Supporting The Goals And Ideals Of National Engineers Week
Floor Speech
SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK -- (House of Representatives - February[[ 11, 2009)
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Mr. FLEMING. From my neck of the woods, north Louisiana, we have quite a number of engineers. And right now I'm very concerned about engineers because of our current economic situation. President Obama just mentioned that his stimulus bill is better than no bill at all. However, I have to point out that we Republicans have submitted H.R. 470, which is a far better version and far more stimulative. We talk in increments of billions and trillions of dollars, $1 billion here, $100 million there. But I want to put a real face on the stimulus bill. A few days ago, we were contacted by Michael Moss, a constituent. He is a small business owner in Shreveport, Louisiana. Michael is 51. He owns a financial services business that has been operating in our community for over 30 years. Michael called and asked, where is the bailout for his small business? Everybody else is getting a bailout. He employs six hardworking Louisianans. And they work themselves to death. Also he employs elderly parents who rely on him or his business for their income. Michael doesn't own a jet plane. Yet he gets no bailout. He owns a used Ford Explorer instead. He doesn't own a home. He merely rents one. But he is still working his small business. He discussed the stimulus package. And what he is saying is, look, the small businesses are creating the jobs and need the help. Small businesses create jobs so families have stable incomes in order to go out and spend. He suggests, and I agree with him, that we need to expedite depreciation schedules, eliminate capital gains tax and eliminate payroll deductions immediately. Remember that we make plans based on what we expect our tax situation to be, especially my fellow business owners. We know that the tax returns are going to be there, and we go ahead and plan to spend the money.
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