Richard Neal

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from New Jersey 1 additional minute.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel). (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, might I inquire as to how much time remains on both sides?

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from New York, a voice of good sense on the issues of debt, Mr. Crowley.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I will remind the gentleman it wasn't a liberal sitting in the White House who decided to invade Iraq for which the costs have now come due. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. I yield myself 1 minute. Madam Speaker, this is not a cheery time for the American people. This is a very difficult time. A reminder: The legislation in front of us now is to pay for the war in Iraq, to pay for the war in Afghanistan, to pay for our veterans' hospitals, and to pay for next month's Social Security recipients to receive their checks on time. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. I yield myself 30 seconds. Madam Speaker, the war in Iraq is going to cost more than $1 trillion. The VA hospital commitment that we are going to make for the next 30 years to our well-deserving veterans is going to cost an additional $1 trillion. That is the issue that is before us this afternoon. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Stearns is, indeed, my friend, and we are classmates. Madam Speaker, he conveniently left out those 4 years when Bill Clinton left a balanced budget to America, when the deficits were eliminated and when the debt was coming down. That's the key consideration here as we begin this debate. Indeed, this is about paying for our veterans' hospitals, paying for the war in Iraq, paying for the war in Afghanistan, and making sure that those Social Security checks get out on January 1.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam 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 H.R. 4314.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 7 of rule XX, I move a call of the House.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I would like to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, let me recognize for 1 minute the Majority Leader, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), a voice for fiscal reason in this institution.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to promote American jobs. Over 30 years ago, Congress worried that a few industry giants would dominate the domestic beer industry, squeezing out local and regional brewers. In response, Congress reduced the tax rate on beer produced by small brewers. That differential has led to the creation of thousands of craft brewers, who are small business owners and employers in our communities. However, the consolidation at the top of the market has continued.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I make a point of order that the motion before us is in violation of clause 10 of rule XXI of the rules of the House.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield the balance of my time to the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel).

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. My friend from Texas conveniently left out TARP I, which was a Bush initiative; conveniently left out the cost of the Iraq war, which was borrowed money; and conveniently left out the Bush tax cuts, which cost $2.3 trillion that only went to people at the very top of the economic strata of America. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. There is an opportunity here today to begin the discussion of fundamental tax reform. If we could move past the ideology that is so rigid, where we can only discuss cuts and never revenue or, on the other side, only revenue and never cuts, then we could move this debate and discussion forward. Now, the other side today, they are suggesting to the American people, we like the R&D tax credit. We like teachers. We like tuition assistance, and what we are saying on this side is we like all of those institutions as well, but we think they should be paid for. Sometimes you have to eat the broccoli before you have your dessert. Tax reform is an opportunity. I hope that the strategy that got us into this difficulty--remember the old argument here that tax cuts pay for themselves? You couldn't even get our friend who ran for President on the Republican ticket last year to have his top economic adviser say that was true. That's part of the problem here, being married to rigid ideology as opposed to common solutions that might make this work for the American people. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Just before I recognize the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), I hope that my friend Mr. Camp will have a chance--he spoke to one provision of the pay-for. Maybe he will speak to the issue of tax evasion as to whether or not he supports the $8 billion that's being raised in this legislation to pay for this bill. With that, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Illinois, my friend, Mr. Davis, for 2 minutes. (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire as to how much time remains on both sides.

Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. I yield the gentlewoman 30 additional seconds.