Rae Oliver Davis: “To the gentleman from Texas' point, my constituents, who are members of the International Boilermakers, from a…”

“To the gentleman from Texas' point, my constituents, who are members of the International Boilermakers, from a bipartisan standpoint, we have a positive and proactive relationship with our boilermakers and our professional trades in the Fourth District of Kentucky. But it is my boilermakers, my pipe fitters, my millwrights and steelworkers, ironworkers, my operating engineers, my Teamsters, anybody who is affiliated in the energy industry is no longer considered in manufacturing. What that means for the average working family is a hidden tax increase, because the tax credits that would go for training and professional development, that would relate to a provision of health care, nearly 80 percent of manufacturing employees are covered with full health benefits. In my company we covered every single family with health benefits. The economic incentives are now removed, and it is no different than treating those in our critical bedrock base industry that drives not only manufacturing, drives the automotive industry, drives utilities, drives the transportation infrastructure of this Nation, is now being told they are not manufacturing, they are not value added. Somehow they are a nemesis. Again, I come back to the fact of this issue of class-warfare politics. Who gets affected by the tax increases that are buried in that bill? It is not a simple issue of trying to say these are tax breaks for some nebulous, super-rich oil executives.…”