[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 7 (Thursday, January 11, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E36]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING VETRI VELAN AND KATHY SHIELD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 11, 2018

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and celebrate the 
tremendous advocacy of two UC Berkeley students whose diligent work 
mobilized graduate students around the country against the greatest tax 
scam in American history.
  When President Trump and Congressional Republicans introduced 
legislation to reform the tax code, many of us recognized it for what 
it was--a blatant attempt to provide millionaires and billionaires with 
large tax breaks, while eliminating many of the provisions that provide 
the working class and the poor with means to improve their standing in 
society.
  This terrible bill, passed without proper debate and process just 
before the holidays, will permanently stack the deck in favor of the 
rich and well-connected. In fact, we know that 83 percent of the bill's 
benefits go to the richest 1 percent of our society. To pay for these 
unnecessary tax breaks for the rich, the bill adds more than $1 
trillion to the national debt--a debt that our children and generations 
to come will continue to bear.
  In the face of this immoral redistribution of wealth to the rich, 
people around the country were rightfully outraged, and many of my 
constituents were strongly opposed to its passage.
  In particular, I would like to recognize two of my constituents for 
their efforts to highlight a particularly damaging section of the 
original bill, and commend them for their actions to have it removed 
from the final package.
  Soon after the horrible GOP tax bill was introduced, Vetri Velan, a 
physics PhD student at UC Berkeley, developed an analysis of the bill. 
With the majority of doctoral and master students receiving 
institutional or fee waivers, Vetri realized that if tuition remissions 
were deemed taxable, graduate students could see their tax bill grow by 
200 percent. It would also make it harder, and even impossible, for low 
or middle-income students to attend graduate school.
  Vetri partnered with Kathy Shield, a fellow Cal student pursuing a 
Nuclear Engineering PhD to develop a tax calculator allowing any 
graduate student to determine their new tax liability under the House 
proposal. This allowed students to write and call their elected 
officials with specific information about the negative impact of the 
new tax bill.
  And they didn't stop there. Vetri and Kathy then organized graduate 
students at UC Berkley and around the country to contact 87 offices in 
18 states to express outrage over this provision.
  Because of their great work this harmful provision was removed from 
the final bill. Vetri & Kathy have saved thousands of dollars for 
graduate students across the country, and have ensured many hard 
working students will continue to have access to graduate school.
  On behalf of California's 13th Congressional District, I'd like to 
thank Vetri and Kathy for their exceptional work to ensure all students 
have equal access to higher education, and most importantly for staying 
woke.

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