[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 187 (Wednesday, November 15, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H9263-H9264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REJECT THE TAX CUT LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Doggett) for 5 minutes.

[[Page H9264]]

  

  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are bound and determined to 
rush through this Congress an immense tax bill before Americans even 
begin to know what hit them. We need to speak up and inform families 
about this bill and its many bad parts.
  I came here to the House a few weeks ago and said: All you need to 
know about this tax bill is that it is good for Donald Trump and his 
billionaire buddies. It rewards those multinational companies that have 
been shipping jobs and profits offshore for so many years and who think 
they have no responsibility to pay for our national security and other 
vital public services.
  Well, I am here today to admit that I was in error. All of those 
things are true. It is about Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies 
and all the additional money they will pocket. It is about shipping the 
jobs offshore by multinationals who get a new incentive, a giant, new 
loophole in this bill, but I was wrong to say that was all that it is 
about. It also now begins to impact one family after another across 
America in their healthcare.
  It is the same fanaticism that drove Republicans to try to take away 
healthcare 60-plus different times in the last Congress and the same 
fanaticism that has caused them to push forward with repeal effort 
after repeal effort. It is the kind of fanaticism that American 
citizens stood up to.
  It was not only the courageous votes of John McCain, Susan Collins, 
and other Members in the Senate who stopped this wretched healthcare 
bill that passed through the House, but it was the fact that Americans 
kept saying: No, don't take the right that my family has to get access 
to a family physician. Don't take away my neighbors' or my church 
members' right to get access to protect their family with healthcare.
  Today, we learn that this new tax bill is being changed to do just 
that. It is another assault on the Affordable Care Act.
  In the beginning of the rush to force it through the House long 
before Thanksgiving, before Americans even get to give it attention, 
the first step that Republicans took here in the committee that I serve 
on that considered the tax bill last week was on what we call the 
Alzheimer's tax.
  Currently, American citizens have a right that has long existed in 
our tax law that if you have really serious medical expenses of over 10 
percent of your income, such as a family who earns $50,000--which is 
now, today, a modest income--and they have over $5,000 in medical 
expenses, they can deduct those from their taxes.
  It is called the Alzheimer's tax because so many of the families that 
rely on disability to deduct medical expenses are older people who have 
a family member with Alzheimer's. They need long-term, special care, or 
they need someone with home health care to come and help them with this 
very serious problem.
  Under the bill that is before us today, they will be denied any right 
to continue to do that. Under this bill, they will get an opportunity 
to pay a tax on the dollars they are having to expend for Alzheimer's 
care.
  Of course, it is not just Alzheimer's care. It might be a young 
family that has a child with a serious disability who requires home 
health aides or physical therapy, or it might be a woman with breast 
cancer whose medical coverage does not provide all of the treatment 
that she needs.
  Under this Republican bill, you will no longer be able to deduct one 
cent for all those serious, burdensome medical bills. No, they want to 
tax you on what you paid in excess of medical bills.
  We have moved today to chapter two. The bill that the House will 
consider will be merged with a Senate bill. The Senate has declared 
they will end forever the individual responsibility portions of the 
Affordable Care Act. Those are the provisions that ensure all Americans 
will participate so that we will have the largest possible risk pool 
and that people don't sign up for the Affordable Care Act just after 
they are sick, after they have a problem. Everyone is there. It is just 
like you don't sign up for fire insurance after your house is on fire.
  It is essential for everyone. We must reject this bill as the wrong 
way for America to go to deny healthcare coverage and impose more taxes 
on too many Americans.

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