Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am honored to stand before you today to pay tribute to the life and service of a true American hero, First Sergeant P. Andrew McKenna, by naming the Bristol Post Office in his honor.

A native of Bristol, Rhode Island, Sergeant McKenna dedicated 17 years of his life to serve and protect our country in the United States Army.

Born in 1980 to his mother, Carol, and father, Peter, Sergeant McKenna knew at the age of 5 years old that he wanted to be a soldier, and by the age of 7 that he wanted to serve the Nation as a Green Beret. His family and close childhood friends recall him wearing camouflage-patterned clothes almost every day.

Sergeant McKenna attended Mount Hope High School in Bristol, graduating in the spring of 1998. Upon graduation, he immediately enlisted in the Army as an infantryman.

After just 3 years, he went to selection for the Green Berets. He completed the grueling Special Forces Qualification Course in 2003, achieving his lifelong dream to be a part of the military's most elite.

Sergeant McKenna was then assigned to the First Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. He went on to serve one tour of duty in Iraq and five more tours in Afghanistan.

During his first tour in Afghanistan, from 2004 to 2005, First Sergeant McKenna was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor for his tremendous courage under fierce enemy fire during a mission that resulted in the death of a senior Taliban official. He would then go

on to earn 18 military awards, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Army Achievement Medal.

First Sergeant McKenna is remembered at each of his duty stations for his intense work ethic, strong attention to detail, commitment to excellence, quick sense of humor, and infectious smile. To this day, former team leaders and fellow servicemembers praise his motivation, leadership, and ability to bring out the best in the people around him.

Of the countless stories I could tell that exemplify these values in Sergeant McKenna, there is one that stands out.

In 2011, Master Sergeant Chris Corbin, a fellow Green Beret, was forced to undergo a double amputation on both legs after stepping on a hidden IED in Afghanistan. During a months-long recovery process at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, First Sergeant McKenna would make the 5-hour drive from Fort Bragg, located in North Carolina, to visit Master Sergeant Corbin, sometimes spending multiple days or even weeks at his bedside. Master Sergeant Corbin would later go on to credit Sergeant McKenna's reliability and motivation for getting him through his recovery.

This same selfless devotion to his fellow servicemembers was, of course, not a first for Sergeant McKenna, and it would not be his last in a decorated life that was ended far too soon.

He was stationed at Camp Integrity in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August of 2015 when Taliban soldiers exploded a car bomb outside the gates of the compound in the middle of the night. Four heavily armed insurgents opened fire on security contractors guarding the Special Forces complex, killing eight guards and breaching the facility. Sergeant McKenna was messaging with his mother at the time, and her last message to her son went unanswered.

After hearing an explosion and gunshots, he immediately grabbed his weapon and proceeded to engage the enemy alongside fellow Green Beret, Master Sergeant George Vera.

During the ensuing firefight, First Sergeant McKenna lost his life and Master Sergeant Vera suffered critical wounds to his spine, kidney, liver, and leg.

Their decision to charge into the fight without hesitation and regard for their own safety likely prevented the deaths of many, many soldiers stationed at that base.

First Sergeant McKenna's bravery and his ultimate sacrifice allowed supporting personnel to eliminate the Taliban attack and secure the complex.

First Sergeant McKenna was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for Valor in Combat, the Nation's third highest decoration for valor, for his courageous and lifesaving actions.

He was fearless. He was heroic. He represented the very highest examples of service, duty, and sacrifice throughout his career and on this fateful day. However, in the words of his friend, Master Sergeant Corbin: ``That's just Drew. There's dozens of times he's done stuff like that.''

First Sergeant McKenna was laid to rest in St. Mary's Cemetery in Bristol next to his brother, Patrick, who passed away in 2005.

He is survived by his mother and father, whom I had the honor of hosting for President Obama's final State of the Union Address.

The First Sergeant P. Andrew McKenna, Jr., Memorial Scholarship Fund, set up in his memory, awards $6,000 in scholarships every year to Rhode Island high school students planning to attend college or serve in the Armed Forces.

Andrew McKenna was a true American hero who embodied the very best of Rhode Island values.

His patriotism, loyalty, and sense of shared purpose were reflections of his strong character and the values he learned growing up in Bristol.

I consider myself fortunate to have met First Sergeant McKenna in 2015 at the Bristol Fourth of July parade and for my continued relationship with his wonderful family.

I am proud to lead the effort here in Congress to honor First Sergeant McKenna's legacy that means so much to his family, his friends, the town of Bristol, and the State of Rhode Island.

Mr. Speaker, I extend my gratitude to Chairman Gowdy and Ranking Member Cummings for their support of this bill, as well as my good friend and cosponsor of this bill, Congressman Jim Langevin.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their courtesy and urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, the President and our Republican colleagues are at it again, promoting economic policies that enrich the wealthy and the biggest corporations in our country. That will hurt middle class families. We saw it in the tax scam. We see it in the President's budget. And now we even see it in the infrastructure proposal.

President Trump proposes a $200 billion infrastructure plan that will raise fees and tolls on commuters, burden cities and States and ask others to fill the funding gap, sells off infrastructure to Wall Street and private companies, and ends vital worker and environmental protections.

The Democrats have proposed a better deal: a $1 trillion investment, five times the President's plan, to really rebuild America. It will create 6 million good-paying jobs. It will deliver lower prices and better choices for consumers. It safeguards clean air and clean water and worker protection. It builds more resilient infrastructure to withstand climate change and ensures products are built with American materials.

There is a real contrast here between what the President has proposed, which is basically to shift the burden to cities and States and for the Federal Government to abandon its responsibility to help rebuild our country.

The Democrats have a better deal than this raw deal. It is a deal to rebuild our country to create 16 million good-paying jobs to make sure the Federal Government remains a real partner in rebuilding America.

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the gentleman for yielding and for his many years of extraordinary leadership on not only Make It In America, but on the urgency of rebuilding the infrastructure of our country.

Tonight, I think the American people can see these two things really intersect, because what Democrats have proposed is for the Federal Government to be a real partner again in rebuilding our country, something that cities and States just can't do on their own.

The Federal Government has to play a real role, and we have put together a framework for a $1 trillion investment in rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our ports, our transit systems, our schools, and making the investments that will create 16 million good-paying jobs and will create a platform to grow our economy, address urgent needs.

You know, America used to lead the world, was the envy of the world in our infrastructure. That is no longer the case. We are now behind countries like the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, according to the World Economic Forum.

As Mr. Garamendi put up there, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives us a failing grade on America's infrastructure. An estimated 56,000 of America's bridges are structurally deficient. One out of every 5 miles of highway pavement in our country is in poor condition.

But, of course, we don't need those report cards. We don't need these reports to tell us. The American people experience it every day: being stuck in traffic, having disruptions in their rail service, having repairs to their cars. Our constituents feel it every day; and that is why it is so disappointing that the President has been unwilling to work with Democrats in a bipartisan way to craft an infrastructure plan that will actually rebuild the country, create good-paying jobs, make us the envy of the world again.

Instead, he puts forth this sort of bait-and-switch. First of all, it is a $200 billion investment. Our plan is five times that. And then he says: Oh, it is really $1.7 million. Why? Because his friends are going to privatize public infrastructure and create tolls and higher costs for users.

That is not what infrastructure is. Infrastructure is a public investment. The Federal Government plays a role.

And then he proposes a budget that makes deep cuts in transportation--actually, almost as much as he proposed spending. So it is like, I am willing to invest zero in infrastructure is basically what the President is saying.

We need a real infrastructure plan. As Mr. Garamendi said, we put forth a better deal to rebuild America, a real investment of infrastructure that will also protect environmental standards, worker rights, create good-paying jobs.

Instead, what the President proposed, after all this fanfare, is a proposal one-fifth the size, while, at the same time, he is making deep cuts in infrastructure programs and shreds environmental protections, shreds worker rights.

We, of course, put in our plan ways to accelerate so these things can move forward, but it has got to be done in a way that respects labor and environmental standards.

Mr. Garamendi has been here longer than I have. That is sort of sad. This was always a bipartisan issue. We could agree on the urgency, the necessity of rebuilding our country.

It should be about national priority.

We should all be committed to doing this. This is another flimflam. This proposal is basically to privatize public infrastructure, make big corporations and wealth investors rich and let working class and middle class folks pay for it.

It is the same thing we saw in the tax bill, the same thing we saw in the

budget. It is very disappointing, and I am hoping the President will study the Democratic framework and work with us to actually invest in and rebuild our country in a way that we can all be proud of.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that the President proposed and the Republicans passed a tax scam that rewarded the wealthiest people in this country and the biggest corporations. Eighty-three percent of that tax cut went to the top 1 percent.

It created a debt of $1.5 trillion plus interest--over $2 trillion-- for the next generation. Can you imagine if, instead of a giveaway to people who didn't need it, that money were invested in rebuilding our country? You could create 16 million good-paying jobs. You could create an incredible power for our economy so we can move goods and services and information to rebuild the economy.

But then you think about the willingness to give away that amount of money to the top 1 percent, 83 percent of the tax cut, if, instead, you had invested it in this urgent priority that impacts the daily lives of every single American, what a difference it would have made.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) for the many, many years that he has worked on this issue and underscoring every week the importance of investing in products made in America, and now making sure that, as we rebuild America, that we focus on products and innovative materials that are made here in the USA.

Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, has debate concluded on the rule?

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 4872, the End the Shutdown Act of 2018, a continuing resolution through Tuesday that would immediately reopen the government while negotiations continue on a budget agreement that adheres to parity, reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program and other critical healthcare programs, addressing DREAMers, and providing assistance to Americans impacted by natural disasters.

Mr. Speaker, I am asking unanimous consent to bring this bill up to reopen the government. To all the claims my Republican colleagues just made about opening the government, here is their chance.

Mr. Speaker, I appeal the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. Speaker, this Friday, the Federal Government runs out of money. We owe the American people a long-term solution to keep the government open.

Democrats insist that this solution address the urgent issues facing the American people, those we represent. That means long-term funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program; funding for communities fighting the deadly opioid epidemic; funding for the VA Choice Program so that our heroic veterans get the care they need and deserve; passing the Dream Act; and providing additional disaster recovery funds for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas, Florida, and Colorado.

I urge my Republican colleagues to be sure that these issues are addressed in the continuing resolution. Work with the Democrats. Let's get this done for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill.

Supporters of this bill have called it reform. This is not reform. It is a massive expansion of the government's ability to pry into the private lives of innocent people. If you need proof, just look at the bill's section 702 which is supposed to authorize spying on foreign adversaries, but it has emboldened some in law enforcement to collect and read private communications of American citizens without a warrant.

Instead of curbing these practices, S. 139 would codify and expand some of the most abusive of surveillance practices used in recent years, including ``abouts'' collection and backdoor searches.

There is no more important responsibility that we have than keeping the American people safe, but we have to do it in a way that is consistent with our values and our Constitution. This bill undermines our values of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

I urge my colleagues to oppose S. 139 and to support the Amash- Lofgren amendment, which allows intelligence agencies to do their jobs without undermining our values as Americans. We can do both things, Mr. Speaker: keep the American people safe and honor and respect our Constitution, which protects the privacy of all American citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I urge defeat of this bill and support of the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, there is no greater responsibility that we have than the health and well-being of America's children. The Children's Health Insurance Program has been a huge success. In just a few weeks, funding for this program will run out in my home State of Rhode Island.

This is a program that has provided health insurance to 9 million children from working families in this country, 27,000 children and pregnant women in my home State of Rhode Island. It has always been a bipartisan issue. This program has been a huge success. It brought the rate of uninsured children down from almost 14 percent when the program began to 4\1/2\ percent today.

And why haven't we reauthorized this program yet that ensures the health and well-being of America's children?

We just passed--or the Republicans just passed--a $1.5 trillion tax cut for the richest people in this country, the biggest corporations, unpaid for. But we can't manage to find money to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program?

I urge the Republican leadership in this Chamber to bring a clean reauthorization bill to the floor so we can reauthorize this effective and important program and take care of America's children.

Mr. Speaker, with a little help from Dr. Seuss, I would like to share the story of how the Grinch stole middle class tax cuts:

Every middle class family wanted tax cuts a lot,

But the Grinch, who lived in a big white house, did not.

The Grinch hated middle class tax cuts, he wanted the whole

Tax Code uneven,

Now, please, don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason.

It could be his head was screwed on a bit wrong,

It could be his ties were 2 inches too long,

But I think that the most likely reason of all,

Was his heart, or his hands, were two sizes too small.

Whatever the reason, his heart or his ties,

He stood on Christmas Eve, planning workers' demise,

Staring out from his office with a sour, Grinchy frown,

At the workers' warm, lighted windows below in their town.

``Tomorrow is Christmas, it is practically here,''

He said from his office with a terrible sneer.

``Why, for 71 years I have put up with it now,

I must stop these middle class tax cuts. But how?''

Then he got an idea, an awful idea,

The Grinch got a terrible, awful idea.

``I know just what to do,'' the Grinch thought with a pause,

``With this coat and this hat, I look just like Santa

Claus.''

Then he loaded some empty bags on his plane,

And he took off to cause some mean Grinchy pain.

While working families dreamed of sweet tax cuts without

care,

The Grinch came to the first little house on the square.

``This is stop number one,'' the old Grinch Claus hissed,

And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.

Then he slid down the chimney, Santa suit all in place,

And he stuck his head out of the small fireplace,

Where the tax deductions all hung in a row,

``These deductions,'' he grinned, ``are the first things to

go.''

Personal exemptions, home equity interest, State and local

taxes, too,

``I'll take almost every deduction away from you.''

Then he slunk to the tax brackets--the corporate tax cuts

were huge,

Why, that Grinch even took the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

``And now,'' grinned the Grinch, with his sacks in a net,

``I'll stack the deficit with $1 trillion in debt.''

Then he heard a small sound, a child's soft cry,

``Why are you taking our deductions, Grinch? Why?''

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick,

That he thought up a fib, and he thought it up quick.

``Why, my sweet little tot,'' the Grinch said on the fly,

``I am here because corporate taxes are far too high.

``So I am taking most of your deductions away,

``To help corporations . . . and you get to pay.

``See, my dear child, there is no reason to frown,

``We will make them more wealthy, but it will all trickle

down.''

His fib fooled the child, then he patted her head,

And he got her a tax postcard, and he sent her to bed.

The Grinch took one last look at her sad little pup,

And he went to the chimney and shoved the deficit up.

Healthcare for 13 million was the last thing he took,

Then he slithered away without another look.

In their homes he left nothing but debt and despair,

While giving out handouts to corporations--the Grinch didn't

care.

And the one deduction that he extolled,

Was even too small for a single household.

He rode with his load of deductions for dumping,

``Pooh-pooh to the middle class,'' he said, gleefully

jumping.

``They're just waking up, I know just what they'll do,

``Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, and they'll

all cry, `boo-hoo.'

``That's a noise,'' grinned the Grinch, ``that I simply must

hear.''

So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.

And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.

It started to low. Then it started to grow.

He stared down aghast. The Grinch popped his eyes.

Then he shook. What he saw was a shocking surprise.

Every American, the tall and the small, loudly demanding tax

cuts for all.

We want our deductions and a better deal, not tax cuts for

corporations while you cut Meals on Wheels.

And the Grinch, with his small hands ice-cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling:

``How could it be so?

``Am I a fool?

``Are my policies all wrong?

``Without those deductions, can the Nation be strong?''

And he puzzled 3 hours until his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he had not tweeted

before:

``Maybe tax cuts should help more than just corporations.

``Maybe this Christmas I can help the whole Nation.

``America's middle class is what made it thrive.

``They need these deductions if they're to survive.''

We all know how the real story ends.

The Grinch finds his heart and he makes amends.

Now we know this tax bill won't end with such glee, because

the President and corporate lobbyists control the GOP.

This Christmas, families will get just coal in their

stocking.

Thanks to President Trump, the final result will be shocking.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I rise in strong hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will come to their senses and defeat this job-killing bill that will explode the deficit and hurt working people.

It is important to note 83 percent of the benefits of the cuts in this bill go to the top 1 percent; 86 million hardworking middle class families will actually see a tax increase. Of course, we need to reform our Tax Code, but we need to do it in a way that raises wages, produces good-paying jobs, and makes sure the people have a brighter future.

This does just the opposite. It ransacks Medicare and Medicaid. It creates an unsustainable burden for the next generation, and it is very, very important to recognize it is not going to create jobs. This is trickle-down economics. Let everyone at the top hold on to all of their money, and it will trickle down to the rest of us.

It doesn't work. This is a failed economic policy. This does not support strengthening the middle class. We need to defeat this bill and reform our Tax Code in a way that will really promote job growth, that will raise wages, that will ensure working families can get ahead. There are millions of Americans tonight who will go to bed worrying about how they are going to take care of their family; how they are going to make ends meet. This bill will make that problem worse. I urge my colleagues to defeat it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding.

I would like to begin by thanking Mr. Garamendi for his relentless and passionate voice on behalf of working people, not only of California, but this country. He comes to the floor regularly and organizes these Special Order hours to help bring attention to these very important issues, and I really thank him for the opportunity to be part of it.

I want to begin where he left off, and that is the process.

We just learned today that the tax scam that the Republicans jammed through the House has to come back for another vote because they made some mistakes and didn't comply with some Senate rules.

This is what happens when you don't have hearings, you don't have thoughtful deliberation, you don't listen to witnesses who can identify problems with the bill, and instead you just bring it to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, yes. Exactly. The bill will come back. So, hopefully, the American people will have another opportunity to make certain their voices are heard.

But this is not the way to do a complicated piece of legislation. The last time the Congress did tax reform, there were 400 witnesses, experts who came in, hearings month after month, because it is complicated. You want to make sure it works right. You are talking about the American economy.

None of that happened here. It was written in the dark of the night. Some of our Republican colleagues didn't see the text. This is not a way to do legislation, and it is one of the reasons that excluding the Democrats from contributing to this process was a terrible, terrible mistake.

What is the result?

We end up with a bill that does exactly the opposite of what it says it will do.

This is a job-killing bill. There is no more urgent priority that all of us have to create good-paying jobs, family supporting jobs. We Democrats have launched a very bold economic agenda that focuses on better jobs, better wages for a better future.

Millions of Americans will go to bed tonight and lie awake worried about whether or not they have enough money to pay their bills, whether they can put aside some savings for their retirement, whether they can send their kids to school.

All of those anxieties come from the fact they are not making enough money to make ends meet. They haven't seen an increase in their income in a very long time. What this tax bill does is make those problems worse. This will raise taxes on 86 million middle class families in this country.

They call it a tax cut. For those 86 middle class families, it is a tax increase. In fact, 83 percent of the tax cuts go to the top 1 percent, the very richest people in this country and the biggest corporations. It also makes more generous tax provisions that incentivize companies to ship American jobs oversees.

This is not a job creator. The idea that if we just let the people at the very top hold on to all their money, it is going to trickle down to the rest of us, is a job killer. We know that doesn't work. They tried during the Bush administration. We had the worst job loss in a generation.

It doesn't work because we all know the way you actually create jobs is you grow the middle class. You make sure folks have good-paying jobs, have more money in their pockets to buy the goods and services.

Go to any small business in my State of Rhode Island, and I am sure it is the same in the State of California, and ask a small-business owner: What do you need to add a job? What do you need to increase the number of people who work in your business?

They will say one thing: I need customers. I need people to buy what I make and sell.

That is why strengthening the middle class, raising the income of people in this country, is the way you grow the economy. This is just the opposite.

I was sickened when that bill passed the floor a few moments ago and I saw our Republican colleagues cheering and hooting and hollering like they were at a ball game. They put points on the board. They didn't put points on the board for the American people.

We are going to keep fighting for a tax reform bill that actually provides cuts to middle class families that will help to promote economic growth and create good-paying jobs.

We think the Tax Code is broken. We have always been willing to work together in a bipartisan way to make the Tax Code simpler, more competitive, and work for the American people.

That is not what the Republicans did. This is a giveaway to their donors. Some of our colleagues said it out loud: If we don't pass a tax cut, our donors told us to not call anymore. They actually said that out loud.

That is not how you write legislation. Let's not forget who sent us here and whom we should be working for.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for giving me an opportunity to contribute to the conversation tonight. This is a bill which will hurt Rhode Island, hurt this country, and hurt our economy.

Finally, it also will result in the gutting of Medicare and Medicaid. Everyone forgets this creates a $1.5 trillion debt which, by our rules, is going to result in automatic cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, student loan programs, block grants, vocational rehabilitation programs, and on and on and on.

They give away $1.5 trillion that we don't have. They borrow the money to give away the tax cuts, and then next year they come back and say: Oh, we have no money. We have to cut Medicare and cut Medicaid and cut Social Security and cut Pell grants and not rebuild the infrastructure of our country.

Our Republican colleagues have said this is part one. Part two will be these cuts. The American people know this, which is why this bill is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people. They see what the Republicans are up to. They are insulting the American people. They think they haven't figured this out. They are going to dangle a couple of dollars in front of them but then whack them with huge cuts next year.

The American people are smarter than this. The Republicans are going to be held accountable. We have to fight with every fiber in our body to stop this because it is really going to hurt people.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from California for not only organizing this evening's Special Order hour, but for his long-term advocacy for working people in this country and for his extraordinary advocacy for the people of the State of California.

As my colleague described what the Republicans are attempting to do in this tax proposal, it is very clear to me that this isn't tax reform. It is not a tax bill. It is a tax scam. It is a scam in that the American people are being sold a bill of goods.

All across this country tonight, there are millions of Americans who will go to sleep tonight worrying about whether or not they are going to be able to make it through the next week, whether they have enough to pay their bills, to take care of their family, to set aside a little for their retirement. The reason that they are worried about this is they are not making enough money.

So what the Republicans propose to do in this tax bill will make that problem worse. We have spoken over the last several months about an agenda that is really at the heart of this problem, that raises incomes for families, that reduces the costs in people's lives, and that ensures that they have the tools to be successful in the 21st century.

It is an agenda that really focuses on addressing the fundamental and economic anxiety facing millions of American families all across our country. We know it is because people are struggling. They are just not making enough money.

The same can't be said of the biggest corporations in this country, where we are seeing record profits, Wall Street through the roof. So people understand something is not working right in our economy. They are struggling. They haven't seen their wages go up for a very long time. America hasn't had a raise in a long time, yet corporate profits are through the roof and the stock market is through the roof, and people are saying: This isn't working.

So what we should be doing is investing in the creation of good- paying jobs that will result in better jobs, better wages, and a better future. But what this Republican proposal does is it relies on this old Republican theory of trickle-down economics: if we just let people at the very top have more money, it is going to trickle down to the rest of us and we will all benefit.

We know this doesn't work. We have seen time and time again this doesn't work. And part of the reason it doesn't work is because people at the top can only buy so much stuff. The way you really grow the economy is you grow the middle class. Make sure people have a job, have money in their pockets to buy the goods and services that business produces.

If you go to any small business in my State of Rhode Island and you ask small-business owners, ``What do you need to add an employee, to add jobs to your company,'' they will give you the same answer, ``I need customers. I need people to buy what I make and I sell.''

That is why growing the middle class and focusing on raising incomes of working people is actually how you create jobs. Those are the job creators: working people, the middle class of this country who are creating the demand that leads to job growth.

But what this tax scam does is it gives 67 percent of the tax cuts to the top 1 percent, huge benefits for the biggest corporations in this country, further incentivizes companies to ship American jobs overseas, and to realize profits from doing that. It cuts important deductions, in the House bill at least, for student loan interest, medical expenses, State and local taxes. It is going to raise taxes on 87 million Americans, middle class folks, working people.

In order to finance this tax cut for the richest people in this country and the biggest corporations that don't need it, the middle class and working people are going to pay for it and the next generation is going to be burdened with $1.5 trillion in debt over the next 10 years.

We are borrowing money to give tax cuts to big corporations, the wealthiest people in this country, and we are going to shoulder the next generation with that burden?

Shame on them.

So this conference committee is meeting and going to come up with some proposal that apparently is going to be pleasing to their donors.

We know in the Senate some of the donors had the provisions of the bill before Members of the Senate had them. They came out with handwritten notes in the margins because they were so desperate to get this done for the moneyed class. In fact, some of our colleagues admitted it and said something like: Look, if we don't pass this, our donors said, Don't bother calling us.

What we need is tax reform that provides a tax cut to working people and the middle class. We could have done that in a bipartisan way. The last time there was tax reform, there were hundreds of witnesses, months of testimony. This stuff is complicated.

What happened in the House?

Not one hearing, not one witness. Jammed through, as Congressman Raskin said, in the dark of night, at the speed of light. Because the more the American people hear about this tax scam, they know it is not for them. They know they are not going to benefit. They know the same old corporate special interests that have so much influence in this town helped write this bill, and that they are going to benefit from it and they are determined to jam this through, regardless of the public sentiment.

The American people are against this bill 2-1. That number is going to grow the more people learn about it. That doesn't seem to matter.

So I thank the gentleman for inviting me tonight and allowing me to speak. He has been here longer than I have. I can say with all honesty that the day that bill passed the House was one of the worst days I have ever been in this Chamber because I know how this tax scam, this effort by the Republicans in the House is really going to hurt the American people. I have never seen a situation in which public sentiment was so strongly opposed to this measure. Despite that, our colleagues are moving forward with it.

I don't know that my colleague has seen an occasion like this before, but I would like to hear Mr. Garamendi's thoughts on that.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I think the other thing that is very important to acknowledge here, and I think we have heard the Speaker say this--we have heard Senator Rubio make reference to this--is that the American people, I hope, understand that this is part one of a multipart story. Our Republican colleagues have made it very clear that this tax scam, this sort of giveaway to corporate

America and the richest people in this country, is just part one.

Next year, after you give away $1.5 trillion, unpaid for, you come back next year and you say: We have no money. We are going to have to cut Social Security, cut Medicare, cut Medicaid, cut Pell grants, cut investments in healthcare, and cut investments in rebuilding the infrastructure of our country.

So our Republican colleagues are setting this up as an effort to gut Medicare and Medicaid. Let's be clear about that. You can't give away $1.5 trillion that you don't have.

And next year they are going to be heard to say: Geez, we have no money. We have to cut all of these programs that middle class Americans and working families rely on to survive and to prosper and to get a shot. And their answer is going to be: There is no money.

And why isn't there any money? Because we gave it away to millionaires and billionaires and corporations and people who didn't need it. As a result of it, you are going to pay for it by cutting Medicare and cutting Social Security and cutting Pell grants.

The immorality of this is stunning.

So I think we have to not only defeat this tax scam, but call it out for what it is. This is an effort by our Republican colleagues to finally get what they want. I think our Speaker has said: I dreamed about it, or, I drank beer thinking about cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

They call them entitlements. They are not entitlements. These are earned benefits that people get after a lifetime of hard work, of playing by the rules, of doing what is right.

This is phase one of a multiphase plan which will hurt working people in this country, and we have to call them out on it.

A very distinguished colleague.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note here--I think my memory is correct on this--that the $1.5 trillion in debt which will be generated by this tax giveaway is exactly the same number that they cut from Medicare and Medicaid in the budget they just voted on. So we don't have to wonder whether that is the plan. They have already done it in the budget that they have proposed. And as you said, the Speaker, Senator Rubio, and others have already acknowledged this.

So this should be clear. We are going to vote, and have already voted, to give a tax cut

The gentleman is correct. They have already voted to cut $1.5 trillion to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in this country, to the biggest corporations; and in order to pay for that, they intend to gut Medicare and Medicaid and a whole range of other very important investments we make, that our country makes, in supporting and strengthening the middle class.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone when, next year, as the gentleman said, the deficit hawks return in the warm weather to say: Oh, my goodness, there is no money. We are going to have to end the guarantee of Medicare. We are going to have to cut Social Security. We are going to have to eliminate or cut Pell grants. We are going to reduce all of these investments which matter so much to working families in this country.

They are intent on doing that. They have tried to do it for the last several years, but not to the magnitude of success that they expect when they drain the coffers by giving away the money, which is exactly their strategy. And it is why we have to fight hard against this tax scam because it is not just a tax giveaway to people who don't need it. It is what it will do to the economy.

I think there was a New York Times analysis of 38 economists. Not one, not any economist I have ever heard of yet, has said that this tax cut will pay for itself.

We keep hearing our Republican colleagues: Oh, this is going to pay for itself. The economy is going to grow, and jobs are going to. It is a pipe dream. There is not a single economist, Republican, Democrat, Independent, who says these tax cuts will pay for themselves because, of course, they won't.

Who will pay for them? The middle class of this country.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, one thing to remember there is that States that are investing in their infrastructure, investing in public safety, that are asking for local taxpayers to do their part, you punish them, and you incentivize States that are not making that investment. It is bad public policy.

Will the gentleman yield?

I started to interrupt. I was just going to say that, for young people, what this tax scam does is particularly damaging because it not only saddles the next generation with $1.5 trillion of debt, but in addition to that, it makes their cost of pursuing higher education more expensive.

Who in their right mind thinks it is a good idea to make it harder or more expensive for young people to go to college? We ought to be making it easier and more affordable, less difficult. Young people are already graduating with enormous debt, going to a tough job market in terms of what they can earn, and the Republicans are taking away the deduction so they can finance a tax debt for the richest people in this country.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, an important part of that is doubling the investment in apprenticeship programs, career and technical education, making sure we are creating pathways to produce better wages, better jobs for a better future. And the last thing families need, because the focus has to be on raising family incomes, is a tax scam that is going to raise their taxes.

That is exactly the reverse of what most middle class and working families need. They need more money in their pockets, not less.

And when I hear my Republican colleagues say: This is a tax cut for middle class, that is not true. For 87 million Americans, their taxes will go up. For many Americans, the deductions that they take will be eliminated, and 67 percent of the tax cuts go to the top 1 percent.

So it is important, again, that they are trying to jam this through quickly because I think they understand that, if they don't, the more the American people learn about it, the less they like it, and the more they are going to attempt to stop it.

Except if you are a corporation. They keep that deduction. So think about that. If you have to move to follow your job, you can't deduct that from your taxes; but if your company moves your job overseas, the corporations can deduct the cost of moving your job.

Correct. Correct.

Absolutely. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman again for including me. I look forward to the opportunity to come back and talk in more detail about the economic agenda that we collectively have put forward as the House Democrats working with the Senate Democrats that is focused on better jobs and better wages for a better future, the creation of 10 million full-time, good-paying jobs, expanded investments in apprenticeships and work-based learning, ensuring that we are providing investments in career and technical education, affordable childcare, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, rebuilding the infrastructure of our country. The list goes on and on, all focused on creating good-paying, full-time jobs, raising family incomes, reducing the costs that families bear on everything from cable bills to prescription drugs and healthcare, and making sure people have the skills necessary for the jobs of the 21st century so they can be successful.

It is exactly the opposite of what is going to be achieved in this Republican tax scam.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to coming back with my distinguished colleagues, Cheri Bustos from Illinois, Hakeem Jeffries from New York, and Mr. Garamendi so that we can talk in a lot of detail about our economic agenda that will focus on supporting and strengthening working people in this country and giving a better deal to the American people than the raw deal they are getting from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, my friends on the other side of the aisle made a number of arguments about how, if everyone has a concealed weapon, America will be safer.

Mr. Speaker, I have two studies here which directly rebut that:

A 2017 Stanford University study found that in States that adopted the most permissive concealed carry laws, violent crime is 13 to 15 percent higher than it would have been had the State retained a more restrictive law;

A 2017 study by researchers at Boston University found that States with shall-issue laws had a 10.6 percent higher handgun homicide rate, consistent with the results of the Stanford study.

Both of those empirical studies disprove the claim that we make America safer if everyone carries a hidden, loaded firearm.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

We just heard some of our other colleagues on the other side of the aisle speak about the God-given right to apparently carry a concealed, loaded firearm across State lines. What about the God-given right to live, to stay alive, and to be free from gun violence in this country?

We now have seen the two deadliest shootings in American history, 20 children slaughtered 5 years ago at Sandy Hook, and the list goes on and on.

Our Republican colleagues will do nothing about it. They won't pass universal background checks. They won't pass no fly, no buy to keep terrorists from being able to buy a gun. They won't prevent bump stocks. But they are finally rising up to do something, and what is their answer? Let everyone in America carry a concealed, loaded firearm. Even people who are violent criminals, stalkers, and domestic abusers can carry a concealed firearm.

Make no mistake about it. This legislation allows someone to go online. You don't have to be a resident of the State, a State that has no protections. You don't have to have training. You could be a criminal. You can go online and you get a permit in that State. You don't have to be a resident. You only have to go there, and you can then travel America with a loaded, concealed firearm and overrule the will of the people of that State through their legislature to impose responsible limitations on it.

It also endangers police officers who can be sued for having the audacity to ask someone if they actually have a permit and detain them. They have a cause of action against the police officer and attorneys' fees--unprecedented.

This is the response to a country that is pleading for responsible gun safety legislation, that is living with the carnage of gun violence and asking this Congress: Do something about it; protect us from this violence.

Our Republican colleagues muster up the courage to pay homage to the NRA and make it easier to sell guns so that people can carry concealed loaded firearms all across this country.

Shame on you. Shame on you. You have a responsibility to work with us to protect our constituents from gun violence and to enact sensible gun safety legislation that will reduce the incidents of gun violence. This will make it worse.

The claim that somehow it makes it safer is refuted by all of the empirical evidence. You know it is. Shame on the Republicans.

Mr. Speaker, millions of Americans will lie awake in bed this evening worried about their ability to take care of their families because they simply don't make enough money and are struggling with the daily needs of life.

What is the Republican Party working to do to make it even worse?

Passing a tax cut for the richest people in this country, the most powerful corporations, that will result in raising taxes on 82 million families, providing $1.5 trillion debt for the next generation, making deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Pell grants, and infrastructure--all things that are necessary to grow and strengthen the middle class of this country--which will be a huge boon to the richest people in America.

The Senate version will also remove 13 million people from having access to affordable healthcare. The Republicans in the Senate are doing this right now.

The American people need to be certain that their voices are being heard to stop this proposal. It is a scam that will impose tremendous costs on working people in this country. It will provide tremendous benefits to the very powerful and very wealthy. It incentivizes American companies to ship American jobs overseas by making those incentives more generous.

The American people deserve a better deal. They deserve better wages, better jobs, and a better future. They deserve a much better deal than this raw deal these Republicans are giving in this tax scam.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Maryland, for yielding.

I want to quote Congressman Raskin, who has said before, and I think it actually accurately captures what is happening: The Republicans are moving at the speed of light in the dark of night to jam through this proposal which will visit so much harm upon our economy and upon the American people, and particularly onto working families.

I think it is important to say, at the outset, that the process that has produced this piece of legislation that is now under consideration in the Senate--their own version of the same proposal--is an important thing to understand.

The last time that we did comprehensive tax reform--it was before I arrived in Congress--there were hundreds of people who testified. There were hearings to really understand the implications of these proposals.

Our economy is complicated. Tax policy is complicated. You want to be sure that you are making the right decisions based on good information, good evidence, and the guidance of experts.

This proposal in the House and, similarly, in the Senate happened with no hearings. Not a single witness testified. In fact, it was drafted even without the participation of some of the Republican Members of Congress. It was presented as a finished product and then brought to the floor for a vote.

One of the reasons I would say, Mr. Speaker, that my Republican colleagues are trying to get this done so quickly is because the more the American people learn about this proposal, the more they realize that it is not something they support, and it undermines the long-term health and prosperity of our country.

What does it do?

It provides a huge, gigantic tax cut for the people at the very top. About 50 percent of the proposal goes to the top 1 percent.

It creates greater economic incentives to ship American jobs overseas. Think about that. It creates better incentives to send good jobs overseas.

It raises taxes on 82 million middle class families.

It imposes $1.5 trillion additional debt on the next generation.

To pay for all of this, it imposes deep cuts on things that are so important to the economy and important to working families: Medicare, Medicaid. We will see more cuts in infrastructure, education, and all the things that are necessary to build and strengthen our economy.

This is a gigantic giveaway to the biggest corporations and the wealthiest people of this country, and it is paid for by the middle class. It is paid for by hardworking Americans.

There are, as I said just a moment ago, millions of people who lie awake at night worrying about whether or not they can make ends meet, take care of their families, and pay their bills because they are just not making enough money.

But instead of addressing that with a real tax reform proposal that provides real tax relief to middle class families and incentivizes the creation of good-paying jobs, this does just the opposite. It makes the situation worse. In fact, what the bill does, although its name is something about job creation, it does just the opposite because it is premised on this economic theory called trickle-down economics: if you let people at the very top hold on to more of their money, keep more of what they make, it will somehow just trickle down to the rest of us.

We know that is an economic theory that doesn't work. It doesn't work because what you really need to create jobs and to grow the economy is for people of the middle class to have a good-paying job and have money in their pockets so they can buy the goods and services businesses produce. That is how you grow the economy.

If you go to any small business in my State and ask, ``What do you need to create another job to add to your number of employees?'' they will tell you, ``I need customers. I need people to buy the things I make and sell.''

That is why having a tax policy that invests in rebuilding the middle class and provides tax relief to middle class families and doesn't rely on this trickle-down economics is the way that you grow the economy. This does just the opposite.

In addition to that proposal on the Senate side, they have inserted another proposal that will strip away healthcare from 13 million Americans.

Think about this: Just when you thought this bill or this approach couldn't get any worse, the Senate Republicans have done that.

We had a rally today with folks from all across this country who are standing up to say: This is not fair. This makes our Tax Code worse. This provides no relief for the people who need it. It doesn't help small businesses. Instead, it is a reflection of what a swamp Washington is.

All those folks who have a lot of political power, who spend a lot of money on elections, have allowed or have demanded that a tax bill go forward that benefits them.

Shame on my colleagues. This is a disgrace. What this is going to do to our economy and to working families is something that everyone who votes for this will be responsible for.

We are still hoping that we can defeat this proposal in the Senate and move forward in a bipartisan way for serious tax reform that will grow the economy, that will provide relief to middle class families, that will help raise people's wages and not be a huge giveaway for the richest people in the country, the most powerful corporations, incentivizing shipping American jobs overseas and then giving the bill to the next generation and to working families in this country.

This is dead wrong. We have to defeat it.

I thank my friend, the gentleman from Maryland, for organizing this Special Order hour so we can continue to bring attention to this horrible piece of legislation, which, by the way--I will end with this--is not tax reform. This is a scam being visited upon the American people. We need to do everything we can to stop it.

Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have gone too far. Their tax scheme gives $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires as well as wealthy corporations. It raises taxes on 36 million middle class families; makes deep cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, education, and infrastructure investments; and creates more incentives to ship American jobs overseas.

Now they are planning to sneak in a provision that targets the heart of the Affordable Care Act and strips more than 13 million Americans of their access to healthcare. This is not a tax reform plan. It is a tax scam.

Democrats and Republicans should be working together to fix an economy and a Tax Code that is rigged against working people. The American people need real tax reform that invests in middle class families, stops corporations from shipping jobs overseas, and protects Medicare and Medicaid and other vital investments in healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, this bill does just the opposite. It deserves to be defeated, and the American people deserve a better deal.