Dave Camp

Mr. CAMP

Mr. CAMP. I thank the distinguished chairman for yielding. Madam Speaker, the House passed their version of highway funding more than 2 weeks ago. The Senate acted last night. Because of their rush, there was actually a drafting error in the Senate version of the highway bill that either creates a $2 billion hole in the deficit or only funds the program through early October. The House is not scheduled to be in session in October, so I would suggest to my friends that I think the best thing to do at this stage of the game is to accept this proposal and send the House bill back to the Senate, which does a couple of things: it certainly does not increase the deficit, as the Senate bill does, because of their mistake; but also, it gets us through May 31. I have committed to the distinguished gentleman on the other side that the Ways and Means Committee will have a hearing on transportation funding in September when we return, but this gives us the time to look at the competing proposals to finance our infrastructure. Those disagreements don't necessarily follow along partisan lines, as the previous speaker might have suggested. Not everybody agrees with the gas tax. Not everybody agrees with miles driven. Not everybody agrees with tolls. We are going to have to work through those alternatives and see what other proposals might be there to see where we can move forward. I believe we can move forward in a bipartisan way on this issue because our infrastructure needs--I would agree with the previous speaker--are dire. They are important. We do need to move forward on a long-term funding bill, but if we don't get past October and if we don't do this today, August 1 is the day the contracts start ending. I think that would be completely irresponsible to allow that to begin to occur. So let's have continuity in transportation projects and funding. Support the House bill. Send it back to the Senate. I am certain, given the mistake in their legislation, that will be accepted when it gets to the other side.

Mr. CAMP

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I feel compelled to correct the record here. The opponents make a false claim that somehow this bill eliminates benefits for millions of low-income families, and that is just wrong because the provision he is talking about is, frankly, the failure of the Obama administration to make that provision permanent. The provision he refers to does not expire until 2017. So what they are saying is, in a word, ``nonsense.'' At this time, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins), a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Speaker, I also ask unanimous consent that Ms. Jenkins control the remainder of the time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, if one thing has been consistent about the Obama administration, it is the failure of its economic policies. The President's economic policies make it harder for American families to get by every day. A record number of Americans are unable to work, and those who can find work are unable to secure full-time employment and instead are forced to accept only part-time jobs. This last quarter, the economy actually shrunk, and real wages--what Americans use to pay their mortgages and put their kids through school--are continuing to fall. Worse yet, the cost of raising a family is only getting more expensive. The cost of clothing, food, child care, and schooling all continue to climb. According to the Department of Agriculture, since 1960, the cost of raising a child has increased by about 4.4 percent per year. But more recently, since 2004, the cost of children's clothing has gone up 89 percent; the cost of food since then 21 percent; and the cost of child care since 2004 107 percent. And since then, the child tax credit has remained unchanged. Currently, our Tax Code helps ease some of this burden by providing a child tax credit. The credit, which has been around since the 1990s, now provides a $1,000 tax credit for each child. Unfortunately, that credit is not, and has not, been indexed for inflation. So while the cost of raising children continues to rise, the value of the child tax credit actually decreases. Today's legislation, H.R. 4935, the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2014, will fix this problem by indexing the child tax credit to inflation. Making a commonsense change like this will ensure that families can make every dollar count. The current child tax credit also disadvantages those who file jointly compared to those who file as single individuals, creating what is known as a marriage penalty. This bill would eliminate the marriage penalty embedded in the child tax credit, helping millions of families across the country. The Family Research Council, which supports this bill, notes the importance of the child tax credit. They say: This tax credit recognizes the important contribution of the family and children to our country and starts to address a problem with our Tax Code today, the marriage penalty. A fair system of taxation does not penalize marriage and family. In addition, this bill contains strong antifraud provisions to ensure that the child tax credit goes to those who are truly deserving. The bill would require one parent to submit a Social Security number to qualify for the refundable portion of the child tax credit. According to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the number of filers for the additional child tax credit without a Social Security number grew from 62,000 filers--claiming $62 million in benefits--in 2000 to 2.3 million filers--claiming $4.2 billion in benefits--in 2010. This is a commonsense provision that will help safeguard taxpayer dollars from fraud and put it in line with other refundable tax credits, like the earned income tax credit, which requires a Social Security number. I hear too many stories about families struggling to afford basic necessities to care for their children. It is time we make some simple improvements to the child tax credit so it keeps up with the cost of raising children. Improving the child tax credit would give moms and dads nationwide needed relief at a time when their budgets are tight and they are forced to make difficult choices about how to spend their money. This provision has earned bipartisan support for years, so let's vote ``yes'' on this opportunity to help American families. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4935.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 680, I call up the bill (H.R. 4935) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make improvements to the child tax credit, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, the bill before us actually evens the playing field. If two people are single and have children at the income levels the previous speaker just mentioned, they get the credit. Under current law, if they are married, they don't get the credit. So what this bill does is actually extends the benefit that goes to singles to married people. We do away with what is called the marriage penalty. I don't know why the other side is opposed to people getting married, but what is really important about this credit is that it helps middle class families who have seen the credit erode over the years as the cost of food, clothing, housing, and schooling have gone up.

Mr. CAMP

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, this motion to recommit has absolutely nothing to do with helping give middle class families the resources need to send their kids to college. This has nothing to do with making tax policy more certain, easier to understand, or simplifying a very complex area of the Tax Code. This has nothing to do with helping families who are struggling to pay for education. Let's get on with trying to do that job. Let's reject this motion to recommit, let's pass the underlying bill, and let's help middle class America. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my point of order and claim the time in opposition to the motion.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order against the motion to recommit.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, when I hear my friends from the other side talk about their concern for the growing national debt, I know we must have a good bill because they don't want to talk about the bill. The deficit went up every year the Democrats were in the majority, and it has gone down every year the Republicans have been in the majority, but let me talk a little bit about this piece of legislation. When it was created, it was not paid for. It was created for 2 years. When it was renewed in 2010 for 2 years, it was not paid for. When it was renewed in 2012 for 5 years, it was not paid for. What we have in this country is repeatedly renewing tax policy for short term, not paying for it, not making it reliable. We are the only nation in the world that does this. What we are looking for is not only making this policy simpler and easier to understand, as the sponsor of the bill has explained very well, but we also want to make this permanent so we don't have to come back and wonder, so families that are planning for three or four of their kids to go to college over the next 10 years don't have to wonder, Are these provisions going to be there? Am I going to finally figure out these 100 pages of instructions and start to plan for my children's college education only to find, oh, Congress didn't get around to extending this provision this time? So part of this is about permanency. How do we make these policies last? Also, how do we make sure that people at the lower end of the economic ladder have a chance to save for college, have a chance to get in college, even though they may not have income to qualify for some of the tax credits? This reform does that. I think this is an important step forward. It has been extended basically for a budget window without being paid for by both parties, so let's call it what it is, it is permanent policy. Let's make it permanent policy so families and students can rely on a constant policy, so that they can plan and save for a college education, which is becoming more and more a basic standard that people need to succeed in life. I think if we can do anything this year, it is about making a statement that we want to help families and students succeed not only in school, but also going forward in their careers and lives.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I know we are hearing a lot from the other side about how this ought to be paid for, but they, frankly, exempted this from PAYGO. Well, what does that mean? They said this doesn't need to be paid for--this is such important policy--because if we can get people started on the road to an education by getting a college degree, their chances of succeeding economically in life are so much better. And that really has become a basic for succeeding in America today is to get that bachelor's degree. I know they are concerned about the graduate students, but, frankly, the Tax Code isn't there for those going to Harvard Law and Stanford Medical School. And there are other provisions that help provide for students: grants, loans, and scholarships. This is about how can the Tax Code, how can all Americans help those get that basic level of education that gets you that bachelor's degree that gets you on the road of economic opportunity, because if we don't have an upwardly mobile society, we actually put at risk the American Dream. With that, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee, and I ask unanimous consent that the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black) control the remainder of the time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I insert in the Record letters of support for the legislation from the American Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Community College Trustees, as well as the United States Student Association. American Association of Community Colleges, Association of Community College Trustees, July 21, 2014. Dear Representative: On behalf of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), which represent the nation's more than 1,100 community college presidents and their trustees, we write in support of H.R. 3393, the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act. The legislation achieves several important objectives for the nation's college students, who continue to face substantial financing challenges, even at low-cost community colleges. Its simplification of the current array of higher education tax benefits is critical given that their complexity has led to widespread under- utilization. H.R. 3393 also includes a number of enhancements to the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) that benefit college students: Makes AOTC Permanent: Currently set to expire at the end of 2017, the AOTC is the most important source of support for college students in the tax code. H.R. 3393 makes the benefit permanent and ensures that it will remain in place for students and families. Increases Refundability: The AOTC's partial refundability is of great assistance to the many low-income students who attend community college. Currently, the maximum refundability under the AOTC is $1,000. H.R. 3393 increases that amount by 50%, raising it to $1,500, and provides students an easier path to claim that full refund. Creates Better Alignment with the Pell Grant: Currently, an estimated one million college students with unmet financial need do not receive any benefit from the AOTC due to its poor coordination with the Pell Grant program. The vast majority of these students attend low-cost institutions, particularly community colleges. H.R. 3393 remedies this situation. Indexes the AOTC to Inflation: H.R. 3393 recognizes that college prices are not static, and adjusts the AOTC for inflation (but not college tuition) starting in 2018. We recognize that this legislation embodies certain trade- offs. Overall, however, it would better target benefits to community college students and other low-income students, and create a simplified system that greatly benefits all students and families. These are critically important objectives, and action on them is overdue. We thank you for your consideration of this legislation and urge its approval by the House of Representatives. Sincerely, Walter G. Bumphus, AACC President and CEO. J. Noah Brown, ACCT President and CEO.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today, more and more Americans are pursuing the dream of earning a college degree, but for many, realizing that dream is getting more difficult. Tuition prices continue to climb, making it harder for Americans to plan for and afford a higher education. Worse yet, our broken Tax Code makes it harder than ever to pay for it. Currently, there are 15 complicated and, at times, overlapping education provisions that include over 90 pages of IRS instructions. Students and parents alike are already juggling busy schedules as is, and they shouldn't be forced to go through 90 pages of IRS explanations just to figure out the best way to save and pay for a college education. We need a simple solution that makes it easier to qualify for tax relief and to ultimately afford college. We owe it to the millions of young adults paying their way through college and the families who budget every year to save for their children's education to simplify the system and help make a good education affordable. The bill before us, H.R. 3393, the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act, would do just that. This legislation will make paying for college easier, by combining and making more efficient four tax benefits for higher education into a new, simpler, and more valuable American opportunity tax credit, and this new, improved credit will provide greater benefits for those who need it most. I am proud that this bipartisan provision is based off of years of work by the Ways and Means Committee and, in particular, committee members Diane Black of Tennessee and Danny Davis of Illinois, the cochairs of the Education and Family Benefits Tax Reform Working Group, who worked across the aisle to help simplify the Code. I should also note that the Obama administration has expressed support for an approach that assumes a permanent extension of the AOTC. We have a real opportunity today to work across the aisle to make life better for hardworking Americans. By consolidating the current American opportunity tax credit, the Hope Scholarship credit, the lifetime learning credit, and the college tuition deduction into one simplified AOTC credit, college students can get the help they need without navigating almost 100 pages of forms. The bill would provide a permanent 100 percent tax credit for the first $2,000 of certain higher education expenses and a 25 percent tax credit for the next $2,000 of expenses. The first $1,500 of the credit is refundable, ensuring that students get the benefits, regardless of tax liability. This can go a long way for students and their families, especially in these tough economic times. The American Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Community College Trustees, who cite the AOTC as the most important source of support for college students in the Tax Code, recently voiced their support for this bill, stating, ``The legislation achieves several important objectives for the Nation's college students, who continue to face substantial financing challenges, even at low-cost community colleges. Its simplification of the current array of higher education tax benefits is critical, given that their complexity has led to widespread underutilization.'' Additionally, this provision would allow Pell grants to be used for a wider array of expenses, including room and board, without triggering additional tax liability. Not only does this provision have widespread bipartisan support, but a postelection poll found that over 80 percent of Americans support extending these policies. No one should be discouraged from pursuing continued learning, but because tuition prices continue to climb while wages continue to fall, families and students nationwide are wondering if they can even afford it. Today we can do better. We can do better by these hardworking Americans. I encourage my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to move this bill through the House and ask for both the Senate and the administration to work with us in finding simple, commonsense solutions like these for the American people. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3393.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 680, I call up the bill (H.R. 3393) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to consolidate certain tax benefits for educational expenses, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. CAMP

Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, for over a year, the Ways and Means Committee has led an investigation into the IRS targeting conservative individuals for their beliefs. We found that the IRS subjected Americans to harassment, going so far as to question the content of their prayers and their political beliefs, subjecting them to audits, and leaking their personal taxpayer information. They worked on rules behind closed doors that would restrict the rights of groups to organize, to speak out, and to educate the public. They destroyed over 2 years' worth of emails, emails that are key to the investigation. The IRS has spent years denying, delaying, and obstructing. The American people deserve some answers, and I am committed to ensuring they know the truth of what really happened at the IRS.

Mr. CAMP

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of this legislation, which is designed to prevent sex trafficking of youth in foster care, encourage the adoption of more children from foster care, and increase child support collected to support children, among other important purposes. I will focus my comments on the important adoption provisions in the legislation and then recognize subcommittee Chairman Reichert to discuss the provisions designed to prevent sex trafficking. I have spent much of my professional career promoting adoption of children by loving parents. As an attorney in private practice, I worked with parents and children in the foster care system. Those sorts of experiences provided much of the background for changes in landmark adoption legislation Congress has approved in recent years. In 1997, my colleagues and I on the Ways and Means Committee crafted the Adoption and Safe Families Act. That legislation streamlined the adoption process to help more children in foster care quickly move into permanent adoptive homes. It also, for the first time, offered incentives to States to safely increase the number of children from foster care. It worked. In the decade following that legislation, the number of U.S. children adopted from foster care increased by 71 percent. In the years since, adoptions have continued to remain higher, even as the foster care caseload started to decline. Overall, almost 300,000 children have been adopted as a result of the increase in adoptions starting in 1997. While placing children in permanent loving homes is the most important benefit of the legislation, one study estimated the Federal Government saved $1 billion over 8 years by ensuring people were adopted, instead of remaining in foster care. That is the successful incentive program this legislation extends and updates. With this bill today, we add a new award for States that increase adoptions of older children, who are the hardest to adopt and have the worst outcomes if they ``age out'' of foster care without a family to call their own. We also add a new award for increases in guardianship when family members step up to care for their nieces and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters. This bill ensures that States maintain their commitment to post-adoption and related services, so children truly have a forever family. Finding a forever family is the goal of this legislation, and forever homes are possible. Just last year, I met with the Johns family of Midland, Michigan. The Johns family has adopted three children and was honored during their visit to Washington as an Angels in Adoption family, but before they adopted, they were foster parents to Austin and Katie, their first two children. They adopted them and later adopted their third child, Aliyah. The Johns family made a safe, permanent, and loving home a reality for three children, and with this legislation, we can continue to build on that success. I note that this legislation is fully paid for by expecting all States to use electronic methods that will do a better job collecting child support, increasing family incomes, and reducing the amount of welfare benefits taxpayers pay. Those savings not only cover the cost of this legislation, but reduce the deficit by $19 million over the next 10 years. That is a win-win for children, families, and hardworking taxpayers alike. This legislation reflects bipartisan, bicameral agreements on all these policy areas, and I thank my colleagues who joined me in introducing this legislation: Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Reichert of Washington, and Mr. Doggett of Texas, as well as the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senators Wyden and Hatch. They are all leaders on these issues, and I value their help in developing and advancing this legislation. This bill was crafted the way legislation is supposed to be: through hearings, markups, public comments, and negotiations with our colleagues in the Senate. The bill we are considering today incorporates many suggestions from experts in the child welfare field, as well as just interested citizens and adoptive parents. We are grateful for the public's comments and their participation in this process. The bottom line is this: children in foster care deserve a place to call home not just for a few months or years, but for good. We have already seen great progress in increasing adoptions since the Adoption Incentives program was created in 1997, and it is our hope that we can continue this progress once this bill is signed into law. I encourage all of my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill in the House, and I hope and expect the Senate to also act soon on this bill so we can continue to move more foster children into permanent, loving homes. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert), and I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control the time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. 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 material on the subject of the bill under consideration.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4980) to prevent and address sex trafficking of children in foster care, to extend and improve adoption incentives, and to improve international child support recovery.

Mr. CAMP

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, this motion would create chaos for the charitable community. Americans are more generous than any other nation in the world. What we need is certainty in our Tax Code--certainty for those who want to donate food to food banks, certainty for those who want to make excess contributions to IRAs, and certainty for those who want to preserve fragile land for future generations. This motion makes it much harder to help those in need, and God knows, we have a lot of Americans in need with a contracting economy and the worst recovery since the Great Depression. We are the only nation in the world with temporary tax policies. Some of these provisions have expired and have been renewed time and time again, and we need to admit it and make them permanent. Let me just say, when it comes to inversions, the administration agrees with me that the best way to address this issue is through lower rates and through comprehensive tax reform, and we should be doing that, but this motion actually creates a perverse incentive for American companies to pack up and move overseas. That is the worst thing we can do for American workers. I urge a ``no'' vote on this motion to recommit and a ``yes'' vote on the underlying legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my point of order and seek time in opposition to the motion.

Mr. CAMP. I object, Mr. Speaker, and I reserve a point of order against the motion to recommit.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the provisions we are talking about today, the policies, whether it is donations to food inventory or IRA contributions, excess dollars from an IRA, or whether it is a conservation easement, these are all items that have been extended unpaid for, if you will, time and time again. We have heard a lot about the cost from the other side. But if charities, religious groups, foundations, food banks, if we can make these permanent--because, right now, these three are expired. They can't be used. But if we can make these permanent, we will see an increase in charitable giving--850 organizations have written us and said that would happen, all of them who serve the poor, who serve the needy, who serve Americans in trouble. Also, it doesn't go through the government. What these charities do, what these religious groups do, and what these foundations do is beyond the power of government to give. Let's make these permanent. Let's extends these provisions. Let's increase charitable giving in the United States, and let's help people help themselves. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CAMP. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), the distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?