Zoe Lofgren: “First, I would like to thank Congressmen Brown and Crist for an excellent amendment that improves the bill considerably.…”

“First, I would like to thank Congressmen Brown and Crist for an excellent amendment that improves the bill considerably. On the point just raised by the ranking member, the report given by the Joint Committee on Taxation was put into the Record yesterday, and it is their estimate of how much will be raised, and their estimate that we will reduce the deficit by $83 million. We are waiting; the CBO is crunching numbers, which is hard to do because each amendment has to be crunched as we go along. But I will say this: During the markup in the House Administration Committee, we did outline the vessel for the Freedom From Influence Fund. We didn't have the jurisdiction to do the assessment on criminal wrongdoing by corporations and tax cheats, but we did create the Freedom From Influence Fund, and we did create the step-down on the program if there is insufficient funding. So this is not a new thing. I think it is sound policy.”