Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act--and the thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and police whose jobs it will preserve. Whether you look at this legislation from an economic recovery perspective, or a public safety perspective, or an educational opportunity perspective, it's simply the right thing to do.

The $16.1 billion in temporary Medicaid assistance to our states through June 30, 2011, will protect Medicaid participants and prevent the massive layoffs of first responders and other key personnel that would otherwise occur. And the bill's $10 billion education jobs fund will save at least 161,000 teachers' jobs--including an estimated 2,500 positions in my home state of Maryland--so that our children can continue to get the high quality education they deserve.

Madam Speaker, like many Americans, I was disappointed to hear the distinguished Minority Leader Mr. Boehner refer to our teachers, nurses, firefighters and police as ``special interests.'' They are not. They are public servants whose efforts we're going to need to educate our children and keep our communities safe. But as disappointing as that comment was, it tells you a lot about the differences between the two parties as we head into a very important election season.

Finally, Madam Speaker, the cost of keeping our teachers in the classroom instead of the unemployment line is fully paid for by closing tax loopholes that encourage big corporations to ship jobs overseas. Most taxpayers would understandably be outraged if they were told that in addition to paying their own taxes, they should also be required to pay taxes U.S. multinationals owe to foreign countries for income those companies earn offshore. But through a process called ``credit splitting,'' that's precisely what happens: U.S. multinationals are able to use foreign tax credits to reduce their U.S. tax liability, but in many cases never pay U.S. tax on the offshore income that generated those credits in the first place. As a result, U.S. taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the companies' foreign tax liability. Adding insult to injury, since this kind of burden-shifting isn't available for income earned inside the United States, our current rules actually encourage U.S. multinationals to invest their marginal dollar overseas.

We can and must do better. Vote ``yes'' for jobs at home and ``no'' to shipping jobs overseas.

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