They expect to finish the budget gentleman from georgia is recognized for one hour. Mr. Woodall thank you very much. And id like to say during consideration of this resolution all time is yielded for purpose of debate only. I yield 30 minutes to mr. Mcgovern pending which i yield myself as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Woodall i would like to ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentleman is recognized mr. Woodall mr. Speaker, its budget day and i dont know if you are as excited about that when you got out of bed this morning as i was, but to be fair, i sit on the Budget Committee. I have the great honor of sitting on the rules committee and i bring this rule to the floor today, but by other i serve on the rules committee by night and by day i serve on the Budget Committee with mr. Pascrell and we have been working since january to produce a budget for the United States of america. And i got to tell you, mr. Speaker, a whale of a budget coming out of the house rules committee. You remember that budget . You supported that budget. We did a fantastic collaborative job bringing that budget to the floor and then it went to the United States senate. You know how that happens, mr. Speaker. We grew im just a bill sitting here on capitol hill and long, long way to the capital city, long, long way sitting in committee, we that know the song from our childhood, it is a long process to move a bill through and nine times out of 10, it comes back differently from the United States senate than the way we sent it over there. Mr. Speaker, we can concur with the Senate Amendment and if we pass this rule, thats what we will have an opportunity to do, concur in the Senate Amendment and bring a unified budget to the floor. Now, what does that mean, mr. Speaker . Weve already been working on Appropriations Bills this cycle and for the uninitiated, the bulk of the spending bills going on, the mandatory spending that you and i both know about, mr. Speaker, medicare, Social Security, those important income support programs on which so Many Americans depend, that money is already going out the door. So today what we have an opportunity to do in passing this budget is to create what they call reconciliation instructions because contained inside this budget, this unified budget which the house and senate agree are reconciliation instructions that allow us to bring what, mr. Speaker, i believe will be the most comprehensive fundamental reform of our tax code since tip oneill and Ronald Reagan did it in 1986. Since 1986, four decades ago, mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity today to do something that no other congress has been able to do since i have been an adult and i am excited about that opportunity. Now, to be fair, we will have a lot of disagreement about how to get that done. Thats not the debate were having today. For any of my colleagues or anybody back home, mr. Speaker, whos worried that right here in this debate on a wednesday we are going to sort out our entire tax code, fear not. Fear not. That is not the debate were having today. The debate were having today, mr. Speaker, is, will we or will we not take on the challenge of reforming our tax code . I believe that we will. The debate that were going to have today is, will we or will we not confront the fact that america has one of the least competitive tax codes in the world but americans deserve one of the most competitive tax codes in the world . The debate were going to have today, mr. Speaker, is not about the details of tax reform but about the premise of can we do better for the American People or can we not . I have the great benefit, mr. Speaker, not having to learn what i know about this chamber from watching it on tv or reading it in the headlines, and i consider myself very blessed to have the opportunity to serve among these men and women. If i just had to read about them in the headline i would have a very low opinion of them, i confess. I would have a low opinion. But because i get to work with these men and women, mr. Speaker, i get to see the real commitment to their constituencies, the real commitments to their home states, the real desire to deliver on behalf of their constituencies and on behalf of the United States of america. We may have a divisive debate today. We sometimes do. But my prediction in hour one, mr. Speaker, is by the time we leave this floor were going to have agreement to take on one of the challenges that no party has been able to take on since democrats and republicans came together in 1986 to get it done. Its my great hope we will use that model that we will repeat that model, that we will improve upon that model, and we will produce something that all of our constituency can be proud of. I know that our country is hungry for tax reform and i believe we can deliver it for that. With that, mr. Speaker, i ask my colleagues to support this rule, support the underlying concurrence in the Senate Amendment, and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition . Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, i want to thank the gentleman from georgia, my friend, mr. Woodall, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore without objection. And the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, i rise in very strong opposition to this rule. Today, House Republicans are pushing a jobkilling budget so they can use fast track reconciliation procedures to steam roll through their billionaires first tax plan. Mr. Speaker, were supposed to be the peoples house. We ought to have the peoples budget, a budget that helps the millions of americans who sent us here to congress, not a budget that helps only a few, the wellconnected and welloff. I disagree with mr. Woodall. This is not a time to celebrate. This is a terrible budget. This budget will devastate americas investments in goodpaying jobs. It threatens growing wages and the bedrock promise of a secure and healthy retirement. It makes cuts across the board that would hurt seniors, children, veterans and the hardworking people across this country who are already struggling to get by. Why are republicans doing this . Well, its all in the name of fast tracking the ryanmcconnell tax plan which explodes the deficit by 1. 5 trillion and then provides multitrilliondollar tax breaks for the wealthiest americans. We, democrats, we think this is a horrible idea. Whats astonishing is the hypocrisy of republicans promoting this deficitbusting budget. Republicans care how much they care about the deficit. But when it comes to giving their beloved tax cuts to their billionaire friends, they suddenly develop a convenient case of amnesia. They say, what deficit . Dont worry, these tax breaks will pay for themselves. Mr. Speaker, this is absurd. In this republicancontrolled congress, we can now say with certainty that the deficit and debt no longer matter. All the talk by republicans, well, they didnt really mean it. If republicans really cared about the deficit, they would in no way imaginable bring up a bill, a budget that is as reckless as this to the floor. This kind of shows what they truly believe, where their values are, where their priorities are. How many times have republicans talked about the importance of a balanced budget . The speaker calls for a deficitneutral tax plan in his, quote, better way agenda. Well, i guess this debtcreating budget is the somewhat less better way plan. Your budget chair took to twitter just two weeks ago to chastise Senate Republicans for not pursuing a balanced budget. Yet, now she is fully in support of their budget which adds 1. 5 trillion to the deficit with no way to pay for it. Now, let me spell this out for my republican friends. This is not a balanced budget. And clearly republicans desperately need a refresher on basic arithmetic. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing balanced by hitting middle class americans with giving corporations with tax cuts. Billionaires are not knocking down our doors with more tax breaks. This is disgusting. This is shameful. The republican budget destroys middleclass jobs by stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from investments in infrastructure, job training, advanced energy, in research and development. It devastates medicare and medicaid. It demands deep cuts to safety net programs like snap. Im talking about food for hungry children and hardworking families. It goes after college affordability. It makes college more expensive for working families. It undercuts key supports for veterans and their families. What is particularly offensive is that republicans are using this terrible budget as a means of passing tax cuts for the wealthy as quickly as possible, regardless of the consequences and without bipartisan support. The tax reform framework supported by republicans in congress will raise taxes on the middle class and cut taxes for the wealthy. Under the republican plan, the top 1 would receive 80 of all tax benefits. Let me repeat that. The top 1 would receive 80 of all tax benefits. Give me a break. Those making more than 900,000 a year would receive an average tax cut of more than 200,000. Think about that. A person working full time at minimum wage makes 290 a week before taxes, and under this plan people who make over 432 an hour, 900,000 a year, they get a massive tax break. Corporations will receive a tax cut totaling 2 trillion. Who loses in this plan, mr. Speaker . According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, one in three middleclass taxpayers earning between 50,000 and 150,000 would actually receive a tax increase. And nearly half of middleclass families with kids would see their taxes go up. Can you believe that . Raising taxes on the middle class to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. This is insane. To make matters worse, republicans are planning to steam roll their tax plan through congress. Were reading in the press we might actually see a plan next week. A markup and Floor Consideration a week or two after that. Really . Dont you think we owe it to our constituents to have thoughtful, open debate on this legislation which will impact every single one of them . I guess not. Democrats agree our tax system needs to be updated, to be more fair and especially to be more fair to the middle class and to working families. We have always been willing to engage in real bipartisan tax reform. But the republican tax framework is not tax reform. Its just one more g. O. P. Multitrilliondollar giveaway fought wealthiest at the expense of the middle class and working americans. In all my time in congress, i have never seen a budget and a tax plan that harms so many just to benefit so few. So i urge my colleagues to vote against this rule, to vote against this cruel republican budget and to oppose a tax plan that puts wealthy corporations and the top 1 ahead of hardworking middleclass families. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts reserves his time, and the gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Woodall thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. Mr. Woodall i had an opportunity to mention at the beginning, meesh, we might be debating the mr. Speaker, we might be debating the details of a tax reform plan that does not exist. I see we are going to do that. There are a lot of studies out there on this tax reform plan that does not yet exist. But let me tell you that we can all agree that we have the single least competitive tax code on the planet today. We can all agree that with the click of a mouse a company can transfer its Assets Overseas and grow jobs there instead of growing jobs here. Let us have the debate that we want to have about who should bear the burden of american taxation. Thats legitimate debate and lets have it, but let us not have the debate of whether Foreign Workers should benefit or American Workers should benefit because that answer should be clear in the hearts and minds of every Single Member of this chamber. We have an opportunity, mr. Speaker, to go from worst to first. Now, i confess, i dont actually get all the way to first. Ill settle for getting in the top five and getting out of the bottom five when it comes to being able to lead in this country. But i want to mention, mr. Speaker, what i think of the force of frustration of constituencies on both sides of the aisle. Think of the source of frustration of constituencies on both sides of the aisle. I look at the chart of my friend from massachusetts brought down to the house floor. It happened to be in georgias colors of red and black, but i can see as a representative of all of the hardworking families in my district, that chart didnt do anything to inspire me about the impact of tax reform Going Forward. But my friend quoted the Tax Policy Center. Now, the wall street journal called the Tax Policy Center a shield for those groups that dont want to see any tax reform of any kind. Tax policy center has been doing research for a long, long time. The research my friend from massachusetts quoted was a study of a bill that does not exist. The research i am going to quote of is of historical tax rates. What my friends from the Tax Policy Center is about 30 of americans, 1 3 of americans, pay no income tax today. The tax code that exists today protects them from any Tax Liability at all. Now, what were proposing when we get into fundamental tax reform, mr. Speaker, is to double the standard deduction. For those families that are already claiming a standard deduction, were talking about doubling it. Now, the brackets are still in question. The details are still in question. We are talking about doubling the number of folks who dont have to deal with the i. R. S. At all. Today, about 30 of American Families dont pay any income taxes and that same 30 gets a refundable tax credit that rebates to them their entire social and medicare contribution that they make and the entire social and welfare contribution that their employer makes on their behalf. Now, these are not my numbers. These are the Tax Policy Centers numbers. That a full third of americans arent paying one penny in federal income tax, federal payroll tax of any kind. Now, im not here to debate the wisdom of that, mr. Speaker. Im here to tell you i dont know how much lower i can cut taxes in that group. I dont know how in the world i can lower the tax burden on folks who are not only paying no income taxes but are having all their payroll taxes rebated to them also. Should we talk about folks who are on the bottom running of the economic ladder . We should. Do we talk about how it is that he entitlement system is trapping people at the bottom of the ladder and not allowing them to climb the top . We should. But i would say to you, mr. Speaker, that it would be misleading to the American Public to suggest that this tax bill is focusing its attention in one direction instead of another direction. The fact simply is, i cant lower taxes any more at the bottom of the spectrum. Now, we are talking about lowering taxes on corporations. That doesnt inspire many people. Rob, what in the world are you doing lowering taxes on corporation. And folks are not particularly enthusiastic i am. There wasnt a better way. My better way is the fair tax and corporations dont pay taxes. Corporations do not pay taxes. They collect taxes from their consumers in the form of higher prices, from their employees in the form of lower wages or from Share Holders in the form of lower capital. Lower capital return. Now lest think, rob, you are a conservative republican from the deep south, what do you know about this . Ill quote the Tax Policy Center which says a full 20 of the Corporate Income tax burden falls on workers. Fair enough, if we want to argue where the tax rates are going to end up and how the cuts are going to look and what the policies are going to be, lets have that debate, but let us not mislead the American People that there is a free lunch anywhere in this tax code. We have the opportunity to move from worst to first. And every single american regardless of their region and regardless of their politics is going to benefit from that change. They benefited from it when democrats and republicans came together to do it in 1986 and will benefit it as we come together. With that, i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern i dont know where to begin after that. My good friend, the gentleman from georgia, made reference to the Tax Policy Center. And i have the report from the Tax Policy Center here. In fact, it is their analysis that was the basis for that chart that i held during my opening remarks which said that of top 1 would receive 80 the tax breaks based on the republican framework. I ask unanimous consent to insert the report from the Tax Policy Center in the record, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Mcgovern and where do they get this figure about adding to the deficit by 1. 5 trillion . Did i just make that up . Ill tell the gentleman where i got it from. Its basically the republican report in the senate on the budget. And let me read from their report here. It says thi