Department. C of rule 19, further consideration of h. R. 1 will now resume. The clerk will report the title. The clerk Union Calendar number 302, h. R. 1. A bill to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title 2 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. The speaker pro tempore when proceedings were postponed earlier today, 29 1 2 minutes of debate remained on the bill. The gentleman from texas, mr. Brady, has 17 minutes remaining. Without objection, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Neal, has 12 1 2 minutes remaining. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Brady. Mr. Brady thank you, mr. Speaker. Im pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from alaska, mr. Young. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from alaska is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Young thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congress established Alaska Native Settlement trust in 1988, to provide Permanent Health ed health, education, and Welfare Benefits to alaska natives who were among the most economically disvanged population in the United States. Unfortunately, mr. Chairman, the tax code has many cases impeded the creation and funding of the settlements. As a result, Alaska Native Settlement trust have not been able to function in the Manner Congress originally intended, to provide benefits for alaska natives. To remedy some of these tax issues, i have sponsored h. R. 3524, which permits Alaska Native Corporation to deduct contributions to the settlement trust. The provision of h. R. 3524 were not included in h. R. 1 and the tax bill also adversely increases the tax rate from 10 to 12 . This would make it more difficult for the alaska native trust to provide longterm benefits to alaska natives. I request that you include the provision of h. R. 3524 in the final conference report that results from the conference committee. Mr. Brady. Mr. Brady if the gentleman would yield. I am pleased to work with the gentleman from alaska on this important issue. The alaska native community. Under the bill, Alaska Native Settlement trust would be unintentionally subject to slightly higher tax rates. I thank you for bringing this to my attention. I assure you i will focus on this in conference as we finalize individual rate struck turs between the house and senate structures between the house and senate, and i look forward to working with you to advance provisions of the bill in this area. Mr. Young thank you. I thank you for your commitment and inclusion of h. R. 3524 and maintain existing rates and law with regard to Alaska Native Settlement trust. And more generally, for your support of the alaska native community. Thank you. Mr. Brady thank you, sir. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from alaskas time has expired. The gentleman from texas reserves. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Neal meerks i yield myself four minutes mr. Speaker, i yield myself four minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Neal thank you, mr. Speaker. As we wind down this debate on tax reform or what we should really call it, a tax cut, i think that we should tabulate this as a missed opportunity. This could have been done between the two parties. Instead much of this was constructed without any democratic input. Reminder, in 1986, the historic Tax Reform Act included president reagan and speaker oneill, chairman rostenkowski, Dick Gephardt and bill bradley. And in this instance here, 32 years later, not one hearing was held on this tax bill that is about to be voted on in the next 45 minutes. The significance of that is that there was never any back and forth. And in 1986, expert testimony was sought from 450 witnesses. Who not one witness commented on the legislation. Its been advertised as a middle class tax cut. How can you say that this is a middle class tax cut and compare that to repeal of the estate tax . How many middle class people in america pay the estate tax . Thats how many people pay the estate tax. No middle class american pays the estate tax. There is no such thing as a death tax. In addition to which a middle class tax cut is described as doing away with the alternative minimum tax. 4. 5 million million families pay alternative minimum tax in america. Thats it. I fixed the problem years ago for the middle class and 27 Million People stopped paying a. M. T. So now were down to people at the very top. So how are we paying for this . How are they paying for it . Theyve decided that that teacher who used to have 250 that they could deduct on their income taxes, thats going to be abolished. So if you have alzheimers and you exceeded 10 number in terms of in of cost of your health care in loving for that loved one at home who is sick or has dimension yarks thats how theyre going to pay for the tax cut. Theyre going to take that away. State and local property taxes . Theyre going to take them away. The deduction. Theyre going to pare back the mortgage interest deduction. All of this advertised on the basis of a middle class tax cut . People at the bottom end are not going to get much from this tax cut. I want to take you back again as i have repeatedly, because ive cast three great votes in this house during my 29 years. Against the iraq war, and there werent many of us. And against the cuts in 2001 to the tax system and 2003. All advertised as progrowth economics. There was no Economic Growth from the tax cuts of 2001, which toe at that totaled by the way 1. 3 trillion. For everybody who says at the time, everybody gets a tax cut, they were correct. You look at the tables seerks what people got at the top and then what people got at the bottom. And then we came back in 2003 and cut another 1 trillion in taxes. Advertised as progrowth economics. Zippo growth occurred. Then by the way, the grand daddy of them all, how about repatriation. Repatriation, bringing back those earnings to the United States for investment in job growth. At by the way 5. 25 was the tax burden they carried. All based on job growth. It was for stock buybacks, dividends and layoffs. We had a chance here to do something historic. We had a chance here in this debate and discussion because theres a genuine of aability on that committee. We had this opportunity to take the tax code and transform it for the gig economy and the modern age. We didnt do that, though. Four days we had to examine this tax proposal. With no hearings. Not one chance for a democratic amendment. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Neal to proceed. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Brady thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Brady mr. Speaker, this historic legislation before us today represents a crucial step in fulfilling our tax reform promise to the American People. But its not the final step. Were republican. We believe the tax code doesnt belong to washington, it belongs to the American People. Well continue to work to make it better and improve at every step of the way. And before i make final remarks, i want to thank all of our ways and means members who have done so much and worked so hard, as well as every member of this house who helped make this opportunity real for the American People. I also want to thank say how grateful i am to everyone at the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation and the house office of legislative council. Their work, careful analysis, contributed so much to this bill. Finally i want to give special recognition to barbara anges, our chief counsel, and all of our staff on the committee. They put their hearts and souls and many sleepless nights in the development this bill. I cant thank them enough. For the hard work and dedication. Mr. Speaker, the house of representatives is by its very design the chamber of congress closest to the American People. Today this house, the peoples house, will pass historic legislation to improve the lives of americans nationwide. For too long this broken tax code has put the needs of the people second. Propping up Washington Special interests at the expense of hardworking americans. For too long this broken tax code has rewarded companies for outsourcing american jobs instead of encouraging them to create jobs here at home. For too long this broken tax code has eroded americas Economic Leadership around the world. This country used to be the standard worldwide for competitive tax system. Not anymore. Now the United States is barely a speck in the rearview mirrors of so many of our International Competitors. In our businesses, our workers, our made in america products, which are the best in the world, are bearing the consequences of washingtons failure to act. That stops now. And it stops with the tax cuts and jobs and jobs act with this historic bill, well provide real systemity for every taxpayer. Well deliver real fairness turnover hardworking american. Well be more competitive than ever. We will win worldwide and here at home as well. And well siebert jobs and bigger paychecks in every community of this great nation. So people can keep more of their hardearned dollars. With this bill we will deliver a new tax code built for a new era of american prosperity. So, to Washington Special interests who are now being propped up by absurd carveouts and loopholes, get ready to stand on your own. To our International Competitors who are now leading the pack, get ready to have some company. And to the American People who have waited years for tax reform, get ready for the tax relief you deserve. Today this house, the peoples house, is taking action on the most transformational tax overhaul in a generation and were taking action today. Its time for this old, broken tax code to go. Its time to put the American People first. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. Mr. Neal meerks i yield myself the mr. Speaker, i yield myself the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Neal 2 1 2 minutes, i believe, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore 8 1 2. Mr. Neal well, 2 1 2 to me im going to yield then. The speaker pro tempore thats fine. The gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Neal let me ac nodget superb democratic acknowledge the superb democratic staff that are here as well. Payton, deva, deep and susan. They did a magnificent sent job. Were all much dependent on the good staff work, particularly on the ways and Means Committee. So i spoke earlier of the missed opportunity that we had here. We have a real problem in america with Labor Participation rates. Six million jobs go unanswered every day now in america. 18,000 Precision Manufacturing jobs in new england, one million tax jobs. Because skill sets dont align with the Job Opportunities that are out there. Two million americans sit home with opiate addictions that should be in the work force. This was a chance to invest in Human Capital as well. To invest in our community colleges, to invest in apprenticeship programs. And, yes, the other challenge that we have in america is clearly to invest in vocational education. For many of the jobs that are available. Instead we pushed that all to the side and decided that once again, if we just had tax cuts, that all of these challenges and problems would go away. The idea of investing in the human side of American Opportunity is people do what we would like them to do in terms of home buying and raising families and caring for neighborhoods and practicing an art if an art form of citizenship. What were witnessing today, and we need to be alarmed about it, is the greater and greater concentration of wealth in america. Now, i understand its complicated. It has to do much with technology and globalization. But its also about the gig economy and we today reward capital more than we reward labor. And when we get done, if they are successful on the other side, we are going to further concentrate wealth amongst those few families in america. We serve here in the house of representatives. Not in the house of lords. This is not about peerage where youre entitled to a see the in this house of representative seat in this house of representatives. Thats whats wrong. Thats what jefferson and madison envisionhood they signed the declaration of independence and the american constitution, to break with europe. We dont practice divine right here. I wish the outcome here today, mr. Speaker, would have been more genuine and it would have been different. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is now recognized. Mr. Brady mr. Speaker, im proud to yield three minutes to our majority whip and a tremendous leader in tax reform, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Scalise. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Scalise chairman brady has done an incredible job in bringing this tax bill to the house floor. This is a historic day for families saying we want to pay less in taxes. When youve heard the complaints as myself and so many others have every time we see a company move more jobs overseas, good highpaying jobs overseas because america has the highest tax rate in the industrialized world, we do something about that today, mr. Speaker, by cutting the corporate rates so we can be competitive again and bring those jobs back home. Lets talk about Something Else that is going to be a benefit to hardworking families, we simplify the tax code that over 90 frs of families will do their taxes on a post card and think how much that is going to say because the code is so complicated and so massive that nobody can figure it out. We simplify the code. We lower tax rates. Everybody is going to see lower tax rates at every income level. We double the standard deduction. Rom 12,000 to 24,000 that double standard deduction is going to be a big win for hardworking families that are struggling. We eliminate special interest loopholes. You might hear complaints about people getting a piece of the tax code. Every time someone gets a special interest loophole, it costs the rest of us, now we get rid of those loopholes so everybody can pay less. Thats a big win. Mr. Speaker, in our bill, we completely repeal the death tax. Probably one of the most immoral parts of our code where Small Businesses, family farms, if dies. D one dice immediately after that, they get a big tax bill that forces them to sell their Small Business instead of passing it on to their family. Thats part of the american dream. We repeal the death tax and deliver a much fairer code, mr. Speaker. What this bill is about is putting more money in the pockets of hardworking families and getting our economy moving again and creating jobs. When people see the highest Corporate Tax rate, tens of thousands of jobs going to ireland and canada. I love ireland and i love canada. I dont want them to have tens of thousands of our good jobs. Lets bring those jobs back. In our bill we do that, mr. Speaker. This is a win for hardworking families and puts money back in the pockets for people who have been struggling so long and wages will finally increase after 10 years of a stagnant economy and about time we answer the call that millions of americans have been asking us to do, mr. Speaker. Lets pass the tax cuts and jobs act and get our economy moving back again. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas reserves. The gentleman from massachusetts is now recognized. Mr. Neal i yield five minutes to a very capable legislator, the democratic whip, mr. Hoyer, for five minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from maryland is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for yielding. In is the most irresponsible bill that i will have been confronted with in the 37 years that i have been in the congress of the United States. This bill, mr. Speaker, is both reckless and if he canless. It is reckless because it would add 1. 7 trillion, the chairman ys 2 trillion in a shameful act of hypocrisy for its supporters, who, for years, have called for fiscal responsibility. Because its ought thors wrote it with an eye towards politics, not policy. Here is no courage in voting for this bill. It is easy to vote for a tax cut. What is hard to do is paying for what we buy. And neither side does that particularly well. There is no courage in voting for this bill. Only a suspension of common sense and their now abandoned commitment to fiscal sustainability. Furthermore, my republican friends call this bill a tax cut. The gentleman who just spoke, the whip said, its a reduction in rates. But 36 million working americans will receive a tax increase under this bill. So it was a very careful arctic can you lation of reduction of rates. A tax on 36 million americans. Furthermore, they call this bill a tax cut. Its not a stretch of the imagination to presume that given republicans urgency to reject bipartisan compromise and deflect public input, the members of this house will be asked to accept whatever version of the tax bill can pass the United States senate. Yesterday, the Senate Finance committee listen to me, my colleagues, the Senate Finance mmittee rejected this bill 360. The Senate Finance committee, headed by republicans, rejected this bill 360. Im reminded of what representative matt gaetz said last month about the budget resolution. He said that and we are being asked to vote for a budget that nobody believes in so we have a chance to vote for a tax bill that nobodys read. I wont ask you to raise your hand if youve read this bill. One, those who take this vote will have to live with it. And just hope, just hope, that whatever mystery tax package your Senate Colleagues send over here wont gut you have extracted. I hope the whip say no special provisions in this bill. I dont have the time that has been used to get people to vote for this bill. This isnt the tax reform the American People were promised or the tax reform that American People want. Lets sit down together. Lets sit down together, mr. Chairman. You and mr. Neal, good americans. Not in a partisan way but in a bipartisan way. Thats the way we did the 1986 bill and thats why it was a responsible piece of legislation. Lets enact tax reform that focus on the middle class, the people who need the money, not give over half of it to the richest people in america. We dont have a beef with them. They dont need a tax cut and the middle class does. Why give 50 of the revenue to them . Lets enact tax reform that focuses on them and doesnt give half the benefit to those making more than 900,000 a year. Lets enact tax reform that improves a our longterm fiscal position rather than adding the 1. 7 trillion in a c. B. O. Projects this will add. In an op ed in todays washington post, and by the way, he was secretary of treasury during the only four years of a balanced budget that we have experienced in the last 50 years. May i have one additional minute . The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Hoyer vote no on this bill. Ok to your souls, not your polls our your political party. Reject this sellout. Vote no. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is now recognized. Mr. Brady im honored to yield one minute to the gentleman from california, our majority leader and champion for tax reform, mr. Mccarthy. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Mccarthy before i begin, i want to thank the gentleman and all the americans out there that have waited decades for this, for the hours that you have listened and the numerous hearings you have gone through to get us to this day. Now, mr. Speaker, i stand before this body, but i want to speak to the people watching us at home right now and who will hear in the hours and days to come. I want to speak to the people who stretched their budget to get to the next paycheck. I want to speak to the people who are starting to wonder if the american promise no longer applies to them. You need a comeback. America needs a comeback. If we are successful today and in the weeks to come, you will keep more of the money you earned. You will have more in your paycheck. Your life will improve. If we succeed, you will succeed. But if the leaders and obstructionists on the other side of the aisle win, you will lose. You see, they want washington insiders and bureaucrats to keep more of your hardearned income. They think its theirs to spend. We think its yours. I have tried my best to understand their opposition. And i have listened to the pessimistic leaders of a party that once upon a time claim they stood for the common man. Without a shred of evidence they are certain our plan wont work. They drum up a stale argument from 30 years ago saying all this bill does is help the rich. They call it a mide will class tax hike. That same paper our colleague just held also has Fact Checkers. But the Fact Checkers gave him not one, not two, not even you the most pinocchios can give for that lie. Every honest person sees this as a tax cut for hardworking americans. This bill increases the Child Tax Credit, increases the standard deduction, increases wages and is already bringing back jobs to america. 55,000 an the first average family of four earns ill not face a single penny of income tax, not a single penny. So what are these Party Leaders defending by their opposition . Its not the people. After all, there is not a Single Person i have ever met in this nation that wants higher rates, lower wages, fewer jobs and a more complicated tax code. No. They arent defending the people. They are defending loopholes for the special interests, corporate welfare and carveouts for lobbyists. They are defending the abusive tactic of the status quo in the i. R. S. You know what i find most absurd . They are spending. They have made it their mission to increase taxes on our fellow citizens. And my friends on the other side of the aisle, they have the audacity to call this a tax increase. In the end, they are defending a broken status quo. You know what i think, mr. Speaker . I think that voting no on a plan that lowers taxes, higher wages and more jobs and a simpler system, it isnt about republicans and democrats. Voting no is telling the American People you do not have faith in them to rise if they are given a fair shot. Well, mr. Speaker, i have a simple question for this house and everyone watching at home. You want higher taxes and less money in your pockets or lower taxes and more money . I think we sent a message to the doubters and the critics. The American People do not want hard work to be punished. We do not accept decline. We do not accept that washington knows how to spend our money better than we do. So i have a different message for the American People. Those trying to find a job, that long search is coming to an end. This is your comeback. To those sick of just getting by and fighting for a raise, this is your comeback. To those struggling to keep your Small Business afloat to pay your employees and help your neighborhood, this is your comeback. To every american who ever dreamed of being an entrepreneur and owning a Small Business, this is your comeback. To every mother and father starting a family, raising your kids trying to give them more of an opportunity than you ever had, this is your comeback. Now, i put hope in the American People. This bill puts hope in our American People. Because we trust the people. Thats the start of americas comeback. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair reminds all members to address their remarks to the chair and not to the perceived audience. The house will come to order. The gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. Mr. Neal thank you, mr. Speaker. Always an honor to introduce the very capable democratic leader, the gentlelady from california, ms. Pelosi. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california is recognized. Mr. Neal for one minute. Ms. Pelosi thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank him for his superb leadership as the top democrat on the ways and Means Committee. I commend him and all of his our fellow democrats on the committee for standing up for the middle class in our country and fighting for the truth in what is in this bill. Mr. Speaker, this vote today is a defining moment for our country. Our votes today will decide the future of the american middle class and those who aspire to it, the future of our children and our grandchildren, the future of the United States of america as the land of opportunity. Today the republicans have brought forth a bill that is pillaging the middle class to pad the pockets of the wealthiest and hand tax breaks to corporations shipping jobs out of america and drastically increasing the National Debt. My colleagues, the bill republicans have brought to the floor today is not tax reform. Its not even a tax cut. It is a tax scam. So many people have written in about it who are affected by it and ill submit all of that for the record. But i do want to say that this is not only a defining moment, it is a moment of truth. With straight traces and with the speed of light, i have to give them credit, they raced this thing through in the dark of night. Theyre trying to sell a bill of goods to the middle class that this is in their interest, that this is a middle income tax cut. According to the nonpartisan tax policy center, republicans are raising taxes on 36 million middle class families. 36 million. Mr. Speaker, the house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will suspend. The gentleman is correct. Ms. Pelosi typical of the the speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will suspend. Ms. Pelosi typical of the Republican Party, they dont want you to hear what i have to say the speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will suspend until the house comes to order. The gentlelady can condition. Ms. Pelosi i associate the speaker pro tempore the gentlelady can continue. Ms. Pelosi i associate myself with the words of mr. Hoyer when he said, look to your soul. Not to your poll. Want to speak to pope encyclical. He quoted the wisdom of st. Augusta saint augusta. 17 centuries ago Saint Augustine said, a state which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves. Benedict went on to say, the state must inevitably face the question of how justice can be achieved here and now. And he cautioned against the danger of certain ethical blindness caused by the dazzling effects of power and special interests. Interesting, in light of the fact that when this bill was brought forward, the director of National Economic council, gary cohen, he said, the most Excited Group out there are the big c. E. O. s about our tax plan. Is that about justice . Congressman collins said, my donors are basically saying, get it done or dont ever call me again. Senator Lindsey Graham said the financial contributions will stop if this tax scam fails. Well, he didnt say scam. Im saying scam. Thats my word. Back to the pope. And the catholic beneficiary opposite. The u. S. Conference of cash lick beneficiary opposite wrote this proposal Catholic Bishop wrote this proposal appears to be the first modification that will raise income taxes on the working poor while simultaneously providing a large tax cut to the wealthy. The u. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops went on to say, this is simply unconscionable. My colleagues, we always begin our session with prayer. Many of us attend mass on the weekend, on sundays. But we cannot pray and think that that gives us a lesson to pray on prey on people the rest of the week. And that is what this bill does. It preys on the middle class and those aspired to it. It pillages and a lots the loots the middle class. It is a shameful piece of legislation. And the republicans should know better. They say its going to get better in the senate. Oh, my gosh. In the senate, as mr. Hoyer pointed out, unanimously the Senate Finance committee rejected this proposal already. Was it 260, whatever the number was, the zero loomed large. But getting back to values. Because thats what were here to do, and what we do in our budget, which is which the tax bill is a part of. Supposed to be a statement of values. In his study of civilization, the Great British historian arnold toynby found that the beginning of a hopeful country, the Political Leadership formed a creative minority that inspired and led the flowering of civilization. But in some nations leaders became a dominant minority of exploiters. Focused on their own wealth and power. Arnold, welcome to the republican side of the aisle in congress. These competing mindsets, he went on, between the dominant minority of exploiters versus the creative minority that inspired and led the flowering of civilization, these competing mindsets and motivations create skis muches in a body schisms in a body social and in the body politic. And lo and behold, the Republican Party has written a bill, nearly half the benefits go to the top 1 in our country. And 80 of the benefits go to the top 2 . This is a defining moment, but its also a moment of truth. How can the republicans with a straight face say to the middle class, well, were doubling this or doubling that . Give with one hand, take with another. And to hear them cheer, hear them cheer for the provision in here about the estate tax. Listen to this. You tell me if you think this is fair. 1,800 families in america, not your family farmer, everybodys taken care inform what we have done already with the estate tax. In this bill, 1,800 of the wealthiest families, filers in our country, will in the life of break of 172 billion. 1,800 families. This is for 1,800 families. And you know what, the republicans cheered that. 1,800 families, 172 billion. Ey cheer the fact that up to 1. 5 trillion in tax cuts goes to Corporate America while at the same time giving them another tax break to send jobs overseas. At the same time be a solving them of any responsibility absolving them of any responsibility when it comes to state and local taxes. While insisting that individuals pay the state and lose the state and local Tax Deduction. But corporations do not. And listen to all of it. Were they cheering when theyre saying to a teacher, theyre cheering when they say to a teacher, you may bring supplies to your school because your school and classes need that, god bless you for that. But were taking away your tax the Tax Deduction that goes with that. What . Is that something to cheer about . Theyre saying to students who get a 2,500 Tax Deduction on interest on student loans, forget about that. Even though it may make the difference between you attending colonel or not, forget about that college or not, forget about that. Were too busy giving a tax cut to 1,800 wealthiest families in america, so they can get 172 billion in tax breaks over the next 10 years. Theyre saying to families, where they have a child with a disability, a senior with alzheimers, and everything in between, if you have extraordinary medical expenses, and since 1944 you have been. Le to deduct them, no more no more. Because we got to give it to the high end. So take that away. Do you have any idea what that means to americas working families and what it means for them, that they have alzheimers . We had one person come to our event in San Francisco last week from barbara lees district, she said it cost almost over 170,000 in costs for her because her husband has alzheimers. The Tax Deduction enabled them to survive. She said, i cant even imagine the cruelty that decided that this should happen in this tax bill. To understand what this means in peoples lives, and tell the truth about it, tell the truth about it. Republicans want to you believe that their trickledown tax break for the rich will pay for itself. Never has happened. Never has happened. As bruce bartlett, architect of supply side economics, said, its not true. That this trickledown economics pays for itself, its not true. Its nonsense. And he went on to say, it was b. S. In the full extent of those words. This tax scam wont create jobs. It wont raise wages. It will only spill the fill the coffers of the donors and the fat cats it. Will add trillions to the debt and stick our children with a bill that you cannot pay off. None of us will probably be around by the time the full impacts of the hemorrhaging of the debt in the second 20 years of this bill will require big tax increases. Look to the kansas example. Mr. Speaker, the house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is correct. The house will come to order. Ms. Pelosi i thank the gentleman. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will still continue to pause. The gentlelady will still continue ms. Pelosi mother of five boys the speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will it be to pause. The members made a valid point. The chair will get the house in order before the gentlelady continues. The gentlelady will now continue. Ms. Pelosi mr. Speaker, maybe i have to use my mother of five voice to be heard. But as a mother of five, and a grandmother of nine, were supposed to be thinking about our children and their futures. And our grandchildren and their futures. God willing one day some of will you have grandchildren. I always ask you the question, do they breathe air . Do they drink water . Why are you mesotheliomaing that up messing that up in other areas of our policymaking here. But getting back to to. This the tax scam wont create jobs. It wont raise wages. It will only fill the coffers of donors and the fat cats. The tax scam will add trillions to the debt. Oh, where, oh, where are the deficit hawks . Have you become extinct . Is there not one among you who understands what this does to the National Debt . And with all due respect to your leader, for him to put at our door step the debt when it was a creation, president bush went into office on a path from president clinton of deficit reduction. The last five clinton budgets were in balance or in surplus. President bush turned that around by repealing pay as you go, tax cuts for the wealthy, didnt trickle down. Two unpaidfor wars. Giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry. Taking to us a place remember, september of 2008, when we were in the worst economic downturn since the great depression. But anyway. Back to here. As republicans know, our republican friends have already shown us their playbook. In this bill, corporations will get a cut of 1. 5 trillion, the same 1. 5 trillion that republicans planned to slash from medicare and medicaid and the g. O. P. Budget. In their bones the American People know theyre getting a raw deal under the republican bill before us. You know it. You know why youre here. You know what youre doing. Democrats believe the American People deserve better, a better deal, better jobs, better wages, better future. We want to create good paying jobs, raise workers wages, lower the cost of living for families, give americans the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century. But you cant do that if you have a budget that does not invest in that future and is hampered by the cuts. Lets go back to the drawing board, lets write a bipartisan bill that raises wages, creates jobs, promotes growth, reduces the deficit, to get to that place we would want to go to the table in a bipartisan way. What are you afraid of . In a bipartisan way, to put together a tax bill that is good for the American People, instead of one that does violence to the american dream. I urge my colleagues to vote no. I want to return to the u. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to put their fabulous statement about this tax bill in the record and i return to their one of their statements. This proposal appears to be the First Federal income tax modification that will raise income taxes on the working oor while simultaneously making it better, they said theyre raising taxes on those making under 75,000 and giving tack cuts to the wealthy. They said theyre going to take Affordable Care away from 13 million americans. I dont know how thats making it better. That might be something you applaud but i hope you would not vote for. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. All members inds to address their comments to the chair and not in second person. No one man has worked on the tax reform plan than the gentleman from wisconsin. Mr. Brady im pleased and proud to yield one minute to the speaker of the house, mr. Yan. The speaker i havent said anything yet. Mr. Speaker, the house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the house will come to order. And the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for one minute. The speaker first, i love this one minute, i try not to abuse it too much but im going to right now. Mr. Speaker, i want to start off by thanking chairman kevin brady and all of the members of the house ways and Means Committee for this job well one. Mr. Speaker, we are in a generational defining moment for our country. And what were doing here, what were doing here is not just determining the kind of tax code were going to have, what we are doing here is determining the kind of country were going to have. And right now, because of this anemic economic recovery, i mean, dont forget we had the worst recession in our lifetimes in 2008. And ever since then, this economy has been flat. This economy has been way under its potential. This economy has been growing at a limp 1 to 2 . You know what that means for Hardworking Taxpayers . Do you know what that means for americans . Nobody gets a wage increase. Living standards are stagnant. Economic anxiety is high. 78 of our workers in this country today are living paycheck to paycheck. Most americans say that they dont even have 500 in their bank account for unexpected emergency or expense. This is the economic anxiety thats for real in this country today. Instead of thinking about getting ahead, families are struggling to get by. Think about all the moms and dads and Hardworking Taxpayers going to bed tonight, not sleeping, worried about what comes next week. This is not how it should be. This is not how it is in this country traditionally. We need to restore growth. We need to restore opportunity. We need to restore this beautiful thing we affectionately call the american idea. Passing this bill is the single biggest thing we can do to grow the economy, restore opportunity, and help these middle income families who are struggling. People always ask, whats in it for me . How do i benefit from this . Well, im a chart guy. Why is this important . What this shows you under this plan, the average family at every income level gets a tax cut. A tax cut at every average level. And what this chart shows you, the people here who are struggle, the people in middle income brackets, people in low income trying to become middle income, they get the biggest tax cut. This plan is good for people of all walks of life. All across the country. And the bigger relief goes to those who need it most. Lets put it into numbers. A typical household of four people. They make 59,000 in this country. 1,182 tax f four cut the first year alone. The median Family Income, mom, dad, two kids, the meanian Family Income in America Today is 87,000. That family will get a 1,941 ax cut right away, year one. So if youre one of those 57 of americans who say you dont even have 500 to go to an emergency, this really helps you. Lets talk about those people who itemize their tax, who live in high tax states. Maybe a couple making 115,000, living in a high tax state. Lets say theyve got 8,400 in a mortgage Interest Payment and 6,900 in property interest taxes for the year. They can write those off under this plan and still see a tax cut of 1,130. If theyve got kids, an even larger tax cut. Not only to people get to keep more of their own money in their own pocket, but we dramatically simplify the tax system. We make it more fair. Today, seven out of 10 americans dont itemize their deductions. 70 of americans take what we call the standard deduction for their taxes. Its just that, its standard, straightforward. Youre not taxed on that income. But over the years, washington has piled on special interest loophole after special interest loophole after special interest loophole. These are skewed to people who are wealthy, who are wellconnected, who can afford all the tax lawyers, all the accountants to navigate the tax code so they can get a good deal. If youre not in that group if you dont have lawyers and accountants and youre just scraping away at your middle income, you dont get those deals. What we want to do is take those loopholes away, make it fair for everybody, lower tax rates and make it easy. Heres how easy this gets. Going to make it so easy that by doubling the standard deduction, 90 of americans, nine out of 10 americans will be able to fill out their taxes on a form the size of a postcard. And what this means is, for a Single Person you dent pay taxes in your first 12,000 of income. For a couple, for a married couple you dont pay taxes on your first 20,000 of income. First 24,000 of income. Heres the basic philosophy. Instead of jumping through all the hoops that the i. R. S. Puts in front of you, instead of doing what the special Interest Groups say you need to do in order to get some of your money back, we basically say, keep your money in the first place. Its your money. O what you want with it. All of this is about tax relief. Its about fairness. Its about simplicity. Its about easing the stress and anxiety thats in this country. But what we yale need to do is we need better jobs. More jobs. Faster Economic Growth. Igher wages. And this brings us to the way we tax ourselves as businesses. This brings us to what do we do to make america the most competitive place in the world . Here is the real problem weve got when it comes to the way we tax our businesses. Were the worst in the world at it. We right now tax our businesses at the highest Corporate Tax rate in the industrialized world. What does that do . Let me give you an example where i come from. In wisconsin, the example is Johnson Controls. Johnson controls is a company with a history dating back to the 1880s in our state. It was the Biggest Company we had headquartered in wisconsin. Not anymore. Because Johnson Controls is an irish company. And theyre and their irish tax rate is 12. 5 . This is happening all over the country. Companies just to stay competitive are becoming Foreign Companies. And when the headquarters of that company leave yours hometown, when the headquarters of that business and that employer leave yours state and goes to another country, there goes the united way campaign. There goes the white collar jobs. There goes the manufacturing. There goes the research and development. There goes americans competitiveness. Whats worse, Foreign Companies are buying u. S. Companies because its cheaper because of taxes. So heres what we do. Instead of being the worst in the pack, we leapfrog ourselves by bringing that tax rate down to 20 . Because guess what. When you tax your businesses at much, much higher tax rates than our foreign competitors tax their they win and we lose. We got to stop losing. We got to start winning. Thats what this does. Whats even more impressive about this is it lowers taxes for those Small Businesses, those mom and pops, even more. So we got to make sure that our businesses, the job creators of america, have every incentive to stay there. Have every incentive to build here. Have every incentive to hire here. Whats more, were finding that by doing this, were going to get faster Economic Growth. Were going to get more jobs. Were going to get higher wages. Better takehome pay. Let me just break it down in simple numbers. Tax foundation they ran the numbers. Nonpartisan Tax Foundation said with this bill, well get faster greth about 3 1 2 faster Economic Growth. 890,000 new jobs. They estimate that in new york state alone, 57,834 new jobs. Wisconsin, 17,999 new jobs. Alifornia, 101,422 new jobs. Texas, 74,037 new jobs. And you get these new jobs when you grow this economy you pass this bill you grow this economy. And so why do we do all of this . Because its about giving people more takehome pay. Its about raising wages. Its about helping family whors struggling to get ahead. Its about getting washington out of the business of picking winners and losers. And giving the American People the kind of economy they deserve theark kind of economy we can have. This just shows you that across every income scale, across the board, wages will go up. Because were going to grow the economy. Most of the wage growth goes to the people who need it most. People in the middle. People who are struggling. That is why were here. My colleagues right now, we are in the middle of a long day where people are working tooth and nail in their jobs. We are right here in the middle of a day where americas workers are trying to figure out how to make ends meet, trying to keep up with everything. Those people, the Hardworking Taxpayers of this country that we represent, that is why we are here. This is why were doing this they are the foundation of this country. Were here today for them. The special interests are trying to protect their piece of the pie. All the negativity you see out there, theres probably a special Interest Group back there trying to keep their special place in the tax code. It is fine time, it is high time we root that out, we dont settle for the status quo and we give people the kind of tax code they need and deserve. It has been 31 years since we last did this and it is finally time that we get the general interest of this country to provail over the special interests in washington. So we know that this brings more fairness. We know that this increases taxhome pay and bigger paychecks. We know that this grows the economy and creates more opportunity. Faster Economic Growth is not going to fix every problem america has. But faster Economic Growth is going to help us solve every problem america has. My colleagues irk ask you today to raise your gaze and do something bold. To see the force of forest through the trees. To think about the people we are here to actually represent. To think about the people who are struggling, who are going to go to bed tonight and probably not sleep because theyre worried about whats going to happen tomorrow. Thats what this is. This is one of the most historic and the biggest things that we will ever do. And the reason is because this is one of the biggest things we can do to improve peoples lives. To revitalize that beautiful, american idea. To spread liberty and freedom. This is something thats going to refresh our confidence in ourselves, in our and our confidence in each other. Enough settling. Enough giving in. Lets start to reclaim our future right here in this moment, in this chamber, in this moment, lets pass this bill. Thank you and i yield back the alance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas. Does the gentleman from texas yield back his time . Mr. Brady i do yield back, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. All time for debate has expired. Pursuant to House Resolution 619, the previous question sworded on the bill as amended. The question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. Third reading. The clerk Union Calendar number 302, h. R. 1. A bill to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title 2 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the pass afpblgt bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. Passage of the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Neal mr. Speaker, i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the 15minute vote on the passage of the bill will be followed by a fiveminute vote on spend suspending the rules and passing h. R. 3109 if ordered. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 227, the nays are 205, the bill is passed. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The chair will remind all persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the house and manifestation of approval or disapproval of po seedings is a violation of ules of the house. The Unfinished Business is is on the question of suspending the rules and passing h. R. 3109 which the clerk will report think bititle. The clerk h. R. 3109 to a bill to designate the United States Postal Service at north 2nd street in chillicothe, illinois, as the senior chief Ryan Post Office building. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The speaker pro tempore the chair announces the speakers appointment pursuant 2 u. S. C. 2081 and the order of the house of january 30, 2017, of the following member on the part of the house to the United States capitol preservation ommission. The clerk comstock of irginia. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house the following communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to section 5 of the Frederick Douglass bicentennial commission act, public law 1577, im pleased to appoint the following member to serve as commissioner to the Frederick Douglass bicentennial commission, the honorable Eleanor Holmes norton of washington, district of columbia, and from private life, mr. Kenneth c. Holmes jr. Of corning count of orange county, california, signed, sincerely, nancy pelosi, democratic leader. The speaker pro tempore the house will come to order. Please take your conversations out. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise . Thank you, mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourn today it adjourn to meet at 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow. The speaker pro tempore without objection, without objection. The speaker pro tempore please come to order, we are going to have oneminutes. Please come to order. Take your conversations outside please. The speaker pro tempore the house will come to order. The chair will now entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota stand p . Epsych i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, please come to order. Conversations outside, please. The gentleman from montana is recognized. Mr. Speaker, the tax cuts and jobs act will increase paychecks for hardworking montanans and create montana jobs and unleash Economic Growth. In fact, analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation finds the bill will create early 2,900 montana jobs and will increase the speaker pro tempore please take your conversations outside. The house needs to be in order. The gentleman from montana may proceed. Mr. Gee ahn forte thank you mr. Gianforte this will increase opportunity for montanans and increase montana jobs. Analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation finds it will create nearly 2,900 montana jobs and increase income for median montana households by 2,200. Hardworking montanans will see a big tax break by cutting their rates and doubling the standard deduction. Montana families will benefit from the increased Child Tax Credit. Today, only about one in four montanans itemize their deductions. Filling out stacks of paperwork for hours after saving piles of receipts. With tax reform, these days are over. Under the new plan, nine out of 10 americans wont have to item ides and see their full tax benefit to see their full tax benefit and will file their taxes on Something Like a postcard. Im proud to vote for the tax reform that will create thousands of montanan jobs, ensure hardworking montanans keep more of what they earn and help Small Business. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and with that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise . I have i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. I rise today to support Small Business saturday on november 25. Small business saturday takes place every year on the saturday after thanksgiving. It is a day for americans to support their community and their local businesses. As a former Small Business owner myself, i know the value that our small, locally owned businesses add to our small to our local economies. Arizona is a proud home to more than 500,000 Small Businesses that employ nearly a million arizonans. These Small Businesses are the life blood of our local economies and they are vital to the future of our communities. Our entrepreneurs are local Community Leaders that hire local employees and they contribute to local causes. This Holiday Shopping season we have the chance to show appreciation for our local businesses and all they do for our communities. I encourage all americans to get out and shop at your Favorite Local Small Business or dine at your Favorite Local restaurant and support Small Business saturday on november 25. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman rom arkansas rise . You are recognized. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I rise in support of h. R. 1, the tax cut and jobs act. With chairman bradys leadership, my colleagues and i worked hard to combine our ideas to help americans across the nation have lower taxes, better careers, and more money in their family budget. Over the past year its been a collaborative effort, ive listened to and worked with people and businesses on their ideas about tax reform from all across the second Congressional District of arkansas. Mr. Hill with todays vote were one step closer to reforming our broken tax code. Over the past several months, we worked to reduce taxes on families and let the keep more of their money. For businesses we want to have a more competitive tax system that promotes investment, which will spur our Economic Growth and our family prosperity. According to the u. S. Chamber of commerce, h. R. 1 will raise aftertax incomes for hardworking arkansans by over 2,000. Furthermore, h. R. 1 benefits families by increasing the Child Tax Credit to 1,600 from 1,000. That helps over 50,000 taxpayers in my district, mr. Speaker. Will ing this bill it lead to creation of 5,000 new jobs. Thank you mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore i ask the the speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition . Without objection, you are recognized for one minute. Ms. Jackson lee mr. Speaker, i rise for a very sad task as we begin this season of thanksgiving to announce the passing of my dear friend steve mostin, a great texan, a great american, husband, father, friend. We pray for him as he rests, his beautiful wife, amber, and his children. And today i ask in the spirit of our faith my members would join me in a moment of silence for the passing of steve. Ms. Jackson lee i thank you. Amen. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek ecognition . Ms. Wilson i would have voted nay on roll call number 637. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewomans request is on ecord. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Without objection, you are recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. In the realm of humanity, that which is cobbled together by humans, is rarely perfect and so, too, the tax reform that we undertook today is not perfect. However, it was overdue and its good and candidly any legislation contemplated that was last addressed when i weighed 112 pounds and had a full hair is long overdue. I will submit it is with the confidence and belief in the leadership of this chamber and the relevant committees that we will discuss the maintenance of the Historic Preservation tax credit which is included in the Senate Version of this bill that i cast my ballot today. I think its a worthwhile investment to recognize downtrodden areas. I also hope that members of this body on both sides of the aisle would consider the opportunity for students to remove themselves from the dark cloud of Student Loan Debt by virtue of reviewing the student security act that will be unveiled here within the next 24 hours. With that i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Cohen request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Cohen thank you, mr. Speaker. What happened today on this floor was a massive tax break for the wealthiest people in our country. Over half of the tax dollars will go to people in the upper 1 of the income strata. And the big pot of gold at the end is eliminating the inherentans tax by the year 20 inheritance tax by the year 2024 so the heirs of the richest will get millions and hundreds of millions of tax relief. This bill should have been geared toward the middle class. They are getting tip change by a cheap restaurant. While the rich is getting no a. M. T. Tax, inheritance tax changes. They get the money. The middle class gets shafted. Its a con job, its a shame. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Lamalfa thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the life of korean war veteran jack tolbert who passed away this month at the age of 94. A longtime resident of redding, california, over 50 years. Originally a texas native, jack was. Hes awarded the distinguished Service Cross for his heroism in korea which in 1953 at his post in south korea came under attack. Chinese soldier hurled a grenade into sergeant tolberts bunker. Incredible moment of selfless bravery, jack hurled himself on the grenade to shield his fellow soldiers from the explosion from injuries or even death. Jack, he lost both his legs in that. Among numerous other injuries. Though he would never admit it himself, he truly was a hero from having done so and protecting his brothers in arms. But i knew him personally and it was always a joy to see jack it the various events around chasta county. Around the redding area. He never let what his condition might be get him down. He was always the most positive people in the room and a joy to be around. We will miss him dearly but we are all blessed to have him in our lives, whether it was his service in korea or his time as our neighbor. God bless him and his family. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. Mr. Payne mr. Speaker, let us never forget that the g. O. P. Tax scam will harm real people. On tuesday afternoon, 42 High School Students from the crystal ray Newark High School were here at the capitol urging me to vote against the g. O. P. Tax scam. Mr. Speaker, the young people i met with the young people i met with are from financially struggling families. They worked hard and got accepted into an Innovative School to gain professional skills. The students take part in a corporate work study program. Their earnings go towards their College Preparatory education. The model works. Last year 100 of crystal rays students were accepted into fouryear colleges. But under the g. O. P. Tax scam, these bright young people from financially disadvantaged families will have to pay taxes on their work study earnings, taxes they cannot afford. That is wrong. I will continue to stand up against the g. O. P. Tax scam and stand for programs that benefit americas children. And with that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlewoman from North Carolina seek recognition . Ms. Foxx i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in recognition of National Bible week. For thousands of years, the bibles been a source of guidance and strength for humanity during times of turmoil and confusion, i can think of no more important source of comfort than the wisdom provided in the good book. The bible serves as a profound influence in my life as well as others in this chamber, and many of us gather weekly for Prayer Breakfast and bible study. The bible offers us hope when circumstances are dire and as a source of strength when human frailty brings us low. As we read in the gospel of matthew, come onto me and i will give you rest. Next week as we celebrate thanksgiving my prayer is it will be a time of healing and unity for all. As we reflect on the blessings god has provided, i hope we will also celebrate the gift god provides us daily through his holy word. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. Thank you very much, mr. Speaker. Just a few minutes ago on the floor of this house of representatives we saw a vote on what has been called the middleclass tax cut, and unfortunately im here to remind all of us, mr. Speaker, that it really is a tax scam because when weve looked into the many communities across america, hardworking families like the hardworking families in the district i represent in california, the average family or household that files a tax return every april 15 makes an average income of about 69,000 and that family, according to what was just passed off of this floor, is going to be leaving behind over 1,000 more than they normally would have when they do their taxes. Mr. Cardenas and that hurts, ladies and gentlemen. That family is a hardworking family. That family cannot afford to miss out on 1,000 of their hardearned money, but i heard people say earlier today that that wasnt going to happen and thats just not true. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina eek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The house has just only moments ago passed historic tax reform. Im proud to have supported it. In conference, we will have the opportunity to even improve the bill, but theres one issue id like to raise for them and the bermuda loophole. A company in bermuda strips money out of its u. S. Branch and invests the money under bermuda tax law meaning they dont pay virtually nothing on that income and its a crippling advantage. Companies that stay in america are getting killed. Weve had two massive inversions in the last two years to bermuda and to switzerland. The number of foreign Property Casualty insurers in the last 25 in the top 25 has increased sevenfold since 1990. Closing this loophole was in the senate bill and the last house tax proposal. It raises 8. 7 billion in revenue. That in addition to the countless jobs and proud american businesses that it would save. We cant have a tax code that destroys american business. We have got to close this loophole. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair will recognize members for special order speeches without prejudice to the presumption of legislative business. Under the speakers announced policy of january 3, the gentleman from texas, mr. Gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. Mr. Gohmert thank you, mr. Speaker. Well, this has been a big day. There are so many people that have suffered in this country, especially since the passing of obamacare. Its difficult to call it the Affordable Care act. Theres a small percentage that supposedly had done better but usually when my friends across the aisle and most of the media alks about how much better off americans are under obamacare, they ignore the real results and instead they point and say, there are so many people, millions of people now that have insurance that didnt have it before. Well, the reason they could say that was because obamacare forced people to buy insurance, and we went through this with some family members helping them make the calculation. Should they pay the penalty, income tax, additional income tax, or should they buy insurance that theyll never, ever be able to use . Some occasions youre better off paying the extra tax which means the government wanted your money a lot worse well, not worse than the individual but the government has the power to steal from people and call it legal and it is legal and there was a massive amount of legalized stealing under obamacare that took place. This bill we passed today would end so much of the stealing from individuals that the governments been doing legally since obamacare passed. But, yes, there will be millions of people, i would suspect, that when we legally end the individual mandate, theyre not going to continue to pay for insurance, huge amounts every month that they cant afford, people making 25,000, 30,000 or so that couldnt afford to pay for Health Insurance that were required to do that. Do you want to pay higher income tax or are you going to pay for Health Insurance that youll never be able to use . The premiums cost you more than you can afford. Is so high. Lity the odds are 99. 99 youll never use it. But the government forced them to pay more taxes and pay or pay more for insurance they couldnt use. The good news for those people, now youll be able to, well, once this becomes law, it does need to pass the senate, the senate has a different version, there are a few things in the Senate Version i like better than ours, but there are a lot of things in our bill they like better than the senate, but if the senate will go ahead and do their jobs like they did not do on repealing at least part of obamacare, theyll do their job on this, the American People are going to benefit, were going to see the economy take a big jolt forward, upward, more jobs coming to america. And nobody gets everything they want. I believe what the president really wanted was going to be best for the country. 15 could hold to a Corporate Tax, i wanted to see that across the board for scorporations, zcorporations. But as the president knew, i know he knew because we talked about it more than once, but that 15 would undercut the Corporate Tax that china has and if we undercut the Corporate Tax that china has, then it means we were going to be getting manufacturing jobs back to america. We have had so many manufacturing plants pick up and move to other places, mainly china, mexico, other places. We need to be manufacturing here. And i know there are those elitists who have been educated with degrees far beyond their intellectual capacity to absorb, they got the degrees, but they didnt get the wisdom, and some have ventured to say, no, we really, we dont need to be a manufacturing country. We have evolved above being these lowly manufacturers. Thats for developing countries, not a wonderful country like ours is. And obviously they spent too much time in other places than studying history. This is Something Else ive talked about with the president. He knows it just from his business iacuemen, i know it from studying history, that any nation that is a powerful nation in the world that cannot manufacture the things that that country needs in a time of war will cease to be a great nation after the next war. And be assured, there will be wars. Jesus, wisest ever to walk this planet , he said there will always be wars and rumors of war. And that is true. Because this planet has evil, people that will do evil, countries that will do evil, people that get jealous when some other country has more freedom, more assets, and theres going to be evil in this world as long as this world exists. We saw that down in southerland springs. Some lunatics, again, many of them educated well beyond their ability to be wise, have popped off and said well, if prayer worked, those people would never have been shot in a church where they were praying and worshiping. And as long as people are in this world, theres going to be evil, not that god wants evil to prevail, he doesnt. He doesnt want that any should stumble. But as a parent knows, you could force your child to say i love you. Or to throw their little arms around your neck and hug you and say i love you. You could force them to do that. It doesnt mean a whole lot. But when you give people the free will to choose to love you , choose to follow your rules, it is overwhelming to a parent when a child freely chooses to do that. So we have freedom of choice. Some choose to do evil. Some want governments to be all powerful because in their lack of wisdom they think that the government needs to be in control of everything and everybody. The late justice scalia, who could make me laugh, he loved good jokes and stores are stories like i do, and there have been a lot of unpleasant memory, a will the of ounpleasant fights, a lot of a lot of unpleasant fights a lot of fights i havent won but i stood up for what i believed was right. But when id get around justice scalia, having lunch together or breakfast together, we get to telling stories and jokes and he was so clever, it was often hard to find a joke or story he had not heard. But it was fun to be around him. But in one of those, i think it was a lunch that time he said you know, back when i was working for the attorney general and i dont remember which attorney general it was, back in the 1970s, he said, we had a weekly meeting. One morning the attorney general came in and he said, well, i was at a Cocktail Party last night and for the first time i heard a definition that explained the difference between democrats and republicans. He said i actually think its pretty good. I think its very descriptive. He said what i learned was, democrats are people that want to control everybody and everything and republicans are eople that dont want them to. Well, actually thats pretty accurate. Some people on the republican side of the aisle go why dont we plot and plan as well as the democrats do . Theyre always tiing to figure out how they get power, how they get over on this and that. And we just want people to live and let live. We want as little government as necessary. To keep order. But allow people to succeed with no ceiling, no limit. But to succeed you also have to have the opportunity to fail. Just like edison did. In the hundreds of things he tried, finding a filament, the element that would heat up and not burn in two to make a light bulb. He knew it would work. And somebody asked him about all those failures and he said no, each time he tried something that didnt work, it wasnt a failure. He just learned that thats one less thing that wont work. But fisher that came up with the space pen, i love those space pens. The email still goes around that says americans spent 4 million to develop a pen that would work in outer space of government money, russians just used pencils. Well not a dime of government money was used. He, with the intellect like edison, knew there had to be a way that you could develop a pen that would write in gravity work no gravity, under water, above the earths atmosphere. So he came up with it. But he knew he was going to have to pressurize the pen and this is such a cartridge and so he sealed it, put about 30 pounds of pressure. But the trick was finding an ink that didnt explode out when you put 30 pounds of pressure on it or that was not so thick that it wouldnt work when you tried to write. And eventually he was able to do that. Lots of failures. But youve got to allow people a chance to fail if theyre going to have a chance to succeed. But if the government puts its thumb on the scales, its not real success. Its not real failure. And eventually those cards are going to come falling down. What weve done today with our tax bill, its a huge step. I know, mr. Speaker, most folks here are well aware, its hard to get a majority of agreement a majority agreement on much of anything but we did today. We had a significant majority that agreed, isnt perfect. Nothing any human ever does will be. But it moves the ball down the road. One of the things i loved about my friend from texas, kevinberry day brady, is i would hear from people back home and talk to kevin, hes open to talking, hes a texan, hell talk to everybody. I found that with so many members on the ways and Means Committee, my friend dave schweikert, always available to answer questions. He was doing his homework early. One of the things that has deeply troubled many americans, especially seniors, people either senior in poor health or younger americans that had Severe Health problems, is in the obamacare bill that was so unaffordable, it changed the deductibility of medical expenses. Because before it was if you had medical expenses, you had a really bad time of it and our hearts go out to you and we want your life to be a little easier when youre going through so much difficulty with bad health, so the deductibles were anything, any medical expense over 5 of your adjousted adjusted gross income and in order to come up with the billions and billions of dollars that obamacare, i would submit, wasted, they had to cut out some of the deductions like that so they ended up raising the threshold from 5 , 7 1 2 , 10 . Its been 10 . You had to have more than 10 of your adjusted gross income tord in order to deduct it. But we still had a lot of, especial he seniors, that had more than that. Ive had accountants from home send me information about seniors, particularly seniors that have been paying a great deal in medical expense because no medicare didnt take care of aarp jumped course on the bandwagon for obamacare, not because it was going to be good for seniors. In fact, it was extremely violent to the finances of seniors. And to their health as well. But aarp was more interested in the massive amount of money they could add to their coffers even though theyre considered nonprofit. So they jumped on board and of course companies that sold other policies had to pay a 2 tax on each policy, aarp got the sweetheart deal. Their policy they embraced didnt have to pay the 2 tax. And havent seen provision but im told there was a provision that allowed, exempted their executive so they didnt have the normal cap on their executive income. So the people at the top of aarp, they did great. Seniors really got harmed, losing 716 billion in cuts to medicare. But for all those seniors that got harmed, couldnt get the surgery, couldnt get the medical help they need, just keep in mind, aarp was able to sell a lot more policies and make a lot more money even though it did a lot of harm to some seniors but just remember, aarp came out great out of that. But nonetheless, for those of us who were very sympathetic to seniors, having hundreds of billions of dollars cut from medicare, they heard the president say now this isnt going to affect you seniors at all, its only going to cut some of the profits from Health Care Providers, basically what was said. But many of my seniors in east texas figured out, wait a minute if youre not going to pay the Health Care Provider for my medicine, for my surgery, for what i need, then im not going to be able to get the procedure, the surgery, the health care that i need if its not going to be paid for. So ive had many seniors talk to me about surgeries being delayed. Or that they couldnt get the same thing they had before obamacare passed. So we havent repeal odd ba macare but in this bill we repealed the Obamacare Mandate the individual mandate and that means that some people that were forced to pay higher income tax, they didnt get one of these ridiculous insurance policies, theyre going to have that much money in their own pocket. If they were paying for a policy that they knew was never going to help them out, they wont have to buy that. Of course, you know, the democrats, the mainstream media, theyll say look how many people dont have insurance. When the truth is, so many of those people chose not to buy insurance because they knew it was a terrible deal. And i still want to see a reform of health care, a real reform of health care, but that would mean getting away from either Insurance Companies or the government being between us and our doctors. Our Health Care Providers. And the way you do and the way you do it is you make it so attractive to put money in your own Health Savings account and i expect us to pass something to make it much easier and much more attractive. Its not in this bill. This was a tax bill, but im still hopeful were going to do a reform of health care and repeal at least most of obamacare. I hope and i hope today was a start not only toward getting tax reform and getting tax relief for americans, seeing the economy get going again but also put back in motion true repeal of obamacare and Getting Health Care laws in place that will be good for americans. But how can you have competitive prices in health are if nobody knows what these procedures, medicines cost . You see, you get a notice from the Health Care Provider, your Insurance Company that something costs 12,000, but you dont know that the Insurance Company satisfied that 12,000 payment demand with 800 or 900 payment. But if you knew that if you were paying cash out of your Health Savings account, a 12,000 procedure would only 8, you wouldnt be so big on 800, you wouldnt be big on paying 2,000 a month to a Health Insurance company. And these Health Insurance Companies Still dont see that under obamacare their days are numbered. It was designed to fail, and america gets so mad at Health Insurance companies because it was built into obamacare. Not only were they going to have record profits like some of them did last year, but they were going to get bailouts on top of the record profits. It was going to make america so mad at the Insurance Companies that even conservatives said, anythings got to be better than what we have with these Insurance Companies, why dont we have the government take over everything, and then voila, we then have v. A. Health are for all americans except much more than the v. A. Provides, because everybodys forced to be in it. I was amazed as an Exchange Student in the soviet union to see the type of medical care that was in the soviet union in the 1970s, and i just thank god that we didnt have that kind of socialized medicine. We were so much more advanced. But it was clear that physicians back in the soviet union in the 1970s, im sure there were some that were really, really dedicated. But for most, it was an 8 00 to 4 00, 9 00 to 5 00 type job and the fewer people they had to see the better they liked it. That means people had to wait in line, couldnt get seen. They didnt get the procedures they need. In canada, one told me his dad died of a heart attack after he had been on the list to get bypass surgery for two years. And i said, two years, it really took that long . He said, well, they kept moving people in front of him. I said, wait a minute, i understood it was a crime to pay or do anything to get yourself moved up the list. He said, oh, yeah. Its the way i understand it, too, but we had a board that would pick and choose among the american citizens who would go in front and they kept putting people in front of my dad. He finally had the heart attack and died because the board kept putting people in front of him. Thats what sarah palin said, she called it a death panel. Speaking in hyperbole but the truth is whether you want to call it a death panel or not, they were making decisions over who would get what that would mean whether they lived or died in some occasions or meant they were going to live in pain or live in comfort and these were government boards making these decisions just like they used to do in the soviet union before it fell. So i see this tax bill today as not only a step in the right direction to get people more money in their own pockets they can use to make the economy grow but i see it also as a step in the right direction toward reforming health care again because we eliminate the individual mandate. So i still would like to see these further reforms like im talking about. I put in a bill i filed years ago that Health Care Providers would have to post at least their at their facility, certainly online if theyre online and now it ought to be a requirement post exactly what you charge an individual paying cash, an individual with this blue cross or aetna or whatever it is. Let people know exactly what things cost. Dont sebbed send a 15,000 dont send a 15,000 going into the hospital that you know youre going to accept 1,000 as payment in full from an Insurance Company. If you are going to accept 1,000 for a 15,000 bill, then say it cost 1,000. And if we could require everybody to post exactly what things cost, they wouldnt be in such an allfired hurry to make sure they had insurance other than catastrophic, really catastrophic insurance because instead of paying 2,000 a month to an Insurance Company, 24,000 a year, well, theyd be better off paying 1,500 as 150,000 in full for charges or 15,000 in charges. We still got a good ways to go. But you dont get anywhere until you take that first step and today was a giant step, in my opinion. Saw didnt realize until i this notice from farm bureau but the headline says, house poised to take up farm bureau supported tax bill. So thats that was good to see that. Another article from heritage action, house tax plan propels reform forward. Fox news has an article by newt gingrich, house and senate tax plans have more in common than you think. And makes it some excellent points. So its good news all the way around. Its a step in the right direction, and im hopeful that some of the things we disagree on were going to be able to work out with the senate. And one of those things, like i mentioned, the senate is going to allow medical as i understand it their bill currently has allowance for deductions of medical expense beyond 10 and hopefully we can eventually do better than that and get it back from where obamacare put it. Maybe back to 5 at some point. Ut we got seniors on fixed incomes and medicare doesnt cover what they are needing in the way of health care and theyre being overwhelmed by medical expense. Once again, i think if we can get some reforms in, doesnt have to be a total reform of health care but just get some things in there, even if we cant get the total repeal because of the senates recal s i trans, at least get recalcitrants, at least get some relief for those that need it. Address to address the of the moore allegations. You know, having prosecuted ive assault crimes, even been forced against my will, but you get an order, you follow the order to defend Sexual Assault crimes and one case finding that a trumped up ase against my africanamerican client was totally bogused, trumped up and we were able to prove irrefuteably as such. But Sexual Assault allegations are very dangerous thing. We have in america what we call the statute of limitations on most crimes. And the reason we have statute of limitations on most crimes you need, if you are going to be accused of something, it needs to be made in a timely manner so that if you are going to accuse someone of committing a crime, they ave a chance to find witnesses. And one of the very reasons there are statutes of limitations on crimes like Sexual Assault, if you wait 38 years to accuse somebody of a almost sault, it is exactly e to prove where you were. And ive heard some people in the senate say, oh, well, there are so much specifics coming out it seems irrefutable. Well, usually peoples memories wain over the period of three to four decades on times, exact places, and i know from my days as a judge that sent many rapists, Sexual Assaulters to prison for many years, including life, i was particularly hard on people who committed Sexual Assault crimes because they violate so much more than just physical violation. Its an abominable crime. Limitations e of like somebody makes an allegation against you that you did such and such at 2 00 in the afternoon on such and such afternoon and it was at this particular location and these people were not around, these people i mean, you put a bunch of specifics in there within a year, then the individual being charged can go back to his calendar, her calendar and see, ok, on that day oh, i wasnt even in that city. I was over here in this city. I was in court across town. I was not even where that so i can bring in and show, not just raise a reasonable doubt but show absolutely for sure that never happened. Thats why we have limitations. So i would just encourage people that when they hear factual alleged factual allegations that occurred decades previously, no matter how many specifics are thrown in, reserve judgment. Give a chance to get all the facts in. Thats why in every single case ive tried as a judge and there were thousands of felony cases that came before my court, but in every single case i tried after the prosecution finished, i then turned to the defense for their chance to submit evidence. Its why after every witness testified for the prosecution i turned to the defense attorney and gave them a chance to crossexamine. And there were times i heard charges that in my mind were so outrageous, but i knew we have a system in place to protect innocent people from spurious allegations and we have got to go through the process, including an appeal after the trial, and i reviewed many appeals as an appellate chief justice. You have to let the process play out and anytime somebody comes running in and wants somebody tried in the court of Public Opinion and they are only going to give them three or four weeks, then immediately that should be suspect. Not that it cant be proved out as true but it would still immediately be suspect because these people tried to game the system. They didnt want to give enough time for the ones allegedly committing an offense to prepare a defense. They didnt want to give adequate time to investigate even after 38 years. I mean, how do you go back 38 years later and say, gee, where was i . I dont have a calendar that goes back that far. I dont know if i was in town, if i was out of the country. I dont know where i was. Gee, it seems like around that time maybe i was here or there. I dont know. But the odds of being able to mount something three or four decades after something allegedly happened is almost impossible. So all you can do to defend yourself and im speaking hypothetically. If somebody made outrageous hypothetical allegations against you and you oh, god, i know i never did that. How do i prove it . Well, you wont find witnesses to say where you were at that specific moment in time because you dont even remember where you were. Find a witness to back you up. If you do find a witness, oh, i remember that very second 38 years later this is where he was, then that witness becomes suspect. You just dont remember like that. So i hope, d people will allow an election to go forward with the parties people have chosen and give time for all the facts to i like roy en moore. I appreciate the man of faith that he is. And i think the election needs to go forward just as it is and i think we should not intervene in congress and let the people of alabama decide based on proven facts, not on some lastminute attack and then give time for all of the facts to come out. Not just the fact that was been set up over the last several months in all likelihood in preparation for being able to blindside a candidate so you have all the facts and you can keep slipping stuff out day after day. Because it could very well end up lake ted stevens case. Created a. B. I. , created a case that not only had reasonable doubt. The f. B. I. At least some in the f. B. I. As was born out by the affidavit by f. B. I. Officer who actually had a conscience, not like his superior f. B. I. Agent, lead investigator, that they fabricated evidence, they hid evidence, that the evidence that they had gotten when they served warrants, went through his home, took every piece of paper, every bank record, everything he had, computers, all this, raided the bank, got all their information, got any notice and things, he didnt have the tode defend himself because the f. B. I. Got it all. And a guy named Robert Mueller as the head of the f. B. I. , probably the biggest case that went through the minute while he was director. Hes one of them at least one of them. And he saw to it that the f. B. I. Agent that blew the whistle and pointed out that we have evidence that shows that ted stevens not only did not get a free hundreds of thousands of dollars, 600,000 or 700,000 addition to his house but he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars more than that. Apparently there was some communication between the contractor and senator stevens saying youre overpaying, quit overpaying. And stevens said no, no, i am strongwilled in the senate so ive always got people looking to try to make something up so i have to overpay. The man overpaid, the f. B. I. Under mueller fabricated a case, they tried it the week before the election. And there was a reason for that. They tried it the week before the election, they got a conviction. He lost the election. I think it was 1rks200 votes or so. And only after he had lost the election and there was no way to rewind that clock, he was out of the senate, the democrats got the seat, they sure didnt care that they won the seat based on a lie a fraudulent case brought by the u. S. Government. They didnt care. They were glad to have the seat. Kind of like senator harry reid false er he made accusations against romney that he hadnt paid any taxes and when he was asked about it later after romney lost the election, his response was basically well it worked, didnt it . No remorse. For destroying a mans reputation. Falsely without any evidence. Or with manufactured evidence. Lies. No remorse. Just, it worked. Because we got the seat and i have a feeling that when the smoke clears and we find all of the evidence thats left after 38 years, were going to find that theres a problem not as much with roy moore as there is with the accuser. Or accusers. But we need to wait and see. Nobody needs to be rushed to trial. We have a system of government that prevents somebody from being punished by the government but the fact is the government is being used to try to punish roy moore. Lets say hypothetically you were an establishment leader in the senate and youve been pushing for amnesty, you didnt want illegal immigration stopped because theres donors that give a lot of money that want illegal immigration to continue, want amnesty, and you know in the a. G. s office you have a guy there, regardless of thinks you disagree with, he has really cracked down on illegal immigration. And you know youve got a guy that just within the primary in a state and you spent tens of millions of dollars trying to destroy the guy in the primary and it didnt work, he won. So it looks like hes about to win the election. The general election. Even though youre in his same party. Im just taking hypothetically, certainly none of this would be true, surely, but wow. Somebody at deal if made accusations, true or not true, against the guy that you tried to destroy with millions of dollars, that you know if hes elected hes going to come in, hes not going to be your best friend because you called him everything in the book and tried to destroy him so wow. Even though hes in your own party, maybe youd be better off if you had a democrat you could you feel like you could work with that was more establishment than the guy that you tried to destroy that if he would have gotten along with you, probably not now because you went after him so strongly, what if you could have that guy take an taken out with allegations, whether true or not, and then you could kill a number of birds, you know that steve bannon has said hes going to war after you, wow, and bannon went allin to support this guy in his primary, in this election, so if his candidate gets destroyed, youve just destroyed his ability to raise money and then on top of that if you could talk the unsuspected president into talking his attorney general into leaving that post to try to go to the senate, wow, you get rid of the guy thats gotten tough on illegal immigration, you get rid of the guy that is that has been raising money and going against the establishment, and you get rid of the guy that you tried to destroy with tens of millions of dollars even though he was in your own party. Im just saying hypothetically, maybe it would make for a good fiction novel someday, and maybe theres somebody out there writing that novel, but im just saying, what if. Wow. What a novel piece of fiction that might be someday. Maybe we see it in a movie someday. Maybe the senator would even be from the south. A i also know, having been i signed i know there are some judges that dont sign their orders, they let somebody stamp. I made clear the day i became a district judge, nobody is stamping my signature on anything. Its going to be clear a stamp, if its a stamp its going to be clear that it is a stamp, that anything thats got to be really signed, im going to sign it. As i understand it, judge moore signed things originally but on other things, on copies, we would put stamped signature a note that it was a copy, but that his, they either stamped or his assistant wrote his signature and because the assistant had the initials d. A. , put d. A. Out beside his name to denote he didnt originally sign this. This was the assistant on his behalf. And so litigants would normally get a copy and not the original. Of course. Unless you make multiple originals. But i wondered when i saw in the yearbook the picture of the signature, i thought d. A. , i didnt think he was ever a d. A. He wasnt. He was assistant d. A. He was a district judge. He was a chief justice of the Supreme Court there in alabama. Never d. A. But it is interesting if omeone believed that a guy molested their minor daughter and that person later had a divorce pending in that guys court, i know i would certainly ask for a different court. Theres no way i would let a judge who molested my child have any jurisdiction over my divorce and 23 i and if i had never brought out about the alleged molestation before, i would certainly do it then. And people would need to know that the judge in that court, particularly the judge on my divorce, was a child molester. Theyd need to know. You dont let people know at that point, youre basically an accomplice, youre allowing this assault or assaulter out there to continue whatever he may be doing to others. Need to come forward before. Its not a crime not to report it. But it needs to be reported and certainly if that person goes the bench and then to realize, it must have been quite a realization for judge moore when he saw that d. A. And realized somebody has forged what they thought was my signature when it was really my assistant and thats why the assistant put excuse me, d. A. Out there. To denote that i didnt sign that. Wow. That must have been quite a feeling for the judge. Theres story from joel pollak, november 16, Gloria Allreds blunder on roy moores yearbook challenge that talks about that. Another by john nolte, november 16, journalist Leann Tweeten accuses senator al franken of kissing her without consent. Know where thats going to lead. Dont know where the same people will demand his ouster now or not. Maybe we need to wait and see if the photograph is forged. Or if it was, you know, photo shopped or Something Like that. Theres just so much going on but bottom line today, we take weve taken a big step toward making America Great again. It wasnt what i hoped it would be. In fact, people got to understand and my friend, steve moore, used to be senior economics editor for wall street journal, helped President Trump as an economic advisor, steve told me a number of times he likes my definition of Corporate Tax better than any but my definition describes what a Corporate Tax really is. And especially the u. S. Corporate tax. 35 . Any the largest tariff modern country has ever put on its own goods or services. Because lets face it, when we put a Corporate Tax on a and 35 , they have to put that on their products. If they dont collect that tax on top of the product they are going to be out of business. Thats got to be added to the cost of goods or services. When you look at all the huge businesses, all the manufacturers that have closed down and you look at what they were doing before they closed down and you deduct that 35 Corporate Tax, or i would submit tariff, they could have been selling their product competitively, not just in america but probably in places all over the world. Instead of having to close their doors, they could have kept producing and had been expanding but for that huge tariff that was put on their own goods. I mean, most countries are smart enough not to put a tariff on what their own countrys Companies Make before they ship them out. But weve been doing that. So why have we been doing that . Because it was a great way people in congress thought to raise revenue. You tell people, this mean, evil corporation was paying this tax. We really put it over on this corporation. We made them pay all this tax. No. What you did was add 35 to the cost of the product they had to figure in somehow to cover that in addition to what it cost to manufacture, and you made them noncompetitive. Here or abroad. And thats why they had to close. And thats why i love the idea of either eliminating the tariff or at least getting it down to 15 so we undercut the 15 or so tax china has, we undercut their tariff on their own goods. Goods produced in china. Then those manufacturers are coming back. I am amazed about the reporters that asked, how are you going to make up for all of that lost income . And they didnt understand. Yeah, youre not collecting as Corporate Tax but now youre collecting directly from the people so its not a hidden insidious tax. And there are more jobs and theyre paying more money and the economy is growing and hiring more people, more jobs, more income and more income tax and its better for everybody. But the forces of greed around this country and around this town like to really convince people they are sticking to somebody else when the truth is the individuals, were going to end up paying it wherever it is or the company is not going to stay in business. Id rather them stay in business, add jobs and give aises. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has 10 minutes remaining. Mr. Gohmert so in the last 10 minutes i have here, this will be the last session before thanksgiving day. Greatly disturbed that we have so many young people in america who cant explain what thanksgiving, why it was originally started, who thanksgiving who thanks was given to. Many thought it was to the indians but it was not. This is a declaration may 2, 1778 to troops at valley forge. E commander in chief directs that Divine Service be performed every sunday 11 00 in each brigade which has a chaplain. These brigades which have none will attend the places of worship nearest to them. It is expected that officers of all ranks will by their attendance set an example for their men. While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our ighest glory to lawed the more distinguished character of muslim im sorry it says christian. George washington said that a highest glory of a patriot soldier would be the more distinguished character of a christian. It was in an order he gave. So i know people are saying this is totally appropriate now, and they wonder why evil is seems to keep growing in america, but as we look where we came from and we look at what prior leaders did to defeat the forces of evil that are here in this world and will be as long as its here in this form, seems like theres a correlation between when the country is praying to god and asking for his protection and seems to nd when evil be growing. , noted efferson, 1781 and its engraved in his memorial. Life that gave us life gave us liberty. Can they do that when we have removed their only basis, a conviction in the minds of these liberties are a gift of god, they are not to be violated but with his wrath. Indeed, i tremble from my country when i reflect that god is just, that is just justice cannot sleep forever. Thats thomas jefferson. John quincy adams, september 26, 1810. Wrote a letter to his son, the u. S. Minister at st. Petersburg. So great is my ven ration for the bible and so strong my belief that when duly read and meditated on it is of books in the world that which contributes most to make men good, wise and happy. Former president , nominated Supreme Court by james madison. By his on march 30, 1863, Abraham Lincoln. Great republican. Lincoln said, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to wn their dependence upon the overruling power of god, to confess their sins and transgressions and humble sorrow. Yet with assured hope that genuine repittance will lead to mercy and pardon and recognize the sublime truth announced in the holy scriptures and proven by all history that those nations are only blessed whose god is the lord. Another place he said this is lincolns written word. We have forgotten god. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we have vainly manled in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too selfsufficient to fill the necessity of preserving grace, too proud to pray to god that made us. It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our National Sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. That was a National Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln and thank god there a majority of americans participated in that and prayed to god. His second inaugural hes talking about north and south. Its enscribed on the inside north wall of the lincoln memorial. And about half to 2 3 of the way through there in the middle he says, hes talking about north and south, both read the same bible, both pray to the same god. Prayers of both could not be answered. Neither has been answered fully. The almighty has his own purpose but woe upon the world because of offenses. Yet, if god will that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen 250 years of unrequited toil shall be shrunk and until every drop of blood another will be done by the sword as was said 3,000 years ago, it still must be said the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether. I want to finish with this from john f. Kennedy. He was talking at the lighting of the Christmas Tree but at a time of thanksgiving its certainly appropriate. With the lighting of this tree, which is an old ceremony in washington and one which has been among the most important responsibilities of a good many president s of the United States, we initiate in a formal way the christmas season, we mark the festival of christmas which is the most sacred and hopeful day in our civilization. For nearly 2,000 years the message of christmas, the message of peace and good will towards men has been the guiding star of our endeavors. I had a meeting which included some of our representatives from far off countries in africa and asia, they were returning to their posts for the christmas holidays. Talking with them i was struck by the fact that in the far off connents, hindus, on the 25th day of december to celebrate the birthday of the prince of peace. There could be no more striking proof that christmas is truly universal holiday of men. We dedicate our thoughts to others. When all are reminded that mercy and compassion are the enduring virtues, when all show by small deeds and large and by acts that it is more blessed to give than to receive. It is the day when we remind ourselves that man can and must live in peace with his neighbors and its the peacemakers that are truly blessed and this year of 1962 we greet each other christmas with some special sense of blessing of peace. So mr. Speaker, this period of thanksgiving that well have in the next week will hopefully be a time when we will come back together more as a nation, when we will bind our hearts in prayer and thanksgiving and ask for gods protection as our greatest president s did. And i know those prayers will be answered. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards a sitting senator. The chair will receive a message. Mayor otero mr. Speaker, a the messenger mr. Speaker, a message from the senate. The secretary mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore madam secretary. The secretary i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has agreed to the conference with the house thereon h. R. 2810, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities of the department of defense, for military construction and for Defense Activities of the department of energy. To prescribe military personnel strength for such fiscal year and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Gohmert mr. Speaker, i would move that after such a great day that we now hereby adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly, the house stands adjourned until just a few minutes or so we plan to take you live to the white house for the briefing this afternoon with sarah sanders. We heard from the president briefly earlier today. He was up on capitol hill speaking to House Republicans ahead of that vote. Well hear from the president s press secretary coming up thats scheduled for 3 30. Well go there live once it gets under way. When that vote wrapped up this afternoon about 1 30 or so, just after that, the House Speaker joined by fellow members of the republican conference, leaders and the chairman of the ways and Means Committee, kevin brady, talked about their win this afternoon. Again, the vote 227205
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.