Richard Neal

Mr. NEAL

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney), well-known as a champion of America's middle class.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), who is well known and well regarded as he addresses national economic issues.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F. Doyle), a conscience of the House and a champion of all things Pittsburgh.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell). Congresswoman Sewell is an attorney and a Marshall Scholar.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Maxine Waters), who is the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I just happen to have the nephew of former President Kennedy here who is going to set the record straight on that quote that was attributed to President Kennedy just a few moments ago. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), a very good member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation and my friend.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Massachusetts an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, 28,000 people will use the student loan interest deduction in Missouri's Eighth District, claiming nearly $33 million in deductions. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ruiz), a medical man and Congressman.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I am for maintaining the status quo by allowing students to deduct their student interest loans. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Maryland an additional 1 minute.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. NEAL. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, correction. Not one hearing was held on this tax bill. Thirty-eight thousand people in Mr. Reed's district will lose the student loan interest deduction. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), a real champion of the working class in America.

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, 38,000 South Dakota households making less than $113,000 a year will see a tax increase under this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the highly regarded gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly), the son of Massachusetts and my friend.

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), a valued member of our delegation.

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman.

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, all of those projects in Philadelphia are about to come to an end with the abolition of the historic tax credit. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), who, incidentally, is a CPA and a tax attorney

Mr. NEAL

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we are going to be asked to cast perhaps one of the most important votes that will take place in a career here in the House based on the tax plan that the Republicans have put forward. I say history is important, because this vote is likely to have consequences for years and years and years to come. As I noted earlier tonight, as we look at a million new veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who deserve our care, for those of us who represent soldiers' homes and hospitals for the VA, we know just how important this is. We know what happens to Alzheimer's patients who are going to lose the deduction on healthcare. We know what is going to happen to those students who currently write off parts of their student loans through interest deductions. We know the assessed tax that is going to go on places like the University of Notre Dame and others. We also understand that the homeowner deduction, the mortgage interest deduction, which is a huge middle class benefit, is about to be taken away arbitrarily. State and local taxes, in some cases sales taxes, are about to be abolished all based upon the premise of maybe there will be enough economic growth. There is no evidence, based on the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 or the repatriation that took place in 2004, that any of this is accurate, but they continue to proceed. The next part of the challenge is they have now substituted the old supply side economics theory--remember tax cuts pay for themselves--and they have come up with a new term, and the new term that they have come up with is ``dynamic scoring.'' So we have the challenge of technology, we have the challenge of globalization, and, yes, we have the challenge of skill set across America to move people into a direction of employment where they and their skills might be aligned with the jobs that are open, because the Department of Labor this week said there are 6 million jobs in America that go unanswered, 18,000 precision manufacturing jobs in New England that go unanswered, and 1 million tech jobs. So we should be using this opportunity to invest in vocational education; we should be using it to invest in internship programs; and, yes, we should be using it to invest in community colleges. So part of this discussion should be based on, again, the historic vote of long- term investment. Now, we also know that is unlikely to happen because, when people have a chance to look at these distribution tables on these tax cuts as to who gets what, they are going to be furious. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Napa, California (Mr. Thompson), and then the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) will be acknowledged right after that.

Mr. NEAL. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. NEAL. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).

Mr. NEAL. The summary of this tax bill was published last Thursday. We did a walk-through on Monday. We only had a chance to respond to the bill, or the chairman's mark on Friday. And then on Monday, we did a walk-through. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning, we did the markup. Not one hearing. And recall that, in the last moments of the markup, we were handed a manager's amendment. We had 20 minutes to react to the manager's amendment, so no hearings. And compare that with 1986, which everybody heralds now, as the great moment of Reagan and O'Neill and Rostenkowski and Gephardt and Bradley, 450 witnesses, 30 public hearings. The Secretary of the Treasury sat through the markup.

Mr. NEAL. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I continue to yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.