Glenn English: “it has been fascinating to appear several times on the floor during recent weeks to hear the debate on tax bills that…”

“it has been fascinating to appear several times on the floor during recent weeks to hear the debate on tax bills that seem to lurch in the direction of Iraq and wander all over the public policy landscape. I would like to bring the debate today back to the core issue of the bill that is before us and whether the substitute is actually an improvement on it, and I would argue that it is not. Mr. Speaker, the underlying bill that we have before us today would provide increased medical security, not as my friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts, has suggested, for the wealthiest Americans, but for many American workers. When flexible spending accounts are offered by an employer, their tax-preferred nature offers a powerful incentive for workers to contribute to and grow these accounts. Unfortunately, current law perversely influences these incentives by pushing workers who have built up an FSA to spend the money in the account if they have not used it by the end of the year. This use-it-or-lose-it policy defeats the positive benefits of an FSA, which is why many eligible workers have chosen not to open FSAs. When workers use the hard-earned dollars they have contributed themselves or earned from their employers, they will ask more questions, further inform themselves, and become better consumers, for example, of health care products.…”