Kevin Brady

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, ending forced labor--and holding China accountable for these gross abuses of human rights--must be a global effort. America should lead the world in halting China's brutality, and all democracies around the world should join us. As I've said many times, this is a completely bipartisan issue, as demonstrated by the overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House on a similar bill in September 2020. The United States has no tolerance for China's human rights abuses, in Xinjiang or anywhere. There are real challenges to further tighten the dragnet around China and force it to eliminate atrocities, while supporting legitimate trade. All of us agree: we want to create opportunities for our producers to comply with the law while removing forced labor from our global supply chains. And just as important, we must urge our trading partners to work with us. Inexplicably, this entirely bipartisan issue has been pushed to the back burner, with Democrats delaying consideration for 14 months. And Ways & Means did not mark this bill up or update the trade provisions in any way. This is difficult to understand, because a core provision of this bill, which is the rebuttable presumption that importation of goods made in Xinjiang must be blocked because they are made with forced labor, is clearly in our Committee's jurisdiction. This issue is not only bipartisan. It's bicameral. Both the House and the Senate have strong bills that send a clear and unequivocal message: the United States has zero tolerance for these abuses. While I'm disappointed that this was delayed, taking strong action today is an important step. Republicans support strong and effective legislation that addresses China's atrocities while supporting legitimate trade, and I look forward to working with the Senate to perfect our approach and enact this bill into law promptly. It is vital that we stop the scourge of modern-day slavery in China.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, today ought to be a rare day for bipartisanship on behalf of patients and healthcare providers across America. Sadly, it is another day for Democrats' partisanship. Providing needed funding for Medicare providers, our local doctors and hospitals, especially as we recover from the pandemic, is just common sense. We should be on the same page. In fact, we were, as early as a few hours ago, when Republicans also introduced legislation to help our healthcare providers. Instead, Democrats have decided to push a very partisan agenda that has led to crisis after crisis, including the one we addressed today. Our border communities are overwhelmed. Bidenflation is robbing American paychecks. The President has mishandled the economy so badly, he is already nearly a million jobs short of his promises from his last $2 trillion spending binge. Now, patients and doctors are being held hostage to pave the way for trillions of more reckless spending that most Americans don't even want. Regrettably, Democrats are politicizing needed funding for Americans' healthcare with a poison pill that provides a process for lifting the debt ceiling, absolutely unrelated, and using patients and access to local doctors as leverage to increase the national debt on our children and grandchildren. Last month, knowing this was coming, Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee called for a hearing, a bipartisan hearing, to address the issues around our doctors and our healthcare providers and reimbursement. In a letter, we wrote to our Democrat colleagues, who we believed shared the same concerns, and said: ``If the stability of healthcare providers is, in fact, still a priority for you,'' let's hold a hearing so that we can discuss a legislative solution going forward to maintain patient access to our local providers. Instead, once again, my Democrat colleagues are choosing to go it alone because seemingly they are obsessed with spending taxpayer dollars wastefully. We know there is bipartisan support for doctors. We should do a standalone bill. But the truth is, House Republicans can't support using patients and access to local doctors as leverage to increase the national debt on our children. We know there is bipartisan support for providers, and we know this could stand alone as a bill. Unfortunately, this is not the path the Democrats have chosen. Make no mistake: This debt ceiling is being lifted to pay for trillions of wasteful socialist spending. This debt ceiling limit is increased until 2023, all to accommodate trillions of wasteful spending, and Americans know it. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has noted that President Biden's Build Back Better bill would cost nearly $5 trillion, while the President and others continue to claim falsely that this costs zero dollars. Unfortunately for the President and the taxpayers who will have to foot the bill, The Washington Post fact checker found this claim false and misleading. They said it ``would take some dubious gimmicks that help disguise the true cost of President Biden's agenda,'' and these gimmicks are just to justify paying for absolute waste. Democrats give away hundreds of billions of dollars to special interests and the wealthy, literally sending government checks to the top 1 percent and the biggest corporations. Democrats protect so-called green companies from their new minimum tax. Wealthy individuals with up to $500,000 in income every year enjoy their own green welfare, including a $12,500 check from single moms and working Americans so they can buy the wealthy a luxury electric vehicle. Democrats force the 90 percent of Americans who don't join a union to subsidize the few who do. Democrats provide loopholes and tax cuts for special interests like trial lawyers. Democrats would increase the $10,000 SALT cap, providing wealthy taxpayers with a windfall of a quarter of a trillion dollars to help the wealthy. Two out of three millionaires get a tax cut. One out of three middle- class families get a tax hike. Where are their priorities? Democrats' tax and spending spree will more than double Americans' chances of being audited as it targets lower- and middle-income earners to make sure they pay their ``fair share.'' This proposal and that proposal will lead to an additional 1.2 million IRS audits each year focused on the middle class, and we will see $200 billion of new taxes on our Main Street small businesses. What does it mean for Americans? More than double the chance of being audited, and not just for the rich. Americans ought to take a step back and see what we are doing tonight as shameful. That is exactly what it is. Democrats are threatening to hold up payments for our local doctors and healthcare providers, as they fight out of the pandemic, so Democrats can pay for measures they claim we need because of the pandemic. We have gone from never letting a crisis go to waste to never letting a crisis get in the way of waste. This debt ceiling crisis didn't have to happen this way. House Democrats have known this day was coming for 2 years, but they never bothered to pass a budget, never passed appropriations bills, and failed to have any bipartisan discussion. Here we are at the last minute. Madam Speaker, commonsense Americans will not let their doctors and healthcare providers be held hostage to this debt ceiling crisis. We strongly urge a ``no'' vote on this bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith).

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, may I ask, is the gentleman prepared to close?

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith), the Republican leader of the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), the Republican leader of the Budget Committee and a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), leader of the Republican Doctors Caucus who worked to put these solutions together.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. The claim we just heard, that only Democrats want to prevent these cuts to our local doctors and hospitals, is just nonsense. Democrats and Republicans have worked hard together to extend the moratorium on the sequester cuts on our providers, our doctors and hospitals; to provide a 3 percent payment increase for our physicians; to make sure, in the administration's proposals, to help increase reimbursement for primary care physicians. You don't cut the payment for specialty doctors, many of whom were hurt so hard during COVID. We also worked with our Democrat colleagues to delay for a year the proposed cuts by this administration on our labs and our oncologists, and we worked together to make sure other cuts didn't occur. All that bipartisanship was all on track up until a few hours ago when my Democrat colleagues decided they would hold this hostage, hold the healthcare reimbursements for doctors and hospitals hostage for their debt ceiling crisis that they created. It really is, I think, in a day and age where we have seen this one- party rule for an entire year, the arrogance of this power going to their heads. It is unfortunate that they couldn't continue to work just a few hours longer together with Republicans to provide help to our physicians, hospitals, and providers. This bill ought to be a stand-alone bill. We should never hold them hostage for our colleagues' spending spree and socialist agenda. Unfortunately, that is what our Democrat colleagues have done today. We have introduced legislation as Republicans that mirrors our Democrat colleagues because we believe so strongly together. Unfortunately, one-party rule tore this apart. That is why the American public is going to return the majority of this House to Republicans in the next election and why President Biden's approval ratings are at a terribly low rate, a disapproval rate of 57 percent. It is unfortunate. We ought to be working together on that.

Mr. BRADY. I would be glad to yield 15 seconds to the gentlewoman.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time. Our colleagues have known for 2 years this debt ceiling was here, never passed a budget, never passed an appropriations bill. They let this crisis occur and built it time after time after time when we could easily have come together. By the way, our Democrat colleagues hold the House; they hold the Senate; they hold the White House. They have the power to pass the debt ceiling, and they have had that for the entire year. To my Democrat friends, you can try to sell this snake oil all you want, but the truth of the matter is, you wrecked a bipartisan agreement for your debt ceiling crisis. That is what we are voting on today. Republicans support help for healthcare providers. We will not allow them to be held hostage to this debt ceiling crisis. Madam Speaker, I urge strong opposition to this bill and urge my Democrat colleagues to someday work with us. Let's work together on these issues. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 387 and YEA on Roll Call No. 388.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor the distinguished career and public service of my dear friend Mr. H. Ross Perot, Jr. A native Texan, Mr. Perot graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas and earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University. As a 23-year-old, Mr. Perot was the first to circumnavigate the world in a helicopter. The 26,000-mile trip was completed in less than 30 days. The Spirit of Texas, a Bell 206 helicopter, is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum. Just weeks after completing his record-breaking flight, Mr. Perot, announced he was joining the Air Force where he piloted the F-4 Phantom fighter and served for over seven years on active and reserve duty. Proud of his Air Force service, he chaired the Air Force Memorial Foundation where he led a 14-year effort to build the United States Air Force Memorial. Following his military service, Mr. Perot made his mark in business. Founding Hillwood, one of the top industrial, commercial, and residential real estate companies in the world. His leadership has undoubtedly contributed to the development of North Texas into the booming economy it is today. Mr. Perot has received numerous awards throughout his lifetime in recognition of his dedication and service to our country, including the Gold Medal Award for Extraordinary Service from President Ronald Reagan, the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship, and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Perot has been named one of the Most Powerful Business Leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth and was inducted into the Junior Achievement's Dallas Business Hall of Fame in 2017. Alongside his father, he was co-awarded the inaugural Vision Award from the Urban Land Institute North Texas District Council. Mr. Perot is not only a principled business leader, but he continually dedicates time to serve his community. He serves on the Boards of Trustees of Vanderbilt University and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. He serves as Chairman of the Board of the East-West Institute, St. Mark's School of Texas, and the Perot Companies. It is a pleasure and honor to join Mr. Perot's family and friends to celebrate his distinguished career and thank him for his leadership, service to our country and dedication to public service.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, we meet today to consider the largest spending bill in American history, a bill that no one has read, adds hundreds of billions to the deficit, was written in secret, and rushed to the floor to hide it from the American people. We have now the official costs, and the results are in. The claim by the President this costs zero and will reduce the national deficit is just simply untrue. According to the Congressional Budget Office, even counting the budget gimmicks, this bill adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt and a more true accounting by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates this could drive national deficits by $3 trillion over the next 10 years. The claim that this will not raise taxes on the middle class is simply false. One out of three Americans in the middle class will see a tax hike starting next year. The claim that this will make the wealthy pay their fair share is false as well. In this bill, coming out of COVID, two out of three millionaires in America will get a massive tax cut. And the claim that this will reduce inflation is not true as well. Even according to the White House's own favored analyst, the spending in this bill will drive up inflation for families, higher and longer, for at least a decade. The Build Back Better's crippling tax hikes will kill American jobs, drive many of them overseas. They hamper small businesses as they struggle to recover, worsen the labor shortage, and drive inflation even higher. The bill imposes over $400 billion in taxes on American small businesses. It couldn't come at a worse time. There are $800 billion in tax increases on American businesses who compete both here and around the world. This constitutes an economic surrender to China, Russia, Japan, and Europe, driving American jobs investment in manufacturing overseas. The new corporate tax is really a ``Made in America'' tax. It hits American manufacturing, energy, and technology businesses the hardest, along with American consumers. The international tax increases make it better to be a foreign company than an American one. It is any wonder our foreign competitors are happy to embrace a global minimum tax. They are getting American jobs and a big bite of our tax base. There is a troubling new tax on retirement and a troubling new tax, the toddler tax, on American childcare. This is a terrible bill. I urge a ``no'' vote. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we meet today to consider the largest spending bill in American history; a bill that no one has read, no one knows its cost, it was written in secret, and rushed to the floor to hide it from the American people. We meet in the shadow of an awful economic report that shows America's economy effectively stopped growing last quarter. President Biden is over 700,000 jobs short of his promises from the last stimulus, has ignored the damaging labor shortage and the fastest rising inflation in 40 years. This is all proof that President Biden is bungling the recovery, and leaves many Americans questioning his competence. Given all that, you would think the President and Congressional Democrats would avoid sabotaging America's economy further. But that is exactly what this $4 trillion socialist tax and spending binge does. Build Back Better's crippling tax hikes will kill American jobs, drive many of them overseas, hammer small businesses as they struggle to recover, worsen the labor shortage, and drive inflation even higher. And, yes, President Biden is absolutely breaking his pledge to not raise taxes on America's lower- and middle-income earners. Two out of three millionaires will get a tax cut while the middle class gets a tax hike. Both the liberal Tax Policy Center and Congress' own scorekeeper, the Joint Committee on Taxation, confirm this. This bill imposes over $400 billion in taxes on America's small businesses, which couldn't come at a worse time. There are $800 billion in tax increases on American businesses who compete both here and around the world. This is an economic surrender to China, Russia, Japan, and Europe; driving American jobs, investment, and manufacturing overseas. The new corporate minimum tax is really a Made in America tax. It hits American manufacturing, energy, and technology businesses the hardest along with American consumers. The international tax increases make it better to be a foreign company or consumer than an American one. Is it any wonder our foreign competitors are happy to embrace a small global minimum tax; they are getting American jobs and a big bite of our tax base. There is a troubling new tax that hurts retirement plans, harming workers and seniors the most by punishing businesses that invest in their own stock. All this while the Federal Government enjoys record-high levels of tax revenue from corporations, small businesses, and high-income earners due to the Republican tax cuts in 2017. This $4 trillion socialist tax and spending binge will drive prices up even higher on families and make the damaging labor shortage even worse. As businesses from Main Street to manufacturing struggle to find workers, Democrats' changes to the child tax credit no longer require Americans to earn or to work to qualify for monthly checks. Experts predict this, along with lavish COVID-era Affordable Care Act subsidies, could drive up to 2 million more Americans to exit the workforce. Under their paid leave plan, taxpayers will pay billions of dollars to put Washington in charge of your time off while workers struggle with one-size-fits-all mandates that limit choice for families and crush small businesses. This is crazy, too: Democrats are insisting on giving a huge tax windfall to the wealthy 1 percent of Americans by lifting the reasonable SALT cap. The cost of this tax give-away? A whopping $222 billion. The penthouse gets an obscene tax break, but the building janitor gets nothing. The middle class gets nothing. The 90 percent of taxpayers who don't itemize their taxes get nothing but higher taxes themselves. Where are their priorities? The SALT windfall for the wealthy is 50 times larger than the help a parent gets from the child tax credit. And it gets worse. Democrats are spitting away $550 billion in green pork subsidies for the wealthy and the world's biggest corporations. Democrats are forcing taxpayers to send $12,500 to a wealthy family buying a luxury electric vehicle worth 80 grand. They quietly snuck in tax breaks for wealthy trial lawyers, recording artists, electric bikes, and subsidies for the media. Of course, labor unions get a huge haul, including forcing the 90 percent of Americans who don't join a union to subsidize a few who do. While special interests cash in, families don't. Did you know this includes a new toddler tax that will force middle-class families to pay $13,000 more a year for their childcare? And there are budget gimmicks galore. ``It costs zero'' will go down in history as one of the biggest whoppers a President has ever told. The true deficit is trillions of dollars over the decade. And one of the budget gimmicks lands on American seniors who won't have affordable generic drugs in the future to choose from. Another budget gimmick is supercharging the IRS with 80,000 new agents. While Democrats will say they have walked away from their bank surveillance plan, the White House is ``hopeful'' Senators will sneak it back in. If you are worried about rising prices shrinking your paychecks more and more every month, these trillions in new government spending will only make it worse. Inflation is killing families, forcing them to effectively pay a second utility bill, a second cell phone bill, or a second cable bill a month. Inflation is a tax, and Democrats are raising it in this bill. So crippling taxes, driving jobs overseas, making the worker shortage worse, and driving prices higher; this is a terrible bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), one of our tax leaders.

Mr. BRADY. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski).

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. BRADY

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. So America, the results are in, and now we know it was all nonsense, just nonsense. The claim that this costs zero and reduces the national debt? Nonsense. This bill, even counting the budget gimmicks, is several hundred billion dollars short today, and the independent Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says over 10 years it is closer to $3 trillion in national debt. It won't tax the middle class? Nonsense. The Joint Committee on Taxation and the liberal Tax Policy Center both confirm that up to one-third of middle-class Americans will see a tax increase starting next year. This will make the wealthy pay their fair share? More nonsense. Two out of three millionaires in America will see a huge tax cut in this bill. And this will reduce inflation? Nonsense. Even the President's own favorite analyst, Moody's, admits that Americans ought to brace for higher prices for the next decade because of this bill and the infrastructure bill and the COVID stimulus bill. But there is more than just nonsense in this bill. There are dangerous provisions dealing with the IRS. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will offer a motion to recommit the bill to the Budget Committee. I will also ask to include the text of an amendment in the Record that I would have offered had the rules allowed me to offer instructions with my motion to recommit. And my amendment is simple. It stops Democrats from unleashing 80,000 new IRS agents on American taxpayers. And more importantly, it blocks the House and the Senate from ever imposing a dangerous bank surveillance scheme targeting America's families, farmers, and small businesses. The truth is the IRS doesn't need your private information. It has a record of targeting Americans based on their political beliefs. In fact, this year, they discriminated against a nonprofit focused on biblical teachings and continues to fail to stop massive leaks of private taxpayer returns to the media. Our Democratic colleagues claim bank surveillance is not in there. Yet. The Biden White House is still insisting. So join with us, accept this motion, and stop it right now, once and for all. Mr. Speaker, you know, Americans need to know what is in this bill. And under this $4 trillion Biden-Pelosi scheme, let's look at a day in your life. So you wake up in the morning and pay a ``heat your home tax.'' You shower and get ready and pay a consumer products tax. You drop your kids off at childcare and pay a ``toddler tax.'' You drive to work paying higher gas prices. You take a break and pay a bigger nicotine tax. At work your company pays a Made in America tax, a ``small business surtax,'' or a tax on your retirement plan. On the way home, you swing through your pharmacy and pay a ``no generics'' tax. Stop for groceries and pay the ``Bidenflation'' tax on everything you need. And then you get your mail on the way home, and you get a letter from the IRS; you are being audited. And then you are getting the kids ready for bed, and you realize Democrats are forcing you to send $12,500 of your taxes to the wealthy neighbor to subsidize their luxury Beemer electric vehicle. Plus, they are getting a massive SALT tax windfall for the wealthy while you get nothing, except 80,000 new IRS agents to make sure ``you pay your fair share.'' So when your head finally hits the pillow, as you lie awake in bed too worried to sleep in a community less safe, in housing more expensive, in a country that lurches from crisis to crisis, ask yourself this question: Under Joe Biden is my life truly built back better? Americans already know the answer, and that is why this President's polling is at the bottom of the heap and why Americans have lost any confidence in his competence to heal this economy. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.