Pete Sessions

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the gentleman for asking. In fact, I do not have additional speakers at this time.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, let's go to the heart of this. $30 million worth of uncollected taxes that, by the IRS's own admission, never would have been collected because they were accounts they did not want to or were not working, which are the only accounts that ever go to private debt collectors, who as private collectors receive a 98 percent rating from the IRS for regulatory procedural accuracy, as well as a 100 percent rating for professionalism, and less than 1 percent of those accounts have any sort of complaints that are filed with the IRS, and none which have been validated. That's the substance of the case. That's why we oppose this bill and this rule. It makes no sense unless you're simply trying to do what union bosses ask you to do, which is evidently what this bill is doing. I would also like to point out that what's very interesting is that this bill is supported by the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and has a whopping nine cosponsors, a whopping nine cosponsors, and we're bringing that to the floor of the House today. Utterly amazing. Mr. Speaker, I insert into the Record at this time the Statement of Administration Policy by the President, which this White House says that they will veto. Statement of Administration Policy H.R. 3056--To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the authority of the Internal Revenue Service to use private debt collection companies, to delay implementation of withholding taxes on government contractors, to revise the tax rules on expatriation, and for other purposes The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 3056. The bill is not consistent with the Administration's commitment to a balanced approach toward improving taxpayer compliance and collecting outstanding tax liabilities. If H.R. 3056 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill. The Administration strongly opposes the provisions of the bill that would repeal the current statutory authorization for the Internal Revenue Service, IRS, private debt collection program. Terminating this program would result in a loss of significant revenue over the next 10 years. These are tax dollars that are legally owed to the Government and that are otherwise not likely to be collected by the IRS. It is a disservice to all taxpayers who properly pay their taxes to terminate this program that is efficiently recovering a portion of the extra burden they shoulder from the ``tax gap'' caused by those who do not pay their taxes. Moreover, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, recently reported that the IRS has made ``major progress'' in addressing critical success factors for the private debt collection program, including ensuring that both taxpayer rights and the security of taxpayer information are protected. The Administration also has concerns with the provision of the bill that would impose additional tax rules on individuals relinquishing U.S. citizenship or terminating long-term residency. The Administration strongly supports efforts to ensure that individuals renouncing their U.S. citizenship pay their fair share of U.S. taxes. The bill's ``mark-to-market'' approach to valuation of expatriates' property for taxation purposes, however, overrides existing tax treaties and raises concerns about tax complexity. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SESSIONS. I would like to inquire upon the time remaining on both sides, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. SESSIONS. Reclaiming my time, and I will continue this dialogue, you know that we asked to have made in order one that would be in compliance with the PAYGO rules, and you and your colleagues turned that down. You specifically stated: We want an amendment that would be in compliance with the PAYGO rules; will you please give it to us. And we were turned down by the Rules Committee. I would engage the gentleman on that issue. It was my amendment that I made, and I know how the gentleman voted, along with all of his colleagues. And to stand up on this floor and to say, Well, we would if they would abide by the rules, but they have to abide by the rules, is a blatant, blatant miscalculation and I think untrue and insincere. When we asked for that in the Rules Committee, we were turned down. When we said, Give us an amendment we will make sure that the Parliamentarian and others say is compliant, we were turned down. The gentleman, Mr. English, and I am getting ready to allow him to speak on this floor, he is in compliance with PAYGO rules. So there was not an opportunity that was given by the Rules Committee to allow us to do that. And then you stand up and say, Well, if Republicans played by the same rules as we do, then they would find them in order, that is not true. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 4 minutes to the co-chairman of the Zero AMT Caucus, the distinguished gentleman who has an amendment that would be compliant, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English).

Mr. SESSIONS. Which one were you referencing, sir?

Mr. SESSIONS. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. SESSIONS. I would be very pleased to do that. I would like to ask the question back, does the gentleman have any additional speakers?

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I don't know if this is a blatant attempt to mislead Members or not, but the gentleman, Mr. English, his bill is compliant with PAYGO rules. And to suggest on this floor that the Republican Party presented the bill, the amendment----

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, I rise with great sorrow today as the House of Representatives mourns the passing of The Honorable Jo Ann Davis, Congresswoman from the First District of Virginia. Congresswoman Davis succumbed to breast cancer on Saturday after a lengthy struggle with the disease. I was greatly saddened when I heard the news of her passing. I will be keeping her husband Chuck, their surviving family, and her congressional staff members in my thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time. I had the distinct pleasure of being able to know Jo Ann from her early days in Congress when she was first elected in 2000. She leaves behind a legacy of constant dedication to our men and women in uniform. Though she struggled with breast cancer the past 2 years, but she remained determined in her commitment to continue serving her district, and our service men and women. This same drive was evident at the beginning of her career in public service. Her first election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1997 came as a result of her defeating a heavily favored 15-term incumbent. There was never a challenge too large for her to pursue, and her constituents were the benefactor of this unswerving commitment to public service. She will be greatly missed by me, our colleagues, and the people of Virginia. God Bless.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. As I recall, we spent at least one or two of those elections talking about how the stock market was down and how people had lost their savings and their pensions were in trouble, and how all of these terrible things were happening, cataclysmic events. Then along came a market-based idea which we had known and understood not just from watching President Kennedy who cut capital gains and President Reagan to talk about you cut taxes you get more money because of invasion, isn't it true what this brave Republican Congress did is they cut taxes because they wanted to spur the American economy for people to have jobs and be competitive with the world, and so families would have an opportunity to keep more of what they made rather than giving it to the government.

Mr. SESSIONS. Exactly what the gentleman is talking about, the newest word out today in the Wall Street Journal, last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released new figures, 110,000 jobs created in September of this year.

Mr. SESSIONS. September 2007 is the 49th consecutive month of job growth, setting a new record for the longest uninterrupted expansion of the U.S. labor market. There is more good news. No surprise. We also learned that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the Federal deficit came in at $161 billion for the just-completed 2007 year, down significantly from $248 billion the year before, meaning that we are following exactly what the gentleman from Oregon is talking about. We are following through to make sure that with these tax cuts that not only do people have jobs, but the government increases the amount of revenue it has.

Mr. SESSIONS. The point that the gentleman from Oregon is making is so true, and it seems like that we are always in gear for an election. The fact of the matter is that every 2 years there is an election, but now, the year before the election, we have engaged in so much bashing of not only America but really how great America is. What the gentleman talks about here would also be true with trade, about how America has found a way to find trading partners all around the globe to reduce tariffs. And if there is one thing, and the gentleman knows that I am a big scouter with the Boy Scouts of America. I teach merit badge classes back home. All of my scouters learn right off the bat, what is a tariff? And they respond, it is a tax. We are reducing taxes and allowing countries all around the globe to be able to compete so that they better their own economic circumstances and end poverty in their own country. This is part of what that overall plan is. Agriculture plays a key role in this.

Mr. SESSIONS. Tonight we are talking about the Republican vision versus the Democrat agenda. Smaller, smarter, commonsense government versus ineffective, wasteful, intrusive government. Forestry may be one of those issues that would fit right in here.

Mr. SESSIONS. The American is a farmer making sure that not only what we produce in this country that we get that opportunity for it, but making sure the rest of the world has that same opportunity. So this is where these trade bills which are languishing right now in the House of Representatives, the clock has already started. Please let everyone know back home if you can, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), that we need to continue these trade bills to make sure that American agriculture and our manufacturing pushes our products overseas and we take their products which helps not only these countries but also all of humanity.

Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the gentleman. You know, an example of this might be the recent election that we saw in France. And I'm going to let you amplify that, but as we in America looked at France, and just in the past few years as we looked at a closed system that they have to where they're not only having to have people to come through immigration to their country, they are not able to grow their economy, to be able to bring them into their economy so that they can be real positives. It's a closed system. What we have seen is how the French people changed their government as a result of that. America still is the big dream. I think the French understand that.

Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the gentleman not only for being here this evening but a chance to join the gentleman from Oregon and, of course, Texan here. Mr. Speaker, tonight we've had an opportunity to talk about the Republican vision and how important the Republican vision is for a smaller, smarter, common sense government, versus a Democrat agenda, ineffective, wasteful and intrusive government. I want to thank my colleagues for being here this evening. Mr. Speaker, we appreciate your time. We know that the people of the good State of Tennessee have sent you here to do the people's work, and that's what we're here to do, same also, for good public policy.

Mr. SESSIONS. The gentleman, as he makes the point about how important it is that we have a market-based, free enterprise system health care, is so true. If you look at America and leukemia versus Europe, America's survival rate is 50 percent; Europe's is 35 percent. Prostate cancer, America's survival rate is 81.2 percent; France, 61.7; England, 44.3 percent. My gosh, it just tells you that what America has is not only the greatest health care system in the world, and one that is of envy, but one that produces results. And of course it is more expensive, and of course it costs money, but if the free enterprise system would support this because we don't tax the ability that people have to buy their health care, which is what the Democrat party mandate is, that you've got to tax people that don't belong in a corporation, then what it means is that you've got a bunch of people that can't afford it. So that's another point that comes back to your tax element about health care. You should not have to pay after-tax money on health care. It should all be pre-tax, but the Democrats insist that, if you don't work for a corporation, you should not get this opportunity because it's not something that you negotiated with with a labor contract.

Mr. SESSIONS. Where would the Canadians go if America has a single payer, Hillary-style health care plan? Where would the Canadians go when they need real medicine?

Mr. SESSIONS. My guess is they would call that the doughnut hole then.

Mr. SESSIONS. And aren't we in that circumstance as we speak now with the SCHIP, which is children's health care, where this new Democrat majority has brought forth a bill that, among other things, more than half of the people who would be new to this SCHIP bill would be people who are already on insurance, who already have private insurance, and yet they are demanding, no, no, we have to add them to the government side. What we are looking at here is a $6 billion program that Republicans invented because we believe in helping children because we know if you take care of children, immunize them and do things when they are children, then when they are adults, they not only do better in school they grow up and are healthier. We are taking this from a $6 billion program a year to a $13 billion program. And to fund it, it would require, under the Democrat majority plan, 20 million new smokers to pay for the darn program. Is that what you are talking about where you all of a sudden shift from people who figure out you can get the government to pay for everything, a government-run health care program?

Mr. SESSIONS. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SESSIONS. I want to thank the gentleman from Oregon. There's only one thing you didn't mention, and that's the BTU tax that many of the new leaders of the United States Congress today, the new Democrat majority, right there with the BTU tax. They're back. What they are really saying is pretty simple: Don't use this electricity; sit in the dark. Don't go create something that is good or better, don't find a way to have less emissions; go and tax things. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for being here today. We have been joined also tonight by the gentleman, who is a dear friend of mine from Iowa, Mr. King. We are talking tonight, Mr. King, about the Republican agenda, smaller, smarter, commonsense government, versus the Democrat agenda, which is ineffective, wasteful and intrusive government. And perhaps the thing which I identify most, and particularly when I see you, is to talk about taxes and how important tax reform has been. Mr. Speaker, it has been said a long time ago that the Republican party is here as the bull dogs for the taxpayer, to make sure that efficiency occurs, to make sure that the original mission statement of what a program might be for, to balance a budget is important. I don't know if the gentleman heard or not, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics released new job figures of 110,000 net new jobs in September. September 2007 is the 49th consecutive month of job growth, setting a new record for the longest uninterrupted expansion of the U.S. labor market. Since August of 2003, our economy has created more than 8.1 million jobs and today has the lowest unemployment that sits at 4.7 percent. There is more good news. You see, if you have a country that produces great dreams for people and they can go make things happen, like jobs, we also learned last week that the nonpartisan CBO, Congressional Budget Office, said the Federal deficit came in at $161 billion for the just-completed fiscal year, down from $248 billion the year before. I think we are headed in the right direction. I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I remember when the fires at Yellowstone were taking place, and I remember seeing how many of our friends who were environmentalists said, let it burn, let it burn, and yet I remember seeing the carnage that took place with wildlife and the millions of animals who not only lost their home but then would be thrust out in the cold as a result of the huge fire, when in fact I had learned from my being an Eagle Scout, and the gentleman from Oregon is an Eagle Scout, we learned in our forestry merit badges that healthy forests are those where you can come in and clear out those things that were from years of use, and come and clean the forest, and you could come and take sections so that you made sure that any fire did not destroy the whole thing. They would come and cut the forest and work with Mother Nature and then replant. Mr. Speaker, in the last 5 or 6 years, and you can look at any National Geographic or perhaps the Discovery Channel and see where the people, the companies that grow trees, they have healthy forests. I think the healthiest forests are where private people and private companies own the trees, as opposed to the government, because the government has a policy of ineffective, wasteful and intrusive government in managing our forests.

Mr. SESSIONS. So the opportunity to go in and clear, the opportunity to allow this burned timber to be harvested would mean that bugs and all the things which might find a way to eat this timber or weaken it, rather than clearing it and getting started again, is in the process of decay, not health at this time.