[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        $800 BILLION IN TAX CUTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, thanks to this Congress, 
hundreds of millions of Americans have received hundreds of billions of 
dollars in tax cuts, in fact, more than $800 billion.
  If that sounds like an astounding number, it is. It astounded 
President Reagan's Domestic Policy Advisor, Republican Bruce Bartlett, 
who said ``Federal taxes are very considerably lower by every measure 
since Obama became President.''
  The proof of these tax cuts is clearly evident in the latest tax 
refund data: The average refund in America increased by 10 percent this 
year, to a record $3,000. Thanks to the tax cuts passed by this 
Congress, we've returned more money to American taxpayers than ever 
before.
  The Recovery Act we passed last year was enacted to stabilize the 
economy. It created 25 separate tax cuts now benefiting 95 percent of 
all Americans. While they haven't received the same level of attention 
as the jobs and infrastructure we worked on in that bill, the tax cuts 
actually make up the largest component of that act. More than 241,000 
families in my district, the 11th District of Virginia, benefited from 
Making Work Pay tax cuts that provided $400 to individuals and $800 to 
every family.
  The Act also included a tax credit of $250 for Social Security 
recipients, providing some relief to 79,000 seniors in my district, and 
to 1.3 million Virginia seniors throughout the Commonwealth.
  We prevented 26 million Americans from being subjected to the AMT 
tax. We expanded the child tax credit to families of 16 million 
children. In total, the Recovery Act was a $288 billion tax cut bill.
  In addition to expanding health care coverage and lowering insurance 
premiums, the recently passed health insurance reform will provide 
billions of dollars in tax relief. It provides $40 billion in tax cuts 
for small businesses to help them afford health insurance. Currently, 
only 43 percent of those companies are able to afford that coverage. 
Eight percent of companies that do provide insurance said that without 
reform they'd have to cut health insurance this year. The new law 
provides billions of dollars in tax credits to those small businesses, 
the engine of economic growth and job creation in America, so that they 
can provide necessary health care coverage to their employees.
  Small businesses are the Nation's job creator, and represent the 
backbone of our economy. Congress has provided billions of dollars of 
tax relief to these small businesses. We expanded business deductions, 
increased the loss-carryback ratio, and provided greater deductions for 
research and development. In addition, the HIRE Act provided businesses 
with tax incentives to hire new employees throughout the country. A 
full economic recovery will depend on the expansion of the private 
sector, and the HIRE Act is a way of incentivizing through tax cuts 
those businesses to make those hires.
  We also extended tax cuts for homebuyers to encourage demand and 
stabilize the housing market, thereby safeguarding the equity of 
existing homeowners. Homeowners making their residence more energy 
efficient received tax cuts as well, enabling them to benefit from 
lower taxes along with the lower energy bills they got. Car buyers also 
received tax cuts through a sales tax deduction in last year's Recovery 
Act.
  That's just a sampling, Mr. Speaker, of how the more than $800 
billion in tax cuts are benefiting the American people.
  But we're not done. We've got at least another $285 billion in 
proposed tax cuts. For example, the House passed a revised estate tax 
that will dramatically lower taxes starting next year, and we now await 
Senate action. In addition, the House and Senate are finalizing the 
American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act that would allow 
individuals to continue to deduct State and local taxes from their 
Federal taxes, preserve the standard deduction for State and local real 
property taxes, and expand additional business taxes cuts.
  And I have introduced bipartisan legislation, I might add, to 
completely eliminate the antiquated telephone excise tax that was first 
implemented to fund the Spanish American War. This bill provides 
millions of dollars in tax relief, especially to our seniors.
  Mr. Speaker, perhaps you're wondering why we don't hear the other 
side of the aisle touting these tax cuts. Maybe it's because not a 
single one of them voted for the 25 tax cuts provided in the Recovery 
Act. Not one voted for the small business tax cuts of the HIRE Act. Not 
one voted for the Estate Tax Relief Act.
  These are real tax cuts that have put real money back in the hands of 
America and into the hands of working Americans and seniors, back into 
the hands of America's small business owners. That is the leadership of 
this Congress, and this leadership will continue providing strength to 
strengthen our families, our small businesses and our economy through 
additional tax relief.

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