On the recordMay 9, 2014
This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill nor send it back to committee. If adopted, this bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. Mr. Speaker, this bill is fiscally irresponsible. It is an unpaid-for bill that costs $156 billion. When combined with the other six permanent tax extenders passed by Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee, the combined cost of all six bills is $310 billion. Not $1 of these bills is paid for, not $1 to offset the cost. They do not close one special interest, corporate tax loophole to offset the cost of these bills. The bill threatens so many critical programs that we care about. It threatens tax extender provisions that are not included, the new markets tax credit, the work opportunity tax credit for veterans, and renewable energy incentives. The bill also threatens enhancements made to refundable tax credits for working families that expire in 2017, the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, the American opportunity tax credit for education. Republicans may have turned off, at the eleventh hour, the automatic spending cuts that would have resulted from passing this legislation after we called them out for it. What isn't done with one hand by them will be done with the other. Republicans will add to the deficit. Let me make that clear. Republicans will add to the deficit and then automatically use that to push for harmful cuts elsewhere.…
