Tim Scott

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from North Carolina, Mrs. Renee Ellmers.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Steve King.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I wonder what my friend from Texas would have said, if she was still here, to the 253,000 women, small business owners, who will be impacted by higher taxes based on the actions of our friends on the left. I wonder, Madam Speaker, what my friends on the left would say to the 710,000 newly unemployed Americans because of their actions on the left? I wonder, Madam Speaker, what my friends on the left would say to the senior citizens who make less than $100,000, to the senior citizens who make less than $50,000 who would see a 185 percent increase on their taxes for their dividend income? Madam Speaker, my friends on the left have asked a very interesting and telling question when they asked: Who deserves a tax increase? Well, we on the right have a very clear answer to that question. We believe everybody deserves a tax decrease. Madam Speaker, with unemployment for the 41st month over 8 percent, with unemployment in south Atlanta over 9.4 percent, I would suggest, Madam Speaker, now is not the time to engineer fairness. Now is a time for us to keep taxes low. Madam Speaker, everyone in this room can agree we need to take steps to turn our economy around. But while one side of the room wants to divide our Nation to do so, we understand that punishing some Americans in the name of helping others is not the solution. We must lift everyone up; otherwise, we will all just end up in the squishy, nebulous middle. And America isn't about being mediocre. America is about being the best, the strongest, and the leader of the free world. Let's stay there as a Nation. Amendment Offered by Mr. Scott of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I move to amend the resolution with the amendment I have placed at the desk.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, the amendment instructs the Clerk to add the text of H.R. 6169 as new matter at the end of H.R. 8 before transmitting the bill to the Senate.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Then you find another $101 billion, another $101 billion in annual tax on health insurance providers not paid for by those folks who make more than $200,000, but paid for by the hardworking, everyday folks like my granddaddy and my momma, those folks who struggled to make their ends meet, $100 billion of new taxes. But if you need a medical device, another $29 billion of new taxes. There is just not enough time, Mr. Leader, to talk about all the taxes that can't be articulated in just 2 minutes.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, why are we here? We keep hearing that from my friends on the right--why are we here again today--and the reality of it is simple. The numbers keep changing, and it simply does not add up. A long time ago, in 2010, a long time ago, the estimates were $900 billion will be the cost of ObamaCare. Two years later, now the estimate is at nearly $2 trillion. Well, how do we fund this? Everybody wants to know this. A program that is already financially strapped, Medicare. ObamaCare takes $500 billion, $500 billion out of Medicare. What does that mean? Well, to me, as a grandson of a grandfather who is 92 years old, 92 years old, what happens when we take $500 billion out of Medicare? Well, the answer is clear. There is a 15-member board called IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, that will then recommend cuts to Medicare payments for doctors, hospitals, and other providers. In other words, my grandfather's health may be in the hands of a 15-member autonomous board who will decide what happens to his health. That's wrong. If you look in ObamaCare, what you will find is that $317 billion of new taxes, or a 3.8 percent tax on dividends, capital gains and other income, you will find $110 billion on the middle class for folks who like their health care and want to keep it? Oh, no. No, no, no. They can't keep it.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Thank you, Mr. Clarke.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Clarke, I would say that without any question the issue of education is not an African American issue; it's not an Hispanic issue. It is an American issue. It is an American tradition that for all access in this Nation, the power of freedom comes from the power of education. And we stand here together as one of the more conservative Members of the House and certainly one of the more liberal Members of the House focusing on the same problem. We may not even agree on all the paths to solving this problem, but we can agree on the necessity of addressing the issue of literacy. And if we can work together finding paths for the American people to focus their attention, finding paths for Congress to focus our attention, we find paths to the solution.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Thank you, Congressman Clarke. Let me just thank Mr. Clarke for focusing on the issue of education and, specifically, the issue of literacy. I will say that as a kid growing up in a single-parent household myself, living in poverty, I did not value education as a youngster. And so by the time I was in high school, I was flunking out. I failed the ninth grade. I failed world geography, civics, Spanish, and English. When you fail Spanish and English, they don't consider you bilingual. They may call you ``bi- ignorant.'' And that's where I found myself, because I had lost hope in life. I had a mother who believed strongly in the power of education. And because of her discipline, her involvement, and her focus, I found the path back towards prosperity, which started with education. And as chairman of the county council a few years ago, I recognized that the incarcerated population of Charleston County was highly represented by young people, mostly men, who were functionally illiterate, coming from single-parent households and living in poverty, as I did. So the value of education cannot be overemphasized enough, and the necessity of public-private partnerships to address this issue is an absolute necessity because our Nation faces a crisis.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2061, the Former Charleston Naval Base Land Exchange Act, introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham. Congressman Clyburn and I introduced the companion to this legislation in the House, and I want to thank both Mr. Clyburn and Senator Graham for their support on this land swap. Our bill simply authorizes a land swap between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the South Carolina State Ports Authority. The 25 acres DHS would receive are in the middle of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center campus and are currently leased from the Ports Authority. In exchange for this land, the Ports Authority would receive 10.5 acres of vacant DHS land to build an access road between Interstate 26 and the new container terminal under construction. This is a commonsense solution that is a win for both parties involved, and I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. We have been trying for 18 long months to get to the bottom of this issue, and yet we are being stonewalled. Yes, we hear that the Federal Government has provided 7,000-plus pages; but, Mr. Speaker, there are over 100,000 pages that we have requested. We are talking about a period from February 4, 2011, to December 2011, where we were given false information. It is our responsibility, it is our duty to find the truth for the American people and the Terry family. Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by simply saying, how are we supposed to protect and ensure the safety of our Border Patrol agents in the future if we do not know who allowed the guns to walk across the border? How are we supposed to give Brian Terry's family any sense of closure, Mr. Speaker? This is why we have no choice but to be here today. The refusal of the Attorney General to provide answers regarding Brian Terry's death leaves us no choice but to be here today.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I thank the gentleman for the time. Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that my friends on the left need some clarification on why we are here this afternoon. This is not a good day for America, and it is certainly still not a good day for the Terry family. My friends on the left continue to talk about this as if it were a witch hunt--a witch hunt. We have a slain Border Patrol agent, and my friends on the left want to politicize this by talking about a witch hunt when in fact we all know that this, Mr. Speaker, is about justice. This is about justice. My friend on the left just said that we Republicans refuse to hear ``yes,'' we refuse to accept ``yes'' as an answer. Well, Mr. Speaker, we want a ``yes'' for Kent Terry, we want a ``yes'' for Josephine Terry, the parents of Brian Terry. We want a ``yes'' for the American people. We want a ``yes'' as it relates to the integrity of the process, and we want a ``yes'' for justice. And, Mr. Speaker, my friends on the left continue to consistently say ``no.'' We are here, Mr. Speaker, for only two reasons. The first is because United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is dead because of a Federal Government operation that allowed American guns to be walked across the border in the hands of drug lords and cartels. We are here today, Mr. Speaker, because the Department of Justice; the Attorney General, Eric Holder; and now the President refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas that will give us clarity on these questions, give us clear answers for the Terry family and for the American people.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Renacci).

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing consistently that somehow a tax that isn't a tax is now considered a tax, so the notion of recapturing overpayments from health care subsidies should not be considered a tax. It should be considered being honest and fair. So let me say it one more time: that requiring people to return money not correctly given to them is not a tax increase; it is a matter of honesty and integrity. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Mulvaney).

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lankford).

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Walsh).

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent).

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).