[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 187 (Monday, November 13, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1090-E1091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 8, 2023

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4664, 
Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024. 
With this bill, House Republicans are enabling tax cheats, harming 
consumers, and inserting unacceptable right-wing policy riders.
  With the $1.1 million cut to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 
budget in H.R. 4664, Republicans are once again protecting 
sophisticated tax cheats and greedy corporations over hard-working 
families. The Department of Treasury recently announced that, thanks to 
the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS is pursuing back taxes owed from 
about 1,600 taxpayers with income over $1,000,000. The IRS has closed 
100 of those cases and collected $122 million in back taxes. If 
Republicans were really serious about cutting down on our national 
debt, they wouldn't be gouging the budget of the agency responsible for 
ensuring everyone pays their fair share and follows the law. 
Additionally, the IRS needs to be fully funded to ensure that my 
constituents have their tax refunds processed quickly and aren't placed 
on indefinite holds when they call the agency. Democrats know that if 
the IRS budget is cut, it will only make it easier for tax cheats to 
skip out on paying their fair share.

[[Page E1091]]

  Republicans are also including drastic cuts to agencies designed to 
ensure the products we buy aren't harmful to our families. Since 1972, 
the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has worked with 
manufacturers to protect Americans from unsafe consumer products by 
issuing recalls, developing safety standards, and conducting research 
into product-related illness and injury. Republicans have cut the CPSC 
budget by over $13 million. Why would we limit the CPSC's ability to 
issue recalls on products that will harm our families? Instead, 
Congress should be encouraging CPSC to explore all allegations that 
appliances or other consumer products are unsafe to children and adults 
and should give the CPSC more, not fewer, resources for eliminating or 
mitigating the safety risks they uncover.
  My opposition to the bill is not solely due to the inadequate funding 
levels. This bill, like all of the Republican appropriations measures, 
embraces right-wing social policy fights that have no place in the 
bills that fund our government. H.R. 4664 would prohibit the IRS from 
developing a free tax filing software for all taxpayers, prohibits 
agencies from enforcing regulations to curb climate change, and 
prohibits federal employees from using their health insurance to make 
personal healthcare decisions. These provisions must be rejected.
  Mr. Chair, we are nine days away from a government shutdown. Instead 
of reevaluating their extreme 2024 funding bills and working to find a 
bipartisan path forward to fund the government beyond November 17th, 
House Republicans have once again moved forward with a bill that is so 
extreme that they can't even get members of their own party to vote for 
the bill on the House Floor. Republicans don't have the power to pass 
their own bad bill. H.R. 4664 joins two other appropriations bills in a 
purgatory of the Republicans' own making, with no chance of ever 
becoming law. I urge my colleagues to work in a bipartisan fashion to 
cut through this Republican chaos and avoid a government shutdown.

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