Elijah Lewis: “I too, before I close this debate on this bill, join with my colleagues and others to mourn for the victims of this…”

“I too, before I close this debate on this bill, join with my colleagues and others to mourn for the victims of this unspeakable, unbelievable, senseless act of violence at Virginia Tech. We mourn, we pray for the victims and for their families. I also want to thank my colleague, my friend, the ranking member, Mr. Ramstad, for all of his help in bringing this piece of legislation, as I stated before, before us today. Madam Speaker, I fully support H.R. 1677, the Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007. We must do more for Americans. We must protect taxpayers from being victims of fraudulent tax schemes, misleading Web sites and predatory refund loans. H.R. 1677 does this. It provides higher penalties for deceptive Web sites and mass e-mails. It requires the IRS to notify you if your identity is stolen in a tax scam. It reduces predatory refund loans. H.R. 1677 expands IRS outreach programs to millions of taxpayers eligible for the earned income tax credit who have not claimed it. This credit lifts millions of working Americans out of poverty each year. Madam Speaker, this is a good bill. This is an important bill. This is a necessary bill. On this tax day we must do more for taxpayers. I urge my colleagues, all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes'' for H.R. 1677.”