[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 11, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H7961-H7965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REPUBLICAN STUDY COMMITTEE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Taylor). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 3, 2017, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Walker) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority
leader.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, we are here today because, almost 11 months
ago, the American people voted to give Republicans control of unified
government. They were tired of being crushed by rising healthcare costs
due to ObamaCare. They wanted America's economy to prosper again. They
wanted a secure border.
During the months that followed, Congress worked with President Trump
to sign over 50 bills into law. On top of that, the House passed over
270 laws that now sit in the Senate awaiting action.
Despite this legislation, there is a unified voice that is loud and
clear arriving daily from our base, saying, ``Get something done.'' The
reason for that call is because Americans continue to be crushed by
government policies, something that is very evident. These are the same
policies that drove them to vote for us in the first place.
Americans are scarred by the broken promises of the former
administration. They could not keep their doctor, even though they were
told by the former President they could. Their premiums did not go down
$2,500, and their exchanges did not work.
ObamaCare resulted in fewer options and increased costs for many
Americans. Out-of-pocket costs continue to soar, with overage
deductibles for bronze plans topping $6,000 in 2017.
Some States, like Arizona, faced premium increases of 116 percent;
Oklahoma, 69 percent. Tennessee faced a 63 percent increase. And one-
third of counties have only one insurer offering coverage on the
exchange. Some entire States like Wyoming, right below me, South
Carolina, Oklahoma, and Alaska only have one insurer.
Think about that. This trend is predicted to worsen, with half of
American counties only having one insurer in 2018.
As we have come to almost 8 years with the ACA, or ObamaCare, we run
a risk of thinking that it is normal. Our healthcare system was not
perfect before. We are not making that case. But ObamaCare made what
was already bad even worse.
We cannot think of these stats as mere numbers. Americans are really
suffering under this law. Just because Senate Majority Leader McConnell
gave up on repealing ObamaCare in the Senate does not mean Americans
will give Congress and Republicans a pass. We cannot and we must not
give up on this important promise.
The burden of ObamaCare is only made worse by the lackluster growth
of the economy in recent years. During the Obama administration years,
the economy failed to grow even once at the historic goal of 3 percent
a year, something we just saw in our last quarter.
Americans are as industrious and innovative as ever. Americans' work
ethic is not the problem. It is our antiquated tax system that has been
bogged down over the years by regulators and lobbyists.
Since our last major rewrite of the Tax Code 31 years ago, the same
year that ``Top Gun'' was number one in the box office, 1986, our Tax
Code has added over 35,000 pages. Think about that--35,000 pages. That
is about three changes per day. Each page is another carve-out or a
loophole for the well connected, leaving the rest of the economy
behind.
Our companies are at a disadvantage internationally, as our tax rate
stands at 35 percent, the highest, as we know now, in the
industrialized world.
Families continue to be punished with a marriage penalty.
Our Tax Code should be a competitive advantage for our companies
competing with the world. It should encourage innovators to push the
boundaries and find success.
The call to get something done that we hear loud and clear from
Americans is also coupled with a call to make sure that we are doing
our very best to secure the border. Perhaps there is no more vocal call
from the past year than to build that wall.
In 2016, the United States saw a surge in illegal border crossings,
with 46,000 illegals apprehended in that October alone. This is both a
fiscal and a security issue.
Border security is more than just the border, though. Visa overstays
are responsible for up to 40 percent of illegal immigration. We need a
solution, and we need an action to this problem if we are truly to
secure the border.
To add to these problems, more than 100 sanctuary jurisdictions have
enacted policies which restrict cooperation with ICE, allowing
potentially dangerous illegal immigrant criminals to remain in our
country.
I am confident that the American people will deliver their final
grade on Republicans over the next 3 months simply based on the three
issues, the three promises that I am speaking about today: number one,
continuing to work and replace and repeal ObamaCare; number two,
reforming the Tax Code; and, number three, securing the border. In
short, repeal, reform, secure; repeal, reform, secure. We need to
fulfill these promises in the next 3 months. The urgency and the time
is now.
As I said before, the status quo on these policies is literally
crushing Americans, and this is why they elected Republicans. In fact,
since 1913, when Republicans expanded, or when the House expanded the
387 Members to 435, this is the only time in history when back-to-back
Congresses, the Americans have elected 240 or more Republicans, and it
is time we did our job. We need to keep our promises to the American
people.
I am pleased to be joined by members of the Republican Study
Committee today to talk about the importance of keeping these promises.
That is why it is my privilege to introduce one of our newer members
from Kansas, Representative Ron Estes.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).
Mr. ESTES of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, after a decade of inadequate
economic growth across America, there is new growing optimism that our
economy is about to be set free again. Consumer confidence in the
economy is the highest it has been since 2000. Why? I believe this is
because the American people expect us to reform our broken Tax Code,
and they are excited about it.
Our outdated and overly complex Tax Code has held our economy down
for the past decade. It is time we fix this and empower working
families in America.
Real tax reform will be the best way to help America climb up the
economic ladder. A stronger economy will bring higher wages and better
jobs. The goal is to make our Federal Code simple and to make it fair.
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The Tax Code, as it is, only benefits the rich and well-connected who
can
[[Page H7962]]
hire an army of lawyers to protect their interests. This is why
Republicans are looking to enact real reform for all Americans. The
argument against tax reform is this: the plan is just a tax cut for the
rich.
The reality is, this tax reform framework is focused on helping
middle class families. The tax system is laid out by Republicans that
allows low- and middle-income workers to keep more of their hard-earned
paychecks in order to save for their children's college, for their
retirement, or any other things that they want.
I implore my colleagues across the aisle to do what is right and help
to fix our antiquated Tax Code.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Estes. Perhaps no one
knows more and has had more experience than the chairman of our
Judiciary Committee, a former immigration attorney who has spent years
working on resolving these issues.
Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the gentleman
organizing this hour of Special Order remarks, and your leadership on
these three important issues.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the importance of bolstering
enforcement of existing immigration law and securing the border. The
interior enforcement and border security are vital to enhancing public
safety, keeping the door open to law-abiding immigrants, protecting our
borders, and restoring the rule of law.
Under President Obama, interior enforcement deteriorated dramatically
as his administration refused to enforce immigration laws, rewrote the
law through executive action, and implemented policies that enabled
millions of unlawful and criminal aliens to remain in the United States
free from any possibility of removal.
The Obama administration's policies had--and continue to have--
disturbing consequences. The rule of law was undermined as hundreds of
thousands of Central American unaccompanied minors and families arrived
at the southwest border during the Obama years and were released into
the U.S. Too many Americans were killed or seriously harmed at the
hands of aliens who joined gangs or committed crimes.
Fortunately, the Trump administration has begun to reverse the Obama
administration's disastrous policies and is enforcing the law as
written by Congress. President Trump has issued executive orders to
strengthen interior enforcement and implement strong border security
measures. The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland
Security are already executing these executive orders, and there have
been quick results.
Illegal border crossings at the Southwest border dropped dramatically
at the beginning of the Trump administration due, in large part, to
consistent enforcement of the law and the strong message that the U.S.
no longer tolerates illegal immigration.
However, illegal border crossings are rising again despite the best
efforts of the Trump administration, demonstrating that the President
should be granted additional, long-needed legislative tools. The House
Judiciary Committee has been hard at work to improve our Nation's
immigration laws and has already approved bills that are crucial to
enable our country to gain control of our immigration system.
The Davis-Oliver Act is the keystone of our interior enforcement
efforts and is named after Placer County Detective Michael Davis, Jr.,
and Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver, two California law
enforcement officers who were murdered by an unlawful immigrant in
October 2014.
The bill improves the enforcement of our Nation's immigration laws to
enhance public safety. Specifically, the Davis-Oliver Act provides
tools to crack down on dangerous sanctuary city policies and contains
much-needed changes to protect American communities from unlawful
immigrants who commit crimes in the United States, or are gang members.
The Davis-Oliver Act also enhances national security by improving our
Nation's first line of defense, the visa issuance process. It provides
thorough screening of foreign nationals seeking to enter the United
States in order to prevent terrorists from entering our country. The
bill also ensures the rule of law and removes the ability of any
President to unilaterally shut down immigration enforcement by granting
States and localities the authority to voluntarily assist in the
enforcement of Federal immigration law and to enforce their own
immigration laws consistent with Federal practices.
The House Judiciary Committee has also approved several bills to
reform the asylum and refugee programs to curtail rampant fraud, while
ensuring that our Nation continues to be a safe haven for those
persecuted around the world. The surge of Central American
unaccompanied alien minors and family units seeking to enter the U.S.
illegally at our southern border put a strain on manpower and
resources. It also exposed loopholes in our Nation's immigration laws
that are being exploited by smugglers and others seeking to game the
system.
The Asylum Reform and Border Patrol Act makes a number of
improvements to our Nation's laws to prevent fraud and abuse in the
system and assure that asylum is reserved for those truly fleeing
persecution in their home country.
Further, the Protection of Children Act makes sure that unaccompanied
alien minors who make the dangerous journey to the United States are
swiftly and safely returned home. For those who stay with a sponsor in
the United States while awaiting their immigration hearing, the bill
provides for greater transparency and safety to these minors to ensure
that they are not inadvertently delivered into the hands of criminals
or abusers.
The Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act reforms the refugee
program by curbing fraud and strengthening public safety and national
security. It also provides State and local governments the power to
decide if refugees are to be resettled within their communities and
gives Congress, not the President, the authority to set the overall
refugee ceiling for each year.
The House Judiciary Committee also plans to bring up a bill that
protects jobs for citizens and legal workers, the Legal Workforce Act.
This bill requires all U.S. employers to check the work eligibility of
all future hires through the tried and tested E-Verify system. E-Verify
quickly confirms 99 percent of work-eligible employees and takes less
than 2 minutes to use.
Over 740,000 American employers currently use E-Verify, and 83
percent of America's employers support a mandatory electronic
verification system. While many aspects of our Nation's immigration
system need to be improved, including our guest worker program for
American agriculture, we must strengthen the enforcement of our
immigration laws. Immigration enforcement is crucial to maintain our
sovereignty, to protect national security, and to restore the rule of
law.
Mr. Speaker, I call on Congress to take up the House Judiciary
Committee's immigration enforcement bills soon.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Goodlatte and appreciate
those powerful words.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. DeSantis), a
colleague and one of the sharpest, most intellectual Members of
Congress.
Mr. DeSANTIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from North Carolina for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, if you were trying to do damage to the United States and
you wanted to design a Tax Code that hindered economic growth, that
diverted a lot of productive energy, that basically kept America from
reaching its economic potential, you probably couldn't do much worse
than designing the code that we have.
It is enormously complex--70,000 plus pages. I confess, there is no
way I can do my own taxes, and I think that is true for millions and
millions of Americans. There is a frustration with that, but it also
costs massive amounts of money and diverts energy. We are talking about
hundreds of billions of dollars that get diverted to complying with the
Tax Code, and that is not optimal for economic growth.
It repels capital and incentivizes companies to relocate overseas and
take jobs overseas. You see companies reincorporating in Ireland or
Canada. That is because we have the highest corporate tax rate in the
industrialized world. We are almost trying to send businesses overseas.
[[Page H7963]]
It doesn't allow middle class families to keep enough of the money
they earn. If you look over the past decade or so, family income really
hasn't risen by that much, yet the cost of living has gone up. So by
taking more and more from taxes, it makes it harder for middle class
families to make ends meet.
So reforming the Tax Code, doing a nice, big tax cut, I think is long
overdue. It would be a boon to our economy. You would have a simple
system--no more 70,000 pages. Fill out your taxes on a postcard. That
not only is more economically efficient, it gives people a lot of peace
of mind to know they can do their taxes themselves. It is going to
incentivize us to bring all of the trillions of dollars in overseas
profits, and bring it back to the United States so that we can invest
it here through our companies and create more jobs here.
It will make our American businesses more competitive. Our business
tax system is outdated. It is uncompetitive. This, I think, will change
a lot of that by having a competitive business tax rate, and I think
that that will mean more economic growth.
So I think all that is pretty obvious to most people who look at this
in a fair way. The question for us now is, we have to produce this
bill. We have been talking about tax reform for a long time this year,
and I think that is great, but it is time right now for us to produce
this bill, debate it here in the House, pass it, and send it over to
the United States Senate.
I am not encouraged when, given the urgency of this, we are going on
a recess next week. The House is not going to be here. You are not
going to have a tax bill marked up in the Ways and Means Committee or
unveiled to the public. Members are not going to be debating that. I
think it is time that we do that, and I think there should be a sense
of urgency with that.
We have got to get our job done. I think the bill should have been
passed by now, but let's get it done. Send it to the Senate. I don't
think you would probably have very smart money to bet that the Senate
is going to come through in the clutch. They haven't shown they can do
that yet. But this is going to be a big question for them: Can you get
anything done in the U.S. Senate? This is something that we know we
need to do. It will be good for our economy.
All of the Republicans have said that our Tax Code is a disaster. So
if we send them a good bill, this is going to be a major test. Can you
apply the majority that the voters gave us? Can you honor your promises
and do something good for taxpayers? I hope the answer is yes. But I
think in this body we have got to be focusing on, let's put the Senate
to the test. Let's draft, debate, and pass a strong, bold, tax cut and
tax reform.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I
always appreciate the contribution that the gentleman makes to the
House and to the American people.
I could not agree more. For those who may be listening or watching,
you may have seen, in the last few months, a heightened energy, or an
urgency when it comes to calling out our partners in the Senate to
begin to move and to begin to act--not just on things like repealing
the healthcare, ObamaCare, but also moving, getting ready to move,
hopefully, on tax reform.
I know there has been some agreement on the framework, but, as the
details continue to be more and more clear, we hope our colleagues on
the Senate are ready to move quickly and swiftly for the American
people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr.
Norman), a brand-new Member who came in from a special election to
replace OMB Director Mick Mulvaney when he took the position with
President Trump's administration. He has gotten up to speed quickly and
is a huge asset to the Republican Study Committee and to the House
Republicans as a whole.
Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Republican Study
Committee's three promises in 3 months' pledge to repeal ObamaCare,
secure the border, and enable comprehensive tax reform.
I applaud RSC's Chairman Mike Walker for his leadership on this and
on this initiative. On the promises to repeal and secure, the House has
begun to deliver by passing the American Health Care Act and providing
$1.6 billion in border wall funding.
Tonight, I want to focus on the third promise: passing comprehensive
tax reform. Our Nation's Tax Code affects every family, business, and
worker and is a key driver behind America's economic competitiveness.
Congress has not passed comprehensive tax reform since 1986. That is 31
years.
The average cost of a new house then in the United States was
$89,430. For a new Ford F-150 pickup truck, the average price was
$8,350. Mr. Speaker, it has been way too long before we have taken
comprehensive tax reform into consideration.
Since then, the number of pages in the IRS code has increased by
nearly 50,000 pages. The corporate tax rate is at 35 percent, which is
the highest in the industrialized world. Ireland's, to give you an
example, is 12 percent. This is inexcusable.
Congress took an important step forward last week through passing a
budget resolution, and now it is time for the Senate to do their job on
the budget so that we can deliver comprehensive tax reform for the
American people.
Mr. Speaker, our tax reform plan is both profamily, and proworker.
The typical American family will receive a $4,000 pay raise under our
plan and will turbocharge the economy through enabling gross domestic
product growth to reach 3.2 percent minimum for the next 5 years.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with the House leadership,
Chairman Brady, and all of the congressional Members to pass this fair
and simple tax reform package to make this country as great as it can
be.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. As
you see, three promises, 3 months; October, November, December, three
promises, 3 months: repeal, reform, and secure. That is the promise
from the Republican Study Committee, making up 157 members, 17 of the
20 chairmen.
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Now it is in our ability to make sure this gets through the Senate
and passed into law by the President. We can't force all that, but what
we are committed to is doing our part and doing our job to get these
pieces of legislation through regular order to the House for a vote to
fulfill the promises that most of us ran on over the last several
elections.
It is also a wonderful privilege tonight to introduce our House
veterinarian--the gentleman can define that as he would need if we need
a House veterinarian--but the great Representative from central Florida
who does fine work in the House, Dr. Ted Yoho.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).
Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman's leadership on
this.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the three promises, 3-month
initiative that you have outlined here, and I think it is so important
that we follow through with this.
I want to start with tax reform. Members can say: Why do we need tax
reform? I think it is self-evident. Our Tax Code, as you heard, is the
most burdensome in the world. It stifles economic growth,
entrepreneurship, and it creates noncompliance. So we need to simplify
it. We have told the American people we were going to do that if we get
in charge.
I think the repeal of ObamaCare--and some people get offended if we
call it ObamaCare, so I will refer to it as the Affordable Care Act. It
has disrupted over 20 percent of our economy, and I think it is not
affordable. We can talk to so many different people. I know our
premiums went up $11,000 since I have come to Congress. In fact, our
policy got canceled when I came to Congress because of ObamaCare.
Then I think the third part of that is we promised the American
people that we would repeal this in its entirety and fix healthcare so
that people have access to healthcare, it is affordable, and that it is
quality care is the part that gets left out.
Then I want to touch on border security. This is something that we
have all run on. Any nation needs a secure border. A sovereign nation
has to have a secure border, and they have to have control over their
border. However, due to the failures of politicians past and present,
the U.S. southern border, in particular, remains porous.
[[Page H7964]]
I applaud President Trump for releasing a set of principles which I
fully endorse and his priorities that are focused on making our borders
more secure. President Trump's consistent message calling for better
enforcement of our immigration laws and improving border security is
one of the main reasons he won the Presidency.
President Trump is sticking to his campaign promises, which is
refreshing to see in Washington, D.C., these days, a town where too
many times there is an aversion to making tough decisions in fear of
how that will be viewed in the next election. So it is refreshing to
see President Trump do what he said he was going to do.
Protecting our borders, ending sanctuary cities, and facilitating
State and local cooperation in immigration enforcement are commonsense
ideas that will protect national security, promote public safety, and
deter future illegal immigration. We are hard at work on solving these
problems of illegal immigration in the House.
Just three real quick facts:
From November 2013 to July 2014, officials apprehended 143
individuals listed on the U.S. terrorist watch list trying to cross the
Mexican border and enter the U.S. illegally. So many times I hear
people say that this is not true and that this does not happen, but we
know better.
As of 2014, illegal immigrants were convicted and sentenced for about
13 percent of the crimes in the United States.
Then, lastly, border security should also focus on maritime domain.
Our Coast Guard, a hardworking branch of our military service, has set
a new record for cocaine seizures at sea for the second consecutive
year, seizing more than 455,000 pounds of cocaine in 2017 that was
destined for the homeland.
So I am proud to join the Republican Study Committee in recognizing
the necessity of border security today.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Yoho, and we
appreciate the gentleman's work in the United States House.
Mr. Speaker, one of the most accomplished men, sometimes a person
whom we refer to as ``Governor'' around here when it comes to political
minds, is the gentleman from South Carolina, Representative Mark
Sanford. Week in and week out, he is a very diligent and great leader
in this House.
Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield to the fine gentleman from
South Carolina (Mr. Sanford).
Mr. SANFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I would make two quick points on the importance of tax
reform. One, I would refer to an editorial that appeared in yesterday's
Wall Street Journal. What it talked about was the nexus between
deficits and tax reform. Oddly enough, if you look at the numbers here
of late and if you look at the 2017 CBO report, what it shows is that,
in fact, deficits are creeping up again. Last year's number is $668
billion.
What they point to in this editorial was that a good part of the
reason why deficits have escalated has been tied to anemic economic
growth and that, unlike other recoveries that had been more robust in
nature, the revenues had not come in as they have in past recoveries.
As a consequence, deficits have exploded.
So if you care about the deficits--and I do, and I know that the
gentleman from North Carolina does, and I know that other members of
the RSC do. If you care about deficits, then you have got to do
something about tax reform this year was, in essence, the premise of
the editorial.
The other point I would make is this. In a capitalistic society,
capital matters. In essence, it is a mathematical formula.
Savings drives investment, which drives productivity gain, which
ultimately impacts standards of living or wages, which we talk about.
There are only two ways of increasing or improving human productivity.
One is with gray matter: you can build a better mousetrap because you
have been well educated and you can think of something different. The
other is with physical capital. One person with a bulldozer can move a
lot more dirt than one person with a shovel.
Yet what we oftentimes forget in the debate on tax reform is how
important it is that we encourage and, in essence, complement the
efforts of those who are out there risking on a daily basis. So with
that in mind, it is important that we have tax reform that includes
people who are actually, again, building businesses.
Think about this: the top 25 percent of the earners out there pay 90
percent of the taxes; the top 10 percent pay 60 percent of the taxes.
Now, let's define that for just a second. If you are in the top 25
percent, that begins at $77,000. If you are in the top 10 percent, you
are at $133,000.
Now, tell me this: When I talk to a truck driver and a schoolteacher
at home, their combined income could be around $100,000. Are they rich?
I would say no. But they are out there making the kinds of risks that
are necessary to the building of capital that was exactly what The Wall
Street Journal talked about.
If we want to do something about deficits, and if we want to do
something about capital formation that is so necessary to raising
wages, then we have got to do something about this equation. It is
important that those earners and those small-business people not be
left out, as is the case right now. That is yet another reason why tax
reform is so important this year.
Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Sanford; I appreciate
the gentleman's good words, experience, and knowledge.
Mr. Speaker, speaking of Congress as a whole, it is well past time to
make sure that tax reform and tax relief gets across to the American
people.
A lot of times we talk about classes. The truth is it is probably
better terminology to talk about income levels, lower, middle and
higher income levels. That is one of the reasons that we are pushing
forward the Charitable Giving Act, which is something that impacts both
the lower and middle income levels.
We believe that is something that needs to be connected to tax reform
to make sure that those folks who come from a background of teachers
and truck drivers as we just heard about, but also other areas of the
middle class and maybe lower income levels, something that they have a
way where they are able to make sure that every dollar and every
sacrifice they give back to a charitable organization--whether it is a
local church or whether it is to the United Way--to make sure that
every dollar is counted.
This is something that has been going on way too long. As we know,
there are 75,000 pages right now of IRS Tax Code regulations. If the
IRS wants to come after a private citizen, the private citizen doesn't
have much of a resource ability to fight back whether it is in the
legal or whether it is extended wealth. This is a machine that has been
building, and the bureaucracy has been growing well past time.
It is time to neuter the IRS. One of the ways we can do that is
reducing it from seven tax brackets down to three. It was erroneously
shared by somebody across the aisle recently that we are driving up the
lowest bracket from 10 percent to 12 percent. The truth is this: we are
condensing it right now to three tax brackets--35 percent, 25 percent,
and 12 percent--and doubling the standard deduction from $12,000 to
$24,000. This is something that we are looking forward to doing to
benefit the American people.
We talk much in these Halls about bipartisan support or bipartisan
this or that. When did it become an issue, when did it become a
problem, and when did it become a point of contention to allow the
American people to keep more of the money from the hard work they put
in day in and day out, week in and week out? That is something that we
must do. That is something that should not even be a place of argument
or a place of debate when it comes back allowing these folks to
continue.
For some, we can get past the tax credit language. We can move on
beyond the charitable deductions and all the different political and
accounting words. What about just the family of four that needs another
car, that needs to be able to afford a car payment to get a mom or a
dad back and forth to work, or maybe a teenager in the house? We have
been through that twice now. We had more claims than we probably
should, but we get it. But also, maybe it is a few more times out to
eat or to the movies, the things that
[[Page H7965]]
make you want to get up every day and continue to pursue that American
Dream.
But not only from the individual side of this--certainly very
important--but what about this corporate tax rate, this business rate
that we talk constantly about that almost has become Washington jargon
talking points? Why is that so important?
Over the years since the 1930s and 1940s, our corporate business rate
has climbed to the highest in the industrial world.
Why is that? Why would we make it tougher on our manufacturers and
our companies to have a higher tax rate? What incentive is it to stay
here? We could track company after company.
I come from the State of North Carolina where textiles and furniture
used to be two of our top three job providers. A lot of those companies
now you will find in Vietnam or other places.
That corporate tax rate that literally has gone through the roof, why
wouldn't we want to reduce that business rate? Why wouldn't we want to
incentivize companies to begin to bring those jobs back to the United
States?
I think it is crucial, and I think it is something that all of us
should have the energy and the ability to be able to get behind and
really push forward.
We have been promising this for how long? Since 1986? I was a junior
in high school. Thirty-one years this has been on the docket, and the
moment is now for us to deliver. If it is not now, as Reagan used to
say, then when? Then how?
What should we be doing if it is not fulfilling the very promise that
we have made to the American people, and that is that we are going to
provide genuine--not some kind of phony legislation, not some kind of
showboat, but genuine tax reform and tax relief for the American
people?
Now, you may hear sometimes that, hey, the Republican plan is only
for the most wealthy. Let's look at the numbers. Let's put a little
math equation up, if we could, please.
Let's say that the most wealthy--if you are talking about somebody
who makes $1 million, let's say we reduce their taxes by 1 percent. My
math that I am doing here in my mind, that comes to about $10,000.
Let's say, if you go to that middle-income family, two parents
working as hard as they can, they are bringing about $50,000 a year
annually, yet their tax break, their tax benefit is 10 percent. Now,
math tells me that is only $5,000 compared to the $10,000.
So you may hear the spin from time to time, well, the wealthier are
getting the higher tax break, the wealthier are getting the higher tax
credit. Listen, when it comes to dollar for dollar, the impact that
that makes to the middle and lower income families is drastic. I will
tell you this. Every time we turn around, every time that each Member
goes back and forth to his district, he is hearing the same message:
``Get something done.''
Tax reform is one of those areas where, specifically, we are being
compelled, we are being urged, and we are being called. My fellow
Members in the House, please hear those urgent voices right now. Even
if Members want to move past the tax relief and the humanitarian
component, is it not politically strategic for us to do what we have
promised to do on behalf of the American people?
As I said in my opening, I am confident that the American people will
deliver the final grade over the next 3 months. The 115th Congress,
what kind of grade will we have over the next 3 months if we do not
deliver on these three promises?
I am hoping that that urgency is resonating. Repealing and replacing,
continuing to fight to repeal and replace ObamaCare, to make sure that
we are continuing to reform and do everything that we can to reform the
Tax Code. Finally, the promise that we have been making year after year
is to make sure that we are protecting the American people by securing
our border.
I understand that each of these items is a major legislative item in
its own right. To be frank, we should have been delivering on them
throughout the year. It is October, the 10th month of year. It is high
past time. We only have such a busy agenda this late in the game
because we haven't delivered on our promises.
{time} 1800
I want to thank my colleagues and fellow Republican Study Committee
members tonight for joining us this evening.
I would ask the American people to continue to support and continue
to urge their Members of Congress to deliver on these promises.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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