On the recordFebruary 13, 2015
I thank the chairman for his leadership in the area of tax reform and entitlement reform. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not monkey business. This is serious business, kind of deja vu all over again. We have now been at trying to do comprehensive tax reform for 5 years, and we should continue to try to do it, but our constituents shouldn't be held hostage for the lack of the ability for us to get it across the finish line. This is bipartisan. Let me remind my friend from Michigan that the provisions in these bills that I am sponsoring today were part of a package that was being negotiated to be made permanent by a bicameral, bipartisan group of legislators in December, Democrat leadership and Republican leadership, before the President stepped in and said ``no.'' He said ``no'' to constituents of mine like Claggett & Sons, a general contractor. I will tell you what the controller of Claggett & Sons said about section 179. This is what he said: It is an important part of our decisionmaking process when evaluating equipment purchases. He went on to say that making the increased expensing levels permanent, as this bill does, will be beneficial for capital purchases planning for small businesses. Let me tell you, when you look at section 179 in particular, Mr. Speaker, we had section 179 at this level, supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, for 2014.…
