“What his substitute will do will cover 99.6 percent of all estates in America. It is reasonable, he would like to have paid for it -- but we were told that it was against the rules of the House to pay for it by closing corporate tax shelters. It’s against the rules of the House to eliminate corporate tax shelters. But his proposal, as he presented it, was fiscally sound and paid for, reasonable, and covered 99.6 percent of America’s estates.
Honor Our Oaths of Office
“Mr. Speaker, every one of us in this body -- and we know this and are reminded of it on a daily basis -- takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States every time we are sworn into a new term.
“In the Preamble to the Constitution, it says that our first responsibilities are to provide for the common defense, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. Let’s look at that in light of what is happening on the House floor today.
“The Republicans are bringing a continuation of their reckless tax-cutting binge that they are on, to undermine the fiscal soundness of our country. They do it on a weekly basis, without any sense of what it does to plunge our children into indebtedness rather than investing in their future. And here they are again today.
“Provide for the common defense. Those men and women in uniform who provide for the common defense deserve for us to make a future worthy of their potential sacrifice. That future must be one that is better for everyone in America.
“Those who have provided for our common defense -- some of whom of an earlier generation -- have been called the ‘Greatest Generation.’ And yet, a tax cut of this nature that is on the floor today will benefit fewer than 10,000 estates in our country. And for that cost we could give 100 percent of Americans a prescription drug benefit. Those members of the Greatest Generation would benefit from that. Instead, we have again, another piece to the reckless binge that the Republicans are on. Pretty soon, the country will tilt from the imbalance of all of this recklessness.
“Secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity -- every child in America is an heir to that legacy, is part of that posterity. And instead of investing in their future -- and in fact what we could have done earlier this week, we could do any minute here, to give them an expansion of the child tax credit -- instead we are plunging them into debt, again, rather than investing in their future.
Republicans Unraveling Our Social Compact
“The Republicans’ intentions are clear. They want to unravel the social compact that we have with the American people. The role of government -- to educate the public, to invest in our infrastructure, to protect the American people, to reward our senior citizens who have built our country. Instead, and they speak of it with great arrogance now, they’re proud of the shrinking of government that they have as part of their design, and critical to it is to reduce the tax base. To reduce the tax base.
“Some of these people that have talked about previous tax cuts will be paying -- those who have unearned income, whose income is dividend income -- will not pay any taxes on the dividend, and now they won’t pay any taxes on the estate. Now, I’m talking about all of those people above $6 million for a couple, $3 million for an individual estate.
“One of the values that the American people hold dear is the value of fairness. We are a country of fairness. How could it be fair to say that we are going to give the wealthiest 10,000 families in America a bonanza, instead of giving every senior citizen in America a prescription drug benefit?
“How could it be a sense of fairness to say to the children of the wealthiest families in America: ‘We’re concerned about your posterity, you are heirs and heiresses,’ but ignore the fact that every child in America, as I’ve said before, is an heir and heiress to the great legacy that is our great country, a country of opportunity. Opportunity that will be diminished by these tax cuts.
“So we have to look at all of this as one. In the same week, within a matter of days, that we have deprived the children of minimum wage earners of the expansion of the child tax credit, which they could have in a matter of weeks, if the Republicans in the House would act responsibly. In the same week that we over and over again honor our men and women in uniform, which they deserve, we bring dishonor to them by saying their children, 250,000 of them, are not worthy of the child tax credit.
“At the same time as we do all of this, we are not building a future worthy of the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. We are not honoring our oath of office to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity and children, to promote the general welfare. Where is that in the vision of this bill? Except that it’s another part of the reckless binge that the Republicans are on of fiscal unsoundness that has been a failure for the first two and a half years -- losing 3.1 million jobs -- and now they want to heap more onto it.
Republicans Helping 10,000 Estates at the Expense of So Much Else
“So, that’s why I’m so pleased that our colleague, Mr. Pomeroy, took the lead on this. His standing on issues relating to America’s family farmers is impeccable. He has been their champion in issues relating to economic security, education, rural education, rural health, rural housing, and rural transportation, in every possible way. He brings great credibility to this debate for his concern for the people that he represents with such dignity. And he gives this body an opportunity to immediately give tax relief to estates of $3 million for an individual, or $6 million for a couple, instead of squandering our children’s future for the top 10,000 or fewer estates in our country at the expense of so much else.
“The tradeoffs are appalling. We have a responsibility in this body. We are elected for a reason. We’re not here just to give tax cuts that don’t create jobs, that do not grow the economy, and are not fair and plunge us into debt.
“I urge my colleagues to honor your oaths of office. I urge you to do the responsible thing. I urge you to vote yes on the Pomeroy substitute. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”
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