[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16335-16336]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                           NATURAL DISASTERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues Congressman Thompson 
and Congressman Huffman in paying tribute to the first responders who 
responded to the fires in northern California and, indeed, in southern 
California as well.
  The spirit of our community is so magnificent seeing people come 
together to help each other. I salute our colleague Mike Thompson, who 
so much of his district was like an inferno, but much of his district 
is still thriving and one group helping another, and Mr. Huffman there, 
side by side with him, the whole time.
  This is very tragic. The loss of life is heartbreaking, the loss of 
livelihood is devastating, and the loss of homes, of course, takes a 
while to replace.
  We have seen other natural disasters in the rest of the country, in 
Harvey and Irma and Maria and Nate, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana. So many of the people 
of our country devastated in a short period of time.
  So, in times of natural disaster, it is very important for the 
Federal Government to honor its social compact with the American people 
and to be there for them. I look forward to working in a bipartisan way 
for us to have the resources for FEMA to do its job and for the SBA to 
do its job to help businesses and homeowners recover their losses. And, 
again, pray; our hearts and prayers are with the families of those who 
lost their loved ones, their livelihoods, and some who are still in 
need of recovery.


                 Republicans' Devastating Tax Cut Plan

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the devastating tax 
cut plan that the Republicans are putting forth. If you are in the 
middle class, you will most likely be having your taxes increased. If 
you have a family member on Medicare or Medicaid, you will be, most 
likely, devastated by the impact of this.
  This is a bill that the Republicans are putting forth that will add 
trillions of dollars to the national debt while they sing the praises 
of fiscal responsibility. The fiscal hawks have become an endangered 
species. No longer are they there to say: We are not going to borrow 
from our future in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in 
our country.
  Indeed, 80 percent of the Trump-GOP tax framework, the framework net 
tax cuts go to the top 1 percent of Americans. The top 1 percent of 
Americans get 80 percent of the Trump-GOP framework net tax cuts.
  As they increase the deficit, anyone who might be haunted by the 
thought that, well, we better cut someplace, where do you think they 
are going to go? They will devastate Medicare. They will devastate 
Medicaid.
  What does that mean in the lives of the American people? It means 
that middle class families in our country will be subsidizing tax cuts 
for the wealthiest families and wealthiest corporations in our country. 
This is completely wrong.
  It will also have a devastating impact on our budget priorities. In 
our budget priorities, our budget should be a statement of our national 
values. What is important to us as a country should reflect what is in 
the budget: investments in education so that children and families can 
reach their aspirations, so that communities can reach their economic 
success, so that America continues to be number one globally, 
competitively, and so that we, again, have the resources to invest in 
science and technology and our national security to keep America number 
one.
  Infrastructure, so talked about, infrastructure--build, build, build:
  Build across America roads, bridges, broadband. Build water systems 
and the rest, all of the needs that we have.
  Build the human infrastructure of America by investing in education 
and healthcare and the rest.
  Build our democracy by making sure that our democratic process has 
the resources necessary to be conducted in a way where every person's 
vote is counted as cast.
  So all of this is connected to governance, and all of this is harmed 
by the assault on our budget that this tax proposal will present.
  Middle class taxes will increase. Middle-income families will pay 
more. Tens of millions of middle class families will pay higher taxes.
  One of the ways they will is because of the great idea the 
Republicans have to stop the deduction for State and local taxes. This 
is a big hit on middle class families in our country.
  It steals trillions of dollars, borrows from the future and from our 
children's future to give tax cuts to the wealthiest. Eighty percent of 
the GOP tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1 percent at the expense of our 
children and working families and our country's future.
  It would devastate Medicare and Medicaid. After adding trillions to 
the deficit, the GOP will use the deficits to justify destroying 
Medicare and Medicaid. And they are on it. They are already, in the 
bill, saying that they are going to means test Medicare. It is in 
keeping with their theory that Medicare should wither on the vine.
  Democrats are for A Better Deal, for real bipartisan tax reform. Any 
business will tell you that what they want in tax reform is some level 
of certainty that this is going to last for a while. The only way to do 
that is to have bipartisanship at the table.
  Go to the table. What will create growth? What will create good 
paying jobs? What will reduce the debt? This bill does exactly the 
worst.
  Don't let them tell you that, even though they are adding trillions 
of dollars to the debt, that is going to be paid for by economic 
growth. It has never happened. Trickle-down economics, President Bush 
tried that. It was tried before. It has never done that. It has never 
paid for itself. In fact, it has only increased the national debt.
  In that regard, Bruce Bartlett, who was an economist in the Reagan 
years

[[Page 16336]]

as well as worked very closely with Jack Kemp in supply side economics 
as an advocate for supply side economics, said: We never said it would 
pay for itself. Anybody who tells you that these additions to the 
deficit will pay for themselves by growth, it is not true, it is 
nonsense, and, he said, BS.
  Forgive me, Mr. Speaker. I am just quoting. I am just saying what he 
said.
  So this is a moment of truth for our country. What are our values? 
How are they reflected in our budget? How do we grow the economy in a 
way that increases the paychecks of America's working families so that 
they have consumer confidence? they spend? they inject demand into the 
economy? they create jobs? they bring revenue to the Treasury?
  How is it a good idea to cut education in order to give tax cuts to 
the wealthiest people in our country? Nothing brings more money to the 
Treasury than investments in education, early childhood, K-12, higher 
ed, postgrad, lifetime learning for our workers.
  So, with stiff competition, mind you, having tax cuts which will 
steal from our budget investments in education is, with stiff 
competition, one of the worst ideas that the Republicans have to offer. 
But this is something that people should be alerted to, forgetting the 
policy and all the rest of it, what it means in your life.
  Most likely, middle class family, you will pay more taxes. If you 
have a family member who is dependent on long-term healthcare, long-
term care, whether in a nursing home or at home, most likely you will 
pay a price. If you have a family member who is on Medicare or if you 
are, Social Security disability, you will be affected by it.
  The President said in his campaign the system is rigged. This is the 
rigging of the rig. This is taking the rig to a step that is almost 
impossible for us to return from. They take us down this road to ruin. 
They take us down this path to severe increase in the national debt to 
the tune of trillions of dollars, not even counting the debt service on 
it, at the cost of investments in our future, in our children, in our 
families, in fairness in our economy, in opportunity for America.
  This is something that must be stopped, and we can start by stopping 
the assault on the State and local taxes deduction. Let's hold Members 
of Congress accountable for what they do that affects your pocketbook 
and your future.
  We will be continuing this conversation for awhile, and we will have 
charts and the rest to visually demonstrate what this is.
  Governance is about how you raise the money and how you invest it, 
and this is the dialogue that our country needs to hear very clearly 
for not only the policy aspects of it, but the personal consequences in 
their lives. This is a very bad deal for the American people, for 
middle class families.
  Democrats want A Better Deal, better jobs, better pay, better future, 
and, by the way, to do this in a very bipartisan way.

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