[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 195 (Thursday, November 30, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H9519-H9520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REAL TAX REFORM IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Peters) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I understand that real tax reform is 
absolutely necessary. In 2013, the Harvard Business School published a 
report that identified the most important Federal priorities to promote 
American growth and competitiveness.
  Two of the eight priorities were tax related. First, to simplify the 
corporate Tax Code with lower statutory rates and fewer loopholes; and 
second, to reform the taxation of foreign profits so we don't 
disadvantage American businesses and workers.
  Many Democrats would work with the majority to achieve these 
progrowth tax reforms. That is how it worked so well in 1986 under 
President Reagan and Speaker O'Neill.
  But we should not, and we don't need to, balloon the Federal debt to 
achieve these goals. That is exactly why Republican proposals in the 
House and the Senate are so harmful for our country.
  We know that national debt itself is antigrowth. That is why the same 
Harvard study that advocated tax reform also prioritized a stable 
Federal budget. Public debt crowds out private investment. CBO 
estimates that every dollar in deficit crowds out 33 cents in private 
investment.
  Debt gives us less flexibility to deal with emergencies. Debt 
increases the risk of another financial crisis, because when investors 
lose confidence in the government's ability to pay back borrowed funds, 
interest rates can spike. As interest takes up more of the budget, less 
is available for other programs, including roads, bridges, scientific 
discovery, and our national defense.
  When Congress passed the Bush tax cuts, national debt was at a level 
equal to 32 percent of the U.S. economy. Today, it is 77 percent of 
GDP. These bills will put our national debt on track to be larger than 
our national economy.
  We can point fingers at each other about how we got here, but if we 
are trying to get out of the hole, first we need to stop digging. We 
will not grow our way out of this hole.
  According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal 
Budget, no estimate that accounts for the economic impact of higher 
debt has found that the bill would raise the growth rate by more than a 
quarter of the Republicans' declared 0.4 percent growth target.
  In a survey at the University of Chicago, known for its conservative 
economic theory, 37 of 38 economists agree that the GOP tax bills in 
Congress would cause U.S. debt to increase substantially faster than 
the economy.
  At the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, which the President 
himself trumpets as his alma mater, teaming with smart people, their 
dynamic scoring model found that the House bill would lose between $1 
trillion and $1.7 trillion over a decade in revenue after accounting 
for growth.
  What in the world has happened to the Grand Old Party and fiscal 
responsibility? How will we pay for infrastructure now? Will we really 
risk destabilizing the dollar, the world's economic currency? Will we 
ask China to lend us money so that we can defend ourselves from North 
Korea?
  I have heard my Republican colleagues say again and again how 
important it is to pay for spending, to get our fiscal house in order, 
to get our national debt under control.
  I asked one colleague why he had run for Congress in the first place, 
and he told me he was so concerned about loading his kids up with all 
this borrowing, that he had to do something. His eyes filled with tears 
as he talked about his children. Yet he and many like him voted in a 
rush to add at least $1.5 trillion to the debt without a road or a Navy 
ship or one scientific grant to show for it.
  Nobody seriously contends that this is wonderful policy resulting 
from serious deliberation through regular order. It is not. The only 
reason for this effort, and this is out of the mouths of the 
legislators themselves, is that there is political pressure from 
interest groups and donors to get something done. That is the 
definition of putting party before country. That is exactly what people 
hate about Congress.

[[Page H9520]]

  This is not what your constituents really want. They don't want their 
tax breaks to expire while corporate breaks don't. They don't want 
students to suffer from even more debt. They don't want to lose their 
healthcare because of the premium spikes we know are going to be 
coming. They don't want their housing to be more expensive, even, than 
it is today, and they don't want to face automatic Medicare cuts forced 
by congressional spending limits.
  If you are worried about the blowback from not doing something or 
taking the extra time to get it right, wait until you see the reaction 
when people realize what is really in this bill after it has already 
been passed.

  We can do real tax reform without jeopardizing our children's future. 
Make the corporate rate 25 percent instead of 20 percent like the 
Business Roundtable and Mitt Romney both once suggested. That saves 
$600 billion.
  If you must lift the exemption for the estate tax, I wouldn't, but 
don't eliminate it. That saves $50 billion.
  Maintain the alternative minimum tax for high-earning families, but 
index it over time so it doesn't catch the middle class.
  Work with Democrats to find ways to limit tax expenditures, but save 
the burden for those who can afford it.
  If my Republican colleagues will commit to doing that, I will commit 
to working with you, and I will honestly and publicly thank you for 
putting country before politics.

                          ____________________