Recognized for one hour. I appreciate that. I would like to yield 30 minutes to my friend from massachusetts. Without objection. The gentleman is recognized for his much time as he would like. Thank you mr. Speaker. It is budget day. I dont know if you are excited about that. To be fair, i sit on the budget committee. I have a great honor sitting on the rules committee. By day i serve on the budget committee. We have been working since january to produce a budget for the United States of america. We produced a whale of a budget coming out of the house rules committee. Collaborativestic job bringing that budget to the floor. Then it went to the senate. You know how this happens. Watching, im bill, we all know the song from our childhood. It is a long process to move a bill through. Nine times out of 10 it comes back different me from the senate than the way we sent it over there. We have an opportunity today by rulerring, if we pass this , and concur on the Senate Amendment, and bring a unified budget to the floor. What does that mean . We have been working on an appropriations bill. That is the bulk of the federal spending. All of the mandatory spending. Security,social important programs on which so Many Americans depend. That money is already going out the door. Today we have an opportunity to create what they call reconciliation instructions. Contained in this budget, this unified budget, which the house and senate agree, our reconciliation instructions that allow us to bring what will be the most comprehensive fundamental reform of our tax code since tip oneill and Ronald Reagan did it in 1986. Four decades ago. We have an opportunity to do something that no other congress has been able to do since i have been an adult. To be fair, we will have a lot of disagreement about how to get that done. That is not the debate we are having today. Anybody worried that in this debate on a wednesday we will sort out our tax code, fear not. That is not the debate we are having today. The debate we are having is will we or will we not take on the challenge of reforming our tax code. I believe we will. The debate today is will we or will we not confront the fact that america has one of the least competitive tax codes in the world, that americans deserve one of the most competitive tax codes in the world. Debate today is not about details of tax reform, but about the premise of can we do better for the American People or not . Benefit of not having to learn what i know about this chamber from watching it on tv. Toonsider myself blessed have the opportunity to serve among these men and women. If i had to read about them in the headline, i would have a low opinion of them. But because i get to work with them, i get to see the real commitment to their constituencies, the commitment to their home states, the desire to deliver on behalf of their constituencies. We may have a divisive debate. But my prediction is that by the , we will have an 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. It is my great hope we will use that model. We will repeat that model. We will improve on that model and produce something our constituencies can be proud of. America is hungry for tax reform. I believe we can deliver. Support this rule. I reserve the balance of my time. I reserve the balance of my time. The john nunn reserves the balance of his time. Reserves theman balance of his time. The gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for his much time as he wishes to use. , i rise inker opposition to this rule. Today, republicans are pushing a job telling budget so they can use fast track reconciliation measures to steamroll their billionaires first tax plan. This was supposed to be the peoples house. We ought to have a peoples budget that helps americans who sent us to congress. Not a budget that helps only a few, the wellconnected and well off. This is not a time to celebrate. This is a terrible budget. This budget will devastate americas investment in good paying jobs. It makes cuts across the board that will hurt seniors, children, veterans, and hardworking people who are struggling to get by. Why are republicans doing this . It is all in the name of fast tracking the Ryan Mcconnell tax plan which explodes the deficit trillion, and that provides tax breaks for the wealthiest americans. Democrats think this is a horrible idea. What is astonishing is the blatant hypocrisy of Republican Leaders pushing this deficit busting budget. Republicans are always telling us how much they care about the deficit. It comes to giving beloved tax cuts to their millionaire friends, they develop a convenient case of amnesia. They say, what deficit . Dont worry, these tax breaks will pay for themselves. This is absurd. In this Republican Controlled Congress we can say with certainty that the deficit and debt no longer matter. All the talk by republicans, they did not 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. But 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 object . The speaker calls for it deficit neutral tax plan in his better way agenda. This debt creating budget is a somewhat less better way. Your budget chair took to twitter two weeks ago to chastise Senate Republicans were not pursuing a balanced argent. Now, she is fully in support of their budget which adds 1. 5 trillion to the deficit with no way to pay for it. This is not a balanced budget. Republicans desperately need a refresher on basic arithmetic. There is absolutely nothing balanced about hitting middle class families and hardworking americans with cuts, while getting leaders tax cuts. They simply do not need them. The universe are knocking down our door axing asking for more tax breaks. This is disgusting and shameful. Theyre stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from infrastructure, job training, advanced research and development. It devastates medicare and medicaid. It demands a deep cuts to safety net programs like snap. Im talking about food for hungry children and hardworking families. Collegeafter affordability, and makes college more expensive for working families. It undercuts support for veterans and families. 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 frame work will raise taxes on the middle class, and cut taxes for the wealthy. 80 of 1 would receive all tax benefits. 80 of 1 would receive all tax benefits. Give me a break. Those making more than 900,000 a year would receive a tax cut of more than 200,000. Think about that. A person working fulltime at 290 a week makes before taxes, and under this plan people who make over 432 an hour, 900,000 a year get a massive tax break. Corporations were receive a tax cut of 2 trillion. Who loses in this plan . Three middleclass taxpayers earning between 50,000 and 100,000 would actually receive a tax increase. Half of middleclass families with kids will see the taxes go up. Can you believe that . Raising taxes on the middle class to pay for tax cuts are billionaires and corporations. This is insane. To make matters worse, republicans are planning to steamroll tax plans through congress. We are reading in the press we might seek their plan next week. It may be up for consideration a week after that. Dont we owe it to our constituents to have open debate on this legislation which will impact every one of them . I guess not. Democrats agree that our tax system needs to be updated, to be more fair. Especially to be more fair to the middle class and working families. We have always than willing to engage in real bipartisan tax reform. Is notcan tax framework tax reform. It is just one more gop multitrillion dollar giveaway to the wealthiest at the expense of the middle class and working americans. In all my time in congress, i have never seen a budget and tax ton that harmed so many just benefit so few. I urge my colleagues to vote against this rule, both against this cruel republican budget, and oppose attacks land that puts wealthy corporations and the top one percent ahead of hardworking middleclass families. I reserve the balance of my time. The gentleman from georgia is recognized. I had opportunity to mention at the beginning we might be debating the details of a tax reform plan that does not exist. We are in fact going to do that. There are a lot of studies on this tax reform plan that does not yet exist. 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 grote jobs there instead of growing jobs here. Let us have the debate that we want to have a about who should bear the burden of american taxation. That is legitimate debate and we should have it. Lets not have a debate about whether Foreign Workers should benefit because that answer should be clear. We have an opportunity to go from worst to first. I dont expect to get to first. I will settle for getting into the top five and out of the bottom five when it comes to being able to lead. Mention, what i think is a source of frustration on constituencies on both sides of the aisle. That is the us against them conversation that goes day in and day out. I look at the chart my friend from massachusetts brought. I can see as a representative of hardworking families, that charted nothing to inspire me about tax reform Going Forward. My friend quoted the Tax Policy Center. The wall street journal called the Tax Policy Center a shill for groups that dont want to see tax reform of any kind. They have been doing research for a long time. The research my friend from massachusetts quoted was on a bill that does not exist. The research im going to quote his historical tax rates in this country. ,hey said that 30 of americans one third of americans, pay no income taxes today. The tax code as it exists today protects them from any Tax Liability at all. What we are proposing when we get into fundamental tax reform is to double the standard deduction families that are already claiming a standard deduction, we talking about doubling it. The details are still in question, but we are talking about doubling irs. 30 of American Families dont pay income taxes, and that same 30 gets a refundable tax credit that rebates to them their entire Social Security and medicare contribution that they make, and the entire Social Security and welfare contribution that their employer makes on their behalf. These are not my numbers. These the Tax Policy Center numbers. A full third of americans are not paying one penny for income tax or payroll tax of any kind. I am not here to debate the wisdom of that. Im here to tell you i dont know how much lower i can go to cut taxes for that group. I dont know how to lower the tax burden on people who were not only paying no income taxes, but have their payroll taxes rebated to them also. Is this a group we should talk about . She would talk about folks on the bottom rung of the ladder . Should we talk about how it is the entitlement system, the benefit system is trapping people at the bottom of the ladder, and not allowing them to climb to the top . We should. You, it wouldy to 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 is i cannot lower taxes anymore at the bottom of the spectrum. We are talking about lowering taxes on corporations. That does not inspire people. Tax. Port the fair in the spirit of folks who are enthusiastic about tax reform, i am not in that camp. I thought there was a better way. My better way is the fair tax. 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 their shareholders in the form of lower capital. Think you are just a conservative republican from the deep south, what do you know about this . I will quote the Tax Policy Center. They say a full 20 of Corporate Income tax burden falls on workers. Fair enough. If we want to argue about whether tax rates are going to end up, and how the cuts are going to look, and what the policies are going to be, let us have that debate. That is not mislead the American People into believing there is a free lunch anywhere in this tax. We have an opportunity to move from worst to first. American,le regardless of their region, regardless of their politics, is going to benefit from that change. It whenefited from democrats and republicans came together in 1986, and they will benefit when we come together today. I believe that we will. We must. The john nunn reserves his time. The chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. I dont know where to begin. My friend from georgia made reference to the Tax Policy Center. Report from the Tax Policy Center here. It is their analysis, that was the basis for the chart, which said the top 1 would receive 80 of the tax breaks. Based on the republican framework. Consent to insert the tax policy report into the record. Where do they get this figure about adding to the to the deficit by 1. 5 trillion . To make that up . Report in theican budget. Let me read from their report. This title includes two reconciliation instructions to senate committees. The first would allow the committee to reduce revenues to increase the deficit by not more than 1. 5 trillion over the next 10 years. These are the words of republicans in the senate. The chairman wants to know why we are talking about the tax plan, it is because we are presented here with the budget that essentially fast tracks attacks plan. We are right, we dont have the details yet because it is being negotiated and written in some back room in this building. I wish i knew where it was, and maybe we can find out more details. But we do know, is the framework. That is the basis for the analysis that economist after economist has stated that this budget basically is a giveaway to the wealthiest individuals in this country. It is not somehow a break for the middle class. It is the opposite. This is a gift for billionaires and millionaires, and it does nothing for working families. That is why this is relevant. This budget was in place procedures are republicans to fasttrack the tax bill that they are writing in some back room somewhere that nobody will see until the last minute. It will be rushed through here, and it is a big giveaway to the wealthiest individuals in the country. I wanted to clarify that for the record. Mr. Speaker, let me say republican plans for tax reform would also eliminate the state , calledl Tax Deduction salt. This deduction prevents many middle American Families from being taxed twice on the same income by deducting state and local taxes from their federal income taxes. Half the people hit by this tax hike would be middle class families earning a household. Ncome of less than 100,000 local communities will feel that pain. Repealing the salt deduction would make state and local taxes were costly for taxpayers, would put pressure on local governments to lower taxes. The Bipartisan Governors Association said in a letter on september 22, the salt deduction is contributing to state revenues that are essential for providing public services. These Services Include health care, police, fire departments, and schools. I ask unanimous consent to insert the letter from the Governors Association into the record. Without objection. Amendmentoffer an proposed that will prohibit legislation from repealing the state and local Tax Deduction. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert my minute and the record. Without objection. Importance ofthe the state and local Tax Deduction, i want to yield two minutes to that gentleman from missouri who has been outspoken on this issue on behalf of states and communities and middleclass tax payers. The donovan from new jersey is reckoned nice for two minutes. Gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. This deduction has been part of our tax system before there was an income tax. Oing back to the civil war for the very reasons my friend from massachusetts just talked about. It was not just picked up the shelf. Eople count on it people count on this. I rise to urge my colleagues to vote no on the rule. Previous question, the budget, the weather, whatever. We know this budget resolution paves the way for a tax reform bill done through reconciliation. That is interesting. Im sure they want reconciliation we are talking about their pocketbooks. A dubious maneuver that blocks democrats completely out of the process. It allows republicans to pass a purely partisan juiced up bill. Comprehensive tax reform is a goal we should all share, and lasting tax reform should be bipartisan. My friend from georgia i think believes that. This is not it. While they are cutting deals behind closed doors, what we are pushing is eliminating the state and local Tax Deduction, and that is in the Senate Budget. Abouticans are adamant eliminating this middleclass benefit. They added an amendment to that budget. Let me be clear. A vote for this rule is a vote for the budget, is a vote to repeal the state and local deduction. Gentleman anhe additional minute. My colleagues in so many ,tates including georgia or think wisconsin, at long and hard about their vote today. The American People are watching to see if they vote to raise their taxes. Budgetendment in the falsely claims that the salt