August 2, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5689 

have decided to leave town for almost 

40 days with a long list of unfinished 

business: postal reform, the Violence 

Against Women reauthorization, the 

farm bill, comprehensive jobs legislation, the Make It in America agenda, a 

balanced and big plan to solve our deficit, and tax cuts for the middle class. 

We should remain here and do the 

work the American people sent us to 

do. 

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b 1750 

JOBS.GOP.GOV 

(Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. SHIMKUS. I have come down to 

the floor just to remind my colleagues 

and you, Mr. Speaker, that if you go to 

jobs.gop.gov you will see a list of 25 

bills that have been passed in this 

Chamber to do a couple of things: to 

boost competitiveness in the manufacturing sector; encouraging entrepreneurship in government; to help pay 

down our debt; and my favorite is 

maximizing American energy production. Yes, using American energy and 

our resources to create jobs, like the 

Keystone XL pipeline. We passed numerous bills to move the Keystone XL 

pipeline, 20,000 immediate jobs. 

Mr. Speaker, you can go to 

jobs.gop.gov to check the 25 different 

bills that we have passed in this Chamber. We have done our work. We will 

continue to do our work. Obviously, we 

need the other Chamber to be somewhat functional and at least consider 

these bills and then move to conference, which is how a bill becomes a 

law. 

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NO TAX CUT FOR THE MIDDLE 

CLASS 

(Ms. HANABUSA asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Ms. HANABUSA. Mr. Speaker, you 

have controlled the House for 19 

months. The Republican majority has 

simply failed to lead. And more importantly, you are incapable of governing 

for the middle class—the middle class, 

the people who help build this great 

Nation. This week we had the opportunity to provide a tax cut for 100 percent of these Americans, those individuals earning less than $200,000 and less 

than $250,000 for a family. But once 

again, the Republican majority wanted 

it their way. 

And what was your way? You wanted 

to pass tax breaks for millionaires and 

billionaires, your friends. And what 

does that do? It adds $1 trillion to our 

deficit and debt over the next 10 years. 

How many times has the majority said 

time and time again about the deficit 

and debt. And what do you do? You 

pass the tax cuts that are going to add 

$1 trillion. 

Mr. Speaker, it’s about time that we 

step back and we realize that we are 

here to serve and the fact that we must 

take care of the majority, the wonderful middle class. 

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NEVADA’S SALES TAX 

(Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) 

Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, Congress must do right by Nevada’s middle 

class families and make permanent the 

sales tax deduction, a measure that 

benefits so many middle class families 

in Nevada. Over 300,000 Nevadans 

claimed $456 million in deductions for 

State and local sales tax in 2009 alone. 

Nevada is one of only nine States that 

has no State income tax and, instead, 

revenue is raised through a sales tax. 

Nevadans should be able to deduct 

their sales tax from their Federal income tax, just as citizens from income 

tax States do now. The sales tax deduction helps families across Nevada by 

leaving more money in their pockets. 

This creates jobs, stimulates economic 

growth, and keeps money in their 

pockets. 

It’s a matter of priority, Mr. Speaker. We must make the sales tax deduction permanent in order to give middle 

tax families the certainty of knowing 

they will have extra money in their 

pockets to put food on their table, gas 

in their cars, and be able to pay the 

mortgage on their family home. 

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RAISING TAXES ON MILITARY 

FAMILIES 

(Mrs. DAVIS of California asked and 

was given permission to address the 

House for 1 minute.) 

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House unfortunately 

passed a tax bill that will raise taxes 

on 25 million families, including many 

military families. And that is, in a 

word, outrageous. We see strenuous objections from the majority to fairly tax 

the superwealthy; but we don’t hear a 

peep about placing an extra tax burden 

on our middle class families, including 

members of our military whose families are actually struggling in this 

economy. 

Under the majority’s tax bill, an E–1 

sailor in the Navy with 2 years’ service 

with a spouse and three young children 

at home would see a tax increase of 

$1,096. A private in the U.S. Army in 

her first year of service who is married 

with an infant child would see a $273 

tax increase. 

As the ranking member of the House 

Military Personnel Subcommittee, I 

want to know why we are asking those 

who have given so much for our country to give even more while we ask the 

wealthiest Americans to sacrifice nothing. Our military families deserve 

much better than that, and so do the 

American people. 

THE DO-NOTHING REPUBLICAN 

CONGRESS 

(Ms. EDWARDS asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Ms. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, can you 

believe it—Republicans are on their 

planes, trains, and automobiles headed 

out of Washington for a month when 

they haven’t provided tax cuts for middle class Americans and for small businesses. That’s right, Mr. Speaker: absent without cause, AWOL, while the 

American people wait. 

And here they are, we had a chance 

to provide tax cuts for middle-income 

families. We had a chance to make sure 

that middle-income families aren’t 

stretched in this economy; but, instead, they’ve added nearly $1 trillion 

to our deficit and debt over the next 10 

years because they are interested in 

protecting millionaires and billionaires. And now they’re high-tailing it 

out of Washington. 

Well, I can’t believe it. Republicans 

are leaving with the postal service in 

default; the Violence Against Women 

Act not reauthorized, leaving domestic 

violence victims in limbo; jobs legislation undone, leaving Americans who 

want to work out of work. 

Well, Jiminy Cricket, Mr. Speaker, 

what is going on with this do-nothing 

Congress, with this do-nothing Republican Congress? The American people 

deserve more, and it’s time to get back 

to work. 

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APPOINTMENT TO BOARD OF 

TRUSTEES OF AMERICAN 

FOLKLIFE CENTER 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair announces the Speaker’s reappointment, pursuant to 20 U.S.C. 

2103(b), and the order of the House of 

January 5, 2011, of the following individual from private life to the Board of 

Trustees of the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress on the 

part of the House for a term of 6 years: 

Mr. C. Kurt Dewhurst, Michigan 

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IT’S A SPENDING PROBLEM, NOT A 

REVENUE PROBLEM 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under 

the Speaker’s announced policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. WOODALL) is recognized for 60 

minutes as the designee of the majority leader. 

Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, I would 

like to yield to my good friend from 

Virginia. 

REMEMBERING THE FALLEN OF THE CHINOOK

HELICOPTER CRASH

Mr. RIGELL. I thank my friend for 

yielding. 

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute, to 

honor, and to remember and celebrate 

the lives of American heroes. We’re approaching a most sobering anniversary, 

August 6. This is the day 1 year ago 

when a Chinook helicopter crashed in 

Afghanistan, taking with it the lives of 


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