Sander Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the very vigorous gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Perriello).

Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, could you please give us the time remaining on both sides?

Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. LEVIN. I ask that all Members have leave to enter extraneous material into the Record.

Mr. LEVIN. First, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. LEVIN. No. I'm going to finish my statement. The outsourcing provision has been before us a number of times. And you keep talking about workers. We talk about having workers in the United States having work. That's what this is all about. And essentially what the provision does in the Tax Code is to help those companies that ship jobs overseas, and what we're saying is that that should be prevented, period. We've been saying it time and time and time again. We've also discussed another loophole that's here that you don't seem to discuss, and that is for a relatively few very wealthy people taking a loophole in the Code and setting up a gift to others in the family, taking back the money, hoping that there will be an increase and no gift tax paid. That is a grievous loophole that should be closed, and we provide payment for this bill by closing it. Now, I want to finish about outsourcing. We have lost so many jobs in this country. If it comes through competition that's fair, so be it. If it comes, however, from companies using a provision that says you get a foreign tax credit on income, you're supposed to bring that income back here and not use the foreign tax credit to avoid taxation. It's not an issue of double taxation. It is an issue of companies avoiding any taxation. So essentially everybody who comes to the floor to vote on this has the opportunity to eliminate the 1099 provision and to close loopholes and to stop some of the outsourcing of American jobs. There could not be stronger reasons to vote for a bill. So I close: Vote for it.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I and Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Camp have asked the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation to make available to the public a technical explanation of H.R. 5982, the ``Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2010''. This technical explanation provides information on the Committee's understanding and legislative intent behind the legislation. It is available on the Joint Committee's website at www.jct.gov and is listed under document number JCX-43-10.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, there's obvious discomfort on the side of the minority. There's a claim about procedure. What I said before about our notice to motion on the motion to recommit is exactly correct. Now, you say we should act on elimination of 1099? That's exactly what we're doing, exactly what we're doing. Then you say you don't like the pay-fors. You act as if this is a new issue. We have debated these provisions time and time and time and time again, and you know it.

Mr. LEVIN. I will continue and then I will yield.

Mr. LEVIN. It was handed to us as it was being submitted. So, if there is an effort for bipartisanship, then a motion to recommit can be submitted early on, without any effort to surprise, and we can see if we can work it out. That's the fact. Number two, in terms of worker against worker, what you don't like about our proposal is that we protect and safeguard the workers of the United States of America, and we make sure that jobs are not shipped overseas that may help workers in other countries but not workers in the United States of America. That is what our bill provides. Number three, in terms of added taxes, the taxes on the very wealthy, closing the loophole is something that should be done. You are not protecting the typical taxpayers in this country. They don't use these annuity provisions. They don't try to escape gift taxes through this device. The administration has pleaded with this Congress to close this loophole, and you, today, are essentially saying you don't want to vote for this bill because it addresses outsourcing and because it addresses a tax loophole. You don't like that. All right. Then vote ``no.'' We find a way to eliminate the 1099 requirement and pay for it by making sure companies don't have an inducement to ship jobs overseas and the very, very wealthy to escape gift taxation. So that is really what this is all about. Everybody here has a choice: eliminate the 1099 and not use a hammer on millions of families in this country and eliminate it in a way that saves jobs in this country.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Camp, abide by the rules of the House. I did not yield to you to rant and rave. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time. Mr. Camp, you may not like the bill----

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5982) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the expansion of certain information reporting requirements to corporations and to payments for property, to eliminate loopholes which encourage companies to move operations offshore, and for other purposes.

Mr. LEVIN. I now yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. LEVIN. It is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to a very distinguished member of our committee, Mr. Xavier Becerra from California.

Mr. LEVIN. Okay. I reclaim my time. I told you that it was placed on the Internet, number one. Number two, every provision in this bill in terms of the pay-for has been before this Congress before--every single provision. So don't say you're surprised by these provisions. I reserve the balance of my time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. LEVIN. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act. It is often said that experience is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it often seems that experience is the only teacher when it comes to developing common sense safeguards to prevent oil spills. As I speak, at least 800,000 gallons of oil has spilled from a pipeline into the Kalamazoo River in my home state of Michigan. We are just a few days into this crisis, but surely this accident could have been prevented. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, fouling hundreds of miles of pristine coastline. In the months that followed, Congress responded by approving the Oil Pollution Act that strengthened the Federal Government's role in oil spill response and cleanup in the case of oil tankers. Among its many provisions, the Act required vessels carrying oil and operating in U.S. waters to have double hulls to prevent further accidents of this type. The law has been a success, but the damage to Alaska's environment was done. We are more than 100 days into the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. To date, between 90 million and 180 million gallons of oil has been released into the environment. The BP Deepwater Horizon spill might have been prevented if there had been some basic drilling safety standards in place, and if there had been effective oversight of BP's actions as it was drilling the well. We are creating these standards today with this bill. The CLEAR Act before the House establishes new safety standards for offshore oil drilling. The legislation reforms the Federal Government's oversight of offshore drilling operations, holds BP and other oil companies accountable, and ensures that polluters pay the full cost of damage caused by the spills they create. Experience is, indeed, the best teacher. But when it comes to preventing future oil spills, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I urge passage of the CLEAR Act.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the very distinguished majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer.

Mr. LEVIN. It's now my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to another distinguished, indeed a very distinguished member of our committee, from the State of Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen).

Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished member of our committee, Mr. Davis of Illinois.

Mr. LEVIN. It is now my privilege to yield 2 valuable minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), an active member of our committee.