Tom Rice: “My motion to recommit is very simple. Despite the terms of the underlying bill, it would retain the $10,000 cap on the…”

“My motion to recommit is very simple. Despite the terms of the underlying bill, it would retain the $10,000 cap on the SALT deduction only for tax returns where the people earn more than $100 million a year. This would produce about $7 billion in savings, and we would apply the $7 billion to doubling the deduction for firefighters and teachers' supplies from $500, which is provided in the underlying bill, to $1,000. Madam Speaker, my friends across the aisle love to say that they are the party of the downtrodden and the middle class, but their actions certainly speak a lot louder than their words. The underlying bill here is a plain giveaway to the rich. Let me say that again: It is a plain giveaway to the rich. In excess of 50 percent of the benefit of restoring or taking away the SALT cap goes to the top 1 percent of wage earners. Madam Speaker, 94 percent--94 percent--of the benefit of doing away with the SALT cap goes to wage earners that are in the top 10 percent of American wage earners. Please, Madam Speaker, my friends across the aisle should stop saying that they are for the middle class. I represent an area in South Carolina. I live in Horry County, South Carolina. The average SALT deduction is $1,800. The SALT cap of $10,000 is five times higher than what is needed to cover the average SALT deduction in Horry County. But I represent poor counties as well.…”