[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 10, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H4168-H4169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TAXING EXCESSIVE CEO PAY

  (Ms. Tlaib of Michigan was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, working people are sick and tired of 
corporate greed. It is time to say enough is enough.
  Last year, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol made almost $96 million. The 
average Starbucks worker made less than $15,000 a year. They would have 
to work more than 6,000 years to match Starbucks' CEO pay.
  While Starbucks is among the worst, it is not the only one in the 
United States. Among the 100 S&P 500 companies with the lowest worker 
pay, the

[[Page H4169]]

average CEO makes 632 times more than their workers.
  This is absurd, and it is immoral. It is corporate greed. It leads to 
income inequality in our country and drives wage stagnation. It doesn't 
have to be like this.
  This is why I am introducing the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act. While 
these CEOs float around on their yachts, millions of Americans, our 
residents, are drowning in credit card debt and struggling to keep 
their heads above water.
  This level of inequality is a threat to our democracy, and this kind 
of economic power concentrated in a few hands truly hurts our families.
  CEOs in the 1970s made roughly 25 times the average pay of their 
workers. Today, it is 290 times more. I want folks to think about that 
because these are workers who depend on us, the Federal Government, to 
subsidize these poverty wages. They are on Medicaid and getting food 
assistance because their CEOs are focused on profit and their own pay 
instead of taking care of their workers.
  This bill would apply higher corporate tax rates to companies that 
pay their CEOs higher amounts of compensation compared to their 
workers. It is triggered if it is 50-1. That is the trigger, 50-1, that 
a company will pay more in corporate tax if that is the case. The 
greater the ratio, the larger the increase in the tax rate.
  This will not only incentivize more reasonable CEO pay packages, but 
it would also compel companies to increase their workers' pay and take 
care of their workforce.

                              {time}  1020

  This level of inequality we face is a threat, again, to our families' 
economic stability and livelihood. In this Chamber we constantly have 
to subsidize. We constantly have to take care of the workers when their 
CEOs and the companies don't do that.
  I urge my colleagues to please support the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act.


                            War Profiteering

  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, Republicans already voted to give $5 trillion 
tax breaks to the richest Americans, paid for by ripping food from 
children's mouths and kicking 17 million people off of their 
healthcare.
  Trump's big betrayal bill--and that is what I call it because it is a 
betrayal to the American people--also included $150 billion for the 
Pentagon's war machine. Here we are this week, again, debating another 
obscene $892.6 billion military budget. It is not helping our veterans. 
That is not where they get, literally, healthcare, mental health 
support, and the things they need. That is over a trillion dollars to 
Trump's so-called Department of War, even after the Pentagon failed 
seven audits in a row.
  As recently as 2023, the Pentagon could not even account for 62 
percent of its assets--a trillion dollars, while the President is 
deploying troops in our neighborhoods and threatening to go to war 
against American cities.
  It seems my colleagues can always find time and money for war, but 
when it comes to clean water, when it comes to being able to address 
the needs of our people, there is never enough money.
  Why is it that when it comes to, again, trying to make sure people 
have healthcare, being able to address the Housing crisis, being able 
to tell our families that we are doing the best that we can, all I see 
is the bipartisan support for a war machine budget that can't pass an 
audit?
  I want people to look at this and pay attention because they will 
never, ever fully fund Medicaid, universal school meals for every 
hungry child, or guarantee healthcare as a human right in our country. 
I think maybe it is because many of my colleagues in this Chamber are 
actively profiting financially when they vote to pass more funding for 
weapons and war because they own stock in war manufacturing.
  I introduced an amendment to this war machine budget to add the Stop 
Politicians Profiting from War Act to put an end to this corruption by 
banning Members of Congress and their families from owning defense 
stocks.
  My colleagues should not be able to use their positions of power to 
get rich from defense contractors while voting to pass more funding for 
war. Our elected officials should not be able to profit off of death.
  The American people deserve Representatives who vote in the best 
interests of our families. We are elected to serve the public, not to 
serve stock portfolios or campaign contributors.
  The American people deserve better. We are sick and tired of 
politicians profiting off of endless wars.

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