Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Marilee K. Scaff, who passed away on March 8th, 2019 at the age of 103. Ms. Scaff was an active member of the Claremont community for nearly 70 years and her passion for public service, education, and the outdoors will leave a positive impact for years to come.

Marilee Scaff was born in San Marcos, Texas, on November 27th, 1915. As her father worked on the Southern Pacific Railroad, her family lived in several communities across the southwest, instilling in her an early love of nature. She eventually settled in Austin for college on a Girl Scouts scholarship, setting her sights on a sociology degree, and later graduate degrees in American history and educational psychology. Dr. Scaff's passion for learning and education would play an ongoing role in her life, as she taught at El Roble Intermediate School in my district, held faculty positions at the University of Iowa and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, acted as First Chair of the Clinebell Counseling Center at Claremont School of Theology, and served twice on the Claremont Board of Education. Dr. Scaff also travelled broadly, serving as a missionary in the Philippines with her husband, Alvin, beginning in 1940. She returned to teach there 40 years later, after living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for several years in the interim.

The Scaffs lived in Claremont periodically beginning in the 1960s. Ms. Scaff was an active member of the Claremont United Church of Christ, where she established the nursery school, the Claremont and Los Angeles Leagues of Women Voters, and a founding member of the United Nations Association. She was closely involved with the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden through the end of her life, where she gave tours and taught school children about local wildlife. It was this same enthusiasm that she brought to community efforts to save the Thompson Creek Spreading Grounds in Claremont, as well as other sustainability measures, making her the city's resident expert on water issues. When a ballot measure to allow Claremont to acquire their own water system was placed on the ballot in 2014, Dr. Scaff, who was 99 years old at the time, was chosen to lead the campaign effort, bringing that measure to victory by a 71 percent margin.

Marilee Scaff was an integral member of the Claremont community for more than half a century, and because of tireless dedication to service and working towards a better community for all of us, I was honored to recognize her as our 2015 Woman of Distinction for the City of Claremont. She will be missed by her three children, five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and the entire community she loved so dearly, but her legacy will be felt for years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Francisco Han Ping Hsieh, who passed away on March 26, 2019 at the age of 85. Mr. Hsieh played an important role in the Asian-American community in California for more than 50 years.

Mr. Hsieh was born in Hubei, China on October 14, 1933. After his graduation from Soochow University in 1959, he worked as a journalist, which eventually brought him to San Francisco in 1965. There, he was employed as a correspondent for Central Daily News, until he went on to serve as publisher and editor at Kiu Kwong Newspaper and Chinese Commercial News.

Following his successful career in journalism, Mr. Hsieh opened Hunan Village Restaurant in San Francisco, bringing the cuisine of his childhood to the city he had grown to love. He shared his passion for Chinese cuisine widely, teaching cooking classes at City College of San Francisco and assisting in the development of other Chinese restaurants in the area.

Following the closure of his restaurant in 1987, Mr. Hsieh pivoted his attentions once again, working on the campaigns of several California politicians, including former Congressman Mike Honda, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, and former Governor Gray Davis. Mr Hsieh also served on the California Acupuncture Board, the Commission on Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs, the California State Friendship Committee, and the Chinese American Democratic Club.

In every part of his life, whether publishing a weekly newspaper, bringing Hunan cuisine to a new audience, or political activism, Francisco Hsieh spent his life sharing the subjects he was passionate about to a wider audience, welcoming new members into a vibrant and robust community that he helped build. Mr. Hsieh was a central figure in the Asian-American community in California for more than half of a century. It is my honor today to pay tribute to his memory and his enduring legacy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the BRIDGE Act, which would ensure that all unemployment insurance beneficiaries could use reemployment service grants to get back to work sooner. Currently, only unemployed individuals who are likely to exhaust their unemployment benefits have access to these grants.

I know this change will make an impact in my district. In Pasadena, California, the Employment Development Department administers this program, which offers an orientation to dislocated workers. At the orientations, these clients are given a tour of all the services available, including partner services under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and they are then able to pick out a service that best fits their needs.

But this change would allow all individuals to have access to this program and will help coordinate services better so that staff can help these individuals so that they don't have to figure it out on their own, and then more dislocated workers in my community could find work more quickly.

It would help people like Hector. Just last week, I met with the Los Angeles Workforce Development Board and they told me his story.

Hector lost his job as an account manager, where he was making $44.71 per hour. This forced him to seek public assistance to make ends meet for himself and his family.

Through the help of the staff at the East Los Angeles/West San Gabriel Valley America's Job Center of California, Hector was able to receive a referral for an interview with the Maintco Corporation and was provided a bus pass that enabled him to get to the interview. He was able to quickly secure employment as a finance controller and is now making $55 an hour, which is $11 more than when he lost his job.

We must pass this bill to make sure that individuals who lose their jobs are not out of the workforce for too long. I applaud my colleague, Stephanie Murphy, for introducing this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Taxpayer First Act, the first package of IRS reforms that Congress has considered since 1998.

This bipartisan bill takes broad steps to improve the taxpayer experience by making the filing process easier and more efficient. It also strengthens the IRS' ability to combat identity theft and refund fraud. These are issues that create worry and stress for our constituents, and I am proud that we are acting swiftly to bring relief.

This bill also tamps down on the program that allows the IRS to outsource debt collection to private contractors. These contractors often use many aggressive tactics to pressure the poorest and most vulnerable among us, forcing them to make payments even if they can't afford it. This creates economic hardship for families who would otherwise qualify for alternative payment plans by the IRS. What is worse, it costs the U.S. Treasury more than the money it brings in. I believe it should be abolished for good, but this bill reaches a strong compromise to ensure the poorest are no longer targeted.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Joan Roberta Williams, who passed away on February 20, 2019 at the age of 86.

Mrs. Williams was named Miss Crown City in 1958 after being nominated by her colleagues at Pasadena City Hall. Though she was supposed to perform the ceremonial duties around the Rose Parade now performed by the Rose Queen, such as ribbon cuttings and appearances with the Mayor of Pasadena, the float on which Mrs. Williams was scheduled to appear was cancelled. Mrs. Williams was denied these honors after city officials discovered that she was African American.

It wasn't until New Year's Day of 2015 that Mrs. Williams finally appeared in the Rose Parade, this time in a float honoring ``Inspiring Stories.'' After an article appeared in the Pasadena Weekly detailing her racist treatment nearly half a century earlier, Mrs. Williams received a formal apology from the Mayor of Pasadena and was offered the opportunity to ride in the parade that had been denied to her, which she accepted as an opportunity for reconciliation.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Williams in 2014, when the Pasadena non-profit Men Educating Men About Health honored her at a gala, where I had the opportunity to present her with their Woman of the Year Award. In the years between her original crowning and her eventual appearance in the Rose Parade, Mrs. Williams had a long career with Kaiser in Southern California, including several years in their Medicare office in my district. She volunteered for the Pasadena AIDS Service Center and with the Pasadena Unified School District, was honored on the floor of the California State Assembly, and had three children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

When she finally made her appearance in the 2015 Rose Parade, Mrs. Williams said the experience was ``especially important because [it pointed] out that with people of goodwill working to correct these mistakes, change can come. We hope it won't take so long, but when you look at our history, none of it has happened overnight, none of it has happened without a fight. The fight goes on.'' It is my honor today to recognize Mrs. Williams' legacy in that fight.

Madam Speaker, today, I went to the Jose Andres food bank in Washington, D.C., for Federal workers. I was stunned to see hundreds waiting in line in the rain.

Inside, they were giving a hot meal to everybody, as well as fresh vegetables, diapers, and feminine products. And they were assisting those who were in danger of missing utility payments.

As I served the workers, I asked them what their jobs were. They worked for the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the D.C. Superior Court.

How many of these workers were served by this food bank yesterday? Eleven thousand.

They are like the Federal workers in my district, people like Catherine, who has back problems and now can't afford the copay for physical therapy and epidurals, or Eric, who told me he had to defer car maintenance in order to avoid missing his son's college tuition payment.

This suffering could end right now. But instead of ending their pain, Trump ignores it. Just this morning, his Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, said he could not understand why furloughed workers have to go to food banks. Well, I say: End this shutdown today.

Madam Speaker, as chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, I rise to reject white nationalism and white supremacy. These philosophies divide us, teach fear, and lead to violence. They are to blame for the worst of American history, from slavery and Jim Crow to the fatal shooting of Sikhs at an Oak Creek gurdwara and Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue.

White nationalism led to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, forcing Chinese immigrants like my grandfather to be condemned to life as a second-class citizen. But today, his granddaughter stands here as the first Chinese American woman in Congress.

I am not alone. This is the most diverse and representative Congress in our history.

The message is clear: diversity has a place in Congress, prejudice does not.

But white nationalism is finding a home in politics once again through racist rhetoric and xenophobic misinformation aimed at immigrants and others. Any attempt by politicians at any level to encourage fear of those who look different must be rejected.

Madam Speaker, I urge support for this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 116, the Investing in Main Street Act of 2019.

I am so pleased that the House is considering this bill at the very start of this new Congress because small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They account for two out of every three new jobs and lead the way in innovation.

The SBA's Small Business Investment Company, or SBIC, program is an effective tool that helps small businesses get off the ground and succeed. The program facilitates private investment into early-stage startup small businesses across the country, and all at no Federal cost.

Staples, Tesla, FedEx, Apple, Intel, and Costco are just a few examples of the thousands of small businesses that have successfully used the Small Business Investment Company program during their early stages of growth. In fact, in 2016, the SBIC program provided $6 billion in financing to 1,200 small businesses and helped to sustain over 120,000 jobs. It has afforded America's small businesses an invaluable opportunity to grow their innovative ideas.

Now, many decades ago, the SBIC program was restricted from taking more than 5 percent of capital investments from banks due to this provision in the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. That provision is still the law. However, since then, banking regulations established by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency allow these same banks to invest up to 15 percent of their capital and surplus into SBICs.

I introduced the Investing in Main Street Act with Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina to correct this discrepancy. This bipartisan bill would allow banks and Federal savings associations to invest up to 15 percent of their holdings to these funds to match current banking regulations.

This change will strengthen and grow the SBIC program, unleashing more capital to small businesses, and all at no cost to the taxpayer. That means more entrepreneurs will be able to access the capital they need to grow their businesses and hire their workers.

This legislation makes a sensible change to address the number one need of small firms accessing capital. I, therefore, ask my fellow Members to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 430) to extend the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families and related programs through June 30, 2019.

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, I rise in support of H.R. 430, the TANF Extension Act of 2019. This bipartisan legislation would extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known as TANF, and the Child Care Entitlement to States, or CCES, through June 30, 2019.

Due to the stalemate in budget negotiations, TANF and CCES funding lapsed at the end of 2018. Enacting this legislation will allow the Department of Health and Human Services to send States, Tribes, and territories TANF and CCES grants for the second quarter of the fiscal year, which are now late, and to make on-time payments to States for the third quarter.

States depend on Federal TANF and childcare funding to help level the playing field for struggling parents trying to work and support their families. These grants help pay for important programs such as childcare, transportation, and job training. Funds are also used to help cover basic necessities like food, housing, and diapers.

Right now, our failure to pay for what was promised is hurting State budgets, and pretty soon it will begin to affect family budgets as well.

CalWORKs, as my home State of California calls its TANF program, provides help to over 50 percent of poor children in California, which is over 1 million children, but California has a very small reserve of unspent Federal TANF funds to cover the Federal lapse in payment.

Our reserve is about the level of Federal funding the State will use in just over 2 weeks of operating CalWORKs.

California's counties are currently implementing the changes to CalWORKs that we hope will make it even more effective in stabilizing families and lifting them out of poverty. Disrupted Federal funding would make achieving that goal much harder.

We need to do far more to help children and families, and States need more stability and certainty to operate their programs. This is why the first bill that was passed in this new Congress to reopen the government included provisions to extend TANF and childcare for 2 years.

This bill would also have provided Congress with new data on beneficiary sanctions, employment, and poverty outcomes. Unfortunately, the Senate has refused to take up that bill, leaving our government in a partial shutdown and causing Federal funds for TANF and CCES to lapse, as well as payments to the States.

In the meantime, as the two Chambers continue discussions, this legislation will allow us to quickly restore payments and ensure that families who rely on TANF and childcare assistance are not collateral damage in the Trump shutdown.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), an incredible advocate for those in need.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this simple bipartisan legislation to allow us to meet our commitments to State governments and to families in need across this country.

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

Mr. Speaker, this morning I met Chrissy, an air traffic controller from Ventura, California. Her job is to ensure the safety and efficiency of air travel, but the Trump shutdown has caused chaos. Air traffic controllers will not receive their paychecks on Friday. The FAA support staff has been furloughed, and the students in the air traffic control

academy have been sent home. Because of this, air traffic controllers like her are being forced to slow down everything in order to ensure the same level of air safety.

But it is not just Chrissy's work that is being impacted. She and her husband, who is also an air traffic controller, lost their home in the Thomas fire, and now, as they try to rebuild their home and their lives, Trump is forcing them to do it without a paycheck.

How can we do this to our workers? Last night, Trump tried to make his case to the Nation. What we heard was a lot of xenophobia and division. What we didn't hear was any urgent threat that would justify a shutdown right now over a wall that would be built in the future.

That is why we are bringing up today's bills to reopen government. If Trump wants to negotiate over border security, he should show concern for workers like Chrissy and sign these bills. Nineteen days into the shutdown, Trump is making the American people suffer for the sake of his ego.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule, and join us in passing these bills to reopen government functions that have nothing to do with Trump's demand for a wall.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 88.

This bill contains a provision that can only be described as sneaky. It is an anti-choice provision that has no place in a tax bill. It tries to circumvent our Supreme Court and redefine ``person'' by allowing parents to open 529 college savings accounts for unborn children.

Actually, this provision is unnecessary because, under current law, parents can already do this. They can open 529 college savings accounts for future children in their own name and then change the name of the beneficiary after the birth of their child.

But the implications of adding ``unborn child'' directly into the Tax Code are serious. This is a thinly veiled attempt to codify the legal concept of the unborn child and, therefore, claim that, legally, the fetus is separate from the mother.

This language has appeared in Republican tax bills before, and anti- choice extremists did not attempt to hide its reason for its inclusion. When this provision appeared in the House version of H.R. 1, the GOP tax scam, the spokesperson for the anti-choice group March for Life stated publicly:

We hope that this is the first step in expanding the child

tax credit to include unborn children as well.

This is an obvious attempt to lay the legal groundwork for undermining a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. It is an outright attack on women's reproductive rights.

Right before Republicans must turn over control of the House to Democrats and before a record number of Congresswomen are sworn in, Republicans are making a last-ditch effort to erode women's constitutional rights to control their own bodies in order to score one last point for an extremist base, and all in a bill that they know is dead on arrival in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to reject this bill and vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Aris Anagnos, who passed away on July 23, 2018 at the age of 94. We will remember him for his tireless dedication to justice and humanitarianism.

Mr. Anagnos was born in Athens, Greece in 1923. As a young man during World War II, he escaped Nazi occupation to serve in North Africa with the Greek Army, fighting alongside Allied Forces. Following the war, he made his way to Los Angeles, where he earned a degree in business administration from UCLA and went on to a successful career in real estate. Throughout his life, he remained dedicated to peace, justice, and civil rights both in his community and around the globe.

He served on the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, including a term as President, and founded the Humanitarian Law Project/International Education Development Fund. He spearheaded philanthropic projects like the Saint Sophia Cathedral Foundation's Senior Citizen Home and served as a longtime board member and patron of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), a nonprofit organization helping homeless individuals and families in California to find stable, permanent housing.

In response to the 1967 through 1974 military dictatorship in his home country, Mr. Anagnos and his late wife Carolyn organized the Committee for Democratic Freedoms in Greece, and went on to co-found the American Hellenic Council, a non-partisan political advocacy organization promoting democracy, human rights, peace, and stability in Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Mr. Anagnos later established the Peace Center in Los Angeles, home to several peace and human rights organizations. His tireless efforts to make a lasting positive impact have touched the lives of countless individuals at home and abroad.

Mr. Anagnos leaves behind a remarkable legacy of philanthropy, activism, humanitarianism, and community service, and it is my honor to commemorate his life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Jonathan Gold, award-winning food critic and longtime Pasadena resident, who passed away in July from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. Mr. Gold was the first food writer to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize, in 2007, and was also the recipient of five James Beard Awards for his reviews and criticism.

Jonathan Gold was born in South Los Angeles on July 28, 1960, and remained a true Angeleno for his whole life, attending high school in Beverly Hills and college at my alma mater, the University of California, Los Angeles. While he is best known for his passion for food, Mr. Gold is credited for introducing Los Angeles and its visitors to new foods, culture and experiences.

Mr. Gold began his writing career as a copy editor for the LA Weekly while he was still a student at UCLA. After receiving his bachelor's degree in the history of music, he went on to serve as a music editor for the Weekly, until he began writing his now-famous food column, Counter Intelligence, in 1986. At a time when most food critics were focused on haute cuisine and high-end dining, Mr. Gold was an avid pursuer of local establishments, publishing rave reviews of street food, hole-in-the-wall joints, and neighborhood spots. His poetic prose, vivid descriptions of taste and texture, and eclectic references to everything from pop culture to historical ephemera earned his writing many devoted followers. It was no surprise that he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

I have personally followed Mr. Gold's work for years, as he moved from the LA Weekly, to Gourmet, to the Los Angeles Times, shining a light on neighborhoods and establishments all around Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. Mr. Gold's reviews became an essential guide to Los Angeles, giving a window into the way in which food can bring communities together, writing about both the food itself and the people who prepared it. He frequently wrote about ethnic food and Los Angeles' many immigrant communities, in an effort he described as ``celebrating the glorious mosaic of the city.'' His deep love of Los Angeles showed in the rich map he created of the city and its people, crisscrossing the San Gabriel Valley in his pickup truck, always in search of new and exciting places to eat and new people with whom to share a meal.

Mr. Gold is survived by his wife, Laurie Ochoa, and their two children, Isabel and Leon. It is my distinct honor to commemorate the life and writing of Jonathan Gold and his lasting impact on Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the YWCA USA as they celebrate their 160th anniversary.

With a mission that is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all, the YWCA is exactly the kind of organization we need today. It provides leadership development programs for young women in topics ranging from economic empowerment to engaging young girls in STEM fields.

From its humble beginnings, the YWCA now operates 1,300 program sites across 47 States and the District of Columbia, serving over 2 million women, girls, and their families. It has been at the forefront of social progress, from civil rights to voting rights, to equal pay, to healthcare reform.

It is currently the largest network of providers to help victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. In my district, the YWCA in San Gabriel Valley serves nearly 4,000 people, annually, through its domestic violence program called WINGS.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the YWCA for 160 years of great work.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the American Innovation Act.

But before I talk about the underlying bill, I want to make clear that this bill is part of the Republicans' larger tax scam 2.0. Instead of increasing opportunity or addressing the income inequality for Americans, the Republicans are doubling down on their failed policies that benefit the wealthiest Americans and are ultimately paid for by the middle class.

As a result of the Republicans' tax law, health insurance companies in

State after State are announcing higher premiums for next year, while health coverage for those living with preexisting conditions is on the chopping block. To make matters worse, the Medicare trustees cut 3 years off the life of the Medicare trust fund because of the Republican tax bill.

But instead of backing away from their mistake, the Republicans are doubling down. Their second round of tax cuts for the wealthy will further compromise the future of Medicare and Social Security, depriving seniors the benefits they have earned.

Not to mention, Republicans are cutting taxes for the rich for the second time in less than a year. By simply making permanent the cut to the top individual tax rate, Republicans are providing a huge tax cut for just a fraction of the top 5 percent of taxpayers.

At the same time, the Republicans have doubled down on their attack on the middle class by making permanent the limits to the State and local tax deduction. In fact, in my home district in California, 37 percent of tax filers claimed the SALT deduction in 2016, and the average SALT deduction was $18,517 according to IRS data. This is nearly double the cap that Republicans have put in place, and that means that middle class families in my district are footing the bill for the wealthy's permanent tax cuts.

In addition, Republicans are also permanently limiting the mortgage interest deduction and casualty loss deduction.

Furthermore, the so-called party of fiscal conservatism will be passing over $3 trillion in tax breaks in less than a year. Because of the Republican tax law and President Trump's irresponsible policies, the U.S. Treasury is now borrowing money at a rate of $5.4 billion per day.

This package, like the one before it, is being rushed through with no hearings and no input from stakeholders. A rushed and lopsided process resulted in tax bill 1.0, and, in fact, Democrats have identified over 100 problems with the Republicans' tax law.

Republicans are doubling down on their flawed policies with this exercise, with bills guaranteed to be dead on arrival in the Senate. Tax scam 2.0 is another reckless tax cut for the wealthy that leaves behind average, hardworking families.

Now I would like to discuss H.R. 6756, the American Innovation Act.

This bill has never received consideration in a public committee hearing. Last year, the Republicans' rushed process created the end result of a disastrous tax law that is riddled with problems. Yet rather than learn from their mistake, the Republicans are, once again, moving forward with legislation without the appropriate oversight.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly believe in American innovation and entrepreneurship. As the only member of both the House Small Business Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, I know just how critical small businesses are to the growth of our economy. They create two out of every three new jobs and allow people to be their own bosses.

I know that my Democratic colleagues and I would have enthusiastically and actively participated in the construction of bipartisan legislation to help small businesses deduct more of their startup costs. This is something I care deeply about because access to capital is one of the biggest challenges facing our entrepreneurs today. However, Democrats were shut out of the process once again as the bill was rushed to the floor.

With only a few days left for Congress to be in session, the Republicans have yet to address rising healthcare costs and how to pay for innovation and value in our healthcare system.

They have done nothing to stop the haphazard and reckless trade policy coming out of the White House.

And this week, the Republicans are driving these so-called tax reform 2.0 bills down a road to nowhere. If they were serious about helping small businesses and innovative startups, they surely would have not treated these provisions like an afterthought to their 2017 tax bill.

Therefore, I oppose H.R. 6756 and encourage my colleagues to do the same. We should work together to ensure that small businesses and innovative startups have the tools to not just survive, but actually thrive in the economy. We can do better in a fiscally responsible manner that does not recklessly add to the deficit.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).

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

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to clarify something. I appreciate the comment from Chairman Buchanan regarding Mr. Thompson's amendment, but that does not change the fact that, during tax bill 2.0 and its markup, every Republican present voted against permanent natural disaster relief on H.R. 6760.

Mr. Speaker, Democrats are strong believers in the power of American innovation and entrepreneurship. Democrats support small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy and create two out of every three new jobs. My Democratic colleagues and I would have loved to participate in the drafting of bipartisan legislation to help small businesses and innovative startups succeed, but that is not the process that the majority adopted.

This bill, just like tax scam 1.0, has never received the scrutiny it deserves in a public committee hearing. A rushed and lopsided process resulted in the disastrous tax law. Yet, rather than learn from their mistakes, Republicans are once again rushing through legislation without the appropriate oversight.

This process should tell you how serious the majority is about helping small businesses, which is not very. If the Republicans were serious about helping small businesses last year, they surely would not have enacted their so-called small business tax benefit to disguise a massive tax cut for millionaires.

If Republicans were serious about helping small businesses and innovative startups today, they surely would not have treated these provisions like an afterthought, guaranteed to be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I believe we should work together to ensure that small businesses, ranging from mom-and-pop shops to cutting-edge startups, have the tools they need to thrive in this economy. But we should do it the right way, with hearings and input from stakeholders, and in a fiscally responsible manner, not by saddling future Americans with more debt.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.