Tom Carper

We have to provide revenue authorities with sufficient funding for effective enforcement.

I am Tom Carper, and I approve that message.

The last time I think we had an analysis of the tax gap, we were told that the size of the tax gap--monies owed for Federal taxes not being collected--was about $385 billion.

We need to simplify the tax code, which is what this hearing is all about.

Even so, targeted proposals to improve compliance will not by themselves address this problem.

I have heard him talk about it in State of the Union Address and I have talked with people like Cass Sunstein.

I am for knowledge and against ignorance.

I believe the estimated cost of the acid ran program launched by former President George Herbert Walker Bush, I think they estimated the cost of the acid rain program, to be 50 percent higher than what it turned out to be.

We are guilty of that, so we have some responsibility.

Guys like me, people who serve in these roles, we do not create jobs.

What we do is create a nurturing environment for job creation.

I think we have the four right people in front of us.

The real conflict is knowledge versus ignorance, and I urge you all to choose knowledge.

Regulations are important. We issue them for a number of reasons, including to better protect our health, our safety, our environment, and the economy.

We need some men and women around here with courage, political courage, to do what I think most of us know needs to be done.

Leadership has been defined as the courage to stay out of step when everyone else is marching to the wrong tune.

I don't think it is an accident that what we regard as the golden age of the American economy in the last century coincided with when we were building the interState system.

We often talk about the jobs that could be created from a full-funded transportation bill. I have heard 600,000 jobs, 700,000 jobs.

Thank you. My staff, at my request, did some analysis. They found in States that have raised revenues for transportation, 90 percent of legislators who voted for a revenue increase won their primary, won their general election.

Our job is not to create jobs. My job as Governor was not to create jobs. Our job is to help create a nurturing environment for job creation.

As the senior Senator from first State to ratify the Constitution, I applaud your use and reference to the Constitution here this morning.

I think it was Andrew Jackson who used to say, one man with courage makes a majority.

Because frankly, we continue to lose ground against our major competitive countries, China in particular.

I have been thinking a lot about it, and I think the President has a proposal. I am not a big fan of repatriation, but the President has an interesting proposal and that could be part of an all of the above approach as well.

I think it demonstrates that the general public is willing to support this additional tax.