Marty Walsh: “Mr. Speaker, I would just again urge my colleagues to reject this motion. This committee's work, this joint committee's…”

“Mr. Speaker, I would just again urge my colleagues to reject this motion. This committee's work, this joint committee's work, is of very timely importance. We did just pass a major tax cut. Thank God that we did. We did it with bipartisan support. Although some of the proponents of this motion did not support that tax cut, the majority of the Congress of both parties did, also the Senate, and the President signed the bill, with a major reduction in income taxes for people with children, for capital gains, estate and death tax reform. Mr. Speaker, this is only the beginning. We feel very strongly that this is just the first cut, that next year there should be another and the following year there should be another. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer] has suggested very strongly that the Committee on Ways and Means is going to take a serious look at reforming our overall progressive income tax program and reforming the Internal Revenue Service. This is going to require staff work. Mr. Speaker, we are asking for only a funding level equal to what was there when the Democratic Party controlled the House back in 1988. This is the staffing level they had. We have reduced this dramatically, but now we are starting to cut taxes, and the economy of the country is picking up and responding positively. We do not want this to be the last tax cut. We want it to be the first tax cut.”