For the elderly is 21. 4 . And over 63,000 households receive food stamps. In the state of illinois over 13000 children are homeless. At the end of last year, chicago had the highest fifth highest foreclosure rate in the nation. This bill is fiscally irresponsible and reflects misplaced priorities for our nation. We can make improvements to the bill to address the concerns of Small Businesses and family farms if current law is inadequate but wholesale repeal reflects poor leadership. The fiscal recklessness of the republican approach that balloons our deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars via tax dozens of tax cuts reminds me of the adage that says death by a thousand cuts but this is debt by a thousand tax cuts. Its bad for our economy. It is bad for our citizens and it is bad for our nation. I will vote no. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington reserves and the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady mr. Speaker, im very proud to introduce a key member of the ways and Means Committee, the gentlelady from south dakota, i yield two minutes to her. Mrs. Noem on march 10 1994 my dad was killed in an accident on our family farm. I was taking College Classes at the time. I was 21 years old and i ended upcoming home with my family trying to figure out how we would get by without him after this tragedy hit our family. All i could hear during that point in time was the words my dad said to me for many years and it wasnt long after he was killed that we got a bill in the mail from the i. R. S. That said we owed them money because we had a tragedy happen to our family. And one of the things my dad had always said to me kristi, dont sell land because god is not making more land. We could sell the land or take out a loan so i chose to take out a loan but it took us 10 years to pay off that loan to pay the federal government those death taxes. Its one of the main reasons why i got involved in government in politics because i didnt understand how bureaucrats and politicians in washington, d. C. , could make a law that says when a tragedy hits a family they somehow are owed something from that Family Business and it doesnt work for a normal everyday people. And that is why this death tax is so unfair, because at one of the most vulnerable times of peoples lives the federal government says we need to take what you have and what your family has worked for. You know a lot of the conversation today has been about the rich needs to pay more. The rich will avoid this tax. They have the resources to do that but it hits families like mine harder than ever. Certainly are not going to pay the burden of this tax. I will also say some of the discussion has been about the deficit. The government does not earn money. The government takes other peoples money is what it does. And its certainly not going to earn more money by this policy. This Previous Administration and the members of the other part here on the house floor today talk about the people who have struggled. We have more People Living in poverty today under your policies than we had before you were in charge of this country. One in five children are in food stamps because of the policies of this administration. 50 of our College Students cant find work or underemployed because of the policies of this administration. We talk about income inequality and we are seeing it because of those previous policies. This tax is a very unfair tax. Its double taxation. And please dont put any more families in the situation where they lose their family operation or are threatened by it because of a tragedy that happens to our family. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Mcdermott i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady madam speaker, im proud to followup and yield two minutes to another new member of the ways and Means Committee who understands just how fragile these familyowned farms and businesses are, mr. Smith. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Smith thank you. Growing up and working on my great grandfathers farm, i learned many values. One that i taught is a comparison in basically when youre out there working with the hogs you learn that theres little value in hogwash. And i would compare a lot of the facts that weve been hearing today thats opposing this legislation as equivalent to hogwash. And i say that under the stipulation that ive heard numerous facts stated of farms the size of 15,000 acres. Well, the average family farm in this country is less than 500 acres. If you look at the boot hill of missouri where i represent, every farm in that area, if you consider a 500acre farm and the price of a 500acre farm times that by how many acres they have say 500 acres times 10,000. Thats 5 million. 5 million. And then you have to put the price of a combine and a tractor to harvest the rice and the cotton. Guess what, theyre part of that top 2 that the other side says is the wealthiest of the wealthy. Well, guess what, theres less than 2 of americans are farmers. Less than 2 of americans are farmers. This legislation, this tax is directly after farmers. Our tax code, what is wrong with it, it is disadvantage disadvantaging Rural America. And the death tax is part of that disadvantage. Youre seeing people leave Rural America because of the tax code and this is a way to fix the tax code. When you look at family farmers 85 of their investment is in the land and in their equipment. Its not in liquid assets and when they get a tax bill like my former congresswoman that spoke from south dakota mentioned, they have to either sell their land or they have to take out a loan so they can keep their Family Business. This is a tax on the American Dream and this is awful. The folks on the other side of the aisle have never found a tax that they disliked. Folks we have to stop this. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Mcdermott madam speaker i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady madam speaker, i yield proud to yield 1 1 2 minutes to the leader of the select revenue subcommittee of the ways and means, mr. Reichert. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Mr. Reichert i thank you, madam chairwoman and thank the distinguished gentleman from texas for bringing this bill to the floor and his hard work on this bill and appreciate the opportunity to speak today in support of this bill. Proud to be a cosponsor. The story is the same across this country in all of our districts, whether you heard that today from every member or not. Business owners and farmers work hard for their entire lives with the goal of passing on the first fruits of their labor, but face sometimes insurmountable hurdle of the death tax. In addition to the actual tax liability, the death tax imposes merely planning for it, regardless of whether these Business People and farmers end up owing it is yet another challenge. Last month when i chaired the hearing in the select Revenue Committee on this bill, we heard from three witnesses. A rancher, a farmer and a product distributor. Their stories were the same. This is an onerous tax creating hours and hours and months of work by attorneys and by their own employees trying to figure out how theyre going to keep their business in their family. And one Business Owner said for the first 26 years working in his Family Business, 26 years he spent trying to figure out how to meet the death tax. When one relative was about to pass away, they had another death tax issue they had to address. Another relative is about to pass away and did pass away and again they had to address the death tax. This is a tax not on the this is an issue that the other side wants to make between the rich and the poor. This is about average american men and women Business Owners across this country trying to keep their familyowned business, protect their hard work. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Mcdermott madam speaker i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the lead sponsor of repeal the death tax act an eagle scout army veteran, the gentleman from georgia, mr. Bishop. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Bishop i thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam speaker, im pleased to join representative brady on this important Bipartisan Legislation to repeal the death tax once and for all. Ive always believed that the death tax is misguided, morally unjustified and downright unamerican. Its really a tax on success. The assets that what the people want to pass on to their progeny have already been taxed. If its a business or if its a farm, the individuals who earned it, who started the business, they paid income taxes. If it was a corporation the corporation paid taxes also. Why should it be taxed a third time just to be passed on and just to keep the business together . It undermines the life work, life savings of farmers, small and mediumsized businesses in georgia and all across the nation. We all heard the statistics. The United States has the fourth highest estate tax in the industrialized world at 40 . Only japan, south korea and have higher taxes. It has a disproportionate impact on africanamericans. A study by the Boston College professors john and paul several years ago estimated between 2001 and 2055 the death tax will erase between 11 and 13 of all africanamerican wealth. This one tax alone will cost africanamerican households between 192 billion and 257 billion. Some people have argued that the estate tax is no longer a serious problem since we permanently raised exemption to 5 million for individuals and 10 million for couples. Index to inflation. But nothing can be further from the truth. According to the Georgia Farm Bureau the exemption is barely keeping pace with increasing Farmland Values. In fact, the number of farms in georgia with building and land value over 5 million rose from 664 to 677 between 2007 and 2012. I just cant stand by and allow this estate tax to continue to punish familyowned businesses in georgia and throughout the country. Its not just farmers. You heard a lot about farms. Look at Funeral HomesFuneral Directors that have multiple locations with rolling stock, caskets limousines, hearses and that amounts to a pretty good amount of money. I got constituents who own radio stations finally worked hard to have a familyowned business that would be able to have communications. They started out with one radio station. Now they have five stations in three different states. Its a Family Business. The husband, the wife and now the three kids went to college, to law school and theyre running the business. Its a shame they would have to sell that business and ultimately have to lay off employees to pay the 40 of the estate tax. It is clear that the estate tax really hurts the economy. Mr. Brady i yield an additional 30 seconds. Mr. Bishop i study by the Tax Foundation found that repealing the death tax will increase u. S. Capital stock by 2. 2 . It would boost g. D. P. And it would create 139,000 jobs which eventually increases federal revenue. This is a tax on success. Its not a big contributor to the revenue of this country. Its a very, very drop in the ocean, really, and so its time to repeal it. So i urge my cligse to colleagues to really think realistically, not ideologically and just do the right thing. I urge you to join my colleagues and repeal the death tax once and for all. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Mcdermott madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. Rangel. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Rangel i thank you for this opportunity. Having served on the ways and Means Committee for decades is a little embarrassing to see us debating a bill that goes nowhere. This is a Political Action thats taken by the majority to select provisions that are in the tax code to have those of us that advocate tax reform to just select those parts that appear to be very popular with some parts of our constituencies. Theres nobody in this house that truly believes that this legislation, if passed, ever would become law, but it is something to be using in political campaigns as to what you voted for and why you voted against it. To list yep to the other side talk, we have some very, very rich fathers. And just because they are in the family doesnt mean that they are not wealthy. First of all, lets go to the video. Lets go to the facts and find out how many pool are going to be affected people are going to be affected. The statistics show that 99. 2 . 8 of the population of those people who died dont pay taxes. Who are we talking about . We are talking about a few rich people that are. 02 of those people that will be eligible for a tax, and those only after we estimate that the value of their estate of 5 million for one person and 10 million for two. Im not saying that for these people. Its not going to be inconvenient. But when you think about the number of people that pay taxes, that are working hard every day, are trying to save money for their their kids education, then theres real this really means that hundreds of billions of dollars are being setaside for those people that already have. If we really want equity, if we really want fair play, why dont we take a look at the entire tax code. Why are we just looking about the estate tax, local and estate tax because equity is how much money are you raising and how much money do you need . Thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady madam speaker, to clarify, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 1105rk the death tax repeal act. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Brady proud to yield one minute to fourth generation farmer from indiana, mr. Stutzman. The speaker pro tempore gentleman from indiana is recognized for one minute. Mr. Stutzman i rise in support of h. R. 1105 the death tax repeal act. I want to thank chairman brady and chairman ryan for their leadership in addressing this issue thats so important for my district in indiana, and folks across the hoosier state. In indiana, under the leadership of mike pence, we officially repealed our states death tax in 2013. With this bill we can do the same thing on the federal level. As a fourth gep racial farmer, i see how familyowned businesses already struggle each year with a destructive mess that is our federal tax code. The death tax, which is a double tax on americans hard work, only adds to the problem. It stifles prosperity. And it prevents individuals and families from making the personal decisions they want to make with their savings and their property for generations to follow them. Madam speaker, its time to repeal the death tax. Only accounting for a fraction of a percent worth of annual revenue for the federal government, lets call it what it really s its a distorted attempt to redistribute the earnings of americas hard work. With that i strongly urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, Bipartisan Legislation. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Mcdermott madam speaker would you tell us the time left on each side. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington has 5 3 4 minutes. The gentleman from texas has 5 1 4 minutes. Mr. Mcdermott i yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, madam speaker. I appreciate the gentlemans courtesy in permitting me to speak on this. Its ironic, this week we have had hundreds and hundreds of businesspeople, folks from organized labor, contractors coming to town, pleading with congress to get its act together and enact a sixyear, comprehensive transportation bill. We have been frozen in place for years. 23 shortterm extensions because congress cant figure out how to provide the resources necessary to deal with a critical situation. Americas falling apart and falling behind. And yet we are caught here in inability to provide resources to help to rebuild and revitalize america. Thats part of the issue. Today my republican friends have discovered that theres 270 billion of revenue that somehow the federal government no longer needs. They have decided to give an additional tax cut to people who need the help the least. And ironically for all the talk about this being a death tax and double taxation, the vast majority of the wealth that will be untaxed has never been taxed in the first place. You dont get to be a billionaire on w2 income. Its appreciated capital. But we are going to in their judgment, give a windfall we have had this tax for over a century from a Republican Administration but we are going to turn our back on it because we no longer need 270 billion. While we continue to shortchange america. We are having Construction Projects stopped this summer because the shortterm fix for the transportation bill is going to expire. This is lunacy. Its not fair. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady madam speaker im proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from east texas, mr. Gohmert. The s