concerned
about it, and because the Democrat majority does not have to do
anything.
{time} 2030
They have to run out the clock, and if they run out the clock on 1419
days, there is going to be the largest tax increase in American
history, over $200 billion. That does not occur all at one shot. It is
going to occur over the next 4 years.
In 2008, there are certain tax cuts will expire; in 2009, 2010; and
then January 1, 2011, all the tax cuts put in place will have expired,
and we will see our taxes go up considerably.
If you are at home thinking about what your tax liability is going to
be in the future, you need to realize that the Democrat majority, as
Mrs. Drake and Mr. Kingston pointed out and discussed about the
difference between the three-fifths and the simple majority, the
Democrats changed those rules in the very first days of the Congress so
that they can raise your taxes.
The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from New
York, said before the election that he did not know of any of the Bush
tax cuts that he thought were worthy of continuing or extending.
So they have made it quite clear from their leadership, to the fact
they changed the rules, that they intend to raise taxes. Why they keep
talking about the deficits and deficit spending, and that is the answer
to it, well, I believe just the opposite. It is not the answer to it.
If you look at the revenues in 2006 to the Federal Government, they
increased by 9.7 percent in 2006. The deficit is down 50 percent of
where we projected it to be in 2005. The 2006 deficit is down 50
percent as to where we project it to be, and why is that? That is
because the revenues are coming into the Federal Government in
significant numbers.
In 2005, there was an over 14 percent increase in revenues. That is
because the economy is growing. That is because the Republican majority
tried to hold the line on spending. We did not do enough. We need to do
more, but the worst thing to do is to put a halt, put a hurdle on this
economy, put a bump in the road to stop this economy from growing.
As many have said tonight, talked about the facts, the numbers, in
December alone, there were 167,000 jobs created in this country; in
January, 111,000 jobs. To date, over the last 4 years, there have been
7.3 million jobs created in America, and those are due to allowing the
American people and small businesses to keep more of their hard-earned
dollars in their own pockets so that they can go out and buy new
things, whether it is a washer and dryer or whether it is a downpayment
on a new car or saving money for college, putting that money away,
$2,000 at a clip; and that is what the average American with a family
of four and making between $40,000 and $50,000 a year, if these tax
cuts are not extended, they are going to be hit with about a $2,000,
$2,200 tax increase. If you take that money, $2,000 a year, and put it
in a bank account at 5 percent interest over 10 years that grows to
$30,000. That is a nice downpayment on a house. That is a nice
downpayment on your kid's education. It is your money. It should not be
sent to Washington. We want to keep it out there in the families of
America and the small business of America.
As I said more of those numbers, we are at 4.6 percent unemployment,
and it is the lowest rate on average over the last 4 decades. Cutting
taxes drive this economy in a positive way. And others have said here
tonight, and just to remind people that we are not the first to use tax
cuts to move this economy forward, Ronald Reagan did it in the 1980s,
and this economy grew by leaps and bounds. And President John F.
Kennedy did it in the 1960s, cut taxes to spur this economy on, and
that is what we need to do.
As I said, there are millions of Americans out there today that are
depending on these tax rates to stay low. There are millions of small
businesses which are the backbone of this economy that are counting on
us keeping these tax cuts in place. There are millions of small
businesses and farmers in this country hoping that we will extend the
death tax so that they can plan for their future, so they can do the
financial planning necessary because the alternative is it will expire
at the end of 2010. The alternative is, if you cannot plan properly for
expansion, for the future, you certainly do not want to die so that
your family gets that tax, the tax break that we put in place.
So this is extremely important, as I said, to Americans across the
spectrum, across this Nation from Arizona to Pennsylvania to Washington
to Florida. I know millions of Americans, actually 10.6 Americans, low-
income Americans, that are not paying taxes at all today because of the
tax cuts we put into place in 2001 and 2003.
As we have been talking about for the last month this countdown to
the tax increase, 1,419, dies, if Mr. Davis will put that chart back
up, not the chart but our e-mail address. We have the
CountdownC[email protected]. We would love to hear from across this
country how Americans have utilized these tax cuts, whether it is the
child tax credit, whether it is the accelerated depreciation or any of
the decreases in the marginal income tax rates. If you have utilized
the Tax Code in a positive way, we want to hear about that. We want to
be able to talk about that on the House floor.
One story that I have, back in central Pennsylvania, Dr. Greg Pyle is
the president of Oil Surgery Associates. His practices are in Bedford
County and Blair County, Pennsylvania, which are in the Ninth
Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He has seen steady growth over
the past 10 years, some of the most impressive growth being in small
Bedford County. It is about 45,000. According to Dr. Pyle, medical
practices usually plateau financially from 5 to 8 years. However, Dr.
Pyle's medical partnership, which has been in business for 12 years,
has seen some of
[[Page H1460]]
its greatest growth just in the past couple of years. He attributes
that directly to the reduction in taxes and that people have more money
in their pocket that they can come in and utilize his services that he
provides to them in central Pennsylvania.
Again, we have many, many other stories, but I just want at this
point to yield back to my good friend from Kentucky (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I thank you, Congressman Shuster. For those of
you who are watching, if you would like to share your perspective, your
view, join us via e-mail at CountdownC[email protected], and remember
that in 1,419 days, there is a bill arriving.
I would put it to you in a question like this. If you knew or you
suddenly went to the mailbox and opened the box up and there was a bill
for $2,100 and it was due immediately, that is what is coming if these
tax cuts are not extended and made permanent.
Despite the fact of the economic improvement in this Nation, the
Democratic Congress is committed to raise taxes. The last time they
raised taxes was 25 days ago in the energy industry that has an effect
on virtually every job in America, and now we are looking at a wide
variety of taxes.
Facts are stubborn things. The success of Republican tax relief
initiatives are undeniable. That is the reason that Congressman Shuster
and I and the Countdown Crew like to say we want to create taxpayers,
not raise taxes. We want to create taxpayers, not create new taxes
because the job creators who are out there are real people, like Jack
Kingston who was in the insurance industry; Thelma Drake from Virginia
now who was a Realtor; Bill Shuster who worked in the automotive
support industry. I worked in the manufacturing industry, and all of us
saw firsthand the impact of government policies that were often well
meant by folks that passed these laws, but they never worked out in
that environment to understand the impact that it had on the pocketbook
of working Americans.
As we stand here tonight for the seventh week since the Democrats
took control of Congress, I am pleased to report one thing, though, is
that the Democrats have come to the realization that some facts just
cannot be ignored.
This week, the House will vote on H.R. 976, and that is the Small
Business Tax Relief Act of 2007. This bipartisan legislation extends
critical tax provisions for small business owners and paves the way for
the House and the Senate to come to agreement on raising the minimum
wage from $5.15 cents to $7.25.
I know you supported this measure, Mr. Shuster, and so did I, but we
realize also how important this provision can be for young people just
starting out, for working families, and I am glad that the Democrats
have realized how important some of the tax incentives are to keeping
our businesses growing and creating new jobs, but we cannot stop here.
We have got to make this and all the other tax relief provisions
permanent that affect individual families, because real people who hold
real jobs out in the real world, not here in the halls of Congress, are
the ones that pay those taxes, that foot that bill like that $2,098
bill that is going to be arriving in 2 years, in the very near future,
if these tax policies are not extended, if they are not continued for
the great benefit that they have brought forward.
I would like to highlight some tax provisions that need to be made
permanent. First of all, the $1,000 child tax credit reverts to $500.
For a family of four, that is $2,000. In my case, my wife Pat and I
have six children. That is $3,000. It goes on and on, affecting people
right in their pocketbook.
That $500 difference is not $500 that is going for a corporate jet or
some rich and famous lifestyle for people who were seen in the tabloid
shows on TV. That $500 tax credit goes to real people who live in the
real world. They are spending that on their children and investing that
in their children's future. I believe we need to allow them to keep
more of what they earned because they are going to spend it in a way
that is going to benefit their children and their children's children.
Congresswoman Drake mentioned earlier the 10 percent tax bracket.
Contrary to some of the spin in the media, the truth of the matter is
that the tax burdens have been pushed upward. It is those with more
that are paying more now with the structure of these cuts. Millions of
people have been taken off the tax rolls, and in fact, the 10 percent
bracket was created specifically as a transition for lower-income
earners so their tax burden would not be that high, that they would be
able to keep more of what they earn to be sure they meet their basic
necessities. That 10 percent bracket will disappear when those tax cuts
expire in 2010 without action from Congress and from the Senate and
from the President of the United States.
I would mention in a light moment that Kentucky is the home of
Kentucky Fried Chicken. We were meeting with KFC franchisees from all
around the country that came into Washington last week to give their
small business ownership perspective, what they do in the food service
industry, and they talked unceasingly about the benefits of tax
policies that help working families, that help them as small business
owners that made sure that they could keep the dollars in their
community, creating jobs in their community instead of sending it to
bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
One thing that they brought up that was very important and really
affects any capital-intensive business that they wished for was the
continuation of the 15-year accelerated depreciation for improvements
on new construction of restaurant buildings. Under old law, we are
looking at a 30-year depreciation schedule, and when you think about
the food service industry, as competitive as it is with new fads and
themes to be able to meet the needs of the consumer, 30 years is quite
a long time, and I can think of a difference in my lifetime.
These business owners, these men and women who were creating
thousands and thousands of jobs around the United States, asked to not
have their tax burden eliminated, but simply to have it structured in
such a way that they could compete more effectively.
They understand the importance of creating taxpayers versus taxes
because those dollars, creating jobs, will come back into the economy,
and as we have seen with record revenues to the Federal Government, by
cutting taxes we have improved revenue.
The Republican-led Congress had acted and extended these important
tax relief provisions to 2007, but we need to make them permanent.
I would like to defer now to my colleague from Pennsylvania to share
some more of his perspective on this issue.
Mr. SHUSTER. I appreciate that. You made a very important point about
the minimum wage. I think you and I both voted at the end of the last
Congress to increase the minimum wage, but it failed in the Senate. It
was not able to get through in the Senate.
What is happening here today is that our friends on the other side,
they stand up on the House floor and claim that they have raised the
minimum wage when, in fact, all they have done is pass it in the House.
It is not law yet. It takes both bodies to pass it.
Thank goodness for the United States Senate. They are putting back in
those tax cuts for small business. They are absolutely critical for
small businesses.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Just as an aside, if the gentleman would
yield, I am becoming a much bigger fan of the policies and rules of the
U.S. Senate since November 8.
Mr. SHUSTER. I agree with you on that.
There is a small amusement park in my district, Lakelawn Park, and I
was talking to the general manager of Lakelawn Park, and he told me the
increase in the minimum wage is going to cost him between $130,000 to
$150,000 to the bottom line, and what they employ are mainly high
school kids in the summertime to run those rides. He said that kids
starting out at minimum wage, if they had been there for a period of
time they certainly make more than that.
{time} 2045
But without any kind of tax decrease or other kind of tax benefit,
that is going to cost them $130,000. It is going to cause him to hire
less kids to work in the summer because he is not going
[[Page H1461]]
to be able to afford that kind of hit to his bottom line. So we passed
it here in the House, we know, and unfortunately the national news
media, unlike in 1995 when the Republicans took control, I remember it
well. The first 100 days, every time the Republicans would pass
something the national news media was quick to point out, Well, they
haven't done anything yet, they just passed the House.
And that is all that happened here in the first 100 hours, is we
passed the House. Minimum wage has not gone up. It will go up with
probably a lot of Republican votes if the Senate comes through with the
tax measures that they proposed. And I know the House, Johnny-come-
lately to the tax cut for small businesses, we are going to hopefully
pass something here this week to offer some of those tax cuts, but not
near enough what small businesses need. Our small business owners are
out there every day creating jobs, meeting payrolls, working long
hours, and giving back to the community.
The community I come from, when you look at who are the people that
are contributing to the charities and the different civic
organizations, it is the small business owner, giving back to its
community to make it a better place to live. So I think it is so
important that we put tax breaks in, we make the ones permanent that we
passed in 2001 and 2003.
And I just have another story of a small business owner from my
district, Greg Rothman with RSR Realty in Cumberland County,
Pennsylvania, which is Carlisle, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. He has seen a massive increase in his business due to the
economic policies that were put in place over the last several years.
The lower tax burden has trickled down, and houses are being sold and
houses are being built, more attractive for the consumers to buy
throughout Pennsylvania, and especially in central Pennsylvania in
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and employment rate is about 3.3, 3.4,
4 percent, one of the lowest in the State.
Reductions in capital gains tax have allowed many empty nesters to
enter the housing market to buy homes, to improve what they are living
in, or downsize into nicer places. It has helped his realty business
grow. And since becoming a partner in RSR realty in 1999, Greg has seen
it grow from 20 Realtors to 60, which is an increase of 40 jobs in
about the past 7 or 8 years. And it is these economic policies that we
have put in place that have caused this to happen; and Greg said that
he has seen the highest sales volume since he has entered the industry.
And I think that is important to tell those kinds of stories. Those
are real people; those are real jobs. And I want to remind people that
we would like to hear those kinds of stories; we want to hear from all
across America. At the [email protected], you can send us in
that story, your success story, and how you utilized those tax cuts
that have been put in place in the early 2000s and why we need to keep
them in place. So we would love to hear stories from business people,
small, medium-sized, and large all around the country. We certainly
would appreciate that.
At this time I will yield back to the gentleman from Kentucky.
Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I thank the gentleman and point out that we in
the Countdown Crew can be contacted at [email protected].
The stories that we tell are about real people who are creating real
jobs and live in the real world, and they understand the real effects
of the policies that are generated here in Washington, that create
value, that create a future, and those that create impediment and
create barriers to growth.
I think of my friend George Hammond who runs Hammond Automotive. He
started in Covington, Kentucky, years ago, and he invested in his
business the great benefits that have come from the tax cuts that were
passed by the Republican Congress, allowing the American people to keep
more of what they own, have benefited him and his employees and family.
His business has grown. In fact, he opened a new outlet, a new store in
Burlington, Kentucky, to reach even more people and to create even more
jobs.
It is like my friend Don Salyers who runs a river transport operation
in Ashland, Kentucky, giving opportunity for creating more jobs and a
future for that community that is in economic transition.
This week we are going to vote for a tax incentive package that will
help to keep the American economy strong by extending tax policies that
we passed in prior Congresses. We owe it to our families and this
Nation, to our working families, to small business owners, and
ultimately to the health of the economy to allow people to keep more of
what they earn. We need to do more that creates that future and creates
taxpayers, instead of raising taxes.
One thing that I would like to comment on here tonight is the
extension of the work opportunity tax credit. Small business owners,
especially those that have to take somebody and intensively train them
to bring them into that workplace, into that small business to make
them into a taxpayer need incentives and opportunities. For example, we
have many people who have had some challenges in life, that may have
lived life on the edge, may be going through a transition in life, and
we want to give them that opportunity. But the way to do that is not to
mandate that. The way to do that is not simply to set aside the
taxpayers' dollars with no stewardship or oversight, but is to allow
the market and the economy to work by providing accountability for
those small business owners on the frontline, and also the opportunity
and the incentive to make an investment. And what the work opportunity
tax credit does is it incentivizes small business owners to hire
higher-risk employees, and the goal again is creating taxpayers.
What are some examples of this? Dealing with high-risk youth. My
wife, Pat, and I worked with Youth on the Edge for over 20 years before
I came to Congress. And the one thing that I can say is there are many
young people that need a vision; they need a new start to overcome
mistakes that were made earlier, some wrong assumptions they had about
their environment, oftentimes the consequences of poor decisions that
they made.
On first blush, a business owner could be hard pressed to want to
make that investment. But what this tax credit does is gives an offset
to that business owner to make that investment, to reduce the risk, to
give somebody a chance. That is the kind of framework, the kind of
regulation that government should give that allows the market to work,
to bring out the best in people, and ultimately strengthen our economy
in the long term.
You know, as I close tonight before yielding to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania for his final words, our mission in the Countdown Crew is
to do two things: first, it is to let the American people know that in
1,419 days, a $2,100 bill is going to arrive in the mail to basically
every taxpayer in the United States when the tax cuts that have
produced so much will be repealed automatically, when they sunset. We
need to allow people to keep more of what they earn. We have seen the
great benefits that come to the economy from that.
The other thing that we do in the Countdown Crew is we want to
highlight the positive impact of policies that allow people to control
their own lives. The government doesn't create jobs; all it can do is
create a framework and environment that either empowers people or
restrains them and holds them back. And what we want to do is join with
you and the Countdown Crew, and you can contact us at
[email protected] to get the American people's story here in
the House of Representatives so that the Congress will know, and compel
the Congress to act, to allow the small business owners who create the
bulk of jobs in this country to keep more of what they earn, to invest
it in their employees, to allow working families to keep more of what
they earn and invest it in their employees; so that in 1,490 days we
can continue creating opportunities rather than stopping something that
has been a great benefit.
With that, I will yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania to close.
Mr. SHUSTER. I appreciate that. And I think the point you made is
worth repeating, because I know you and I believe this and many of our
colleagues believe this, especially on this side of the aisle, that
government doesn't create jobs. We can only create
[[Page H1462]]
an environment to give people the opportunity to create jobs, small
entrepreneurs and business people across this country. And our fiscal
problems in this country, our financial problems with the government,
isn't that the government taxes too little. It is that we spend
entirely too much. And I know the coming weeks, I know especially the
new Members of Congress are going to be put to the test to stand up and
be accounted for, because there are many people who say that America
voted for a change in November, and they did.
But I know there is nobody in the Ninth Congressional District and
nobody that I have come across as I travel this country that wanted to
change from a lower tax system to higher taxes. Nobody wants to do
that. And our goal is, in the Countdown Crew, to make the American
people aware that the Democrats don't have to do anything; they can run
out the clock, and on January 1, 2011, they will have the largest tax
increase in American history, over $200 billion. And I believe it is
our duty to make sure that we are talking about it so that the American
people know what the majority intends to do by changing the rules on
their first couple of days of Congress from a three-fifths majority to
a simple majority to raise taxes, they have made it a lot easier to
raise taxes.
They put PAYGO into place which only deals with new spending, and it
really does nothing to address the deficits we have today. So PAYGO
really should be TAXGO, because that is what the American people are
going to see.
So, again, we urge you to e-mail us at [email protected],
because we want to hear your stories about how you have put those tax
cuts into use to create jobs and make America a more prosperous place.
____________________