Bill Shuster

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Mr. Dick Rice of Bedford, Pennsylvania. Mr. Rice was a longtime Commissioner of Bedford County before his passing last spring. He was known for his boundless energy, his optimistic attitude, a wonderful singing voice and the many issues he championed as a leader of his community. One of those issues dear to Mr. Rice was education. He believed strongly in the importance of providing local, high quality post-secondary education at an affordable cost. But he also showed his commitment by making a real difference in the lives of students. He found joy in presenting students with scholarships, tuition assistance awards, and emergency book funding. Mr. Rice played a critical role in the development of the Bedford County Campus of Allegany College. By serving on the Bedford County Regional Education Foundation he was able to help make significant accomplishments. When the Bedford County Campus was founded in 1990, Bedford County ranked 64th out of 67 Pennsylvania counties in the percentage of high school graduates pursuing post-secondary education. Today, Bedford County is ranked 34th. The presence of a local campus has encouraged many area students to begin or continue their educational journeys close to home. Since 1990, more than 6,500 people have taken classes through the Bedford County Campus. The Foundation has worked to provide more than $190,000 to more than 700 of those students over the past 11 years. It is fitting that the Foundation has now established the Dick M. Rice Memorial Scholarship Endowment, to benefit Bedford County residents who attend Allegany College. To cite each accomplishment and individual contribution that Dick has been a part of would take a very long time. His involvement in the educational community over the years has been immense and has touched numerous lives. We are all very grateful for his effort toward positive enrichment of Bedford County, and I offer my sincerest sympathies for the loss of such a great citizen.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, ``So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.'' The words of Winston Churchill on the eve of World War II ring true today as clearly as they did decades ago describing our state of affairs. I am disappointed with my colleagues in the majority. They spent the time and effort solidifying their caucus against the war in Iraq. They devised a number of plans to withdraw our troops. They made Iraq the focus of their agenda in November and not staying the course their slogan. However, they stand today, as Churchill said, resolved to be irresolute in their position on Iraq. The resolution we debate in the House today is based on flawed logic. The resolution states that Congress supports the efforts of our troops in mind but not in body. The fact is, this resolution is framed upon the idea that the current state of affairs in Iraq is beyond recovery and should be abandoned. Instead of offering any real alternatives, the Democrats have drafted a nonbinding resolution that rejects the President's plan to reinforce our troops and give the Iraqi Security Forces the assistance they need. This resolution does not bring us one step closer to victory. This resolution does nothing more than reinforce the status quo. This resolution does show the American people that yet again, the Democrats, for all of their rhetoric, have no plan, no alternative to fight the threat of Islamic jihad. They instead have chosen, amazingly, to simply stay the course. I will be the first to admit that, despite the outstanding jobs that our troops on the ground have done, progress in the war is slow and frustrating. We overthrew a violent despot, only to see a new and dangerous threat emerge. But we can not be fooled into thinking that by leaving Iraq this threat will melt away. By the very admission of the Islamic fundamentalists we fight, this war is only part of a larger power play to consolidate power and form a jihadist Islamic state in the center of the Middle East. In a speech released this month, Ahman Zawahiri praised al Qaeda's master plan for Iraq. He asked Allah to consolidate Iraq so that it unites all our Muslim brothers in Iraq and sets up an Islamic state which will proceed to liberate Jerusalem and take steps towards reestablishment of the Caliphate. Mr. Speaker, I think it is a grave mistake for us to not take our enemy at their word. The jihadists do not want peace. They want capitulation. We ignored their threats in the 1980s and they bombed our Marine barracks in Beirut. We ignored their rhetoric in the nineties and they bombed the World Trade Center and our embassies in Africa. We ignored their threats in the days leading up to September 11, and our world was changed forever. Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards described this resolution best when he compared it to a child standing in a corner, stomping his feet. This resolution may draw headlines, but it will not change a thing. We have one Commander in Chief, not 435 separate executives. What the Congress does have is the power of the purse and the ability to cut off the funding for the war. Let's be honest. This resolution is the first step in that direction. If cutting off funding is the Democrats' plan, and I believe it is, then let them state it openly. They are no longer the voice of the opposition in Congress. They are the majority, and they have an obligation to govern. It is time for them to create a plan, a real course of success. The American people are waiting.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. I agree with you on that. There is a small amusement park in my district, Lakelawn Park, and I was talking to the general manager of Lakelawn Park, and he told me the increase in the minimum wage is going to cost him between $130,000 to $150,000 to the bottom line, and what they employ are mainly high school kids in the summertime to run those rides. He said that kids starting out at minimum wage, if they had been there for a period of time they certainly make more than that. But without any kind of tax decrease or other kind of tax benefit, that is going to cost them $130,000. It is going to cause him to hire less kids to work in the summer because he is not going to be able to afford that kind of hit to his bottom line. So we passed it here in the House, we know, and unfortunately the national news media, unlike in 1995 when the Republicans took control, I remember it well. The first 100 days, every time the Republicans would pass something the national news media was quick to point out, Well, they haven't done anything yet, they just passed the House. And that is all that happened here in the first 100 hours, is we passed the House. Minimum wage has not gone up. It will go up with probably a lot of Republican votes if the Senate comes through with the tax measures that they proposed. And I know the House, Johnny-come- lately to the tax cut for small businesses, we are going to hopefully pass something here this week to offer some of those tax cuts, but not near enough what small businesses need. Our small business owners are out there every day creating jobs, meeting payrolls, working long hours, and giving back to the community. The community I come from, when you look at who are the people that are contributing to the charities and the different civic organizations, it is the small business owner, giving back to its community to make it a better place to live. So I think it is so important that we put tax breaks in, we make the ones permanent that we passed in 2001 and 2003. And I just have another story of a small business owner from my district, Greg Rothman with RSR Realty in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, which is Carlisle, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has seen a massive increase in his business due to the economic policies that were put in place over the last several years. The lower tax burden has trickled down, and houses are being sold and houses are being built, more attractive for the consumers to buy throughout Pennsylvania, and especially in central Pennsylvania in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and employment rate is about 3.3, 3.4, 4 percent, one of the lowest in the State. Reductions in capital gains tax have allowed many empty nesters to enter the housing market to buy homes, to improve what they are living in, or downsize into nicer places. It has helped his realty business grow. And since becoming a partner in RSR realty in 1999, Greg has seen it grow from 20 Realtors to 60, which is an increase of 40 jobs in about the past 7 or 8 years. And it is these economic policies that we have put in place that have caused this to happen; and Greg said that he has seen the highest sales volume since he has entered the industry. And I think that is important to tell those kinds of stories. Those are real people; those are real jobs. And I want to remind people that we would like to hear those kinds of stories; we want to hear from all across America. At the countdowncrew@mail.house.gov, you can send us in that story, your success story, and how you utilized those tax cuts that have been put in place in the early 2000s and why we need to keep them in place. So we would love to hear stories from business people, small, medium-sized, and large all around the country. We certainly would appreciate that. At this time I will yield back to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky. I appreciate your leadership down there on the floor, and I appreciate everybody that has been here tonight. As always, with those of us down here on the Countdown Crew, we all come from business backgrounds, most of us, if not all of us, small business backgrounds. I ran a business that employed between 30 and 40 people. And many, many Americans, small business owners, know just how difficult it is to meet payroll every month, to pay your bills. There are many people here in Congress that talk about the escalating costs of health care and how difficult it is. But there aren't that many, there are few that are in Congress that have experienced that, like Mr. Davis has, I know Mr. Kingston or Thelma Drake or myself. We saw it happen year after year, and it is something that we are all concerned about. It is something that we all want to make sure we find an answer to, seeing that health care costs don't continue to climb. But the answer is not to raise taxes. That works just the opposite. And I am very, very concerned that the American people are not aware, that was one of the reasons that getting together with Mr. Davis and Mr. Kingston and Mrs. Drake and others, we came up with this idea to talk about the countdown to the tax increase, because we are concerned about it, and because the Democrat majority does not have to do anything. They have to run out the clock, and if they run out the clock on 1419 days, there is going to be the largest tax increase in American history, over $200 billion. That does not occur all at one shot. It is going to occur over the next 4 years. In 2008, there are certain tax cuts will expire; in 2009, 2010; and then January 1, 2011, all the tax cuts put in place will have expired, and we will see our taxes go up considerably. If you are at home thinking about what your tax liability is going to be in the future, you need to realize that the Democrat majority, as Mrs. Drake and Mr. Kingston pointed out and discussed about the difference between the three-fifths and the simple majority, the Democrats changed those rules in the very first days of the Congress so that they can raise your taxes. The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from New York, said before the election that he did not know of any of the Bush tax cuts that he thought were worthy of continuing or extending. So they have made it quite clear from their leadership, to the fact they changed the rules, that they intend to raise taxes. Why they keep talking about the deficits and deficit spending, and that is the answer to it, well, I believe just the opposite. It is not the answer to it. If you look at the revenues in 2006 to the Federal Government, they increased by 9.7 percent in 2006. The deficit is down 50 percent of where we projected it to be in 2005. The 2006 deficit is down 50 percent as to where we project it to be, and why is that? That is because the revenues are coming into the Federal Government in significant numbers. In 2005, there was an over 14 percent increase in revenues. That is because the economy is growing. That is because the Republican majority tried to hold the line on spending. We did not do enough. We need to do more, but the worst thing to do is to put a halt, put a hurdle on this economy, put a bump in the road to stop this economy from growing. As many have said tonight, talked about the facts, the numbers, in December alone, there were 167,000 jobs created in this country; in January, 111,000 jobs. To date, over the last 4 years, there have been 7.3 million jobs created in America, and those are due to allowing the American people and small businesses to keep more of their hard-earned dollars in their own pockets so that they can go out and buy new things, whether it is a washer and dryer or whether it is a downpayment on a new car or saving money for college, putting that money away, $2,000 at a clip; and that is what the average American with a family of four and making between $40,000 and $50,000 a year, if these tax cuts are not extended, they are going to be hit with about a $2,000, $2,200 tax increase. If you take that money, $2,000 a year, and put it in a bank account at 5 percent interest over 10 years that grows to $30,000. That is a nice downpayment on a house. That is a nice downpayment on your kid's education. It is your money. It should not be sent to Washington. We want to keep it out there in the families of America and the small business of America. As I said more of those numbers, we are at 4.6 percent unemployment, and it is the lowest rate on average over the last 4 decades. Cutting taxes drive this economy in a positive way. And others have said here tonight, and just to remind people that we are not the first to use tax cuts to move this economy forward, Ronald Reagan did it in the 1980s, and this economy grew by leaps and bounds. And President John F. Kennedy did it in the 1960s, cut taxes to spur this economy on, and that is what we need to do. As I said, there are millions of Americans out there today that are depending on these tax rates to stay low. There are millions of small businesses which are the backbone of this economy that are counting on us keeping these tax cuts in place. There are millions of small businesses and farmers in this country hoping that we will extend the death tax so that they can plan for their future, so they can do the financial planning necessary because the alternative is it will expire at the end of 2010. The alternative is, if you cannot plan properly for expansion, for the future, you certainly do not want to die so that your family gets that tax, the tax break that we put in place. So this is extremely important, as I said, to Americans across the spectrum, across this Nation from Arizona to Pennsylvania to Washington to Florida. I know millions of Americans, actually 10.6 Americans, low- income Americans, that are not paying taxes at all today because of the tax cuts we put into place in 2001 and 2003. As we have been talking about for the last month this countdown to the tax increase, 1,419, dies, if Mr. Davis will put that chart back up, not the chart but our e-mail address. We have the CountdownCrew@mail.house.gov. We would love to hear from across this country how Americans have utilized these tax cuts, whether it is the child tax credit, whether it is the accelerated depreciation or any of the decreases in the marginal income tax rates. If you have utilized the Tax Code in a positive way, we want to hear about that. We want to be able to talk about that on the House floor. One story that I have, back in central Pennsylvania, Dr. Greg Pyle is the president of Oil Surgery Associates. His practices are in Bedford County and Blair County, Pennsylvania, which are in the Ninth Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He has seen steady growth over the past 10 years, some of the most impressive growth being in small Bedford County. It is about 45,000. According to Dr. Pyle, medical practices usually plateau financially from 5 to 8 years. However, Dr. Pyle's medical partnership, which has been in business for 12 years, has seen some of its greatest growth just in the past couple of years. He attributes that directly to the reduction in taxes and that people have more money in their pocket that they can come in and utilize his services that he provides to them in central Pennsylvania. Again, we have many, many other stories, but I just want at this point to yield back to my good friend from Kentucky (Mr. Davis).

Mr. SHUSTER. I appreciate that. You made a very important point about the minimum wage. I think you and I both voted at the end of the last Congress to increase the minimum wage, but it failed in the Senate. It was not able to get through in the Senate. What is happening here today is that our friends on the other side, they stand up on the House floor and claim that they have raised the minimum wage when, in fact, all they have done is pass it in the House. It is not law yet. It takes both bodies to pass it. Thank goodness for the United States Senate. They are putting back in those tax cuts for small business. They are absolutely critical for small businesses.

Mr. SHUSTER. I appreciate that. And I think the point you made is worth repeating, because I know you and I believe this and many of our colleagues believe this, especially on this side of the aisle, that government doesn't create jobs. We can only create an environment to give people the opportunity to create jobs, small entrepreneurs and business people across this country. And our fiscal problems in this country, our financial problems with the government, isn't that the government taxes too little. It is that we spend entirely too much. And I know the coming weeks, I know especially the new Members of Congress are going to be put to the test to stand up and be accounted for, because there are many people who say that America voted for a change in November, and they did. But I know there is nobody in the Ninth Congressional District and nobody that I have come across as I travel this country that wanted to change from a lower tax system to higher taxes. Nobody wants to do that. And our goal is, in the Countdown Crew, to make the American people aware that the Democrats don't have to do anything; they can run out the clock, and on January 1, 2011, they will have the largest tax increase in American history, over $200 billion. And I believe it is our duty to make sure that we are talking about it so that the American people know what the majority intends to do by changing the rules on their first couple of days of Congress from a three-fifths majority to a simple majority to raise taxes, they have made it a lot easier to raise taxes. They put PAYGO into place which only deals with new spending, and it really does nothing to address the deficits we have today. So PAYGO really should be TAXGO, because that is what the American people are going to see. So, again, we urge you to e-mail us at countdowncrew@mail.house.gov, because we want to hear your stories about how you have put those tax cuts into use to create jobs and make America a more prosperous place.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. And it is no mystery what happens when you cut taxes. And as you mentioned, I heard the same interview you heard on Meet the Press, or Tim Russert's show, I forget what it is called. John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, said quite matter of factly and calmly that yes, we are going to have to raise taxes; yes, we are going to have to raise taxes to provide a universal health care that is really code for a Federal Government program that is going to take the decision-making process out of the American people's hands, and there is going to be some bureaucrat sitting in some cubicle in Washington deciding what medication you can take or can't take, what procedure you can have or can't have. And I think that we have proven that when you put the forces to work in the marketplace, like we did on Medicare part D, that not only do you give people a choice, but with that choice comes competition and with competition comes the stabilizing and in some cases the decrease of prices. And that is the way we need to move forward, not with a huge tax increase which John Edwards, as I said, I think he had a Walter Mondale moment with Tim Russert saying, oh, sure we are going to increase the taxes. And you know, for a guy who is a multi-millionaire, who I see lives in a multi-million dollar home in North Carolina, it is certainly easy for him to say, well, sure we are going to increase. Now, he says they are going to do it on just the wealthiest. But I think we all know when you increase to get the kind of revenues that he is talking about to fund a huge government run program, it is going to trickle down and the people that are making 50 and $60,000 a year, people in my district, two-income earners, if they are teachers from the Altoona School District, two teachers that have been around 15, 20 years are making $100,000 or better now. And those are the people that are going to get hammered on these tax increases. But back to the point I was making. It is no mystery what happens when you cut taxes. And don't listen to me. Don't listen to George Bush. Don't even listen to Ronald Reagan. Go back in history to when President Kennedy in the sixties when he cut taxes, cut the marginal income tax rate, it spurred the economy on. Revenues to the government increased. And again, that is what happened under Ron Reagan and that is what is happening today under George Bush. Cutting taxes is a positive thing. When you let people keep more money, they spend it. They spend it on what they want to spend it on, which helps to spur the economy on. So once again, don't listen to me, if you are a Democrat. Look at what Jack Kennedy did back in the sixties. I think that is the way we want to move this economy forward.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting this evening's hour, as we count down the tax increase that is going to occur in this country in 1,426 days unless this Congress acts, unless the Democratic majority acts to stop it. I think it is important, you pointed out, that you are a small business owner. I was a small business owner. I know there are many small business owners in Congress. And I think it is important that the American people understand there are people serving in Congress that know what it is like to meet a payroll, to get up and unlock the doors every day and make sure that your business and the people that you employ have a job there. It is extremely difficult to do when the tax burden goes up. And if we do not act, as I said in this Congress, the Democratic majority does not even have to act; it just has to run out the clock. As you mentioned, what we will experience on January 1, 2011, is over a $200 billion tax increase. And that will occur over the next 3, 4 years as tax cuts that we put in place in 2001 and 2003, if they are not extended as you pointed out, that there was a deal made that we had to have them sunset. But we need to make sure that those tax cuts stay in place so that the millions of small business owners and families, hardworking families in this country, get to keep more of that money in their pockets, so that they can go out and spend it or save it for whatever the purposes that they have. You have, I know, six kids. So you know what is coming down the road for you, and college tuition is going to be a lot of money. And for you to be able to save, as millions of hardworking Americans being able to save, that money is extremely important. My daughter, we just had her at Penn State this weekend. She was accepted there. As we start to look at colleges, you start to realize the expense. It is not just tuition, but kids going away to school, and living expenses. A family in this country of four that make 40, $50,000 a year, if we do not extend those tax cuts, they are going to get a tax increase of about $2,000. $2,000 is a lot of money to hardworking Americans. If you take that $2,000 and invest it in an account that is going to get you 5 percent, a modest 5 percent return, you do that over 10 years, that grows to $30,000. That is a significant nest egg of savings that you can spend on your children's education. It is better that we leave it in the pockets of the American people than to bring it here in Washington and spend it on the array of things that do not make sense to the people back home. It is their money. They worked hard for it. And they should be able to keep most of it and not send it here to Washington. What happened when we cut taxes in 2001 and 2003? Well, over the last 4 years alone, we have created 7.2 million jobs in this country. That is something that is very worthwhile. The unemployment rate is down to 4.5 percent. That is well below what it was in 2005, and on average it is the lowest in four decades. This economy is moving forward. You mentioned that the national media did not cover something very well in the past. Well, this is one of those cases where the national media is not covering the strength of this economy. 4.5 percent unemployment is a good number. Creating 7.2 million jobs over the last 4 years is a good number. In December alone, 167,000 jobs were created, in December. We have not got the January numbers, but the estimate is it is going to be in that 150,000 job-creation range. The 7.2 million jobs we have created, that is more jobs than the European Union and Japan combined created in the last couple of years.

Mr. SHUSTER. If the gentleman would yield. I have started to accumulate little stories of people in the ninth Congressional district of Pennsylvania that I represent, what has happened to them over the past several years with these tax cuts. Gregg Rothman, who owns or is partner in RSR Realty in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, which is the county seat, is Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which is known to many where the War College is and where Jim Thorpe made his name at the Carlisle Indian school. But Gregg Rothman, he became a partner with this firm in 1999. Because of the reductions in the capital gains tax, that has allowed many empty nesters to enter the housing market. It has increased sales and their business has grown tremendously. And, in fact, since 1999 when they went into business, or when he bought into the partnership, they had 20 realtors. Today they have 60, and that is an addition of 40 new jobs of people out in Cumberland County, in central Pennsylvania, working. Creating jobs is what these tax cuts enabled people like Gregg to do. He saw his highest volume of sales since entering the realty business just in the last couple of years. Now I have got another story in my hometown in Everett, Pennsylvania. A couple of young guys started BC Stone several years ago. Travis Collins is the President of that company and he went to high school a couple of years behind me. What they have been able to do is create a tremendous business. In this little town of Everett, Pennsylvania they are selling stone granite tops, marble tops all across the State of Pennsylvania, all across the region, in the mid-Atlantic region. He has grown from 16 employees in 2001 to today he employs 70 people. And that is because this economy is growing. Not only are people building and buying new homes and remodeling them, which helps his business, but he is able to go and buy equipment, modernize what he is doing there and along the way, go from 16 employees to 70 employees in this town of about 2,000 people. And they are good paying jobs. They have been successful enough that they have bought an old hotel, the Union Hotel in downtown Everett, and they are renovating it and going to revitalize it and they hope by 2008 they are going to open up this hotel and restaurant and employ 20 full-time employees. Adding on to the, from the 16 to the 70 and then this new business with 20, and that is all because of this, of the tax cuts we have put into place in early 2000, 2001, 2003 and extended them here a couple of years ago. That is what makes this economy, or helps to make this economy move forward, by letting people keep their own money, by letting entrepreneurs and small business owners and families decide how to spend their money, not the Federal Government. And as you mentioned earlier, your background as a small business owner, your background as a person who has children, who has a family, you know the importance, and it is important for the American people to realize that if this Congress doesn't act in 1,426 days, a $200 billion tax increase is going to occur. And if anybody doubts it, you mentioned earlier, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Rangel from New York, said quite frequently and quite clearly that all those tax cuts were on the table. He didn't see any of them or many of them that were, that he thought were good or that they were tax cuts that he supported. And, in fact, I don't think he supported any of them, if I am not mistaken. But further than that, the Democratic majority, when they came to Congress, one of the first things they did was to make it easier to raise taxes. They call it PAYGO, which sounds good but really it is TAXGO because what they are going to do is they will ratchet up spending. They will pay for their increase in spending by increased taxes. And so you have PAYGO or TAXGO is what it really should be called. And then they decreased, or they made it easier to raise taxes by going from a three-fourths majority, which the Republicans put in place, because we wanted it to be difficult to raise taxes on the American people. But they changed it from three-fourths to a simple majority. Now, many of the incoming Members on the Democratic side I know ran on a conservative agenda. You know, I want to see how they are going to go back home and tell the people back there that we made it easier to raise taxes on you. They talk about, I know the Blue Dogs come down here and talk about fiscal responsibility and talk about cutting the budget or balancing the budget. But how are they going to do that if they are not willing to make the hard choices on what programs, not just to cut, more importantly to reform the entitlement programs. Reform doesn't necessarily mean cut. It means make them efficient. Make them produce or become more efficient. You get more out of your bang for your buck. You don't have to necessarily cut the programs. But so more and more people can get those programs more efficiently, instead of just raising taxes or slashing benefits. At the end of the day, if you are going to increase spending, I believe this has been very clear by the Speaker and the leadership of the majority party, that they are going to increase spending and they are going to increase your taxes. Why else would you make it easier to pass a tax increase? And that is, again, one of the very, very first things they did when they came into the majority party here. So it is going to be interesting to watch how that plays out with the Blue Dogs and many of the incoming Members that they claim that they are going to be fiscally responsible, that they are going to be conservative, that they are not going to tap into their constituents' wallets and bring more money here to Washington instead of leave it home with them.

Mr. SHUSTER. Absolutely. And you talked about the size of the U.S. economy. Those tax cuts that we put in place from 2001 and 2003 that helped this economy move forward, the reason it happened is because those tax cuts put $1.1 trillion in the pockets of the American taxpayer, $1.1 trillion. And a lot of that money went into savings, but most of that money went back into this economy directly, into whether it was paying for your child's college education, whether it was to buy a washer and dryer, buy a new car, buy a house, remodel your house. I mean, there are hundreds of thousands of ways that people put that money back into the economy. And we did that by cutting taxes on every American that pays taxes. Some folks in this country were even taken off paying taxes. We lowered the rates so that there were many people that didn't have to pay taxes. And once again, when you put money back into people's pockets, what happens is the economy grows. I have another story from my district. Smith Elliott Kearns & Company, it is a regional accounting firm located in my district in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and they service clients throughout central Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and actually up and down the east coast. They have clients from New England to Florida. And they characterize their clients as mom and pop shops, small and mid-size companies. And they told me about one of the tax cuts we put into place, which was a section 179 deduction, which allows smaller companies to elect to expense up to $108,000 of equipment purchased in the year of the acquisition, and that that is phased out from 108,000 up to over $400,000 of equipment. They phase out the amount of money they are able to expense. But that has tremendous growth in this economy of people going out and buying equipment, whether it is a truck to do pickup and delivery or whether it is a piece of equipment that makes the company more efficient. And in 2009, at the end of 2009, beginning of 2010, those deductions will revert back to the amount before we passed the law of $25,000. It is amazing how much money companies are saving and reinvesting in their companies to make them more efficient, to add jobs, create jobs. And when you buy that equipment, not only does it make your company more efficient but some other company has to produce it, and those companies have to put people back to work. So it is a snowball effect on our economy. And once again, it is something that the national media is just not covering it the way it should. I watch Lou Dobbs, and he is doom and gloom all the time about what is happening in our economy. All he sees is the negative side, and there is so much positive occurring in our country. As I mentioned, this accounting firm has hundreds of clients that are using these tax cuts, using these ways to save themselves money, to reinvest in their company, to create jobs. And that is why it is so important for the American people to really pay attention to what is happening here in the United States Congress. The Blue Dogs have been down on the floor. They haven't been down in a week or so, but they talk about the change, the American people want a change. And they may be right. The American people want a change. But there is nobody that I know of in the United States, in the Ninth Congressional District and across this country, that I have heard say they want a change to increase their taxes. I haven't heard it, except for maybe folks like George Soros and Bill Gates and, of course, John Edwards, who are multimillionaires and multibillionaires. They don't mind paying more taxes. But when you have that much money, there is certainly a lot less pain, or I should say there is no pain at all when you have that much money. But if you are a hardworking American in Pennsylvania, in Kentucky, in Indiana, in Missouri that are out there every day getting up, trying to save money for your kids to go to school, trying to pay the bills, it is significant when the Federal Government reaches into your pocket. And as we talked about here earlier tonight, a family of four that earns $40,000 to $50,000, when these various tax cuts expire, people are going to get about a $2,000 tax increase. And that is significant for a family of four making that kind of money, and it is just wrong. And we here in Congress have to make sure that we are making the tough decisions on controlling spending. Controlling spending and continuing to see this economy grow because we are getting record levels of revenue flowing into the Federal Treasury because this economy is growing, because of the Gregg Rothmans of the world and the Travis Collinses and the people throughout this country, the small businessmen, the small entrepreneurs that are creating jobs, buying things, putting people to work so that this economy continues to flourish. So as the sign says there, in 1,426 days, which means December 31 of 2010, this Congress and the next, all we have to do is run the clock out. Run the clock out, and the American people are going to get a huge tax increase. And we need to make sure that we are here fighting. But we can't do it without the help of the American people. The American people have to be communicating to their representatives to keep those tax cuts in place because it is good for America, and the numbers bear out: 4.5 percent unemployment, 7.2 million jobs created over the last 4 years. These job gains are throughout our economy. Also, when you look at the different segments, the educational attainment groups in this country, all those groups have seen unemployment drop. Even for those without a high school diploma, we have seen their jobless rates drop by about three quarters of a percentage point just last year, and over the last 2 years a 1\1/2\ percent drop in the unemployment rate of people who don't have a high school diploma. That is significant. And if you look at the want ads, I think in almost any newspaper in this country, you will see where people are advertising for jobs. It takes training. It takes some level of education to get these jobs, whether it is a truck driver, which is a pretty good paying job. Today it is a very good paying job. You have got to have the training. So the way to do it is, I believe, not to have some new vast government program, but to keep cutting taxes on people so that people who are in a job can get some training so that maybe they can get another job that pays more.

Mr. SHUSTER. Right. And just to sum up, there are millions of Americans out there, hardworking Americans, that in the last election didn't vote to see their taxes increased. And I defy anybody in here to show me that their constituents, that the majority of their constituents, the vast majority of their constituents voted to have a tax increase. It is going to be very interesting here in the coming months. We are going to have the budget come up here next month. It is going to be very interesting to see what our Democratic colleagues on the other side propose. The President has proposed a budget that is a budget that is controlling government spending. It is extending the tax cuts that we have put in place, and along the way we are going to move towards a balanced budget and even surpluses. But the only way we do it is not to increase taxes but to allow this economy to grow so that the revenues continue to flow into the Federal Government and that we control spending. Control spending and reform entitlements. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, we have got to look at reforming them. That doesn't mean cutting benefits. That doesn't mean necessarily increasing taxes. It means looking at ways to better provide those services so that we are not wasting as much money in the entitlement programs. So as I said, I think it is going to be an interesting next couple of months. We are going to see what the Democrats propose as their plan. And as I mentioned earlier this evening, I think we are going to see the proposal of significant tax increases, which I think is going to make many Members on the other side of the aisle very uncomfortable if they have to vote for a tax increase. But if we don't act, if we run out the clock, in 1,426 days, January 1 of 2011, we are going to see one of the most massive tax increases in American history.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Rocco J. Soccio of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, who passed away Saturday, December 16, 2006, at the age of 71 years. This distinguished man is survived by a wife of almost 50 years, Barbara Kaley Soccio, whom he married in 1957 and had three children, Jan, John and Vincent.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. Kind of like their definition of openness.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to relate two stories that I came across concerning these tax cuts. Jim Tracy from Shelbyville, Tennessee, who is the owner of a small insurance agency, he said because of the tax cuts, he was able to use the $7,200 that he would have otherwise spent on taxes, and he bought seven new computers for his business and he hired a fourth employee. That is just one of many. There is another story here. Kenneth Leupp of Archbold Refuse Service in Archbold, Ohio, he says, ``The tax cuts, changes in depreciation schedules and increases in dollar amount we can expense off are very welcome changes. We have made purchases we wouldn't have made under the old laws. We've saved money on taxes, increased efficiency, lowered maintenance costs, and helped stimulate the economy.'' Those are just two of thousands and thousands of experiences out there because of these tax cuts. Our purpose here tonight, although I may be repeating myself, I know that people watching C-SPAN tune in and out, but I just want to remind them that in 1,443 days, it is the countdown to the Democratic tax increase. All they have to do is run the clock out. They don't even have to act on them. So on January 1, 2011, there will be a $200 billion tax increase to the American people. The death tax will expire, capitol gains tax, tax on dividends will expire in January of 2009. A record number of Americans are invested in the stock market with mutual funds and retirement funds. The child tax credit will be cut in half over the next couple of years. The marriage penalty will be back in place, and low-income taxpayers will go from a 10 percent tax bracket to a 15 percent tax bracket if we don't act. The American people need to be aware of this. And in less than 4 years, if they don't communicate to their Members of Congress that they want to see these tax cuts extended, their voices need to be heard.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Texas for taking control of the time. I have got a bad wheel, but I did not want to miss this. I think it is so important. I want to start off by just echoing your sentiments about what happened here in the capital this week. I mean, a bunch of anarchists, they pushed forward on the Capitol Police, as you said, and the Capitol Hill Police let them come through and deface the United States Capitol. And I heard that they were saying, that they were chanting it was their right to. But they have no right to deface the United States Capitol. This belongs to all of the Americans. And nobody has a right to do what they had to. I really want to know, and I hope there is an investigation, there should be an investigation to find out why the Capitol Hill Police did not resist them, and you know the party that is in the majority needs to answer, needs to stand up and be held accountable, because they are in charge, they are the ones that are giving the instructions to the Capitol Hill Police. I want to know if the majority party said, we do not want you to confront them; let them do whatever they want to do. Because it is outrageous. And all Americans that are watching tonight, I do not know how widely it has been reported. I have heard a few reports. But, you know, it should have made top news that a group of anarchists spray painted their symbols on the Capitol. I heard the report was that there was no incident. Well, there should have been an incident. There should have been an extreme incident of resistance by the Capitol Hill Police to not allow someone to deface what I consider, this is the crown of America, this is the people's House and nobody should ever be allowed to do that. So I am outraged by it.

Mr. SHUSTER. Openness and participatory, and transparency. And here we have passed several bills, and having gone through the committee nobody has seen them until they show up on the floor.

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, some of them have given their lives up to protect this building and Members of Congress. I agree with you, I cannot imagine that they did not get orders to stand down from the highest level. Once again, the party in the majority runs this place. They need to be held accountable. They need to stand up and say what they did do, what they did not do. But in the future, if there are going to be, I am certain there will be, as there has been throughout our history, protests throughout the capital, and people have a right, absolutely have a right to protest, but they do not have a right to do it violently; they do not have a right to deface property that belongs to all of the taxpayers. So the questions need to be asked and we need to have answers from the majority party. Back again to why, the main reason we are here tonight, is to talk about the 1,433 days from now, if the majority, the Democrats in Congress, do not act over the next 4 years, or 1,433 days, we are going to see an over-$200 billion tax increase on Americans, on the American family, on small businesses. And that is going to significantly hurt this economy. And you just have to look at the facts. Over the last 4 years, 7.2 million jobs were created in this country because of those tax cuts. Just in December, 167,000 jobs were created. The unemployment rate at 4.5 percent, the lowest average it has been in five decades. If we do not extend them, if we do not do what is responsible, then money, real dollars are going to come out of the American people's pocket. A family of four, making in the $40,000 range, they are going to see a tax increase of about $2,000. Now, to some in this body, $2,000 may not seem like a lot of money, but it is to a hardworking American family. $2,000 is a nice down payment on a new car, $2,000 will buy you a new washer and a dryer. $2,000 helps you put your son or daughter or yourself through college or to get educated or trained on something. So I hope that the American people that are watching tonight, whether you are Republican, you are a Democrat, there are lessons for us all through history, recent history, on why tax cuts work, why they are a good thing for the economy, why Americans should be allowed to keep their hard-earned dollars. You have to go back to the 1960s. President Kennedy, he cut taxes. What did he see? The economy came on strong. Revenues to the Federal Government increased dramatically. We saw that in 1980. And today we are seeing it at record levels. As the gentleman from Oklahoma pointed out, there are a lot of things in this economy that are happening because of those tax cuts, and we need to make sure that they continue. It is startling to me. Although, I watched and was obviously very keenly aware of what the Democrats were saying during the last campaign. And the first thing that they basically said, when you listen to the incoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he basically told the American people that he did not see one of those tax cuts that really had merit and that everything was on the table. So the American people should not be surprised when they see these tax cuts. And just 11 days ago was the first Democratic tax increase. They changed the rules of the House to make it a simple majority. When we put it in place as the majority party, it had to be three-fifths of votes to increase taxes. They made it a simple majority, because they knew how difficult it is going to be to get a majority in this House to raise taxes on the American people. So, once again, if we don't stand up and fight, and I hope my Democratic colleagues who aren't here tonight, the Blue Dogs who come down and talk about fiscal responsibilities, if they don't join with us to fight these tax cuts, they are going to take part in this huge tax increase that is going to occur on the American people. So I appreciate the gentleman tonight hosting this hour.

Mr. SHUSTER. Would the gentleman yield for a second?

Mr. SHUSTER. I don't know if this is accurate or not, but I have heard people talking that the CR is going to come to the floor and it is going to look like an omnibus bill. And you know, an omnibus is like a Christmas tree; they hang everything on it that they want to get through. But that is the rumors that are swirling around here, that it is not just going to be just a CR, it is going to be an omnibus. And that is going to be bad for spending, and they are not living up to their word.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise today with great respect for the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner and all the people that they represent. But I strongly oppose both this rule and the underlying resolution. The resolution we are considering today is, pure and simple, a power grab. There is no way I can support a resolution that dilutes the rights of the hardworking people of western and central Pennsylvania, and there is no reason they should support representatives that have their rights diluted. The Democratic scheme tramples on the Constitution and the design of one man, one vote. Article I, section 2 of the Constitution clearly states the House ``shall be comprised of Members chosen by the people of the several States.'' It does not provide full voting privileges for Delegates representing non-State territories. Plain and simple, this is representation without taxation. This proposal will allow the Democratic Delegates to raise the taxes on the American people, but then they will not have to pay them. I strongly encourage all members of the Pennsylvania delegation to vote against this resolution and protect the rights of the hardworking people of Pennsylvania.

Mr. SHUSTER

Mr. SHUSTER. I would just remind the gentleman, it has only been 4 days since the Democrats raised taxes because of their repeal of section 199 for oil and gas which was enacted in 2004 to help manufacturing companies. It took them 13 years to win the majority, and in only 14 days they raised taxes. What you are talking about in that article, this is what is going to happen. It is wrong for us to raise taxes, those tax increases that they put in place just 4 days ago, placed squarely on the domestic energy production which will encourage companies to move jobs overseas. When you raise taxes, when you raise the regulatory burden, that is what companies do, they want to go someplace where they can make a profit. And they are going to encourage the domestic energy industry, which employs 1.8 million Americans who have an average salary of $30 an hour with great benefits, this is going to cause these companies to look to go offshore to produce their product, in this case energy. Shifting the energy industry and facilities overseas will make America more dependent on foreign oil, not less, as the Democrats claim. So the refining of fuels and, again, exploration is going to occur off the coast of America and not on the coast of America, driving jobs out of this country. The higher taxes on the oil companies will hurt retirement security because as I have found out in some of the research we have done, 41 percent of the shares of oil and gas companies are in retirement accounts and pension funds. So when Democrats are helping to drive their profits down to make less money to drive them offshore, it is going to hurt those folks who are retired today. Again, 41 percent of the shares of oil and gas companies are owned by pension funds and retirement funds. Once again, this is a wrong-headed plan. It only took them 14 days. I see the CPA from Texas joins us to remind me of that. It is only 4 days since the Democrats last raised taxes, and we see it is going to come. We talked the past couple of weeks about how they made it easier to raise taxes with the PAYGO rules going from three-fifths majority to a simple majority to raise taxes. Now the Speaker and her party want to give the vote to the American Samoa here in Congress. They want Guam and the Virgin Islands, they are territories of the United States and wonderful people, but they don't pay taxes. They are going to allow them to vote, so these folks that don't pay taxes are going to have the ability to raise taxes on Americans. American Samoa has a population of 60,000, which is 91 percent of the average congressional district. My district is 650,000. The delegate from the American Samoa is going to have the ability to vote to raise taxes.

Mr. SHUSTER. I thank the gentleman for joining us tonight. The gentleman from Texas, if he has any closing remarks?

Mr. SHUSTER. Retired folks that have mutual funds.

Mr. SHUSTER. The gentleman is correct. All Americans want to pay less at the gas pump and less for heating oil. As we have seen in the last month alone, prices have come down to about $50 to $52 a barrel. But the answer is not to increase the cost on the oil and gas producers. The answer is to have more supply. The answer is for us to conserve more, to use it in more efficient ways. The answer is to come up with alternative fuels, which I hope to hear the President talk about that initiative tomorrow night. But when you talk about the oil industry and you talk about dollars and cents, there is nobody better to talk about it than the gentleman from Texas, our resident CPA, who can keep us on the dollars and cents. And with that I would like to yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. SHUSTER. Too many.