Bonus Depreciation Modified and Made Permanent
Floor Speech
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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I have in my hand a copy of the Budget Act of 1974. If you look at section 311, it is entitled, ``Enforcement of Budget Aggregates.''
The bill before us, Mr. Speaker, violates that section of the Budget Act because it cuts the revenues below the levels that were set forth in the Republican budget that was passed on this House floor with much fanfare on May 15. The bill before us does not keep the revenues at those levels.
I would like, Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of this point of order, to point out that on May 15 of this year Chairman Ryan, chairman of the Budget Committee, filed a statement in the Congressional Record reporting the current revenue level for fiscal year 2015 and the remainder of the budget window.
And this is what he said when he filed that. This is, Mr. Speaker, in the Record of May 15, page H4428. This is what Mr. Ryan said:
``This comparison is needed to implement section 311(a) of the Budget Act, which creates a point of order against measures that would breach the budget resolution's aggregate levels.''
This piece of legislation, Mr. Speaker, as you can see, clearly violates that provision of the statute of section 311(a) of the Budget Act because it increases the deficit to the taxpayer by $287 billion above what was cited in the budget resolution adopted by this House. It is a clear breach of the rule.
So, Mr. Speaker, I ask that the point of order be sustained and that the House Republicans have to live up to their own budget resolution which, as I say, they passed with much fanfare not that long ago.
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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, further on the point of order, the gentleman from Michigan clearly wasn't addressing any of the issues raised in the point of order.
I would ask the gentleman about section 311(a) of the Budget Act, which is what this point of order is based on. Let's talk about the point of order.
The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee voted for the House Budget Act. He voted for it, and now he is bringing to the floor of the House a provision that violates the same Budget Act that that budget was passed pursuant to.
So, Mr. Speaker, let's continue to focus on this point of order because
what we have here is a situation where Republicans came to this House floor not long ago, passed that budget, and are now here on the floor today with another bill that violates the Budget Act's section 311(a).
So I would like a ruling on the point of order.
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