[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 172 (Tuesday, January 1, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H7520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NOT A PERFECT PACKAGE

  (Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, we are about to have a hold-
your-nose vote here in the House of Representatives. And many of us are 
going to wrestle with the problem of making perfect the enemy of the 
good.
  We do have an opportunity to stabilize taxation for 99 percent of all 
Americans, to extend depreciation and investment expansion for small 
businesses, to make sure that families in America, through the child 
tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and student loans, are 
stabilized for their planning in calendar year 2013. The R&D tax credit 
is extended. So there's a lot in this package that's good.
  And there's a lot that's not addressed at all in this package. We 
have a debt ceiling crisis pending. We have a sequestration crisis 
spending. It must be addressed, or it's going to have a huge drag on 
the United States economy, and in the case of the debt, once again, 
revisit the issue of default for the first time in American history.
  So it's not a perfect package, but it is something that gets us by 
while we tackle the larger issues in the next Congress. I pray God that 
next Congress is more willing to compromise than this.

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