Putting Profit Before Patriotism Must End

PUTTING PROFIT BEFORE PATRIOTISM MUST END -- (House of Representatives - June 03, 2004)

(Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, time and again companies like Accenture have abused loopholes in the Tax Code to shirk their duties to the United States. They incorporate on paper in countries like Bermuda for the express purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes. There is no justification in today's world for this shameful practice, none.

Accenture also outsources jobs. Now we learn that the Department of Homeland Security has given Accenture a record $10 billion contract, I assume with the blessing of this majority, which has done everything in its power to allow this practice to continue, including watering down a provision that I authored to prohibit these companies from contracting with the Department of Homeland Security. I remind my colleagues that this House passed that provision by a vote of 318 to 110, with the other body following suit.

So when I hear some actually defend this practice, I think, tell that to the families of those men and women who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tell them that their loved ones gave their lives defending the right of multinational corporations to cheat the American taxpayer, because that is what they are doing.

The time for putting profit before patriotism has passed. That is what these folks are doing. Rewarding companies who have abandoned our country with government contracts, as this administration is continuing to do, is not only unpatriotic, it is immoral. It should end.