Kevin Brady

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on H.R. 622, the State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act of 2015.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. I rise in opposition to the motion.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, all this is a red herring. The desperation you hear is for a government in Washington that desperately wants to keep spending your money on $800 toilets and on research projects that make no sense and who feel free to waste your money at will because they are not the ones who worked a lifetime to earn it. Madam Speaker, today, we heard Congresswoman Kristi Noem talk about the tragedy of her dad and how, 3 days after his death, they were notified by Uncle Sam that they owed or they would have to sell their ranch. We heard from a gentleman from Texas whose dad built up from one car and four stalls a family-owned car dealership with 400 workers. It was a profitable company that nearly went bankrupt because they had to pay Uncle Sam or sell the business. They worked 20 years to pay off that loan. My constituent, a woman who is widowed, was forced back to the bank for the third time, paying death tax for her grandfather, her father, and now her and her husband, just to keep the family farm they have worked generations on. These are the people who are punished by this tax. It is not the government's money and work. It is yours. This is all about that issue. At the end of the day, unless we want to keep attacking the American Dream and insisting that Uncle Sam swoop in and take your nest egg, it is time to restore the American Dream and to end the death tax once and for all. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to defeat this motion to recommit. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, feel free to dismiss the woman in my district, a widow, who now has been forced back to the bank for the third time to take out a loan just to be able to keep the family farm they worked generations--worked generations--to keep and hand down. Dismiss her as the Paris Hiltons of the world, as the superrich. Dismiss the 114 organizations who back the repeal. Most of them are Main Street businesses who support this Death Tax Repeal Act. They are storeowners; they are loggers--loggers in the field--and they are plumbers. There is a glamorous life. That is the superrich. That is who, after these people worked years and years and weekends and nights to build up their business, these are the ones who, when they pass away, Uncle Sam swoops in and confiscates--takes--nearly half of what they have built a lifetime earning. Dismiss them if you will, but this is the American Dream. The American Dream is not a government that promises you welfare checks and food stamps. The American Dream is the thought that you can build yourself up and pull yourself up through hard work, skills, and dedication and that you can build a better life for your family and then give it to your children and grandchildren so maybe, just maybe, they have a better chance at the American Dream, that they have opportunities maybe you didn't have that they can pass on to their children. You will hear today, Oh, this only affects a few. Those are the people who pay the tax. One out of three businesses, more than that, are farmers. They are already paying money into tax planning. They are putting money aside; they are spending hours that they would rather put into their farm and their business. They would rather hire young people and new people looking for jobs, but instead, they are trying to avoid this horrible tax. All for what? For a measly 2 days of Federal spending--actually less than that--this government wastes so much money. It just pours it out of here. Instead of tightening our belt, we attack the American Dream of hard-working families and businesses. Many of them, by the way, are women and minority-owned businesses building wealth for the first time, believing the American Dream is right for them. They are not Paris Hilton. They are not robber barons. They are not the people who are dismissed on the floor today. At the end of the day, this is the simple question: Whose money is it? Whose hard work and years is it? Is it government's? Is it the Washington politicians' who will take your money in time, force you to sell your business or family-owned farm and waste it on who knows what? Or is it your money, your hard work, and your American Dream? Are you allowed to keep that dream and help your family going forward? Or is it the government's dream, whatever that could be? At the end of the day, what I love the most about America is we don't resent success. We strive for it. Whatever success is for each of us, we strive for it. We are absolutely convinced that we can achieve it for us and that we can maybe give our kids a chance going forward. This is a simple question. If you stand with those who believe it is the government's money and hard work, vote ``no,'' but if you stand with our family-owned farms, businesses, young people, and those chasing the American dream, vote ``yes'' to end the death tax once and for all. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meehan), who is a champion in health care and whose district has a large number of seniors.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise on behalf of Chairman Paul Ryan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, in support of H.R. 2, a bill led by Dr. Michael Burgess, and I am joined by many of our colleagues, both here in the House and throughout the country. This bill is critical because of this problem. Imagine you are a senior. You desperately need to see a doctor, but you learn that there are no local doctors who can treat you because they simply can't afford to treat Medicare patients. Or they have been throughout the years faced each year with a 10, 20, 30 percent cut in their reimbursements and, as the sole practitioner or as a small business, have rethought their relationship with Medicare and are no longer, frankly, able to do that. That scenario has been played out across this country for far too long. If there is any group in America who needs to see doctors they know and who know them, it is our seniors. This bill takes the first real permanent step to ensuring our seniors can see local doctors when they need to see them, and it takes the first real step in saving Medicare not just for these seniors, not just for the next generation, but for generations to come. I commend the work that has been done by the leaders of the Ways and Means Committee; Chairman Ryan; Chairman Fred Upton of the Energy and Commerce Committee; our physicians caucus, led by Dr. Phil Roe and Dr. John Fleming; as well as those in this Chamber who have come together to make this historic step today. So this is about helping our seniors. This is about taking those first reforms permanently to save Medicare. And it really is about ending a formula and a reimbursement that simply works against our seniors. The flawed--they call it the ``sustainable growth rate,'' it dictates huge cuts to our physicians through Medicare. Congress had to intervene 17 times in recent years to stave off these cuts with short-term fixes. This flawed formula regularly threatens access to care for seniors and really distracts Congress from making real reforms that are needed. The bipartisan agreement that we face today would repeal that SGR once and for all and replace it with a value-based system that provides certainty to our seniors and, really, finally reimburses doctors not on the number of procedures but on the quality they provide, and determined not by Washington but by our local physicians and practitioners themselves. This reform alone, if that was the only thing this did, is significant. It begins to move its way from that flawed fee-for-service system. And it does in a way. The sole practitioner in rural Pennsylvania, as well as a doctor in a major institution in downtown Houston, can both practice to their highest capability and continue to practice until they decide to retire, not until Medicare or some flawed formula encourages them to retire early. In addition, this bill has two important reforms, and I think critical reforms, to strengthen the Medicare Program and offset the costs of this measure. Similar reforms have been included in the House Republican budget for years. This is a bipartisan effort to work together with absolute dedication to make sure Medicare is around for our seniors. First, it restricts first dollar coverage in Medigap plans. These are bipartisan recommendations experts believe will help reduce unnecessary costs and really strengthen programs over the years. Second, the agreement includes increased means testing for premiums in Medicare parts B and D, our doctors, and our medicines, with the wealthiest seniors paying higher premiums. And then there are savings from a broad range of other healthcare providers. I want to make clear, this bipartisan reform alone will not save Medicare, but it takes us in the right direction for the very important first step, and the savings from this will grow over the long term. The alternative we refuse to pass is yet another cycle of short-term fixes, leaving behind bipartisan structural reforms to Medicare and delaying the opportunity to actually save this program for our seniors. So, today, we end the SGR, we begin the important reform, and we stand up for seniors who need to see doctors. With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), who has spent more than 40 years in health care as a nurse and as a small-business owner. She is a member of the Doctors Caucus here and is a key leader in health care on the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Curbelo), a new Member of Congress who is passionate about health care, reforming Medicare, and helping seniors.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. I include in the Record a list of over 100 healthcare organizations throughout America--and growing--who support the passage of this legislation today. I would like to point out that these represent physicians and healthcare providers who truly want to treat our seniors, to see them when they need to see them, but can't today because of the way Medicare pays them. So we start with a fresh start, and I enter into the Record this list. Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM); AMDA The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI); American Academy of Dermatology Association; American Academy of Family Physicians; American Academy of Neurology (AAN); American Academy of Ophthalmology; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Action Forum; American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD); American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE); American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons; American Association of Nurse Anesthetists; American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP); American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons; American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI); American College of Cardiology (ACC); American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST); American College of Physicians (ACP); American College of Radiology. American College of Rheumatology (ACR); American College of Surgeons; American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; American Gastroenterological Association (AGA); American Geriatrics Society (AGS); American Health Care Association; American Hospital Association; American Medical Association; American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM); American Osteopathic Association (AOA); American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT); American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE); American Society for Radiation. Oncology (ASTRO); American Society of Clinical Oncology; American Society of Hematology (ASH); American Society of Nephrology (ASN); American Thoracic Society (ATS); Americans for Tax Reform; Association of Departments of Family Medicine; Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors. Aurora Health Care; Billings Clinic; Bipartisan Policy Center; California Medical Association; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); College of American Pathologists; Digestive Health Physicians Association; Endocrine Society (ES); Essentia Health; Federation of American Hospitals; Grace Marie Turner for the Galen Institute; Greater New York Hospital Association; Gundersen Health System; HealthCare Association of New York State; Healthcare Leadership Council; Healthcare Quality Coalition; HealthPartners; HealthSouth; Hospital Sisters Health System; Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Iowa Medical Society; Let Freedom Ring; Louisiana Rural Health Association; LUGPA; March of Dimes; Marshfield Clinic Health System; Mayo Clinic; McFarland Clinic PC; Medical Group Management Association; Mercy Health; Military Officers Association of America (MOAA); Minnesota Hospital Association; Minnesota Medical Association; National Association of Community Health Centers; National Association of Spine Specialists; National Association of Urban Hospitals; National Coalition on Health Care; National Retail Federation; North American Primary Care Research Group; Novo Nordisk. Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems; PhRMA; Premier Inc.; Renal Physicians Association; Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative; Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM); Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM); Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM); Society of Teachers of Family Medicine; Tennessee Medical Association; Texas Medical Association; The 60 Plus Association; The American College of Gastroenterology; The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania; The Iowa Clinic; The Society of Interventional Radiology; ThedaCare; Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality; Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority; Wisconsin Hospital Association; Wisconsin Medical Society.

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

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I know Mr. Levin has additional speakers, so I will reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), a successful small business person who has provided health care to his more than 100 employees for years, a key leader of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing wrong with being passionate about your ideas and principles, and nowhere is that more evident than in health care. When you can find, though, common ground on those principles that help our seniors, encourage our doctors to treat them, and make the first reforms to really save Medicare for the long term, we ought to do that. That is what this bill does. But it just isn't a common ground as far as our lawmakers. We have dedicated staff who came together to work out the tough issues for us as well. On behalf of the Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan and myself, I would like to thank our staff on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health--Matt Hoffmann, Brett Baker, Amy Hall, and Erin Richardson--for their tremendous work. The Speaker and former Speaker Pelosi also led the effort to find this common ground, and for Speaker Boehner, Charlotte Ivancic, and for Leader Pelosi, Wendell Primus, we thank you, as well as legislative counsel; and for the Congressional Budget Office, Tom Bradley and Holly Harvey contributed greatly to this day. The other day, my neighbor, who has just retired from Continental, now United, walked over to my front porch and told me that after years of seeing his local doctor, his local doctor can't see him anymore because he can't afford to treat Medicare patients. The other day--it was a tough winter for illnesses--I had an ear infection, and my local doctor I have known since he started his practice snuck me in at 6 at night. His staff had been there since 8 in the morning working and just looked frazzled. He just said, look, he doesn't drive a fancy car, doesn't live in a fancy home; he doesn't have a fancy office; he just wants to help treat patients. But this formula just makes it harder and harder for him. My main physician, who is 66, told me the other day that he would like to practice for 5 more years. He said: I think probably just 1 more year. He said: I can't handle the way Medicare pays today. Look, we can't allow that to continue. Today, a simple question on this bill: Will you stand with our seniors, who need to see a local doctor and a doctor they know? Will you stand with our doctors, who want to treat our seniors, who don't want to retire early or sell out to larger institutions? Will you take the first real step to save Medicare for the long term? That is the question we face today. On behalf of Chairman Ryan and those who have come together on this bill, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this measure. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. The one thing that economist Paul Krugman is expert at is being wrong. Had we followed his prescription, this economy would be even slower than it is, and our Nation would be deeper in debt. Washington doesn't have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. The latest numbers, as of January of this year, show the amount of revenue the Federal Government has been taking in from each and every American is at nearly record highs. The Republican budget strengthens the economy, tackles the spending problem, and changes the course of this disappointing recovery. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Look, I don't blame Democrats for not understanding this budget. They could never pass one. In fact, there hasn't been a budget for this great country since 2009, when they were in charge. In fact, it is the Republicans who have consistently in the House passed a budget only to have a Democrat Senate do nothing. Now, for the first time, the American public has said: we have had enough of this, enough of the deficits, enough of this struggling economy, enough of this out-of-control spending; we want a real budget. This step takes place today with Chairman Price's balanced budget for a stronger economy. I would point out that the American public knows exactly the Democratic policies that have brought them the weakest recovery in 50 years, and it is why, 5 years after the recovery began, most Americans still think they are in a recession. They think their families and their communities are still in a recession. We are not going to settle for this second-rate economy. I would point out, while I am pleased there has been some job creation over the last 60 months, compare it to the average. If this were just a C-grade recovery--just the middle of the pack, nothing to brag about--we would be creating 403,000 new jobs every month, not 200,000-plus. It would be almost double that. If you look at the Reagan recovery, which had higher unemployment, there were 750,000 jobs more a month. That chart does show positive growth, but it is so weak and so disappointing, and it is accompanied by stagnant paychecks and college graduates who are working behind cash registers. If we want to stick with that, no problem, we know exactly what to do; but if we want to change course as a country, if we want to stop growing Washington's economy and grow our local economies, we are going to have to change course. The weakness of this recovery can be captured in three numbers. We are missing $1.5 trillion out of today's economy, and people are suffering. We are missing 5.5 million jobs, which is enough to put everyone looking for work in 45 States back to work, and we are missing $11,000 a year out of a family of four's family budget. Can you imagine what $11,000 could do in paying for tuition and fuel and college costs? This growth gap will persist unless we change course. Firstly, the budget resolution gradually addresses these issues by gradually bringing Federal spending back into line, allowing Washington to balance the budget and grow the economy. Secondly, the budget resolution builds on the success of the welfare reform of the 1990s when Democrat President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress worked together to give block grants to the States so they could develop programs to help able-bodied, working poor people find jobs, and it succeeded. In employing this successful model, the budget resolution envisions converting Medicaid and food stamp programs into block grants that would allow States to tailor these programs to the needs of their States, to experiment and to find more innovative ways to get people out of work and into a career and a lifetime that they have envisioned. Thirdly, the budget envisions the repeal of the unpopular and unworkable monstrosity known as ObamaCare. Fourthly, the budget resolution envisions saving Medicare once and for all, putting in place the reforms that would actually keep this important program for seniors and for generations to come. Finally, the budget resolution envisions progrowth tax reform--built for growth--to get America back to work and American companies competing and winning around the world. There is so much more we must do in reforming the Tax Code and balancing regulation and creating a sound dollar and creating sales agreements around the world so our companies can compete, but we can't do that until this government has a budget that is built for America's growth, not for the government's growth. I strongly commend the work of Chairman Price and of the other Republican members of the Budget Committee. I urge the House to vote for this budget resolution. We need to change course in this country so we can get hard-working taxpayers, young people, and families back to work and living the American Dream. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, did I hear the Chair say that all time has expired on the Democrat side of the aisle?

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chair, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes. The message we hear today from my Democrat friends is the economy is great. This is really historical. We are adding just millions of new jobs. But that is not the real story. That is not the real economy. The truth is millions of Americans have become so discouraged they have just dropped out of looking for work. Four out of 10 college graduates, they can't find a job, or they can't find a job that needs a college degree, so they are working behind a cash register. We have got the fewest number of adults percentagewise in the workforce today since the recovery began. So we have actually, since things are supposed to be so great, fewer adults then ever since that period. We are about flat. In some cases, we have gone backwards. And the unemployment rate, while it is lowered to 5.5 percent in real terms, if our number of workers had stayed in the workforce, the true rate is closer to 9.7 percent. If we want to stay with this second-rate disappointing recovery, stay the course. But if we want a stronger, healthier economy, we need to change direction. The Republican budget under Chairman Tom Price changes the trajectory and the momentum of America's economy, balancing it without raising taxes. The Federal Reserve said one of the drags on our economy are the tax increases from President Obama's fiscal cliff. We have so much more work to do to help our families, young people, and those looking for a job, we can't settle for second rate. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, I would point out this was a serious recession. It was not the most serious and severe since the Great Depression. The recession in 1981 and the November of 1982 recession reached a higher unemployment rate, 10.8 percent greater than this recession. And that was settled, frankly, when interest rates reached over 20 percent. The truth is there have been jobs added for 60 straight months. You ought to take that graph and double it in job growth, there you would get just the average economic recovery. We continue to struggle as a country, and we shouldn't settle for this second-rate economic recovery. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield 8 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert), a new member of the Joint Economic Committee. He is someone who has had longstanding experience in Arizona managing money, understanding State finances, and handling the numbers that our economy, frankly, is based on.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, under the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, the Joint Economic Committee provides analysis and recommendations about the goals and policies set forth in the economic report of the President, and this is to assist the House in its consideration of the budget resolution. During the next hour, the members of the Joint Economic Committee will answer two questions: Why has this economic recovery been so weak when compared with past recoveries? And secondly, how would a gradual reduction of Federal spending, relative to the size of America's economy, as envisioned in the House Republican budget resolution, how would this help hard-working Americans by accelerating economic growth, job creation, and real wage increases? Regrettably, our economy remains stuck in second gear. Last year, real GDP--in other words, apples-to-apples economy--grew by a mere 2.37 percent. That is an imperceptible increase over the average annual growth rate of 2.33 percent during the entire recovery. Although conditions have improved, the Obama recovery remains the weakest, or near the bottom, in terms of every major measurement of economic performance, compared with other recoveries over the past half century. The Joint Economic Committee describes the difference in economic performance in this recovery and with the average of other recoveries since 1960 as the ``growth gap''--and this growth gap is real. Since the recession ended, the economy has grown by 13.5 percent, compared with the average growth of 24.1 percent during other recoveries. This growth gap means our economy is currently missing $1.5 trillion, a hole comparable in size to the economy of Australia or Mexico or Spain. Since the recession ended, private sector payrolls--that is, Main Street jobs--increased by 10 percent, but over the average of other recoveries, it was more than 15 percent. Thus, from the end of the recession, the growth gap in Main Street jobs is a staggering 5.5 million jobs. America is missing 5.5 million jobs, enough to hire everyone looking for work in 45 States. Not surprisingly, hard-working American families have felt the adverse effects of slow growth and lagging job creation in their pocketbook. Since the recession ended, real after-tax income per person has increased by a total of merely 7 percent--7.1 percent, to be exact. In other recoveries, it was over 15 percent. Thus, the growth gap in real after-tax income equates to nearly $3,000 per person. It is $2,915. So what that means for a family of four in America is that they are missing $11,000 a year from their family budget. Ironically, for a President that obsesses about income inequality and promotes ``middle class economics,'' the White House has presided over a disappointing recovery that has bestowed most of its benefits to the wealthy and the well-connected. While families and businesses on Main Street continue to suffer from a very disappointing recovery, the S&P Total Return Index, adjusted for inflation--meaning Wall Street--has increased by 125.4 percent since the end of the recession. So Wall Street is roaring; Main Street and hard-working taxpayers are suffering. Closing the growth gap in the economy and jobs and paychecks will be very hard for this President to achieve with his current slow-growth policies. While the economy has improved month after month, in truth, it has gone so slow. It is like bragging that your car has run for 63 straight months, but it only is running at 5 miles an hour. Well, that is what our economy is doing. And to catch up from these slow-growth policies, we need to break even with the average performance of other recoveries. By the time President Obama leaves the White House: Our economy will have to grow at an annual rate of 7.4 percent in each of the next eight quarters. This is triple the growth rate in the Obama recovery. Private sector jobs--Main Street jobs, in effect--would have to generate 403,000 jobs every month for the next 22 months. So this is well above the average of the disappointing Obama recovery of 285,000 jobs, especially in the last 6 months. Real after-tax income for every person in America--that is, what their real disposable income is--would have to grow at an annual rate of 6.3 percent through the rest of President Obama's term. This is more than four times faster than what it has been doing during the Obama recovery. So why has our economy been so weak? Why has the Obama recovery been nearly dead last in all of these areas? First, Federal spending is out of control. Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results. Is this not the perfect description of President Obama's budget? His budget reflects his dogmatic commitment to failed Keynesian economic policies-- notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence that we are mired in the worst economic recovery of the last 50 years, creating this large and persistent growth gap. From the failed stimulus through ObamaCare to demands for more Federal infrastructure projects, President Obama's thirst for new spending has never slackened. Like a basketball team that cannot make halftime adjustments, this President refuses to learn from his failures. His budget would increase Federal spending next year by another $74 billion and by another $300- plus billion over the next 5 years. This, as this President is taking more in tax dollars from every American than almost at any time in history. We don't have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. If you look at this chart, you can see where per person revenue in America through the Federal Government nearly the highest it has been, frankly, in the last 30 to 40 years. Fortunately, a Republican House has successfully applied the brakes to this spending, preventing a far worse economic mess. Second, our tax system is broken. For businesses, America has the highest corporate income tax rate among developed countries. And we are the only one in our global competitors with a system that taxes you here, taxes you abroad, and punishes you if you bring your profits back to invest in America. This puts American companies and the workers at a huge disadvantage with foreign competitors. For individuals here in America, our income tax system is so complex that 90 percent of taxpayers need to use a paid preparer or tax software, and families can't possibly keep up with the 4,000 changes in the tax law that occurred over the last decade. That is one new tax change every day of the year. And third, President Obama has greatly expanded the regulatory burden--red tape--on American businesses and families during and after a severe recession. For example, the Affordable Care Act has imposed enormous new burdens on America's families, on our local businesses and health care providers. Mr. Chairman, 4.5 years after enactment of financial regulations, regulators still haven't completed writing more than 40 percent of the new rules required under the Dodd-Frank Act; meanwhile, our local bankers and local businesses have not been able to finance growth in their communities as a result of these regulations. President Obama has slow-walked the development of oil and natural gas on Federal lands and waters and stubbornly vetoed the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline. Most recently, President Obama's Federal Communications Commission went back in time and imposed a 1930s-style regulation designed to control the telephone monopoly and now applied to the highly competitive Internet. Fourth, President Obama greatly expanded social welfare benefits during and after the severe recession. During the 1960s, Democratic Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson knew that America's economy needed to be strong in order to afford the Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamp programs they favored. Both Presidents insisted that Congress enact an investment tax credit, an across-the-board reduction in income tax rates, to put our economy into high gear before enacting new entitlement programs. Instead, President Obama did the opposite. He rammed ObamaCare through in a divided and controversial late-night maneuver, rammed through a large expansion of food stamps, extended unemployment benefits through a Democrat-controlled Congress before our economy had fully recovered. His entitlement expansions reduced the labor force participation. In other words, it has held back those who want to be in the workforce. According to University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan, ObamaCare alone will, by 2017, cause roughly a 3 percent reduction in weekly employment, 3 percent fewer total hours worked, and a 2 percent reduction in labor income--so less jobs, less hours worked, less in your paycheck. Taken together, President Obama's economic policies have increased the cost of doing business now and heightened uncertainty about their future. This is the opposite of what economically successful Presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan did. The Republican budget recognizes the Obama recovery is disappointing for Republicans, for Democrats, for Independents, for college graduates, for middle class, hard-working Americans. The Republican budget, which is a balanced budget for a stronger America, will give us a healthier economy. Mr. Chairman, with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings had during the recess be printed in the Record.

Mr. BRADY of Texas

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), one of the health care leaders on the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), a new member of the Ways and Means Committee, who has quickly become a leader on health care issues.

Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger), a small business person and a dynamic Member of our House of Representatives.