[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18991-18992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
    EXTEND THE PAYROLL TAX CUT, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AND DOMESTIC 
                    RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX INCENTIVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, all of us join with our 
colleague in honoring that fallen hero.
  Madam Speaker, Congress must act now to extend the payroll tax cut, 
unemployment insurance, and domestic renewable energy tax incentives. 
The effects of the Great Recession continue to linger in this economy, 
which is why a more robust recovery has not yet taken root.
  Our efforts in the last Congress, through the Recovery Act and the 
Job Creation Act at the end of last year, provided what momentum we 
actually have. The official unemployment rate has now fallen to 8.6 
percent as a result of 120,000 new jobs created just last month. That's 
the lowest level in more than 2 years and marks 21 consecutive months 
of private sector job growth. But these gains will be at risk if 
Congress fails to extend the payroll tax cuts, domestic clean energy 
incentives, and unemployment benefits before the end of this year.
  The payroll tax cut provides the average American worker $1,000 to 
spend or invest every year, having a positive impact throughout the 
economy. Economic analysts at Barclays estimate that the payroll tax 
cut alone will add another 1 percent to gross domestic product growth, 
$250 billion in economic activity throughout the United States. 
Conversely, if we fail to extend that payroll tax cut, 160 million 
Americans will be facing a tax increase in January.
  Similarly, 1.3 million Americans who are trying to get back into the 
workforce will see their unemployment benefits cut unless we renew 
them. According to the Congressional Budget Office and Senator John 
McCain's economic adviser, Mark Zandi, unemployment insurance is one of 
the most effective forms of economic stimulus, generating $1.64 for 
every $1 we invest in unemployment insurance. Failure to extend 
unemployment benefits will reduce the gross domestic product by nearly 
1 percent and, by reducing economic activity, could put as many as 1 
million Americans out of work at a time when we're trying to expand the 
economy.
  With respect to domestic clean energy production, renewing these 
incentives will sustain one of the few private sector success stories 
we've witnessed during the Great Recession. Since 2007, the number of 
jobs in the American wind industry has grown 70 percent. So today there 
are as many wind energy jobs as there are in the coal industry. The 
number of solar industry jobs doubled since 2007 to more than 100,000 
Americans. This surge in domestic clean energy employment is a direct 
result of the 1603 Treasury Grant Program to support clean energy 
activity.
  Madam Speaker, as we continue to debate these expiring tax and 
benefit provisions, I'd caution my colleagues against holding them 
hostage to advance some extreme ideological agenda. Last week, the 
Senate minority leader brought legislation to the floor which would 
have slashed Federal employee wages and benefits while arbitrarily 
downsizing the Federal workforce.
  As the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted, public sector employment 
continues to shrink by tens of thousands of jobs. A job is a job, 
whether it's in the public sector or the private sector. One is not 
better than the other.
  If Republicans had not been successful in cutting 535,000 public 
sector jobs in this country, unemployment would actually be 0.35 
percent lower. It would be down to 8.25 percent today, not 8.6. Cutting 
Federal employee pay and slashing the workforce would actually 
undermine the economic benefits of the payroll tax extension and the 
economic benefits we've all worked so hard to create.
  Similarly, we should reject attempts to tie these economic recovery 
actions with partisan proposals to gut the Clean Air Act. Republicans 
in the House already have tried to pass 172 viciously anti-
environmental bills, riders, and amendment in this body this year 
alone. Now, some in the Republican Caucus have suggested pairing the 
Clean Air Act repeals with an extension of the payroll tax cut, a 
Faustian bargain at best, Madam Speaker.
  Repealing these Clean Air Act standards for industrial boilers, for 
example, would cost the U.S. economy $21 billion to $52 billion per 
year in higher health care costs, real costs to the economy.
  Not surprisingly, some even have proposed expediting approval of the 
Keystone XL pipeline in exchange for the payroll tax extension. Again, 
we already have pipelines from Canadian tar sands into America. 
According to independent economic analyses, the Keystone pipeline could 
increase exports of Canadian oil, not to the United States, but to 
China. I want to keep that oil here in this economy if we're going to 
build that pipeline.
  Madam Speaker, the Republican leadership's legislative sausage would 
shock Upton Sinclair, who wrote ``The Jungle'' 100 years ago. He said, 
It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary 
depends on his not understanding.
  Instead of wrapping special interest policy-riders and polluter 
giveaways

[[Page 18992]]

into a tax-extender package, Congress should focus on those policies 
which are demonstrated job creators: payroll tax cuts, domestic clean 
energy incentives, and unemployment insurance extension.
  The economic recovery is too fragile, Madam Speaker, to risk on the 
higher health care costs, higher gas prices, and economic hardships 
that some of these Republican proposals would otherwise create.

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