Mr. Brady the committee will come to order. I have an amendment at the desk. The amendment has been distributed in advance. Mr. Neal. Would you like me to address the amendment . Lets do that. Mr. Neal i think that would be very helpful. Mr. Brady good. I am pleased for this amendment, the amendment in the nature of a substitute, on behalf of the majority on the ways and Means Committee, similar to the amendment i offered on monday. This amendment will refine several provisions in the tax cuts and jobs act. It also takes action on three crucial priorities. Helping american families, providing tax relief to main street startups, and increasing american competitiveness. Lets start with helping families. First, among other important improvements, this amendment will preserve the adoption tax credit. Now, i know americans who adopt are not doing this for the tax benefit. Were doing it because we want to provide a safe and loving home for a child. I know from personal experience the adoption process can be expensive and time consuming and ultimately so rewarding. And i know the adoption tax credit is important to many members of our committee, republicans and democrats. Weve had very thoughtful discussions about it over the past few days. So with this amendment, were proposing to preserve this credit, priority led by mrs. Black, mr. Kelly and so many other. This will ensure that parents can continue to to receive additional tax relief as they open their hearts and homes to an adopted child. Id also like to note that this amendment includes a provision led by ms. Jenkins that will help families with dablesed children save for their future disabled children save for their future. It will allow them to rollover excess assets from a tax advantage 529 savings account into an able account, which are designed to help americans with disabilities lead successful and secure adult lives. This amendment also makes clear were preserving an existing tax benefit that allows military families to deduct the cost of moving expenses. Next, to help Small Businesses, this amendment offers several important provisions to make it easier for them to succeed and grow. This includes providing a new low tax rate for businesses earning less than 75,000 in income. These are main street startups who fuel innovation and job creation in communities across our country. And i have heard from just about every one of our republican members from mr. Johnson to my right, all the way down the dias to mr. Bishop in front of me, weve got to do more to help them thrive. So with this amendment were taking action, were going to provide our main street small job creators with a 9 marginal tax rate, and the bottom tax bracket, rather than the 15 that it is today and under the tax bill, a 12 rate. This additional rate relief will allow american entrepreneurs to keep more of their income in those crucial early years. The time period that really makes or breaks a Small Business. We want more Small BusinessSuccess Stories in america, this special 9 rate for startups will help make that possible. Finally, this amendment includes provisions to further refine our International Tax reform. To help accomplish our twin objectives of increasing american competitiveness while protecting the u. S. Tax base and growing american jobs. These provisions come in addition to lowering americas corporate rate to 20 , moving to a modern territorial tax system. And providing tough but fair rules to prevent american jobs from moving overseas. Is this area of the code complete . Of course not. We have much work to do, as we work to ensure our american businesses can compete and win anywhere in the world. In Foreign Companies who want to invest in america, to create jobs as well, are addressed in the tough but fair manner. In other areas of our sector, including insurance, we continue to examine the provision in the original bill, make refinements and changes going forward, and im confident we will strengthen all sectors, as well as the insurance. For past several days weve had numerous discussions on many of these same priorities. These are areas where members on both sides of the aisle said we need to take a second look. We did. Now im offering this amendment on behalf of our committee to put them in the bill. This is important with this amendment we include these important priorities and meet our reconciliation instruction. Ensuring we can get this bill and this longawaited tax relief to the house floor as soon as possible. And to the extent the members have additional ideas to help families and strengthen our economy, i look forward to working with you on those after our work on the tax cuts and jobs act in committee is finished. Does anyone wish to be heard on the amendment . Mr. Neal mr. Chairman. I think that we can conclude, as weve attempted to address the financial infrastructure of the country, that this process at best has been inartful, and at worst indefensible. After four days, not one democratic amendment has passed. When you look at h. R. 1, it contributes to complexity after having been advertised as the avenue to simplicity. Its harmful to the homeowner, its harmful to the homebuilder. Its harmful of the municipal investor and those that are willing to take risks. It adds 2ds. 3 trillion to the National Debt 2. 3 trillion to the National Debt. Weve had this argument now for days about guaranteed that this will put us north of 3 growth. Guarantee. We could have used this time for the following purpose. To discuss simplicity. To discuss investment. And not just investment in finance, but investment in human capital. Which is the surest path to address the Labor Participation rate in america today. One of the challenges that we face is the following. Technology has changed the workplace. Skill set has changed the workplace. Two million men and women in america have an opiate drug addiction, who are home playing video games in the afternoon rather than in the workplace. Coupled with the fact the opportunity existed for us to talk about an investment in community colleges, an investment for internship ograms, and for all of us in this room today and viewing, an investment in Vocational Education to address the job shortfall in america, which the department of labor this week said was north of six million available jobs. 18,000 prevision manufacturing jobs in new england go un answered every single day. One million tech jobs across the country go unanswered every single day. Instead we came to a conclusion and then went out to seek the documentation. The changes occurred every day in this proposal and shift largely based upon news accounts. Every time there was a story that said the republican majoritys numbers didnt add up, they ran back to make adjustments in the numbers. Not in the policy. So were being told that we can borrow 1. 5 trillion based upon the premise that maybe it will generate 3 growth over the next decade. What happens if that doesnt occur . You cannot find many mainstream economists in america that say were going north of 2. 1 or 2. 2 and arguably they say it will occur likely in the first year or so and then we are going to revert to the numbers that i spoke of earlier and not to miss the following, mr. Chairman. This is about longterm demographic trends in america as well. Weve got to address that issue of Immigration Reform and tie it to the whole mission to of job growth and investment notion of job growth and investment in the workplace. We had an opportunity to do. This im paying pained that we could highlight as we attempted to do the genius of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and then rush this through. Even though it was done in daylight. Its still you are rushed through. We gave its still rushed through. We gave some thoughtful commentary and pretty good amendments on our side and we wanted to fully participate and despite what some have said on the other side, i can guarantee you this, after 25 years on this kerks i did not start from the prems that i we should try to kill this bill premise that we should try to kill this bill. I looked at a tax system in america that is ineefficient and underproductive and, yes, there is a legitimate argument about International Competition that the country needs to address. So all of the good ideas and notions and thoughts that we had ourn side on our side were dismissed. I have never participated in a markup in all these years in the house where i was told more that there was a genuine affection for me. I was highly regarded. They really loved my amendment. They thought it could be considered. But were not going vote for it. And the trouble with that is that that dismisses again what we could have done on so many of these amendments, some of which are really helpful. And as support begins to peel off, let me predict whats going to happen. We saw these changes over these four days. Arbitrary changes in fact. And now i can tell you as a student of the institution where were going. Members will be asked to walk the plank on the republican side. And theyre going to be told, oh, this will be changed in the rules committee. And then when it comes to the floor theyre going to to be told, oh, if we could just pass this it will be reconciled when we work with the senate. Ive seen a summary what have the senate has done. Theres going to be some substantial changes. After this bill passes the house. So for those members who have thought that they were going to be done with issue today, when we conclude this vote, its coming back. You cant do what were doing to harm the middle class in america, all for the purpose of concentrating greater wealth at the very top. And you cant disguy it and you cant have disguise it and you cant have a nal sis of it. And you cant do it with just talking points. I wish this could have been done differently. I think the an opportunity missed. And we intend to have but one more speaker on our sirksde i believe, because we feel theres not much that were going to do to shift what has occurred here during these four days. With that i yield back my 10 seconds. Mr. Brady the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Mr. Roskam, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Roskam thank you, chairman braidy. This is not an opportunity to be missed. This is an opportunity to be seized. What weve had discussed among us over these past fow days enly, withrow bust robust conversation back and forth, and now a product that reflects several things. Its a product that says, lets not defend the status quo. And the subtext of all the arguments previously for changes to were changes to keep things as opposed to taking advantage of a transformational moment. So heres what we need to seize. Ive heard from a lot of chambers of commerce in my district. Crystal lake, illinois, st. Charles, illinois, pal tine, illinois, naperville, illinois, lake ziric, illinois, wheaten, illinois, my hometown. And their sense of relief about the notion of coming in and recognizing that Small Business in particular, the business on main street that is desspreatly trying to get a foot hold, they are welcoming this today. The notion, mr. Chairman, that you listened and that the committee listened and said, lets try and create an environment where first dollars are protected from the take of washington, d. C. , is a welcome relief today. What were proposing is no loophole, its no exception. Its protection. And to echo up with of mr. Curbelos themes earlier on in the debate earlier today, it is to recognize that the United States is a unique place. And historically what were in the midst of is this great debate. And you see it on full display basically today. There are these two views of the economy that are competing for the affections of the American People. On the one hand you have a group that essentially says, if youre successful, that comes at the demise of someone else. Its a zerosum game view of the economy. If youre successful, it comes at someones elses expense. We reject that fundamentally. We reject that wholeheartedly. We dont want to be associated with that. But on the other hand what we say is, no, thats not the way the economy works. Its not a zerosum game. And when people are successful around us, it enures to our benefit and now for folks on main street, based on this type of amendment, where their first dollars are being prect, what does that do . That creates an environment where others can prosper around them. It is buoyant, it is dynamic, it is invitational. And heres proof that it is really in sync with who the American People have been historically. We are an interesting, charming, delightful people. And heres why. When someone is successful around us, we say, how nice for you. We dont say, i want your stuff. We say, how nice for you. Because we think, that could be me. That could be my kids. That could be my grandchildren. And what this great debate is about today at its core are these two views. And what were doing today, yeah, were going to continue to debate this. We will continue to discuss this. This will be met with senate consternation and all kind of things but when it comes to it, what were on the verge today is winning an argument. Winning an argument about the future of our economy and what our world view is. Because ill tell what you. If younger people are coming out into this economy and theyre basically told, youre stuck in your station in life, youre stuck, and fleece way for you to get out of your station in life unless you have some federal program or some federal handout, heaven help us. The lights get dark pretty quickly. If, however, kids come out today and they say, i can aspire to things, i can do things, i can invest and so forth and i can keep more of my dollars early from the protection of the taking of the federal government, that is a very bright future. So, mr. Chairman, i just want to thank you for your work on this effort. We know theres more work to be done, that a markup is one part of a process. But ill tell what you. It has been a long time coming. And i look forward to continuing this debate because the stakes are high and this is an opportunity to be seized today and im proud to be a part of it. I yield back. Mr. Brady the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the amendment . Mr. Lewis, youre recognized. Louis louis mr. Chairman, i ask unanimous mr. Lewis mr. Chairman, i ask unanimous consent to submit the Brown University report on the cost of war for the record. R. Brady without objection. The gentleman is recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Chairman, he dont attend social events at the white house. Ive not been interested in socializing with the president who spends so much of his time attacking my constituents. But i have read that theres some nice events there and that when it gets around time to serving dessert, the president likes ice cream. Mr. Doggett but he always insists on him getting two scoops of ice cream and the other people at the table getting one. And theres a lot of similarity between that dessert practice and whats being served up here today. If you look at where the money is on the individual side, most expensive parts are the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax. There are Donald Trumps two personal dips. And they are big dips. We dont have any of his tax returns, we know from the one return that was partially disclosed that whether he put millions of dollars in his pocket by eliminating the alternative minimum tax. And the same for his billionaire buddies. And we know that by given the small portion of america that has any role in the inheritance tax, that by eliminating that, he will pay nothing on these millions of dollars that he has accumulated , as his father passed on to him and as he grew them here in america. Nothing on the gain on those. And really, if you look at, it he gets a third scoop of ice cream here. Because the passthrough provisions are the same passthrough provisions hes used in the past, in his real estate deals, with carried interest as well. He gets the big bowl of ice cream and the American People, they end up getting to lick the bowl and pay for the ice cream. Because thats whats involved here. 2. 3 trillion of Additional Debt that will come right down on the American People with so little benefit for them. Now, its also true, as i mentioned, in my opening motion to postpone, that Donald Trumps conclusion about the Health Care Bill here was that it was mean and go with the senate. And this very morning apparentliering according to news reports, apparently, according to news reports, hes called to say essentially the same thing about this bill. Im sure hell celebrate its passage but hes told the senators, look to your approach because its better than what the house has and we havent seen it so were not able to compare the two. The issues here are not whether we will take away from someone, but whether we will create more opportunity for all americans to share in the american dream. We believe that the better way to grow our economy is to invest in americans, to invest in american jobs, to give more educational opportunities, to honor the contribution our dreamers and many of our immigrants can make here in america. Those are sure tested ways to grow america. What we are presented with this trickledown approach of giving most of the benefits to donald trump and his buddies is the approach that has failed to work to grow america time after time again. All that it does is grow speeches at republican conventions. But it does not help the american economy. As for the american economy, there is the other major issue of seeing even more of our american jobs outsourced abroad. And thats what exactly what will happen in this bill as they create a giant new loophole to incentivize the export of jobs abroad. As for the process here, you know, we tend to look at it from this side of the table. To consider the fact that our request for hearings over the last year have been rejected. Weve had almost no consideration of this. The fact that President Trump didnt have the courage and his administration didnt have the courage to send one person to testify at that table and answer questions about this. The fact that this bill was dropped on us at the last minute, a managers amendment at the end of monday, and then a managers amendment that the chairman will not even explain the provisions, wont tell us how much they cost, what they do, and we dont have anyone here to explain it. Its really not from looking at this side of the table that counts. Its from looking at the other side of the table. The side of the table that so many people across america are looking at this and trying to figure out, what god does do for me andify what good does it do for me and my family . The answer for most of them is nothing other than give you the opportunity to pay for more debt. This whole process is about a bad a bill that is so bad that they fear the involvement not only us as members of a committee on a fair and democratic basis, but they fear the examination of this bill by the American People. And thats why they pass it today in this con drived way and they will bring it up on the floor of the house next week. And it is only by the American People getting involved, by contacting their member, by demanding fairness in this bill, that we have the opportunity that i think can be achieved to ultimately reject it as it must be rejected. Mr. Brady thank you. The gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Nunes, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Nunes thank you, mr. Chairman. First let me congratulate you and all of the tax team for putting this bill together in this managers amendment. Theres a reason why we havent done this in nearly 40 years. Its difficult. And this committee has worked on it for many, many years. Had many, many hearings. I know American People are frustrated because every year we say were going fix the tax code and yet we never fix the tax code. This is as close to fixing the tax code as we can possibly get. This is going to simplify the tax code for nearly every american. Probably 2 3 if not more of americans will no longer will be able fill out their taxes on a single piece of paper. That will be simplification. All americans will get a tax cut. But most importantly, its about jobs and job creation. And thats really what is at the heart of this bill. What it does is it gets the government out of picking winners and losers. So for too long in this country , Small Business people, farmers and others, and any type of business, have had to deal with complicated scheme called depreciation. This bill gets rid of that. So no longer does somebody have to decide whether or not its better to buy a new forklift versus to invest in some type of different manufacturing equipment. Because one depreciates over five years and one depreciates over seven years. Thats wiped away. Thats what this is about. This is about letting Small Businesses, the job creaters in this country, decide what they want to spend their money on. So it is significant just for that. Technically speaking, people will call it expensing. And in this committee we tend to get into the weeds and most americans dont know what all these complicated words mean in the tax code. But i can tell you this will matter when it gets out to the main street of america, where people will be able to no longer have to call their accountant to see what they can buy or what they cannot buy. And look, this is let me just say, my friends on the aisle who have had four days to offer amendments over credit under the sun, that they want to keep in the tax code, this is something that for some reason all of those got through the congress over the years. But what we did is we were putting in these tax credits or special exemptions for things that washington and politicses were deciding politicians were deciding what was best. Were getting out of that business. So theres nothing wrong with a lot of the credits that were getting rid of. But the fact of the matter is we have to ask ourselves, should the government have been involved in these decisions in the first place . So, mr. Chairman, i think weve worked a lot of hours on this bill. Weve been through a lot of meetings, a lot of hearings starting with many chairmen before you. And it has not been easy. But i think through it all, this is a product that, as mr. Roskam said, we should be celebrating today. And i hope that we can take the next step and get this bill to the house floor next week and pass it overwhelmingly. And i would hope that we would get some democrats that might join us in passing this bill. I wont count on it, but i would hope he would get some. Then we would get some. Then ill go on and hope our colleagues in the senate will pass something so we can get to conference. Because any time you take a complicated tax code like the one thats been created over four decades, and you try to fix that tax code, its going to be complicated and youre going to have lastminute amendments because so many people around the country are impacted. And we have to be slow and methodical and careful and thats exactly what this committee has done under your leadership, mr. Chairman. So congratulations. I want to thank you. All the members and all the staff. And i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Brady thank you. Mr. Levin, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Levin theres really nothing complicated about what youve been doing. Dont believe the rhetoric or the proper and goa. Theres zero bipartisanship in this propaganda. Theres zero bipartisan in this bill. Zero. And when you have talked about that, its been a veneer. This bill does pick winners and losers. The big winners are the very wealthy and some corporations. The losers are the middle class and the rest of america. So dont keep saying that everybodys going to get a tax cut. Thats not true. There may be some slight modification, but still many, many tens of thousands of taxpayers will not get a tax cut and the main tax cut is going to go to the very wealthy. The speaker said at the beginning, the focus is on middle class tax relief. The focus is on directing that tax relief to the people in the middle. And the people are trying to get there. And that is why we put our emphasis on that tax relief for those people who are in the middle. That is simply not true about this bill. Its really the opposite. Theres been some change in terms of the passthrough. But still from what we can tell , and he wasnt asked to explain the amendment, still, 80 , 90 of the passthrough money is going to go to wealthier people. The deficit, you brought it down a bit to meet the requirement, but its still, what, 1. 5 trillion . 1. 5 trillion . And whos going to end up paying for that is. 5 trillion deficit . Its going 1. 5 trillion deficit . Its going to be the typical family in the United States of america. The typical family. And i just want to finish. Theres been talk about deliberation. I really think this makes a mockery out of the legislative process. Youve gone through the motions , youve involved us not at all. And the reason is youre desperate. You have failed to pass anything of substance. Anything. And so now in terms of the political situation, as well as the policy situation, you have been left with one option. Pass a tax bill and youre going to pass it regardless of what is the impact on the typical family. And i just want to say this to you as you go through this pro process. St not going to this is not going wear well. In fact, the president has already said, dont get too hung up on the house bill. Dont get too hung up. And thats because i think theres a realization that really left hanging out are the vast majority of people in this country. So this today is not an act of deliberation. Its an act of desperation. Of desperation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Mrs. Black, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Brady the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Mrs. Black, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mrs. Black thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for the work youve done. This is hard work. And this is work that takes a lot of time, a lot of hours, and a lot of expertise. Obviously no tax reform is ever going to be perfect. Theres still more to be done. Theres still pieces that id like to see in this tax reform and as we move forward well have that opportunity. But let me just say thank you for the restoring of the adoption tax credit. Because ive worked for all of my career, as a matter of fact, the 45 years since ive been a nurse ive been working to make sure theyre child has a forever family. Ill tell you just briefly about an inspiring story that happened just this year. Of a family who adopted. And this family is a family from owens. This familys name is owens. Theyre from pennsylvania. Mr. Kellys area. Following an untimely passing of one of their previous children, a 3yearold, they felt calling to a life to adopt a child with special needs. Fast forward a few years, not only did they adopt one child with special needs, they adopted four children with special needs. And i still have in my office a picture of that family that visited me. Because these are children who otherwise would not have had a forever family. Adoption really is a beautiful choice for parents to make. And we should make sure that our laws work for these families and not against them. We have families across this country that have room in their hearts and maybe even room in their homes to adopt. But they may not have room in their budgets. Today we have over 415,000 youths in foster care, including about 108,000 of these are eligible and theyre actually waiting to be adopted right now today. Yes, adoption is too expensive and thats something for another day. We have to look at that state and federal regulations that cause the cost of adoption to rise. Adoptions can cost up to 40,000. And families obviously in many of these cases do not have those kinds of expendable dollars. So, thank you, mr. Chairman, for preserving this adoption tax credit. We want to make certain that the tax code works for families who are willing to open up their homes to adoption and not against them. And i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Brady thank you, mrs. Black, and thank you for being a champion for adoption. Mr. Thompson, youre recognized to speak. Mr. Thompson thank you, mr. Chairman. You know, this isnt a bipartisan measure. There were no hearings. We didnt hear from any witnesses. We didnt hear from any experts. But the fact of the matter is there are some things that we knee for sure. We know that if this bill were to become law, our National Debt would grow by 2. 3 trillion. Thats the cost that would be passed on to our kids and our grandkids. We know that homeowners in many states across this great nation would lose. Theyd lose value on their mes, theyd lose savings and a retirement. Because for many people, the value that they accrue in their homes is in fact their retirement savings. Well take that away from them. We know that the state and local Tax Deduction will be reduced. We know what this does. Not only does it hurt homeowners and taxpayers in highcost states, but it also hurts the local governments and the state governments. And it hurts the people in those states that rely on and depend on the programs that those tax dollars go to fund. We know it hurts jobs, hurts infrastructure expansion and improvement. It hurts everything that is important to a community. We know it hurts folks who experience the tragedy of a disaster. I spoke on that early on in the week. This bill takes away people who experienced a disasters ability to use the tax code to provide a little help for themselves and their families. And we know that in a real cruel twist, this bill was written in a way that grandfathers in some disaster victims, but going forward, it ignores other disaster victims. And please be warned, every one of us has a district thats subject to a disaster at some time and some point. And if it comes, then youre going to have to figure out how to get help for your constituents, how to do a separate bill to do it, where in fact if it were left alone, that would already be taken care of. And the people who were experiencing just a lifeshattering change because of a Natural Disaster would be able to get the help that they want. This bill creates winners and losers. We know that veterans lose. We know that folks with high medical costs lose. As i said earlier, we know that our children and our grandchildren lose. Theyre going to be footing the bill for this disastrous piece of legislation. We know those looking to build Affordable Housing and those looking for Affordable Housing to be able to accommodate their local jurisdictions, theyre going to lose. We know students who carry a loan, theyre going to lose. Who wins . We know corporations win. We know wealthy folks win. Someone said that its not a zerosum game. Well, i agree with about half of that statement. Probably better to say its a crap shoot. Because the proponents of this believe that if we pass it, somehow this trickledown theory thats never worked before is going to materialize here. And theres going to be all this incredible growth. Well, thats not anything short of an absolute crap shoot. The truth of the matter is its a zerosum game. Corporations get a big win. Wealthy folks get a big win. And that win comes at the expense of a middle class, comes at the expense of future generations. This bill is as bad for the American People as is the process that we went through to get here. I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Brady mr. Buchanan, youre recognized to recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Buchanan thank you, mr. Chairman. I think this is a great bill. Not perfect. But a great bill. Its obvious after listening for four days, we have a different philosophy. A lot of us come from different background which is good. My background, ive been a job creator for 30, 40 years. 30 years before i created thousands of jobs as a blue collar kid out of detroit and my parents both worked in the factory and i was one six kids. So thats the perspective that i want to talk about. But let me as i look at the facts, and we had goodsized businesses, but i look at the past 10 years, weve ran up 10 trillion in debt. Plenty of blame to go around. You can put part of it on bush. But its not all bush. Because youve fat to take some responsibility at some point for that debt. We talked about stimulus. 800 billion stimulus. We had a 10 trillion stimulus the last 10 years in my opinion. Weve fwroun it 1 or 1. 5 , never getting to 2 . The first time in 50 years we havent had better growth than that. Theres been very little or no pay increases for our employees. In my opinion as a result of that. I read something on the front page of u. S. A. Today that i had to go back and double check it because i couldnt believe it. And its sad. 62 of americans dont have 1,000 in the bank. And thought to myself, as a blue collar kid, ive been there before. Its unimaginable. So we are going backwards. We need a change. Status quo is not acceptable. The bottom line is we need to find a way to grow our economy. 1 growth is 2. 8 trillion in Economic Activity. Weve had two quarters at 3 . That doesnt mean a lot, but ideally we need to move to 3 3rks. 5 . It makes a big difference in terms of working families and their paychecks. One of the things that im most excited about, and we have a philosophical difference probably on this, you dont have any jobs, you dont have any pay increases, in my opinion, unless you can have Small Businesses, be successful, because that he create most of the jocks, not all of the jobs, i was the chairman of the florida chamber. 95 of those businesses frankly were they made less than 100,000 a yeemplet 50 employees or less a year. 50 employees or less. The fact that this bill addresses a 9 tax on them, on the first 100,000, is a huge benefit to them. We can talk about passthroughs. And it does help companies that are larger. But im first to admit it. The nfib, a lot of them dont participate at that level. But they do at the 9 level. So on the first 100,000, first 90,000, 9 is a huge factor and they create most of the jobs. I always tell my friends, my parents were union works. You dont have any unions. If you dont have successful businesses. I think americas in the business of business. Especially Small Business. Thats where i put my focus. The other thing is on startups. Weve had more businesses close in the last decade than open. Never in the history of our country, thats what i understand, that thats happened. We need to do more about entrepreneurship. We need to do more about helping startups. I did a conference in my district, had all women there, all ladies, c. E. O. s of small and medium sized businesses. Someone said, why are you doing that . I said, because i read and i believe 57 of the startups, 57 of the startups, in the next 10 years, will be womenled. Thats where we need to focus on is congress, what can we do for entrepreneurs . What can we do for startups . What can we do for Small Businesss . Because at the end of the day, if theyre more successful, were going to have more goodpaying jobs and that makes a big difference. Also, i would like it say in closing, i want this to be america tonight best place in the country, in the world, to do business. And i think weve had a lot of Companies Moving out. The goal of this tax bill is to get companies to move back in, to move the money offshore back into our country, and id like to declare today, america is back in business. Thank you. I yield back. Mr. Brady thank you. Mr. Kind, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Kind thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, i cant help but sit here and think, what a missed opportunity this whole process has been. There are many of us on this side of the aisle, mr. Chairman, who were eager to work with you to take a serious run at the tax code for the first time in 31 years. Its become way too complicated. Riddled, full of special interest tax loop holes, less product whve it comes to Economic Growth. Many of us were interested in working with you to simplify the code, to broaden the base, make it fair for working families and Small Businesses, family farms back home. To promote progrowth, keep us competitive in the global economy. But also to do in a fiscally responsible manner. Unfortunately its a missed opportunity. And many of the conversations that you had with some of us on side, asking for our input, it started with the principle of lets do this with revenue neutrality. Lets not employee a hole in the budget. And increase the debt again. You were in agreement with that. But this bill falls far short of that. If we had more time to debate and consider more of our amendments, i was hoping to offer one that was meant to protect many of you on that side. It would have expanded the endangered species list to have the include fiscally conservative republicans. Because youre on the verge of going extinct with this bill. You still have, even with the managers mark, a 2. 3 trillion shortfall that will be added to future generations burden. And unlike tax cuts in the past, 1981, weve run out of time. We dont have the luxury of time and the recovery if we make a huge fiscal mistake today. We have 70 million baby boomers beginning their Massive Retirement in this country. 10,000 a day. And joining Social Security, medicare. This bill goes forward and Economic Growth projections that youre betting on dont materialize, Social Security and medicare is on the chopping block. Because theres no way were going to have the resources or financing to protect that for this baby boom generation, let alone future generations afterwards. Thats a missed opportunity, mr. Chairman. It didnt have to be this way. We should also approach this under the premise of first do no harm. Lets not screw around with things that arent important and that are working. Earlier today i offered an amendment to preserve, protect and expand the importance of section 199, the incentive for domestic manufacturing and our family farmers, so they can keep jobs here. And stay competitive on the global environment. That was rejected out of hand. Im hearing from a lot of my businesses and farmers from farm country how detrimental the loss of 199 will be to them. Many of them operating on the margin today, just trying to stay above water. Many of our farmers too are concerned about the elimination under the chairs mark of exchanges and that operating loss carrybacks. Important provisions for them to stay in business so we dont lose more of our family farmers. And we didnt have any hearings, no discussion about the intended or the unintended consequences of many of the policy changes that are being made in your mark. And i still see with a quick review, and weve only had a little over an hour to review the chairmans latest amendment, that you still want to politicize our places of worship. What a terrible policy idea that that can result in. Right now if they want to participate in political campaigns, endorse candidates, they can do that. They just loose their taxexempt status. Youre saying its already for them to do it and maintain their taxexempt status. This creates a huge back door loophole for political contributes to funnel money through places of worship so they can direct i get involved in the outcome campaigns and the potential for strife in our communities, where our places of worship is one of the last remaining institutions or refuges for us to come together as americans in fellowship, and to spend some time together, regardless of political aphysicalation, is in jeopardy. You do i notice add some restrictive language on that. These organizations expenses relating to such political speech have to be diminimus. We dont have a clear definition what have that means. That seems ripe for lawsuits and being tied up in courts for years. I would certainly hope as this process moves forward, if it is going to be moving forward, we take another look at that in particular. But today were talking about the future of our children and our grandchildren. And one thing that this bill is guaranteeing them, even with all your projected growth expectations, is that this will add 2. 3 trillion on our National Credit card. I for one am getting tired of republican administrations leaving a fiscals me for the next administration to clean up. I yield back. Mr. Brady the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Reid thank you, mr. Chairman mr. Reed thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we close this debate out, i want to say thank you to you and your staff for all of the hard work and for r. Bartholt to barthold for his work. Ive been sitting here all week with this stack of papers. Im glad to be able to do my part today to say this will be a thing of history when were done here in the house of representatives as the senate and get this signed to the president s desk. And to be replaced with a simpler, fairer, tax code that is going to deliver 1,606 dollars to the typical family in my district of western new york. Mr. Chairman, as the youngest of 12, whose father passed away when i was 2, who was raised by a single mother, 1,606 is a heck of a lot of money. And that is money these people have earned. And by doing the work we have done here, and i hope to work with my colleagues across the aisle as we go through this process to the finish line and we can do better for those individuals back home, were giving direct relief to them. And thank you for the opportunity with it. But, mr. Chairman, i also want to note one thing. I have been very passionate about the issue of College Costs and college debts. And i note in the chairmans mark the section that dealt with the excise tax on endowments for private colleges and universities. And to my colleagues on the other side, i was listening to your debate. When you researched the Paradise Island papers, i went through it with a comb. Ill note to you the New York Times article of november 8, where it uncovered many endowments are potentially listed in those papers where they are shifting income to tax havens and theyre not even taxable. In order to shield their Investment Strategies as to whether where theyre investing their as to where theyre investing their money. Im going to take this on, mr. Chairman, and i appreciate you allowing us the opportunity to get into this issue of College Costs and debt which has gone up 500 since the year 2000. When i see Investment Managers 353 from aid 28,839, 2010 to 2015, from an institution like columbia, when i see the level of compensation, where endowment distributions are going three to one to Investment Managers as opposed to a dollar thats just going to tuition reduction and scholarship, im going ask the question, is that right . Is that fair . And i will tell you, this provision that we have introduced here is just the step in the right direction to get College Costs under control and student debt going in the right direction and that is down. So with all that, mr. Chairman, i say thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be part of it. Thank you for allowing me to deliver relief to middle class america. And well continue to fight as we move this to the president s desk. With that i yield back. Mr. Brady thank you, mr. Reed. I too was raised by a single mom who raised five of us by herself after decide was killed. Like your mom she would say, youre going to have to pick up all those books, young man. Just be aware of that. [laughter] mr. Crowley, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Crowley i thank the gentleman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. Ill be very, very brief. I just want to if i could enter into the record, mr. Chairman, a letter from june 23 of this year, 2017. By seven my republican colleagues from new york state in opposition to the salt provisions. Provisions that led them to vote against the budget resolution that went before the house last week because the salt elimination was in the Republican House tax bill. My understanding is that the salt provision is full bore in the senate proposal. So, mr. Chairman, if i could for the record, its signed by my colleagues, dan donovan of staten island, john katko of racuse, alease stefanik, congressman zeldin, john faso of the 19th district. Peter king of long island and claudia tenney. Just to point out that those seven individuals, either they got it right and the salt provisions are egregious in terms of this bill, or theyre wrong and my other colleagues are correct. Mr. Brady without objection, mr. Crowley. Mr. Crowley thank you. Either they got it wrong, mr. Chairman, all seven of those republicans, or theyre cow to youing to concerns about their district towing to concerns about their district and election and they and they rent brave enough to stand up. Eith they are got it wrong and mr. Reed and others have gotten it right, but if this letter, they knew back then that the elimination of salt, the dedubbletability of state and local taxes would be crippling to their constituents and theyve expressed that back in june, they expressed it last week, three of these individuals are already gone public and said they would not support this republican tax scam on the floor next week. I suspect we will see more of my republican colleagues peeling back this bill that really is in the interest of special interests of corporations, the most wealthiest in this country at the expense of working people, not only in my district and state but the country as well. Id like to yield the balance of my time to mr. Davis of illinois. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Chairman, and i thank the gentleman for yield. As we wind down to the close of this discussion, i am reminded that government should help people, not harm them. Government should strengthen the economic wellbeing of the middle class whose wages have stagnated, not the most secure and not Washington Special interests. The Tax Policy Center estimates that the current plan will save the bottom 80 between 50 and 450 in taxes per year. T it bestows the top 1 an average of 129,000 a year. It depiffs almost half of the individual tax cuts it gives almost half of the individual tax cuts to households earning more than 500,000 and over onethird to households earning 1 million or more. Corporate special interests reap almost 70 of the total tax cuts. The medium immediate yam income in my district is 54,000, not 500,000. So chicagoans will lose. Illinois will lose. And the country will lose. And yield back the balance of my time. And i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Brady excuse me. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Kelly, youre recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Kelly mr. Chairman, i, too, like the rest of the committee, will thank you for your hard work. We started off with one idea and it makes sense. It was to make America Great again and also improve our economy. So i think we have done as we have created an opportunity right now. As i said early on, my faith is in the American People when you give them the opportunity, they will take it and run with it. We will have more takehome pay for individuals. We will also more competitive in the world. Well be able to compete with a lot of folks around the world. We are no longer in the backseat. So many things have happened last couple days are good for america. We will make america boom again. I want to thank you for the work on the adoption piece with mrs. Black. Its so important that more americans have a greater opportunity to adopt children. Nobody knows better than you about adopting children. So i would just say in conclusion, i enjoyed the back and forthwith our folks on the other side. It has been very interesting. I think at the end of this exercise, the American People are the ones will take a look and say, you know what, you guys did really well. Thank you. I thank you, mr. Chairman. And the staff that worked so hard on both sides of the aisle, by the way, to make sure we were able to hear and voice our opinion. So thank you, mr. Chairman, and i yield back. Mr. Brady thank you, mr. Kelly. Mr. Blumenauer, you are recognized to speak on the amendment. Mr. Blumenauer thank you. I appreciate my friend, mr. Kelly, talking about opportunity. You know, actually i proosht mr. Reed clearing that up i appreciate mr. Reed clearing that up. I thought he had those books stacked up so people couldnt see him based on whats going on here. Mr. Reed a face for radio. Thats what i do. Mr. Blumenauer but now were moving into the next phase. Its unclear to me what the president is going to regard this. I remember he celebrated your efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care act at the white house before he denounced it as being a mean bill. And i dont know when the stories start coming out about whats really in this bill and the feedback, i dont know if hes going to stand behind you or not. I know in terms of what we have now, its actually a very good bill for donald trump. Most of the Trump Enterprises are passthrough entities. Not Small Business. Passthrough entities. And hell be able to take advantage of that lower tax rate. Hell be able to have hundreds of millions or billions, however many dollars he has, to pass on to his children without being taxed. We do know from the one tax form that was released, that it was the alternative minimum tax that forced him to pay anything meanful on hundreds of millions of dollars of income. And youve eliminated the alternative minimum tax. I think mr. Trump will be happy about that. And we all know that donald trump has bragged to be about the king of debt. He borrowed right, left and sideways, stiffed people, was able to get out with multiple bankruptcies. Hes played the debt card. And with this bill, we are playing a debt card. Were increasing the National Debt, not a trillion and a half but probably 2. 3 trillion after we pay interest on it and as i pointed out during our deliberations when i tried to have a Circuit Breaker to protect us if this goes south that a 1 increase in historic low Interest Rates will add another trillion and a half. So the king of debt will like that. But this ultimately is a lost opportunity. I couldnt agree more with my friend, mr. Kind. There are many things that we agree upon that we could have worked on together. We if you think something needs to happen with the production tax credit, you didnt have to throw it out. We could worked on it, not break a commitment to that industry. We could have really happened Small Business helped Small Business. They are not going to get anything. The vast majority of Small Businesses are not going to get anything out of the passthrough because they dont hit the 25 . They pay far less than that. We could have done a better job. We could have embraced some of the concepts that your republican colleagues are talking about in the senate to extend the earned income tax credit. We could have made it refundable. We could have helped 35 of the people who are completely left out with your bill. We could have done that together. You chose instead to go a slightly different direction on your own, no hearings, no opportunities to go back and forthwith this. Four days of debate. I like debate. I dont mind. But we could have actually been involved in legislating. Serious, bipartisan legislating, knowing whats actually in the legislation and working together to refine it for Small Business, working to refine it for our failing infrastructure. These are things that are within our capacity. This is a lost opportunity. Some of you had a chance to meet my young grandson when we kicked this off. Little quinn. Mr. Brady hes a cutie. Mr. Blumenauer and i feel bad because this lost opportunity means is that for quinn and your children and grandchildren and the people who follow them, their problems are going to be greater. We miss an opportunity to work with them, and we have failed in our fundamental opportunity and obligation to Work Together to solve americans problems. I think its unfortunate, and im done. Mr. Brady thank you, mr. Blumenauer. Mr. Holding will control the final comments. Mr. Holding thank you. Mr. Brady mr. Holding, youre recognized. Mr. Holding thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate and my constituents really appreciate all the efforts taken to put together this bill. The status quo is unacceptable and this bill provides our best chance to finally get the economic economy booming again. Plus for a Median Income household of four in the second Congressional District of north carolina, a 2,300 tax cut. Now, one of the most important aspects of the bill i worked on a lot is moving to a territorial system. And finally allowing American Companies to be on a level Playing Field with their foreign competitors. Removing the punitive barriers of current worldwide system. But we were not able in this bill or in the amendment to move to a territorial system for citizens. Currently were one of the few countries that have a citizenshipbased taxation. So worldwide taxation for citizens. And i hoped we would be able to move to a residency taxbased taxation system to ensure american citizens have a level Playing Field around the globe as well as corporations having a level Playing Field. As i highlighted to the committee before, american citizens around 40 more expensive than their foreign counterparts to employ any jobs overseas. So as American Companies begin to see the benefits of a territorial system, i look forward to continuing to work on a solution to provide our citizens overseas with similar benefits and thus ensure that talent, not tax burden, is the driving factor in hiring decisions within the Global Operations of multinational companies. So mr. Chairman, i want to thank you again. Im proud of this bill. Im proud of my work on it. Im proud of my colleagues. Im honored to sit here today with them and look forward to seeing the benefits of this bill going forward. With that i yield the remainder of my time to mr. Marchant of texas. Mr. Marchant thank you, mr. Holding. 31 years since this committee has done this kind of historic work. Id like to congratulate the chairman, first of all, for his hard work and his guidance. Its been a privilege for me to be on this committee and have part of this process. And i want to thank him for allowing me to represent my constituents every day that im on this committee and bring their priorities to this committee. I asked myself three questions throughout this process about this bill. Does it make the tax code simpler . The answer is yes. Does it reward the hardworking families in my district with a tax cut . The answer is yes. Does it give Small Businesses in my district an opportunity to grow and hire more people . The answer is yes. Thank you very much. I yield back. Mr. Brady thank you, mr. Marchant. Ms. Sanchez, unanimous consent request. Ms. Sanchez thank you, mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the director of the California Department of finance outlying 10 different provisions and especially the salt, removing the salt deductions. That would be extremely harmful to california families. Mr. Brady thank you. Mr. Higgins, i understand youre the final speaker. Ms. Saverplings mr. Chairman, was that ms. Sanchez mr. Chairman, was that accepted . Mr. Brady yes. Mr. Higgins. Mr. Higgins thank you. From the beginning this was nothing more than an attempt to cut taxes for Corporate America and for the highest earningers among us. If you make over 750,000 a year, your raise next year will be 8 just because of this tax cut. And Everything Else has been a money chase to find a way to pay for this massive tax cut for Corporate America and for highend earningers. And unfortunately Middle America got hit hard. You know, my friend mr. Reed talked about the 1,100 savings that a western new york family will realize. Well, you know what, it just got obliterated because theres no longer a deduction for state and local taxes. The treasury secretary said that these tax cuts would pay for themselves, that the revenue that theyre revenue neutral and there will be an additional 2 trillion of Economic Activity beyond that. Dface lie. Ol nobody believes that. Not the tax center. No the wharton school. The White House Council of economic advisors had the audacity to suggest that these Corporate Tax cuts would result in a 4,000 to 9,000 annual increase in Middle America. Not one of my colleagues on the other side have made reference to that as a benefit. Another boldface lie by this white house perpetrated against the American People. Mr. Brady if the gentleman will suspend. Youre over the guardrails on decorum in this committee. Mr. Higgins Corporate America. Exxonmobil made 8 billion in the last five years. Youre not even giving them a tax cut because they didnt pay any taxes. General electric made 29 billion over the last five years. Youre not giving them a tax cut because they dont pay any taxes in the last five years. In fact, they get a tax rebate. Apple. Over the 74 billion last five years and paid no taxes. But whats even more egregious than that, apple took the technology that was paid for by the american taxpayer, cut screen technology, the internet, Global Positioning satellite, voice activated personal assistant, they took all of that technology, innovation that was paid for by the American People. Its in everybodys smartphone in this room. And they went and they made all of their smartphones in china. Mr. Chairman, it wasnt always like this. It wasnt always like this in america. All the captains of industry 40 years ago believed it was their responsibility to help balance the economic interests of all of the stakeholders in the economy. The managers, workers, the communities which they operated. Charlie wilson from general motors, jones from g. E. , shapiro from dupont, now they have abandoned that to push all f the profits that they make to their shareholders screwing the American People. There was a time where you had Economic Growth and the wages of American Workers were pretty much consistent. 97 for growth. 95 for wages. Today, 93 of Economic Growth over the past 30 years, real wages have grown by 9 . By 9 . And youre giving a tax cut to Corporate America. This is fundamentally unfair. This will not produce any good growth in the american economy. This will saddle future generations with more debt. You know, everybody talks here about theyre deficit hawks. Where are all the deficit hawks . Where are any of the deficit hawks . Every credible economic review of this plan says this will drive up deficit, this will produce no good Economic Growth and this benefits wealthy people and wealthy corporations at the expense of Middle America. Mr. Brady mr. Neal is recognized for a u. C. Request. Mr. Neal this wraps it up on our side, mr. Chairman. I have a statement for the record from Veterans Affairs committee tim walz. Updated Tax Policy Centers reliminary distribute distribution analysis. Letter signed by dozens of organizations asking for us to hold onto the orphan drug tax credit. Mr. Brady without objection. Mr. Rees in ay i ask unanimous consent to offer in the record the Washington Post article the four pinocchios that senate falsely claim g. O. P. Plan will raise taxes for most working class families. It says any democrat should delete the tweets and make clear they are in error. Mr. Brady without objection. So today we are sending a very clear message to those of you who defend the status quo, to those who love this complexity, who crave their special tax breaks, who relish the fact that washington has the first claim over your dollars as a family, as a person, your days are over. Americans deserve a new tax code for a new era of prosperity, and today we i. T. A. Deliver. The question is on agreeing to the brady amendment. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. A roll call is requested. He clerk will call the roll. The clerk mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson aye. Mr. Nunes aye. Mr. Tiberi aye. Mr. Reichert aye. Mr. Roskam aye. Mr. Buchanan aye. Mr. Smith of nebraska. Mr. Smith aye. Ms. Jenkins aye. Mr. Paulsen aye. Mr. Marchant aye. Mrs. Black aye. Mr. Reed aye. Mr. Kelly aye. Mr. Renacci aye. Mr. Meehan aye. Mrs. Noem aye. Mr. Holding aye. Yes. Mith of missouri mr. Wright yes. Mr. Schweikert aye. Mrs. Walorski yes. Mr. Curbelo aye. Mr. Bishop aye. Mr. Neal no. Mr. Levin no. Mr. Lewis no. Mr. Doggett no. Mr. Thompson no. Mr. Larson no. Mr. Blumenauer no. Mr. Kind no. Mr. Pascrell no. Mr. Crowley no. Mr. Davis no. Ms. Sanchez no. Mr. Higgins no. Ms. Sewell no. Ms. Delbene no. Ms. Chu no. Hairman brady aye. Mr. Brady the clerk will report the vote. 24 ayes and 16 noes. The amendment is agreed to. The question is now on the adoption of the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment in the nature of a substitute is agreed to. Ill now recognize mr. Johnson for the purpose of offering a motion. Mr. Johnson mr. Chairman, i now ask the committee favorably report amendment 1 to the house of representatives. Mr. Brady the question is on favorably reporting the bill h. R. 1 as amended. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The motion is agreed to, and h. R. 1, as amended, is ordered favorably reported to the house. The clerk will call the roll. The clerk mr. Johnson aye. Mr. Nunes aye. Mr. Tiberi aye. Mr. Reichert aye. Mr. Roskam aye. Mr. Buchanan aye. Mr. Smith of nebraska aye. Ms. Jenkins aye. Mr. Paulsen aye. Mr. Marchant aye. Mrs. Black aye. Mr. Reed aye. Mr. Kelly aye. Mr. Renacci aye. Mr. Meehan aye. Mrs. Noem aye. Mr. Holding aye. Mr. Smith of missouri yes. Mr. Smith yes. Mr. Wright yes. Mr. Schweikert yes. Mrs. Walorski aye. Mr. Curbelo aye. Mr. Bishop aye. Mr. Neal no. Mr. Levin no. Mr. Lewis no. Mr. Doggett no. Mr. Thompson no. Mr. Larson no. Mr. Blumenauer no. Mr. Kind no. Mr. Pascrell no. Mr. Crowley no. Mr. Davis no. Ms. Sanchez no. Mr. Higgins no. Ms. Sewell. Ms. Sewell no. Ms. Delbene no. Ms. Chu no. Chairman brady. Mr. Brady aye. The clerk chairman brady aye. Mr. Chairman. 24 yeas, 16 nays. Mr. Brady on this vote the ayes have 24. The nays are 16. H. R. 1 as amended is favorably reported to the house of representatives. Without objection, i ask the staff be authorized to make technical and conforming changes to the bill and the members will have five days to submit views. Before we adjourn, i also like to take the moment to thank the members of this committee for their tireless hours of work on the tax cuts and jobs act. Id also like to thank the brilliant draftors, the house office of Legislative Council who have been working on this bill for many months. And thanks to the Hardworking Team of joint committee on taxation. Attorneys, accountants, economists, staff who advise us and our staff without whom none of this would be even possible. The bill is passed. The committee is adjourned. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] right along party lines, the ways and Means Committee passing the republican tax reform plan by a vote of 2416 after four days of deliberation, four days of markup and now that bill heading to the house floor likely next week. And you can follow live coverage of that of the debate next week, of course, over on cspan. Some other news from capitol hill today, in the house, another house lawmaker he wont seek reelection. Virginia representative bob goodlatte, making his retirement via twitter this morning, making him the 14th member who is retiring from congress. Earlier this week texas representative ted powe and jersey representative Frank Lobiondo reporting their retirement. Alabama Republican Senate candidate roy moore allegedly initiated a sexual encounter with a 14yearold girl when he was 32 years old. The post reporting that roy moore to complete the term of attorney general Jeff Sessions saying several lawmakers are calling for judge moore to step aside, including Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. Our capitol hill producer craig caplan just tweeting that leader mcconnell just said if these allegations are true he must step aside. Well, this saturday is veterans day and we will be live with coverage of Vice President mike ence who takes part in the reflaming ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Live coverage beginning at 11 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan. Im the Program Director of the Miami Book Fair. Miami book fair takes place in downtown miami at the wilson campus of miami dade college. This year we have a little over 525 authors representing every genre. Everything you can think of were representing at Miami Book Fair. Join book tv for the Miami Book Fair live from Miamidade College saturday and sunday november 18 and 19 on cspan2. Earlier today House Speaker paul ryan talked about the political and policy implications of the justpassed house g. O. P. Tax reform plan. It passed the ways and Means Committee moments ago by a vote f 2416. We are going to change plans here. Break away and take you live to comments from republicans on the ways and Means Committee as we mentioned that just passed the committee moments ago by 2416 vote. Heres peter roskam. Mr. Roskam you know what, i am ready for prosperity. Im ready for opportunity and im ready for a bright future. This is an important step today. Our next steps would be to fully engage other members of the house of representatives, but there is a spring in our step as we think about this great debate because we have one of two choices. We can either defend the status quo and you heard some defense of the status quo earlier on in these past four days. E fundamentally reject that. Other you can lean forward and say lets get about creating real growth for real people in our Congressional Districts. Mr. Brady thank you, peter. Im now proud to introduce the chairman of the Budget Committee whose hard work cleared the way for tax reform and whos been such an advocate for our families and our Small Businesses, chairman diane black. Mrs. Black thank you, mr. Chairman. What a thrill it is to be here today. Our tax code is 31 years old. Its full of complexity. It is full of things that people dont understand even to be able to fill out their own form. As has been said, we promised we would have a tax code that is fairer, flatter and simpler and today we rolled out a plan that meets those very promises that we made. People, 90 of the people will be able to fill out their tax form on a simple postcard side. In my district it will mean in the state of tennessee that 20,000 jobs will be created with additional amount of about 2,200 in the familys pocket. And so we have done what we promised to do and im very proud. I know we still have more work to do, but we have done what we told the American People that we would do and this is going to really give a jolt to our economy. Mr. Brady and finally im proud to introduce a new member of our committee to go along with so many others that brought fresh ideas as a Small Business person, as a family man, Carlos Curbelo of florida. Ms. Curbelo thank you, mr. Chairman. Today such a historic day i asked the chairman to let me say a couple words in spanish so that everyone throughout our country and beyond knows about the work weve done here. [speaking spanish] thank you, mr. Chairman. [inaudible] mr. Brady thank you, carlos. Ill take questions now. Roirp mr. Brady so im excited the senate has released its tax reform plan because we came together with President Trump on a unified framework, we are all shooting toward the same target. Will there be some differences . Of course. Thats the legislative process. We welcome that. Were eager for them after the house passes for them to approve their bill as well, to work out and find Common Ground and send it to the president s desk this year because americans have been hurting far too long and struggling with this tax code. They deserve something better. [inaudible] mr. Brady yes, we do have a joint committee on taxation score. It is well within our 1. 5 trillion budget number and well be glad to release it. Thank you, all, very much. Ways and Means Committee chair kevin brady and others after passing that tax reform bill by a vote of 2416. House debate next week. Live on cspan. Well, up next well bring you the briefings from earlier today starting with House Speaker paul ryan. Well also hear from the democratic leader nancy pelosi