Jim McDermott

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart].

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Scott]. (Mr. SCOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stokes]. (Mr. STOKES asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Levin]. (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Fields]. (Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, we are here today on a fundamental decision that nobody disagrees with. Everybody here believes that we ought to extend the 25- percent deduction for self-employed people for buying health insurance. But that is not the issue. The real issue here is how are we going to pay for it. And when we brought this bill to committee, I offered a whole series of tax exemptions that we could have used to pay for it, but we chose the one that we are here dealing with today, which is section 1071 of the Tax Code. Members may ask why we chose that one, and I will quote here from a memo from the Project for a Republican Future to the Republican leaders by William Kristol, dated February 21, in which he says, ``the bill's true subject is affirmative action.'' Now, this is like that story about the small boy standing next to the road when the King went by who said, the Emperor has no clothes. Mr. Kristol took the clothes off because he says: It represents a strategic, intelligent first step in what should be a major element of the Republican party's larger post-contract agenda, a roll back of the massive system of racial prejudices and set-asides that have come to infect federal law and American life over the last 25 years. That is what this issue is about. That is why this was chosen as the way to fund this. There is no question. The consultants told them to do it, and that is what they did. Now, I wish more than anything standing here, I wish this was a color-blind society. I wish that the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer] was absolutely correct. I wish we were not having this debate. But we all know this is not a color-blind society. The reason why we have these preferential tax credits and why they are there, everybody figured out, well, if we want minorities to know when a radio station or television station is up for sale, we got to have somebody who owns one go looking for them. Otherwise the decisions will all be made in the board rooms or at the local club or the golf course. And they will never ever know it was for sale in the first place. So when we put in this tax deduction, it is true, the minorities do not get it. They do not get it at all. But it gives them access, like we wanted to give last year, access in health care. I accept a certain amount of, well, I do not know what, from Members about this being a rather modest health care reform proposal. I could make a much larger one here tonight. I would be glad to put it out here. But the fact is this is a modest proposal to give people access to buy radio, television, cable networks, personal communication. And the reason why this program is here is because of some words that Justice Blackmun said in a dissenting opinion. He said that ``arrangements of successful affirmative action programs by race- neutral means is impossible.'' This means you cannot have a successful effort to bring women and minorities into the telecommunications industry without taking into consideration race and gender. Now, nobody says this has been a roaring success. But it is a way that has worked. In my city there are two black-owned radio stations. There is one native American-owned radio station. And they came through this program. And there are 300 of them across the country that would not have been there had it not been for this program. I am saying that I gave people a choice. Do we want to destroy this program, or would we like to tighten it up? All of us agree on this side that that was an egregious deal. Nobody is standing up here defending the Viacom deal, get that straight. But we do think that there is room for this program. It has a purpose and a place in our trying to deal in this society with the problems that we have had in the past. For that reason, I urge the adoption of this substitute amendment.

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller]. (Mr. MILLER of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act of 1995. This is the same legislation that I introduced in the 103d Congress as H.R. 784. Energy experts across the Nation recognize conservation as the most environmentally responsible and cost-effective source of energy available today. Under the direction of the Northwest Power Planning Council, the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana are committed to achieving 1,500 megawatts of energy conservation over the next decade. This effort will save enough energy to meet the electricity demands of a city half again as large as Seattle. This legislation will overturn the Internal Revenue Service practice that discourages private utilities from pursuing the kind of effective conservation programs that are vital to the Nation's energy future. Longstanding IRS policy has allowed electric and gas utilities to deduct from their tax liabilities the costs of their energy conservation programs in the year incurred. However, the Service has begun to pressure private utilities to spread these deductions over a period of several years. The Puget Sound Power & Light Co. estimates that this could reduce its annual conservation expenditures by up to 10 percent. That amount is equivalent to the loss of electricity conserved when 4,500 homes participate in the company's residential weatherization program. I want to emphasize that this legislation is nothing more than an affirmation of longstanding tax policy, and a rejection of the Service's recent attempts to modify it. Utilities have deducted conservation expenditures in the current year since the beginning of these programs in the 1960's. As recently as 1991, the IRS acknowledged in a technical memorandum that conservation expenditures are, in fact, allowable as a current deduction. Investor owned utilities are the key to the success of conservation programs across the country. Of the 1,500 megawatts of energy savings the Pacific Northwest has committed to achieve in this decade, over half of that will come from private utilities. I am committed to supporting these companies in this important effort, and this legislation is a vital first step.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 16 on S. 2, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present I would have voted ``yes''.

Mr. McDERMOTT

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to enter into the Record a few words in memory of the four firefighters who tragically lost their lives while serving the people of Seattle, WA on January 5, 1995. Although I did not know firefighter James T. Brown, Lt. Walter D. Kilgore, Lt. Gregory Shoemaker, or firefighter Randall R. Terlicker personally, I appreciate their work in service with the Seattle Fire Department. The dangers they daily encountered to protect the residents of the Seventh Congressional District did not deter them, and I share the community's expressions of admiration, gratitude, and sorrow at this time. All four firefighters exemplified the courageous tradition of their profession. Their implacable bravery and devotion to their work must not go unnoticed in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Speaker, I hope you join me in extending my condolences to their families, friends, and colleagues in the Seattle Fire Department.