[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 26, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H7074-H7075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOVING THE AMERICAN DREAM FORWARD
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Woodall) for 5 minutes.
Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, you probably get the same questions I get
when I go back home. Those questions are from folks who came, they sat
here in the gallery and they looked down on the House floor, and they
thought: Golly, where is everybody? Where's everybody? I thought it was
going to be full of 435 Members of Congress. But, of course, as you
know, Mr. Speaker, in today's modern technology world, everybody's back
in their office watching things on television. But I confess that
sometimes during this morning-hour, I turn the volume down a little
bit. I turn it down a little bit because sometimes we get into those
divisive issues down here on the House floor. It gets my blood pressure
up so much I think my head is going to explode first thing in the
morning. I sometimes turn the volume down.
But today I wanted to come down here and find those things that bring
us together as opposed to divide us, because I really do believe that
as we face the kind of economic challenges that we're facing in America
today, there is more that unites this body than divides it. There's
more that we can do together than we must fight about in order to move
the American Dream forward.
I have in my pocket a card. It's titled, ``The House Republican Jobs
Plan,'' but I'd tell you it's an American jobs plan. I look down the
items that we have brought forward in this Republican House, America's
House, the things that they've been able to pass in the United States
Senate, those things that have gone to the President's desk, and we are
making progress, Mr. Speaker, on those things that unite us.
Of course, we started the year off repealing the 1099 provision from
the President's health care bill, that onerous provision that required
new paperwork mandates on all of our small businesses, completely
unworkable. We came together, the House and Senate, and the President
repealed that.
Last week, we came and we passed three new free trade agreements--
three new free trade agreements--for this Nation. Mr. Speaker, as you
know, with every nation that America has a free trade agreement, we
have a manufacturing surplus. Hear that, Mr. Speaker. With every nation
with which we have a free trade agreement, we have a manufacturing
trade surplus. We ship more American-made goods to those countries than
we import. We have a trade deficit as a Nation, but a manufactured
goods surplus with the nations with which we signed free trade
agreements. Free trade agreements, good for America, good for jobs,
good for trade, and we were able to move those across the President's
desk with his signature last week--2 weeks ago now.
And this week, we're going to bring two more bills to the floor,
things that bring us together. You heard my colleague from Illinois
talk about, earlier this morning, the 3 percent withholding, a bill
that we passed to say we think there are lots of tax cheats going on
out there among folks who contract with the government, so we're going
to just withhold those taxes up front and make you get them back later
on. Well, it turns out 3 percent withholding, our small businesses
owners didn't even have a 3 percent margin.
{time} 1030
If we had held all that money, they couldn't even pay the bills.
They'd actually have to operate at a loss for the year and ask the
government in April for their refund.
The President's onboard with that repeal. I believe the House is
going to be onboard with that repeal. The Senate is going to be onboard
with that repeal. We're going to move that across the floor this week
as well.
Things that are bringing us together, Mr. Speaker, are common ground
that we can cover to make it easier to create jobs in this country.
Because I agree with my colleague, Mr. Rangel, the American Dream is
that you can come here and do better tomorrow than you did today, that
you can provide your kids with more opportunity than what you had. That
is the American Dream.
I don't worry that folks want to come to America. I worry about the
one day that that dream has disappeared and folks don't want to come to
America anymore. They'd rather take their big brain and their hard work
ethic to China or to India or Brazil or Argentina. We must preserve
America as the magnet of success, the magnet that attracts those that
want to improve their lives and believe those opportunities exist here.
Mr. Speaker, there's a commonality in all of those bills that we've
passed and sent to the President's desk this year, and it's that these
were things the government did to try to encourage compliance, to try
to regulate, to try to require that small businesses operate
differently, and what we found out is they didn't work. The 1099
provision, free trade, those tariffs and duties that
[[Page H7075]]
prevented that free trade, this 3 percent holding provision, what is
the common ground, Mr. Speaker? Congress is doing too much in
regulating. America is doing too much in regulating this country.
I ran on that premise, Mr. Speaker. The challenge is we are not doing
too little. The problem is that we are doing too much and burdening
those small businesses.
The former soviet bloc countries, Mr. Speaker, have learned from that
example. They have flat tax rates, no exemptions, no exceptions, and
their tax collections went up.
Mr. Speaker, folks can't pay taxes if they don't have a job. You
can't pay income taxes if you don't have a job. And you can't have a
job if you don't have opportunity in your society.
The Fair Tax, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 25, goes right to the heart of these
jobs issues. Repealing those burdensome taxes, repealing those
regulations, and making sure everybody gets a fair shake, because that
is what America is all about.
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