Jackie Speier: “I want to thank the ranking member for allotting me some time to speak on this bill, and to our chairman, Mr. Issa, for…”

“I want to thank the ranking member for allotting me some time to speak on this bill, and to our chairman, Mr. Issa, for moving this bill forward, and to my colleague, Mr. Chaffetz from Utah, who is the author of this measure. Imagine what our constituents are thinking right now. Imagine if they really knew that while they're scurrying around trying to get their tax returns filed on time and making sure they have adequate funds in their accounts to write out that check, that there are corporations in this country that continue to get contracts from the United States of America, even though they don't pay their taxes. So this bill will ensure that taxpayer dollars due today only go to responsible contractors who do not have significant debts to the Federal Government. This bill will make it clear to all contracting officials: no more tax money for deadbeat contractors. {time} 1740 As it stands, delinquent contractors are not only eligible for future contracts, but they actually get them. With one of the largest budgets in the Federal Government, the Defense Department already has a reputation for letting contractors fleece taxpayers. And to underscore this point, when the Defense Department needed a new PR contractor, they settled on a company that still owed $4 million in taxes. How can we allow that to happen?…”