Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this select committee.

As an Asian American who represents the only Asian majority district in the continental United States, I would never support a committee that I thought would engage in xenophobia or attacks on the Chinese people.

I am pleased that this committee is not directed against China but is directed against the Chinese Communist Party in the crafting of the language.

I am pleased that it is going to focus on things that have been a bipartisan concern: human rights violations that Representative McGovern has advocated in standing up for the Uyghurs.

The fact is, this country has lost our industrial base. For 40 years, on a bipartisan basis, we have watched as jobs were shipped offshore, factories shut down, our trade deficits going from $70 billion to almost $400 billion. That has hurt the working class. It has hurt our ability to be a superpower, and it has led to rising tensions with China.

If we want to deal with Asian hate in this country, one of the things we need to do is rebalance our production. It is the loss of our jobs that has fueled some of the xenophobia. It is the loss of those jobs that fueled the killing that Representative Chu talked about in Michigan with Vincent Chin.

I believe this committee cannot only stand up for American interests. I believe when done well, it can help get us to peace and reduce the tensions with China by rebalancing trade, by ensuring that China doesn't invade Taiwan, and by standing up for human rights.

I am pleased on a personal basis that Representative Gallagher will be chair of this committee. We have had heated debates in the Armed Services Committee. We don't agree on many things, but I know that he is a marine, a patriot, and someone who is going to make sure that the committee is focused on the issues.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership in passing the most historic climate legislation in the history of this Nation and in the history of the world.

It is appropriate that it would be named after Chairman Yarmuth after his distinguished service in this Congress.

But I also thank all the young people out there and the environmental activists who for so long had no hope that this body would do anything. They marched, they protested, and they organized. They deserve credit for the $369 billion that will build solar, wind, and that will build electric vehicles.

I understand it is only a down payment on what we need for climate. I understand there is more work to be done, so we eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, so we have more of a commitment to environmental justice, and so that we don't have mandates on oil leasing. But I am so proud of the young folks for recognizing that getting something done is better than getting nothing done. This is the first victory in many victories to come, and they deserve credit for our passing this bill today.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank Chairman Smith as well as Ranking Member Rogers for their leadership to include various measures in the underlying bill that will aid the Department of Defense's effort to prevent and mitigate civilian harm. That includes my amendment that passed the House Armed Services Committee unanimously during the NDAA markup which would permanently extend a global ex-gratia authority that allows the Department of Defense to make condolence payments to civilians inadvertently harmed in U.S. military operations, alongside provisions in the underlying bill to establish a Center for Excellence in Civilian Harm Mitigation and Commission on Civilian Harm.

I want to thank Kate Gould on my staff, and to thank the HASC staff, including Katy Quinn, Phil MacNaughton, Robert Ikoku, and Jonathan Lord for all their work on this. And I want to thank Reps. Jason Crow, Tom Malinowski, and Sara Jacobs for co-leading this amendment and my bill that the amendment is drawn from, H.R. 7625, the Protection of Civilians in Military Operations Act.

It should not be a partisan issue to mitigate civilian harm.

My amendment would simply authorize the resources for the Department of Defense to implement these policies of reducing civilian casualties, which Congress already required the Department of Defense to do nearly 4 years ago.

My amendment would allow the Department of Defense to spend $5 million per year to implement the requirements of section 936 of the John McCain NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019.

Section 936, passed by this body 4 years ago, requires the Department of Defense to establish uniform processes and standards across combatant commands for improving tracking, reporting, analysis, and response to civilian casualties from U.S. military operations.

It is appropriately named after the late Senator John McCain, who believed deeply that the United States military should minimize civilian casualties. This is something that everyone in our military believes.

Now, the Department of Defense has made extraordinary progress in recent years in preventing civilian harm. Secretary Austin has shown leadership in accelerating that progress. As he says, ``Our efforts to mitigate and respond to civilian harm . . . are a direct reflection of U.S. values.''

Some of my colleagues want to prevent harm because of their own personal experience in combat or witnessing war zones where civilians have been killed, and some are motivated because they want to prevent terrorists from exploiting civilian casualties as a recruiting tool.

But to do this, we need resources. I don't think $5 million a year is very much. It is less than not just 1 percent, it is less than not just 0.1 percent, it is less than 0.001 percent of the entire budget to help make sure we have the resources to track and report and minimize civilian casualties.

I am hopeful that we can get bipartisan support for this amendment. I recognize that this NDAA does a lot on minimizing civilian harm, including the establishment of the Center for Excellence. I thank again Chairman Smith for his leadership on that.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I just point out that a lot of these requirements already have passed. They are in the FY 2019 NDAA. The amount of money we are talking about here is less than 0.001 percent, so it will not have a negative impact on the total budget.

I thank again our chairman, Chairman Smith, for all of these civilian harm mitigation initiatives in the NDAA. This NDAA, more than any in my 6 years in Congress, has tackled civilian casualties, and I hope that there will continue to be a bipartisan commitment in the House to reduce them to the extent possible.

Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith as well as Ranking Member Rogers for their leadership to include various measures in the underlying bill that will aid the Department of Defense's effort to prevent and mitigate civilian harm, including establishing a Center of Excellence in Civilian Harm Mitigation and Commission on Civilian Harm.

I thank the HASC staff, including Katy Quinn, Phil MacNaughton, and Robert Ikoku for their work on this.

It should not be a partisan issue to mitigate civilian harm.

My amendment would simply authorize the resources for the Department of Defense to implement these policies of reducing civilian casualties, which Congress already required the Department of Defense to do nearly 4 years ago.

My amendment would allow the Department of Defense to spend $5 million per year to implement the requirements of section 936 of the John McCain NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019.

Section 936, passed by this body 4 years ago, requires the Department of Defense to establish uniform processes and standards across combatant commands for improving tracking, reporting, analysis, and response to civilian casualties from U.S. military operations.

It is appropriately named after the late Senator John McCain, who believed deeply that the United States military should minimize civilian casualties. This is something that everyone in our military believes.

Now, the Department of Defense has made extraordinary progress in recent years in preventing civilian harm. Secretary Austin has shown leadership in accelerating that progress. As he says, ``Our efforts to mitigate and respond to civilian harm . . . are a direct reflection of U.S. values.''

Some of my colleagues want to prevent harm because of their own personal experience in combat or witnessing war zones where civilians have been killed, and some are motivated because they want to prevent terrorists from exploiting civilian casualties as a recruiting tool.

But to do this, we need resources. I don't think $5 million a year is very much. It is less than not just 1 percent, it is less than not just 0.1 percent, it is less than 0.01 percent of the entire budget to help make sure we have the resources to track and report and minimize civilian casualties.

I am hopeful that we can get bipartisan support for this amendment. I recognize that this NDAA does a lot on minimizing civilian harm, including the establishment of the Center of Excellence. I thank again Chairman Smith for his leadership on that.

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I just point out that a lot of these requirements already have passed. They are in the 2018 NDAA. The amount of money we are talking about here is less than 0.01 percent, so it will not have a negative impact on the total budget.

Mr. Speaker, now that he is here in person, I thank again our chairman, Chairman Smith, for all of the initiatives in the NDAA.

This NDAA, more than any in my 6 years in Congress, has tackled civilian casualties, and I hope that there will continue to be a bipartisan commitment in the House to reduce them to the extent possible.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his extraordinary leadership and having a strong amendment to affirm the U.S.-India defense partnership. I thank Ranking Member Rogers for making this amendment truly bipartisan.

There is no relationship of greater significance to the United States' strategic interests than the U.S.-India partnership. It is necessary to affirm democracies; it is necessary to stop China's border aggression; it is necessary for us to lead in critical technologies.

This gives a sense that while we are building this relationship, we should not be sanctioning India under CAATSA, and it also will help facilitate India getting more of their defense from the United States and not Russia.

I thank again Chairman Smith for his leadership and making sure that this is bipartisan. I thank Kate Gould for her work on our staff and the HASC staff on this and all the other amendments.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Maloney and Chairman Connolly for their leadership, and I thank the bipartisan leadership with Representative Mace and the Republican committee.

This is the most significant legislation to address the challenge that quantum computing poses to our security. The reality is that quantum computing is going to be much faster and can do many more things than regular computing.

For example, if you have an iPhone and you have a pass code on the iPhone, now you have a computer that can do a billion different combinations to try your pass code in a matter of a few seconds. Chances are they can break through the pass code. The problem is that a lot of the bad actors--they have been stealing American data from our government in anticipation of having these quantum computers, these super-fast computers--try all the combinations to break through.

I am proud that this committee, in a bipartisan basis, came together, and said: We need to make sure that our security in our critical agencies do not suffer from these computers that can try all these codes. Let's design that security in a way that will be safe, even with quantum computing.

The bill directs the agencies to start having those algorithms now that are not vulnerable to these supercomputers. It is an example, with Representative Mace and the committee, of Congress actually working, of Congress being proactive, of Congress looking ahead on the horizon and anticipating problems to keep the American people safe.

Mr. Speaker, I also appreciate the bipartisan spirit. I acknowledge Geo Saba, my staff, and all of the staff on the Oversight and Reform Committee, both the majority and minority, for helping make this possible.

Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. Speaker, my amendment would authorize a new program at the Department of Agriculture to reduce our reliance on foreign sources of fertilizer. It is to make sure that America will be more self- sufficient and that our farmers will be more self-sufficient with our fertilizers and not dependent on Russia or foreign countries.

Everyone knows that retail fertilizer costs are at an all-time high. Putin's invasion of Ukraine is driving severe food shortages and severe fertilizer shortages. This has driven up food prices and hurt American farmers and consumers across the country. In my district, food prices are up and fertilizer prices are up.

The cost of agricultural chemicals has more than doubled since the start of the pandemic, and one of the reasons is Russia is a major exporter of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus fertilizers.

We need to be less dependent on countries like Russia, and we need to develop these fertilizers here in the United States. That is why Congress must act on a bipartisan basis.

This amendment is common sense. It would authorize $100 million for grants, loans, research and development, and other assistance for the Department of Agriculture to support our farmers in developing fertilizer made in the United States.

It will support sustainable and innovative domestic production of fertilizers because our fertilizers are far more sustainable and far more innovative than the fertilizers we get from other parts of the world.

It will invest in practices that reduce the use of fertilizers. One of the best things we can do for food prices and our environment is to reduce the need for fertilizers by having those fertilizers be more innovative.

The amendment also bolsters competition in the fertilizer market.

Most important, it makes us less dependent on the Russians and less dependent on the global supply chain. It will create jobs for domestic producers of fertilizers.

The Department of Agriculture is already supporting American-made fertilizers through the Commodity Credit Corporation. My amendment will expand the Department's authority so they can prioritize solutions that will most quickly address these shortages.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this amendment. I thank Chairman Scott for working with me on this amendment. I also thank the Agriculture Committee staff of Anne Simmons, Lyron Blum-Evitts, Prescott Martin, Josh Lobert, and Luke Theriot for their work, and Kevin Fox on my team.

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

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

I respect the ranking member. We have worked together on a number of initiatives.

I would just say that this amendment, by giving the Commodity Credit Corporation resources, is helping make things in America. Whether it is immediate or whether it is over the next few months, we should have a bipartisan consensus that we ought to be making more things in this country and be less dependent on Russia and foreign sources.

While I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, I also hope that we can continue to work with the other side to find common ground over this Congress so that we can get bipartisan support for an effort to build more fertilizer in the United States.

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

Madam Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Israel's Consul General to the Pacific Northwest Shlomi Kofman on the conclusion of his term of service, and his return on August 1, 2022, to Israel for his next assignment.

Consul General Kofman is the diplomatic representative of the State of Israel to the states of California (Northern region), Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

During his tenure, he actively promoted friendly relationships with government representatives from this region, including Members of Congress, and he has never hesitated to reach out to me to address questions for my constituents or serve as a resource on issues related to Israel and the Israeli community in my district.

Shlomi Kofman began his appointment as Israel's Consul General to the Pacific Northwest in August 2017.

He most recently served as a Policy Advisor to the Deputy Foreign Ministers based in Jerusalem, Israel.

Over the course of his 24-year diplomatic career, Kofman has served as Israel's Deputy Consul General in New York City, Chief of Staff to Ambassadors in Washington D.C., Deputy Ambassador in Thailand and Deputy Consul General in Shanghai.

His past domestic Foreign Ministry positions include Director of North American Economic Affairs, Policy Advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister, Diplomatic Advisor & Director of the International Department in the Parliament and Ministry of National Infrastructure, and the Head of the Northeast Asia sector.

Prior to joining the Foreign Ministry, Kofman worked in the High-Tech Industry, representing the Israeli company Orbot in South Korea, as well as a consultant to a leading Israeli company, ECI.

Kofman holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations & East Asian studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a master's degree from Webster University--Shanghai University of Finance & Economics. He also holds an Associate's engineering degree.

Shlomi was born in Tbilisi, the capitol of the Soviet Republic of Georgia and made Aliya (immigrated) to Israel at the age of nine, after being refused for three years by Russian authorities.

During his tenure as Consul General serving in the Pacific Northwest, Shlomi Kofman has broadened the relationship between Israel and the states under his jurisdiction.

His advocacy and leadership led to a first-of-its-kind economic analysis that quantified the deeply interconnected California-Israel relationship, which amounts to billions of dollars in business activity and trade, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis living and working in California.

In a time where we witness increases in antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and violence against Jews, he has prioritized Holocaust education and policies to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.

He has been a strong advocate for expanding cooperation between governments and businesses in the areas of agriculture, energy, innovation, water management, and emergency services mutual aid.

In 2020, during the height of the wildfire catastrophe in California, Israel, for the first time ever, sent a delegation of firefighters to assist in fighting the fires. This was not only a gesture of solidarity and friendship but also a reaffirmation of values that both the United States and Israel share-which is to stand together with allies in times of need.

In that spirit, he convened high-level summits with policymakers to promote the sharing of COVID-19 strategies.

He has strengthened Israel's connections with businesses, local communities, universities, and other academic institutions here in the United States.

Shlomi Kofman worked to increase the number of delegations of Americans visiting Israel to further study firsthand that country as well as organize diverse international delegations to visit the United States.

These important exchanges focused on expanding understand of diverse communities throughout the world, including people of color, women in leadership, the LGBTQ+ community, labor leaders, and citizen activists from Arab countries.

In addition, I personally have benefitted from my meetings with Consul General Kofman, where we shared honest conversations about the issues of the day. We discussed the common ties of entrepreneurship between Silicon Valley and Israel, and how such cooperation can benefit other regions of the world. I hope to continue that dialogue with his successor.

As Shlomi Kofman concludes his tenure in San Francisco, I am grateful that he built a legacy of friendship, cooperation, and a strong willingness to work with people from all backgrounds and perspectives.

The United States has greatly benefitted from the services of Consul General Shlomi Kofman.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following letter from Professor Andru Volinsky, on behalf of students in the Sociology Law and Public course at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire. These students highlight why Congress should pass the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, my bill with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, to protect consumers from price gouging from giant oil companies.

Stop Subsidies to Oil Companies

The American people are being hosed at the pump. It's time

to end oil subsidies that benefit shareholders and invest in

green energy that benefits America's young people. Like other

low-income Americans, we college students are financially

struggling to fill our gas tanks with the recent 55.4%

increase in fuel prices reported by the American Automobile

Association.

Meanwhile, CNBC reported the price per barrel decreased by

8%. ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Exxon Mobil saw profit

increases of 1,400%, 184% and 57%, respectively, last year

over pre-COVID profits. Price-gouging at the pump is

unacceptable for the most-profitable corporations and the

most heavily tax-subsidized industry in the United States.

Conservative estimates put U.S. direct tax subsidies to the

fossil fuel industry at approximately $20 billion per year.

Exxon Mobil receives one of the largest tax subsidies ($4

billion a year) and has reported second-quarter earnings of

$44.9 billion for this fiscal year. Shareholders of Exxon

Mobil are filling their wallets while taxpayers are

struggling to fill their gas tanks.

Fuel industry subsidies were created to lower the cost of

fossil fuel production and incentivize new domestic energy

sources, not increase the profits of shareholders. It's time

we end fuel industry tax subsidies and invest in new green

energy sources for the future. Demand an increase in solar

tax credits and incentives for mitigating climate change that

benefits the American people. It's time to free the American

people from their dependency on oil and invest in our future.

Andru Volinsky,

Concord.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, as a progressive, I rise today to say that our party must unify, and we must vote ``yes'' today on both the rule and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Now, I know there is all this jargon about rule and BBB and BIF, but really, to me, this is very simple. The question is: Do you trust the President?

I trust President Biden. I trust that President Biden cares about the working class. And for 40 years, the working class has not had any support. On the other side, for 4 years under Trump, they gave tax cuts to the rich. President Biden wants to give money to working families in the child allowance. He wants to give them a tax cut. He wants to make sure they can pay for childcare. And he understands the working class experience.

We will unify as a party. We will vote ``yes'' tonight. We will deliver. And this President is going to make history by finally looking out for the working class and the middle class in this country.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to congratulate my constituent, Patty Wong, on becoming the first Asian American librarian to serve as the President of the American Library Association--an organization dedicated to improving learning opportunities and information across the country.

I am grateful for Ms. Wong's service in my district as the City Librarian for the Santa Clara Public Library. She has dedicated her 37- year career to improving our communities by serving as an award-winning librarian in institutions throughout California, and also as a part- time faculty member educating hundreds of undergraduates at San Jose State University.

From serving as a school librarian, children's librarian, and a special librarian in places including Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, Oakland Public Library and Berkeley Public Library, she has used every opportunity she could find to pour her heart and soul into community service. Her work on equity and diversity, youth development, fundraising, and creating collaborations between libraries and community agencies are inspiring to us all.

In each of her roles, Ms. Wong has stood out as a leader who is dedicated to making the world a better place. When the pandemic struck, Ms. Wong spearheaded efforts to support weekly food distribution programs, hosted COVID-19 testing at libraries, and partnered with Stanford Blood Mobile to collect blood donations. Our community owes her a debt of gratitude for this selfless work.

Ms. Wong is exceptional in her history of working in libraries and her passion for community service. I am delighted to see her extraordinary talents in this new role recognized as the new President of the American Library Association. I wish her the best of luck on this exciting new endeavor.

Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Speaker, I rise to offer my amendment with Chairman Smith, with Chairman Schiff, and Representative Jayapal, to finally end the humanitarian disaster in Yemen that has been going on year after year.

Our amendment would end all U.S. logistical support and transfer of spare parts for Saudi warplanes that are bombing Yemen; that are bombing schools; that are killing children; that are bombing civilians in the largest humanitarian crisis around the world.

Now, this body passed the War Powers Resolution to say that we would not be aiding the Saudi offensive in Yemen. President Trump suspended the fueling of those planes, and President Biden made that policy formal.

And yet, the Saudis have not listened. Yet, they have a blockade where, just last month, in August, in the Port of Hodeidah, no fuel was let in. They come and they tell the United States one thing: We are letting fuel in. They lie, again and again they lie.

There is a reason the 9/11 families wanted transparency and the decommissioning of the reports. There is a reason there was outrage in all of this country when they brutally murdered Khashoggi.

They need accountability, and we are not going to use taxpayer dollars to give them equipment for their planes to bomb Yemeni's kids.

Now of course the Houthis are to blame as well. No one says the Houthis are blameless. Of course they are to blame, and of course they have had human rights violations.

But the point is, the United States should not be making this war continue by arming or by giving parts to the Saudis that end up facilitating the conflict or elongating the conflict and killing people. It is time for the Saudis to recognize what everyone recognizes, that they have lost in Yemen. It is time for them to end the blockade, and it is time for them to allow a peace process that has a ceasefire in Yemen and a civilian government, instead of trying to win this by force.

So I hope that everyone who supported our amendment last time--it passed 240-185 in this body--Jake Sullivan, who is the National Security Council Adviser; Wendy Sherman, who is the Deputy Secretary of State; Rob Malley, who is the envoy to Iran, all supported it. So I hope the administration will support it this time, that it won't get stripped out of conference; and that it will pass, and we will finally begin to end this war.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff), the distinguished chair of the Intelligence Committee.

Madam Speaker, I will end with this. A year ago, this exact amendment passed this body 240-185. The war has only gotten worse. Saudi Arabia has not lived up to its commitment to lift the blockade. The Saudis have not lived up to their commitment to stop the offensive strikes.

I hope that this amendment will pass with an even bigger majority this time, and I hope the people in the administration, who supported this amendment as private civilians, will support it in their current roles.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank Delegate Norton for her leadership, and I thank Ranking Member Comer for his leadership on the bill and, of course, Representative Mace, who has been a colleague and helped craft this.

Everyone recognizes that our country faces cyberattacks. In the private sector, we don't silo cybersecurity officials. You don't say, ``You just work in one department.'' They rotate through a company. We shouldn't have separate silos in the Federal Government.

This bill is just common sense. It says that we need to have a rotational system in the Federal Government so that you can have expertise from all the different agencies, and we can have a comprehensive response. It helps us get talent. And it is bipartisan.

We should give credit to the previous administration for having, as was pointed out, the executive order. I worked with Matt Lira at the previous White House. There is nothing that is partisan about making sure that America isn't attacked with cybercrimes and cyberattacks. That is a bipartisan initiative, and this does build on the work they did. It makes it stronger, and we put, ultimately, resources toward it.

But I am proud of the work. I am proud of working with Representative Mace on it. Frankly, I think we ought to be doing more things in this body in a bipartisan way that strengthen American security.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 409) to provide for the availability of amounts for customer education initiatives and non-awards expenses of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days 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 strong support of S. 409.

S. 409 provides a bipartisan, short-term legislative solution to address a funding shortage in CFTC's Customer Protection Fund. The Consumer Protection Fund is used to pay whistleblower awards that fund the salaries and expenses of the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach.

Without this critical funding, CFTC would have to suspend some operations and furlough employees in the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach.

This short-term solution is by no means a replacement for the much- needed comprehensive CFTC reauthorization. It will still, though, be a positive step to ensure that the CFTC can accomplish the important mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets.

The Committee on Agriculture passed a committee print equivalent of this measure unanimously by voice vote last Wednesday.

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about President Biden's tax plan with some basic facts.

President Biden proposes no tax increases on 99 percent of Americans. This chart illustrates that, with 154 million Americans, not a single American in the 99 percent is going to pay a dime more.

In fact, they are getting a tax cut. We are giving them a tax cut with the child tax credit. We are giving them a tax cut with the earned income tax credit.

So the obfuscation on the other side to convince 99 percent of Americans that somehow their taxes are going to go up when President Biden is delivering a tax cut for them is just factually false.

What does this mean? If you work in manufacturing, if you are a nurse, if you are a teacher, if you are a doctor, if you are a lawyer, most likely, your taxes aren't going up. For the 99 percent--not just in the working class, but in the middle class, in the upper middle class--your taxes are not going up. They are going down.

In fact, the President has extended Trump's tax cut for those who are making under $75,000.

It is important we get those facts, and I want the American people to look at this chart. If you really fall in that sliver of the top 1 percent, your taxes are going up. If you are everyone else in the 99 percent, your taxes aren't going up. They are going down, in most cases.

So, people wonder how, in a democracy, we wouldn't want this. How wouldn't we want those who are going to make the most in the tiny 1 percent, why wouldn't the 99 percent want them to pay a little bit more? It turns out that the top 1 percent--and let's just be clear, if you make over $538,000, you are in that top 1 percent. I personally don't know a lot of doctors or lawyers or others who are making more than $538,000 a year.

But if you are in that 1 percent, you have made $4.8 trillion over this pandemic--$4.8 trillion. And the over 600 billionaires, they have made $1.6 trillion over the pandemic.

I know that because a lot of them are in my district. We have had the digitization of the economy. They are making a lot of money. Some of them are brilliant. Guess what they told me? They can afford to pay a little more.

Do you know what the market cap of companies in my district is? It is $10 trillion in Silicon Valley. That is more than the GDP of Russia. It is more than the GDP of most countries.

I laugh when people say this tag of socialism. My district is producing the most wealth in the world. The people there who say we want to pay a little bit more aren't socialists. They are wealth generators.

But here is what they know: They fall into this 1 percent, and they are saying we have made trillions of dollars. We have made billions of dollars. We would like to pay a little bit more so everyone can have healthcare, education, and nutrition in this country, and we are fine with other people in the working and middle class getting a tax cut.

That is the President's policy. It is a policy of helping working- class Americans, middle-class Americans, upper-middle-class Americans, and asking those who have done well to do a little bit more for our country.

It is a policy against inherited wealth because we are Americans. We don't believe in feudal estates. We don't believe what the law is right now, that if you buy $1 million of Facebook stock and that becomes $10 million and if you want to give it to your kids, that your kids don't have to pay tax on the appreciation of $9 million. We don't think that is right. We don't think you should be able to transfer wealth without paying any tax.

That is not the American way. That is what they used to do in old Europe's feudal estates, passing wealth generation to generation. That is the party of aristocracy, and that is what the Republicans would have you believe.

We are the party of free markets, free enterprise, and new entrepreneurs. We are the party of economic growth for everyone. We are not the party of dynastic wealth.

If you believe that everyone should have a shot in the free market economy, that you should have economic growth for everyone and opportunity for everyone, if you are against dynastic wealth, if you believe those who have made $4.8 trillion can pay a little bit more and you can have tax cuts for the working class and middle class, you should support President Biden's tax plan.