To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the cover over of certain distilled spirits taxes.

Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in actual opposition to the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation, and I do so reluctantly, because I know of the significant amount of work by my friend from Missouri; by those, frankly, on both sides of the aisle to reach agreement; and my friends on Ways and Means.

There are important provisions in this legislation that are critical for job growth, for economic growth, and critical for the well-being of our country. There are numerous businesses I know in Texas and around this country that understand the importance of the expensing provisions, the interest provisions, and research and development.

However, unfortunately, as happens in this town, this legislation comes with provisions that the people I represent are tired of. They are provisions that would continue to expand the welfare state--as The Wall Street Journal editorialized about--by expanding the child tax credit in ways that will continue to fund people directly through refundable credits, which we find to be problematic, and we think undermines the kind of economic activity and incentive to work and incentive to produce value that we think is critically important for economic growth.

Importantly, that provision is also available to parents who are here in this country illegally with children born in the United States. We think that is a problem. We think that is not just allowing, essentially, birthright citizenship anchor babies, but funding it. That is a problem.

Now, my colleagues on this side of the aisle will rejoin that that was a product of the 2017 bill that was pushed by and passed by Republicans, including President Trump, to which I say: Right. So what? It is still wrong. It is still bad policy. We shouldn't do it, and we should not be perpetuating it now.

All through the eleventh hour last night, I worked hard trying to find a way to come up with a provision that might be palatable on both sides of the aisle, this side of the aisle, to find a way to say: Let's get that provision pulled off so we can move the pieces that will be good for economic growth and prosperity that I think has bipartisan support and clear support on this side of the aisle.

Unfortunately, we have not done that.

I am getting a lot of correspondence from people that I represent who are sick of the same old game in this town. They are sick of everyone saying that we are just going to keep doing the same thing, and that we are going to, in this case, again, continue to expand the welfare state in a way that entices people to come and benefit from the United States illegally at a time when we have a heightened level of illegal traffic into the United States: 300,000 people crossing the border in December, and millions who have crossed under this President. We are now, in the middle of that crisis, going to continue to fuel the fire.

I think that is a mistake. I think it is a mistake for the country. I think it is a mistake on policy. I think it is a mistake politically.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gaetz).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Massie).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Sanchez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the truth is, illegal immigrants are eligible for the CTC expansion because they can get an individual taxpayer identification number in lieu of a Social Security number.

In fact, in the USA Today, somebody who is a proponent of this actually opined and wrote in the USA Today, ``How the Child Tax Credit Could Lift Undocumented Immigrants out of Poverty.''

That is just the truth. It is what we actually did in 2017. I don't care if my colleagues on this side of the aisle think that is a good idea. I don't care if they are willing to weigh that against what they believe is good for the corporate changes to the law, but don't try to snow the American people. That is what we are doing.

But my colleagues on this side of the aisle will thump their chest about being so great on the border, and yet,

the border is wide open. There was still 300,000 pouring across in December.

Oh, what have we done? We had some votes, but we are still funding it. Here, we are not just funding it, we are juicing it. We are actually encouraging it. We are supplementing it. We are saying: Come on over here, have children, and get a tax credit.

How is that a policy that the American people want to support?

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, The Wall Street Journal editorial last week said about this bill:

``Up to $1,600 of the $2,000 credit is refundable, and the bipartisan bill would make $2,000 refundable by 2025.'' Now, in fairness, ``A $1,400 limit was tethered to inflation under the 2017 GOP tax law and is thus increasing over time anyway.''

The general point here is: ``But at least admit this is income redistribution, not `tax relief'. . . . '' It is income redistribution.

``Worse, the deal undermines the incentive to work in return for the credit. The current credit at least requires a small amount of income-- a mere $2,500--to begin to claim it. That means it gives low-income Americans an incentive to work more to earn more, which is good for them and their children.''

However, this would allow parents to ``rely on the prior year's income to trigger the credit for 2024 and 2025. Work one year--and earn benefits for two. The practical effect is to `cut the work requirement in half,' '' according to a report by the American Enterprise Institute.

The fact is the editorial closes: ``The business lobby wants the tax breaks.'' By the way, this is The Wall Street Journal editorial. ``The business lobby wants the tax breaks, and some Democrats in Congress want them as well. But those policies ought to stand or fall on their merits, not on a political trade that will do more harm than good.''

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains.

Mr. Speaker, I reiterate my appreciation to my friend, the chairman, and all those who worked on this bill in the Ways and Means Committee.

There are a lot of good provisions in this bill, many of which I support. There are good provisions in there to help economic growth-- the expensing provisions, interest, R&D--but I have serious reservations. The fact of the matter is for all those watching at home, to my constituents, this bill does not fix the problem that allows illegal aliens who have children who were born in the United States to claim the tax credit. It takes the problem we have with so-called birthright citizenship and anchor babies and doubles down on it, makes it worse. That was a mistake in 2017. We should rectify that mistake.

However, worse, it goes on and expands the credit.

Mr. Speaker, 91\1/2\ percent of the relief in this bill are cash welfare payments to families that pay no Federal income taxes. It provides a total of just $2.8 billion to working families that pay taxes over 3 years. The fact is, the credit does expand, and it gets to be refundable to the full tune of $2,000 by 2025.

These provisions undermine the benefits that we are trying to provide for economic growth which, I might add, are only a 2-year extension. It puts all of this in one big basket in 2025, taking away any leverage we are going to have by giving the other side what they want on the child tax credit.

The fact of the matter is, we should not be supporting this bill. We should be doing what we said we would do when we got into power: We should secure the border of the United States, we should cut spending, and we should honor what we campaigned on in this body.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7024) to make improvements to the child tax credit, to provide tax incentives to promote economic growth, to provide special rules for the taxation of certain residents of Taiwan with income from sources within the United States, to provide tax relief with respect to certain Federal disasters, to make improvements to the low-income housing tax credit, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act is pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-American.

The legislation locks in $600 billion in pro-growth tax policies by restoring three key provisions from President Trump's successful 2017 tax reform that have a proven record of creating millions of jobs, raising workers' wages, and sparking more investment and economic growth right here at home.

This bill restores full R&D expensing, interest deductibility, and 100 percent expensing. Each of these policies will help American businesses grow, create jobs, and sharpen their competitive advantage against China.

This will create over $70 billion in new R&D investment and over 900,000 new jobs, increase small business investment by $400 billion, and generate $58 billion in additional take-home pay for American workers.

Today, America's small businesses are being pummeled by high prices and interest rates. This package raises the expensing cap for small businesses beyond the limit set in the 2017 tax reform, and it cuts paperwork for those small businesses by updating the IRS form, last changed when Eisenhower was President.

This bill is not only helping businesses here at home, but this tax relief package also ensures America is standing with our key economic partner, Taiwan, by ending double taxation on American workers and businesses operating in both countries.

The child tax credit provisions reflect the same structure established by the 2017 tax reform. We maintain work requirements while enhancing the benefit to support families crushed by today's inflation and remove the penalty for families with multiple children. It is both pro-worker and pro-family.

The reforms include meaningful tax relief for those affected by natural and manmade disasters and encourage more construction of safe, affordable housing.

At the end of the day, we are replacing bad tax policy with good tax policy by cutting off funding for the employee retention tax credit, a COVID-era program that costs six times its original amount and is so riddled with fraud that the IRS put it on its Dirty Dozen list of the worst scams in America. This will save America taxpayers over $75 billion.

There is a reason that over 450 groups, representing Americans from all walks of life, support this legislation. That includes job creators, those supporting workers and families, and those defending the right to life. It is a strong, commonsense, bipartisan step forward in providing urgent tax relief for working families and small businesses.

Parents and Main Street communities across this country will see lower taxes, more opportunity, and greater financial security after we pass this legislation.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that debate on the pending motion be extended by 20 minutes, to be controlled by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), who is the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Ferguson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Van Duyne).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes), who has led the legislation on research and development.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Steube), the author of the disaster tax language.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer).

Mr. Speaker, this legislation strengthens our workforce.

There is a report from experts at the Joint Committee on Taxation which confirms that the child tax credit changes will have a net positive effect on jobs and workforce participation can be found in the following location: https://www.jct.gov/getattachment/dce63c47-9b1d- 4f10-8a55-2471681f7685/x-6-24.pdf

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Malliotakis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a letter signed by a dozen pro-life organizations, including Concerned Women for America, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and the Eagle Forum in support of this legislation and its important profamily and prowork provisions.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I confirm for my colleagues that this bill preserves existing safeguards of the child tax credit and does not open the door for illegal immigrants to claim the credit. No other tax credit or deduction can match the child tax credit's protections from improper claims combined with safeguards against payments to non-U.S. citizens.

Mr. Speaker, this is a win for millions of small businesses, a win for millions of working families. This is a win for America. I urge the body to support this great piece of legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I join in support of H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, being considered in the House today. This bipartisan bill, championed by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith and Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, improves existing pro-growth tax policies to support America's families, strengthen our economy, and boost innovation by helping U.S. companies compete against China.

One of the main provisions in this bill is the Child Tax Credit, which benefits more than 250,000 families in Puerto Rico. A study made by the Youth Development Institute (Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud), a non-profit organization focused in reducing child poverty on the island, found, youth poverty may have declined from 55 to 39 percent in 2021 when eligibility for the Child Tax Credit was expanded to residents of Puerto Rico with one or two qualifying children. Previously this tax benefit only applied to three or more qualifying children. I am proud that my legislation recognizing the need to include families with one or two children was adopted, and families can claim this credit in the same manner as families in the rest of the country.

From hurricanes to earthquakes. Puerto Rico has suffered several natural disasters over the last few years. The support we have received from Congress and federal agencies has been instrumental in our recovery. As such, I sympathize with my colleagues who have been afflicted by recent disasters and support the tax provisions that are presented on this bill that would bring much needed relief to communities across the country.

I am encouraged by the bipartisan and bicameral work that produced this bill, and I strongly encourage my colleagues on the House and Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee to continue working on expired tax provisions, including the Rum Excise Tax Cover-Over.

Earlier this Congress, I reintroduced H.R. 3146, bipartisan and bicameral legislation that would modify the amount of money transferred to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from the excise taxes collected on rum that is produced in or imported into the rest of the United States, known as ``rum cover-over.'' It is used to support critical services such as healthcare and education, as well as agricultural and conservation efforts.

I was proud when Congress last approved my bill to extend the rum cover over for five years as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. However, that increased rate of the rum cover over expired at the end of December 2021 and has yet to be renewed, resulting in continued uncertainty, and negatively impacting the economies of both jurisdictions.

Puerto Rico's rum industry is one of the major drivers of the island's economy, producing more than 70 percent of the rum that is consumed in the U.S. and 80 percent of the rum consumed around the world.

With that in mind is that Congress created the rum cover over program in 1917 and has continued to be part of tax extenders legislation since. I encourage my colleagues to include my bill in any forthcoming tax legislation,

Mr. Speaker, I object.

To the extent that this is a tax bill, there are good provisions in it on business expensing for economic growth. Nonetheless, Mr. Speaker, this is not a tax bill. This is a welfare bill masquerading as a tax bill. The Wall Street Journal was correct to identify the ways in which this legislation vastly expands the welfare state.

This is how the bipartisan agreement came together: If the Republicans were willing to give the Democrats what they wanted for illegal aliens to get massive subsidies and welfare, then the Democrats were willing to give the Republicans what they wanted on a bunch of business welfare.

The child tax credit, as currently contemplated, will be a massive pull factor to bring people into this country illegally, and we could have, as the majority party, demanded constraints to stop them from being able to use the money that way. Nevertheless, bipartisanship was more important than good policy.

As my friend from Kentucky (Mr. Massie) noted recently, Mr. Speaker, if you aren't paying taxes and you get a refundable tax credit in the form of a check, that is not a tax cut. That is not even tax policy. That is just welfare. That is just giving people money who didn't initially pay it in, and a bunch of them are here illegally.

It is not just a welfare bill in that respect. It is also corporate welfare. Indeed, these tax credits they have put in there are so targeted, they are bought and paid for by the lobbyists who fund their campaigns and give them donations, and it is entirely wrong. We should have a flat tax code.

The R&D tax credits they are putting in are deeply misguided. They continue to distort the economy, and, frankly, it is just another flavor of a lot of the Green New Deal tax credits that you act like you are against, but, indeed, Mr. Speaker, that is not the case.

This is not a tax bill. It is a welfare bill in drag, and that may be appealing to some of the proponents.

Mr. Speaker, if my characterization of the child tax credit is intellectually dishonest, then I would love to hear the warrant behind that claim because none of my colleagues can state how a huge sum of this money is not going to end up in the hands of illegal immigrants.

When it comes to evaluating that context in the era of Trump versus the era of Biden, it is somewhat embarrassing that I would have to remind a Republican colleague that it is the Biden administration that has let in 10 million additional people which vastly blows out the cost of this particular endeavor.

Under Trump, we didn't have an open border, so there was less of a concern about drawing more people here illegally to this child tax credit.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me the time. I appreciate it.

Mr. Speaker, here we are again where the minority party isn't even using their time to oppose the bill put forward by the majority.

Just 2 weeks ago, the last major piece of legislation that we passed by suspension of the rules, the Democrat minority party voted for it 207-2. It will be interesting tonight to see how many Democrats vote for this and how many Republicans vote for it.

I am against this because of the suspension of the rules, the process that we are using. I am against it because the expansion of the welfare state. I am against it because we are not correcting the fact that illegals can have access to the child tax credit.

I have never done this on the House floor before, but I am going to read what someone else wrote about this bill.

This is from Kevin Roberts with Heritage Foundation. I commend them for what they said: ``Although, the bill claims that its aim is to provide `tax relief' to families with children, it contains very little relief for working families. Instead, nearly 91.5 percent of the `family benefits' in this bill are cash welfare payments to families who pay no Federal income taxes.

. . . the bill provides $30.6 billion in new welfare cash payments. If these new cash welfare benefits were extended over 10 years (which is very likely) the total cost would exceed $140 billion.''

The Ways and Means bill moves toward fulfilling President Biden's aims. The bill embraces the premise and goals of Biden's plan to greatly increase cash welfare payments, predominantly for single parents while weakening the already poorest work requirements.

This bill obviously sets the ground for a future compromise that would fully enact the Biden child allowance program. Overall, this portion of the Ways and Means bill represents an enormous political victory for President Biden.

Under current law, illegal aliens who have children that were born in the U.S., and many do, can claim welfare payments from the additional child tax credit. The Ways and Means bill expands these welfare payments for millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally and for millions more entering in the future. The bill weakens welfare work requirements and continues a longstanding push by Congress to dress up welfare benefits as tax relief.