[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 36 (Friday, March 12, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2010

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                               speech of

                            HON. TODD TIAHRT

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 2010

  Mr. TIAHRT. Madam Speaker, I was unable to make the vote on H.R. 2847 
due to the untimely death and funeral of one of my staffers' father.
  Had I been present for the vote, I would have voted ``Nay.'' If there 
is one thing the American people agree upon it's that major changes are 
necessary in order to dig ourselves out of this spending quagmire. The 
American people want us to reform our spending practices so that our 
economy can be prosperous once again.
  The irony of this ``Jobs'' bill is that it includes a net tax revenue 
increase of $14.3 billion, which will force employers to cut jobs in 
order to pay more money to the federal government. Strangely, the 
Democrats attempt to give a tax break to small businesses on one hand 
but then take away with the other.
  This legislation also includes another short-term extension of the 
highway authorization. Instead of continuing with short-term extensions 
of transportation funding, Congress needs to enact a meaningful, 6-year 
surface transportation funding bill.
  Today, I introduced the Keeping American Businesses Competitive Act. 
This legislation would lower the top business tax rate from 35 percent 
to 22 percent. The United States currently has the second highest 
corporate tax rate of any industrialized nation, putting American 
workers and businesses at a huge competitive disadvantage. Rather than 
the Democrat ``solution'' of increasing taxes to address job loss, 
lowering the corporate tax rate will actually put people back to work. 
According to the Milken Institute, lowering the rate to 22 percent 
would ``create an additional 350,000 manufacturing jobs and increase 
total employment by 2.13 million.''
  If this Congress is serious about getting Americans back to work, it 
should focus its efforts on proven, free-market principles that will 
level the playing field for our businesses to compete and keep capital 
and jobs here in the U.S.
  For the above reasons, I oppose this bill.

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