E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2017 No. 207 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. and was The vast majority of Americans get more incentives for this to continue called to order by the Speaker. little and temporary tax reduction, and even get worse. The increased debt f only to see the bottom 80 percent of will make it even harder to rebuild and our taxpayers, on average, actually renew America and to meet the needs MORNING-HOUR DEBATE facing a tax increase when the bill is of our aging and growing population. The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the fully phased in. After the wreckage of the Amtrak order of the House of January 3, 2017, The permanent, massive tax reduc- train in the Pacific Northwest, Trump the Chair will now recognize Members tion for the privileged few comes at a pointed out the need for infrastructure from lists submitted by the majority very high cost for the rest of America. investment to rebuild and renew the and minority leaders for morning-hour Despite false promises, it will not re- country. That is not going to happen. debate. motely pay for itself through economic It is already triggering an automatic The Chair will alternate recognition growth. $25 billion cut in Medicare. Repub- between the parties. All time shall be We start with a massive increase in licans are scrambling to figure out how equally allocated between the parties, national debt; increased interest costs; to avoid that. We are hearing from Re- and in no event shall debate continue a total increase of $2.3 trillion, and publican leadership that this increased beyond 9:50 a.m. Each Member, other likely very higher as the accountants debt illustrates the need to cut back on than the majority and minority leaders and lawyers discover how to fully ex- programs that meet the needs of aver- and the minority whip, shall be limited ploit the many new loopholes created age Americans and low-income citizens to 5 minutes. by lobbyists. while we are showering increased tax f This bill is not tax simplification. It benefits on the wealthy. greatly complicates the Tax Code. It has been a bonanza for all the at- TAX CUT NIGHTMARE Look at trying to understand just the torneys, accountants, and lobbyists The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes passthrough provisions. finding ways to further enrich the most the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. BLU- Also, we have an IRS that is strug- privileged. In the weeks to come, we MENAUER) for 5 minutes. gling right now because my Republican will find out more special gifts used to Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, it friends have cut its budget 17 percent nail down the last few votes. I don’t has come to this: Republicans are since 2010. They have 23,000 fewer em- know whether the Corker kickback is poised to pass the largest transfer of ployees, an outmoded data processing true or not, but it leaves the public wealth in our Nation’s history, fi- system, and more taxpayers—10 mil- wondering why the immediate about- nanced by mortgaging our children’s lion more returns. It is not clear the face from the Senator from Tennessee future with a mountain of increased IRS can even administer this bill. when nothing has changed except there debt. Middle America will pay with in- have been a few provisions added. What is wrong with this picture? creased economic insecurity, as it will No wonder the American public is op- Well, first of all, nobody really knows increase insurance premiums an aver- posed. They are right, and the Repub- everything that is in this bill. It has age of 10 percent a year. It will desta- licans are wrong. been written over the last few days to bilize the health insurance market and f satisfy donors and win the final few increase the ranks of the uninsured by votes necessary for Senate passage. It 13 million people over the next 10 MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA is not tax reform. It is not even a pol- years. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. icy, but a collection of special interest Most Americans will pay the price THOMPSON of Pennsylvania). The Chair provisions being sold on a false set of with the massive increase in debt, recognizes the gentleman from Cali- promises. making it harder for everyone who fornia (Mr. MCCLINTOCK) for 5 minutes. It is, decidedly, not middle class tax wants to borrow money to start a busi- Mr. MCCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I op- relief. It is permanent, massive tax re- ness, finance a college education, or posed the House version of the tax re- ductions for the largest corporations buy a home. It increases the likelihood form bill because the loss of broad- and wealthy individuals. Every inde- of sending even more American money based deductions like State and local pendent expert agrees and the Amer- overseas to pay for the foreign holders taxes would have caused significant tax ican public understand that the bene- of American debt that has increased. increases on many of my middle class fits of this bill flow not primarily to It does not address the problem of constituents in the high-tax, high-cost the middle class, but to people like offshoring our economic activities and State of California. It actually in- Donald Trump. the resulting revenue loss. It provides creased the marginal tax rate on high- b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H10183 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 20, 2017 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A19DE7.000 H19DEPT1 H10184 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE December 19, 2017 income earners and abolished lifeline pay business taxes. Businesses collect ‘‘Tomorrow is Christmas, it is practically deductions such as casualty loss, med- them from just three sources: from here,’’ ical expenses, and student interest. I consumers through higher prices, from He said from his office with a terrible sneer. urge that we should leave no taxpayer employees through lower wages, and ‘‘Why, for 71 years I have put up with it now, I must stop these middle class tax cuts. But behind. from investors through lower earnings, how?’’ I thank Chairman BRADY, the Repub- usually pension plans and IRAs. Then he got an idea, an awful idea, lican leadership, and the conference We have the highest corporate tax The Grinch got a terrible, awful idea. committee for heeding these concerns. rate in the industrialized world, and ‘‘I know just what to do,’’ the Grinch Their final product exceeds my expec- commerce and capital simply move thought with a pause, tations and, on behalf of California tax- around it, leaving our workers behind. ‘‘With this coat and this hat, I look just like payers, I can now offer my enthusiastic That is one of the reasons we averaged Santa Claus.’’ support. just 1.5 percent economic growth under Then he loaded some empty bags on his The new version leaves the casualty Obama—worse than any President plane, And he took off to cause some mean Grinchy loss, medical expense, and student in- since Herbert Hoover—and lost an en- pain. terest deductions intact. No family tire decade of prosperity. While working families dreamed of sweet tax needs to fear being ruined by taxes The Marxists tell us that this is just cuts without care, after a major disaster or illness, and trickle-down economics and it has The Grinch came to the first little house on graduates can continue to plan their never worked. Well, in fact, it has al- the square. lives knowing that interest on their ways worked. It worked when Warren ‘‘This is stop number one,’’ the old Grinch student loans will not be taxed. Harding did it in the 1920s, when John Claus hissed, The new bill eases the proposed limit F. Kennedy did it in the 1960s, when And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in on mortgage interest deductions and Ronald Reagan did it in the 1980s, and, his fist. allows up to $10,000 of State and local Then he slid down the chimney, Santa suit lest we forget, when Bill Clinton ap- all in place, taxes to be deducted, all important proved the biggest capital gains tax cut And he stuck his head out of the small fire- changes for California. But most im- in American history. place, portantly, the lower tax rates in this Concerns over the deficit are legiti- Where the tax deductions all hung in a row, bill now more than compensate in al- mate and must be addressed by spend- ‘‘These deductions,’’ he grinned, ‘‘are the most every case for the remaining lim- ing reforms in the coming year. We first things to go.’’ its on State and local tax and mort- must always remember that taxes and Personal exemptions, home equity interest, gage interest deductions. Even tax- debt are driven by just one thing: State and local taxes, too, payers who lose tens of thousand of ‘‘I’ll take almost every deduction away from spending. you.’’ dollars of deductions will still end up The proof of these policies will mani- Then he slunk to the tax brackets—the cor- paying lower taxes than they do today.