On the recordFebruary 13, 2015
I proudly, over the last 2 days, voted for a temporary extension of the small business tax exemption and the food inventory charitable exemption because I realize that America has many needs that have to be addressed, food stamps that have been denied to many people with a $40 billion cut in the last Congress by my friends on the other side of the aisle. I realize that if we continue in the mode of a permanent tax exemption, where will the funding come from? Social Security? Medicare? Medicaid?--a variety of needs that our community has. So today I want to make sure that the $1.5 trillion debt that we have, that is now $440 billion, that we continue to be responsible and be concerned about our children's education and about health care and about many other things. So today we must stand, considering all the needs of Americans. Finally, let me say that I represent an area that is trying to protect Freedmen's Town bricks laid or bought for by freed slaves. I believe we should come together in the city of Houston with our Freedmen's Town coalition and those citizens in that area and let's resolve this. Let's do trenching, preserve the bricks, and provide a quality infrastructure program that I have helped fund by Federal dollars. ____________________
