Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, the bill we have before us today is the universal legislator's dilemma: the possible versus the perfect.

I rise in support of this legislation today. I stand with President Obama in support of this legislation today.

I rise to prevent 18 million Americans, including 8 million children, from falling deeper into poverty.

I rise to ensure that, during this special time of the year, nonprofits will continue their important work to improve the lives of millions of Americans through charitable activity.

I rise to unleash billions of dollars in economic development to rebuild, to rehab, and to refurbish our neighborhoods and our communities.

I rise to incentivize American innovation and the millions of jobs that it creates. At this bill's core is a modest progrowth jobs bill, one that, given the current headwinds of our economy, is sorely needed.

I have spent the better part of my career in Congress as a champion of the earned income tax credit and expanding it, as a champion of the child tax credit and expanding it, as a champion of the low-income housing tax credit and expanding it and the expansion of the New Markets Tax Credit Program, which my DNA clearly is on.

Taken together, these credits will go a long way to toward improving the lives of millions of Americans across the country in our typically overlooked communities.

This is not the easiest way to accomplish an end. We should be very critical of ourselves now for the backup manner in which we do these undertakings--voting on 12 legislative appropriations bills tomorrow wrapped into 1; tax policy that is done in this shape and manner.

I will also say something else that we need to remind ourselves of: the breakdown of the committee structure in Congress. What has happened to the procedures that we all use to vet controversial legislation? Amendments could be offered and people could speak their minds.

Today we are taking up issues that should have been vetted over the course of the last 3 years. I offer a gentle rebuke to my colleagues on the other side. Chairman Camp had the backbone to put out a decent piece of legislation. It didn't mean we were going to embrace it or endorse it, but it was a courageous act, and it was his own side that shot it down.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kendall Square has the highest concentration of research and development today in the world. Making the R&D tax credit permanent is going to enhance that opportunity. I have worked on the R&D credit and pushed for a more aggressive, predictable R&D credit through my entire years in this Congress.

This is not perfect, what we are doing today. It is far from it. But it represents a compromise or, as The New York Times called it, an acceptable compromise that is necessary to move the country forward.

Mr. Speaker, I urge its adoption.

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