Chris Van Hollen: “I thank my colleague. I want to start by congratulating the bipartisan effort on the charter school bills. I thank Mr.…”

“I thank my colleague. I want to start by congratulating the bipartisan effort on the charter school bills. I thank Mr. Polis for his leadership on that. And I wish that was all there was to say about this rule. Unfortunately, it is not. You might think this rule was only about charter schools. The title is, Success and Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act. But then if you turn a couple pages in, you will find in paragraph 13 a reference to H.R. 4438. That is not the charter school bill. That is what we call the research and development tax credit bill. So why is it here in this rule on charter schools, and why does it reference part B of the rule in front of us now, which says that the budgetary effects of this act shall not be entered on either the PAYGO scorecard--and it goes on to say some other things? Well, the PAYGO scorecard has nothing to do with charter schools. It does have something to do with the R&D tax credit. And I want to explain to people what has happened here because it is important that the public know. Last night, we were scheduled to have the debate on a bill to extend the R&D tax credit law. We were all ready to go, and all of a sudden the debate stopped and the plug was pulled. And so I have got to say something for a second about this research and tax development credit. I think the idea of extending the R&D tax credit bill is broadly supported. That is not the issue on the tax credit bill.…”