Sander Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley), a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 10 minutes of my time be controlled by the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, on the Senate amendments to H.R. 3962.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to join with John Dingell, a true champion of the automobile industry of this country for over 50 years, as we join together to honor Ron Gettelfinger. As we know, he recently retired as president of the United Auto Workers. Through a period of unprecedented difficulty, and I emphasize that, for this industry of ours, Ron Gettelfinger worked tirelessly on behalf of auto workers and helped the industry and the union emerge reinvigorated and more competitive. So it is my privilege to join others to pay tribute to you, Ron, today. A proud auto worker, Ron Gettelfinger joined the UAW in 1964 as a chassis line repairman at Ford's Louisville assembly plant. The workers at the plant elected him to represent him as committee person, bargaining chair, and in 1984 as president of Local 862. His leadership and vigorous commitment to auto workers soon elevated him to the Ford- UAW bargaining committee; to the head of UAW Region 3 representing Indiana and Kentucky; and to UAW vice president. And in 2002, Ron Gettelfinger was elected president of the union and reelected in 2006. His tenure as UAW president saw exceptional challenges--to understate it--that critics said neither the union nor the automakers could overcome. This indeed was a period of painful job loss for tens of thousands of families. And during this difficult time, Ron Gettelfinger's dedication to working families never waned as he fought to preserve jobs while helping to keep the industry afloat. I am proud to have been among those who worked with him during this period of great uncertainty. This was a collaborative effort. It took leadership and at times political risk. Key leaders stepped up to the plate, management and labor, and the public sector, led by the President and his administration, and Members of the House and Senate. In the wake of immense challenge, the American automotive industry is emerging anew. Exciting new vehicle technologies, growing consumer confidence and strong quality and safety ratings offer hope for the new prosperity for the American auto industry and its workers. Ron Gettelfinger's commitment to the American auto industry and its workers has been unyielding over his career. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join in congratulating Mr. Gettelfinger; his wife, Judy; and their children and grandchildren on the occasion of his retirement from the union he loved so deeply, the UAW.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to H. Res. 1436, I call up the bill (H.R. 5486) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for small business job creation, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bill, H.R. 5486, the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010, is, in a few words, a continuation of our work to spur job creation and to really improve the quality of life in all of our communities. Since the beginning of this year, our economy has created 982,000 jobs. That is a reversal of 22 straight months of job losses, a very long stretch indeed. But we all know that far too many people today are out of work and the unemployment rate remains at a very unacceptably high 9.7 percent. So something considerable has been done, but we have to do more. According to the SBA--and I think we all know this--small firms created 64 percent of the net new jobs between 1993 and the third quarter of 2008. So small businesses help lead job creation in a recovery, but today, small firms are having difficulty accessing capital. So what does this bill do? It provides a total of $3.588 billion in tax cuts to help American small businesses. It is part of the partnership between the public and the private sector, relying on the private sector to do the job creation. And I want to emphasize, this bill does not add a dime to our deficit. It doesn't even add a penny to our deficit. So let me explain the provisions in H.R. 5486. First of all, relating to business stock, small business stock, and capital gains, presently there's an exclusion of 75 percent because of the Recovery Act, and I emphasize that. This would increase the exclusion to 100 percent. It provides relief for small businesses from tax penalties when that is indeed appropriate. It also increases the deduction for startup costs for expenses not related to capital or equipment. It increases it from $5,000 to $20,000. So these are important stimuli for small business to help them create more jobs. As I said earlier, this is offset. It will not add a dime or, indeed, a penny to the Federal deficit. It includes two provisions that have already passed this House. One relates to what is sometimes called a grandchild of black liquor. It relates to essentially a byproduct. What this does, building on the work that we did in earlier bills, is to prevent people from receiving a windfall from unintended application of renewable fuel credits. The second part relates to what are called grantor retained annuity trusts, and I want to just say a quick word about this. This is clearly a loophole. This is clearly an abuse. Here's what happens, to try to put it in the simplest terms: A short-term trust usually is created by someone for a child. Then the person who created the trust takes back the value, let's say, in a few annual payments. So there's no gift tax for the grantor. The way it works today, all of the increase in the value of the stock is also outside of the gift tax. So, essentially, what is happening here is a paper transaction that leads to escape of taxation, and this provides in our bill that there has to be a 10-year term for the trust to be sure that the trust has actual substance. This change raises $5.297 billion over 10 years. So what this means, breaking it down in simple terms, is that about $500 million per year from taxpayers is lost today through paper transactions, and we close the loophole. So, again, because of this, there is not any added cost. We also, if I might say so and will be discussing this I guess tomorrow, it provides money for the small business lending package, H.R. 5297. So that is also budget neutral, and that provides some additional important small business loan help so badly needed. It's hard to understand why people would vote against this. Plus, a provision that is $2 billion worth, and it goes to States and local governments, and they have written us, urging that we provide some assistance so that they can increase the flow of loans to small businesses in their States. So, in a word, we have a bill that is essentially a two-fer. It provides needed assistance for job creation by small business, and it's paid for. So I urge very much that somehow the other side can cross the bridge and join together instead of creating obstacles and vote for this bill and then its partner bill tomorrow. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. LEVIN. I think anybody who has listened to this debate, if they're at all objective, will be completely puzzled by the arguments of the minority. They say this bill won't do anything. But then they say there are tax increases to pay for it that are permanent. That's worse than a lame argument. It's completely without merit and is vacuous. The bill is scored for small business in terms of the exclusion from capital gains tax over 10 years at almost $2 billion. That's nothing. It provides relief from penalties. Over $175 million to small business. That's nothing. It provides an increased deduction for startup expenditures that provides over half a billion dollars, as scored. That's nothing. Now what's nothing are your arguments. And so you come here, I think, afraid to vote ``yes'' because it will blur your political message. You say you agree with these provisions, but then you're going to vote ``no.'' You just don't apparently want to be caught being bipartisan. It's going to blur a political message. I don't understand your argument that the tax provisions are permanent. You don't argue these aren't loopholes. They're loopholes. And you criticize us for closing a loophole permanently, and then you say it's for spending, but you don't really challenge the validity of the spending. We do pay for some moneys for the second bill that's coming up because it provides loans to small businesses, and it also provides States that have written us supporting this bill, including your State, Mr. Camp, saying that they will use this money well to help collateral support for small businesses. So it's worse than puzzling. I think it's a pathetic effort to find an excuse to vote ``no.'' So then you come up with the argument you have a motion to recommit. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished Member from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a member of our committee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman an additional 2 minutes.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. LEVIN. You say do better; you won't vote for anything. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) to explain why this is more than de minimus, a bill that needs to be voted on on a bipartisan basis. (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania, Allyson Schwartz.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield an additional 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman.

Mr. LEVIN. I'll be glad to do that, Mr. Speaker. So then there's a motion to recommit to repeal an individual mandate. All I can say is that the individual mandate was the basis of the Republican health care proposal in 1993 and 1994. And now you come up and say you want to eliminate it. This is another entangled position of yours. You're tying yourselves into knots trying to oppose a bill that will provide help for small business. Maybe it's useless to appeal for bipartisanship to the other side. I close asking for support. Mr. Speaker, in conjunction with today's consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives of H.R. 5486, the ``Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010,'' I have asked the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation to make available to the public a technical explanation of the provisions included H.R. 5486. This technical explanation reflects the Ways and Means Committee's understanding and legislative intent behind those provisions. It is available on the Joint Committee on Taxation website at www.jct.gov and is listed under document number JCX-31-10.

Mr. LEVIN. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. LEVIN. I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. LEVIN. Before I yield, I just want to say to Mr. Camp, I listened intently, and I can't understand your opposition. You like the provisions. You don't like what we once passed. If you don't like what we passed before--and I disagree with you--it's even more of a reason to vote for this bill. You complain about permanent changes. We're closing a loophole permanently. You want us to close it temporarily? And we're preventing a provision coming into effect that should never come into effect. So I just urge people to listen to the quality of this discussion, and I think, so far, it all points to everybody on both sides of the aisle voting for this bill. It helps small business. That's been acknowledged, and you don't challenge the tax cuts in terms of their merits. You talk about another tax cut in another bill you didn't like. I think you find it hard to find anything you like. I now yield 2 minutes to another member of our committee, our distinguished colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I urge a resounding ``no'' vote, and therefore I happily yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LEVIN. I reserve a point of order.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. LEVIN. Colleagues, individual responsibility is a cornerstone of health reform to ensure that every American has affordable health insurance coverage, and that's why it was included in the GOP 1994 reform. So this is nothing more, nothing more than a disingenuous political stunt to undermine health reform. Without individual responsibility, it would mean that we could not eliminate exclusions for preexisting conditions. We could not prohibit insurers from refusing to cover someone when they apply. We could not prohibit insurance companies from charging more when you get sick. And according to the CBO, if this were to pass, it would result in the loss of coverage for more than 16 million Americans: 6 million of the most needy among us, 5 million who would lose their insurance from their employers, 5 million who would lose individual insurance. It would raise health insurance premiums for every American buying coverage through the exchange by nearly 20 percent. This is a small business bill, and it would hurt small business. It would reduce assistance to them to provide health care to their workers, and it would increase taxes on individuals and employers who failed to cover their workers. This is misguided, period. We should defeat this in a round fashion. Now I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of the point of order, and I rise in opposition to the motion.