Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1994.

I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Neal, my friend Ron Kind, and all of the good folks and committee staff for their hard work on this bill.

The 2017 Republican tax law was passed despite being littered with errors, unintended consequences, and just straight-up bad ideas.

One of the most unjustifiable and immediately painful provisions of the bill was the unintended consequence of this change to the kiddie tax, which resulted in massive tax increases for the surviving children of servicemembers, first responders, as well as for scholarship recipients and other minors. The SECURE Act repeals that provision.

These populations deserve our sympathy and support. I can only hope that this was a stunning oversight.

Since the harms of this provision came to light during tax filings, many Members, including myself, heard from constituents whose families were subject to these unjust and shocking bills.

Several bills have been introduced to address these tax issues for various impacted groups, including my bill, H.R. 2840, which exempted the survivors of first responders. It is a strong, positive bill, and I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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