Conference Report on H.R. 4520, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4520, AMERICAN JOBS CREATION ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - October 07, 2004)
Mr. REYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 830 and ask for its immediate consideration.
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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I thank him for his great leadership on issues of importance to middle income Americans. The gentleman tried very hard to correct this problem in a way that would not decrease the deficit and would increase jobs in America but, unfortunately, that approach was rejected. I wish that we had a chance to vote on it today.
Mr. Speaker, in commending the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) for his excellent work on so many issues emerging from this committee, I deeply regret that we would not have the opportunity to take the approach he took, which the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) shared with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane) for a long time.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), the chairman of the committee, gave the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane) a dubious distinction by saying he did yeoman duties in bringing this bill to the floor, but this is a terrible bill for working families in America.
Please do not paint him with that brush. He really did try; but, unfortunately, he succumbed to the bad bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this deeply flawed bill, and I thank the ranking member again for his steadfast leadership on behalf of our manufacturing sector.
This conference report is yet another example of the stark differences between Republican and Democratic priorities. We are faced with a simple problem caused by your trade sanctions, but Republicans are using a $4 billion trade issue to pry open the door wide for special interests. This is a blatant example of corporate welfare, full of pork for the special interest. This is not, just as the expression goes, this little piggie goes to market. This is the whole hog lot goes to the public trough. The oinking is so loud the Republicans cannot even think straight.
If you listen closely you can hear those hogs oinking. Can you hear them?
That may be why at every step of this process Republicans have consistently made decisions that are against the interests of middle-income Americans.
The difference between the parties is clear. In our New Partnership for America's Future, Democrats pledge to create new jobs here in America. But Republicans under this bill are exporting jobs overseas. For more on the subject, I will follow the lead of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and say please visit HouseDemocrats.gov for more on the New Partnership for America's Future.
Can you believe this? In the past 3 years nearly half a million jobs have been shipped overseas. But instead of working to stop this hemorrhaging, this Republican bill tonight has in it tax incentives to export American jobs. Think about it. You are a U.S. taxpayer in a job. They are using your tax dollars to export your job overseas. In fact, as businesses around the country are hit with 12 percent tariffs on more than 1,600 products, Republicans have been holding this bill hostage so they could include 24 extraneous provisions that will create jobs overseas rather than here at home.
No, Mr. Speaker, our distinguished whip and I in criticizing this bill are not saying that the problem should not be corrected. We said it should be done right, not at the expense of middle-income Americans, not at the expense of increasing our deficit.
This bill includes a whopping $42 billion in tax cuts for the foreign operations of U.S. multinationals. We all recognize the importance of multinationals to our economy, but we must face the facts. Many of those very same corporations pay no income tax whatsoever. Many of the multinational corporations getting tax breaks in this bill, pay no income tax whatsoever. And from 2001 to 2003, Federal corporate tax collections fell to their lowest sustained level in 6 decades, in 6 decades.
Democrats led by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) pursued a bipartisan bill that was tailored to create good-paying jobs in the U.S. without sacrificing our long-term fiscal health.
The difference is clear. In our Partnership for America's Future, Democrats have made a commitment to fiscal responsibility and the gentleman from California's (Mr. George Miller) pay-as-you-go. Republicans chose in this bill to spend as they please and then hide the true costs of their bill with expensive gimmicks. A convoluted combination of phase-in, sunset dates, changes in scoring rules mask the true cost of the bill and how it will constrict our choices in the future.
This conference report is being touted as revenue neutral. But, in fact, it will cost nearly $80 billion over the next decade. The difference is clear. In our New Partnership for America's Future, Democrats put forth an agenda to support manufacturers and small businesses. In this bill, Republicans choose to give handouts to special interests. Please again visit us on HouseDemocrats.gov.
Our manufacturing sector is struggling to stay competitive in global markets. The erosion of our manufacturing base is cause for serious concern in our country, but not in the Republican Party. Under the Bush administration, we have lost nearly 2.7 million manufacturing jobs. Despite this depressing fact, this conference report stripped language that would have given bigger tax cuts to companies that manufacture more of their goods in the U.S.
That was one of the gentleman from California's (Mr. Rangel) provisions. They stripped from the bill a provision that would have given tax incentives to companies that manufacture more of their goods in the United States. The conference report also has broadly expanded the definition of manufacturing to include activities wholly unrelated to the manufacturing of goods and products.
Now, listen to this: the bill is riddled with special interest giveaways including suspension of customs duties on ceiling fans and steam generators, tax deductions on bows and arrows, fishing tackle boxes and sonar devices, as well as tax incentives for other specialized industries. Even the Bush administration's Treasury Secretary has criticized the Republican FSC/ETI bill as including a myriad of special interest tax provisions that benefit few taxpayers and increase the complexity of the Tax Code.
How is that for an indictment? The choices that Republicans are making are clear, and it is clear that they are the wrong choices. The same Republicans who today will find enough money for their special interest giveaways have not found the funding to secure loose nuclear materials to protect the American people. They have shortchanged veterans health care by $1.3 billion. They have underfunded No Child Left Behind by about $9 billion every year, 9.4 billion this year; and they have broken their promises on Pell grants.
They have defeated a $1,500 bonus for our brave men and women in uniform returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, 213 to 213. Every Republican who voted against that bonus is responsible for its defeat because it failed by one vote.
I urge my colleagues to make the right choice and defeat this job-exporting, budget-busting, special interest handout.
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