July 18, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H4913 

high as those during President Clinton’s second term, then maybe Republicans would have a better argument. 

Of course, President Clinton’s second 

term also saw significant job growth 

and expanding economy, and the only 

Federal budget surpluses since 1969— 

four in a row. But to complain about 

Federal deficits and then immediately 

call for cutting taxes on the highest income brackets—even lower than the 

current 31-year low under President 

Obama—shows significant hypocrisy or 

a lack of basic addition and subtraction skills. 

So as today’s Republicans try to spin 

a tax fairy tale, where the lowest Federal tax rate in 31 years under President Obama is somehow too high, while 

ignoring the higher rates through the 

eighties and nineties, perhaps it’s time 

once again to ask: What would Ronald 

Reagan have done? 

Republicans, even those who profess 

to idolize President Reagan, of course, 

won’t ask because they don’t want to 

hear the answer. Following the significant initial tax cuts in 1981, President 

Reagan subsequently signed into law a 

host of taxes to try to bring the budget 

back into balance. Five times he raised 

taxes in his 8 years. 

Madam Speaker, as Congress debates 

the extension of the current tax burden, comprehensive tax reform, and 

overall budget deficits, I again feel 

compelled to ask my colleagues: What 

would Ronald Reagan do? 

f 

GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM, 

NOT THE SOLUTION 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Texas (Mr. POE) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, 

recently I heard from Jacqueline, a 

small business owner in southeast 

Texas, and here’s what she said: 

Business owners who want to succeed put 

their heart and soul into their business. 

They are the ones who get there at the crack 

of dawn and leave after everyone else is long 

settled in for the night. I’ve been a small 

business owner, and I know a great many 

others like me, and nobody did anything for 

us, we did it for ourselves, and the only thing 

that the government did for us was tax us. 

Apparently, this President disagrees 

with Jacqueline’s statement. According to the administration: ‘‘If you’ve 

got a business, you didn’t build that. 

Somebody else made that happen.’’ So 

the President is inferring, I suspect, 

that government should get the credit 

for the success of entrepreneurs. He is 

wrong, Madam Speaker. 

People are the reason for American 

success—not government. Americans 

have the vision, creativity, and audacity to pursue a dream—not the government. Americans risk their life savings, not knowing what profit they will 

get back in return for their labor. Government doesn’t risk anything. Americans spend long days, sleepless nights, 

and working on weekends away from 

their family in order to keep their 

company afloat and pay their employees. Americans battle through discouragement and criticism in the hope for 

better days ahead. It is Americans who 

give up their home in order to pay for 

a store. And it’s Americans who pay all 

those taxes and expensive government 

regulations that they’re forced to pay. 

Government isn’t there when a decision is made to get a business started, 

to take a leap of faith, make a hire, 

sell first goods, or tally bills. People 

pursue their own American Dream 

without government holding their 

hand. 

Those believers in Big Government 

say that Americans can only be successful if government controls their 

lives. Madam Speaker, government 

isn’t the answer; government’s the 

problem. America is not great because 

of government programs. It’s great because of Americans, individuals with 

the spirit and desire to make their 

lives and this country better. Government doesn’t assume the risk in business, individuals do. 

Starting a business is not easy. Business is driven by American ingenuity, 

creativity and, yes, hard work. Those 

who have been successful didn’t wait 

around for someone else to help them 

with a government handout. The reality is that government actually 

makes it harder to do business now, 

not easier. 

When I ask Texas businesses what 

Washington can do for them, their answer is always the same: get out of the 

way. Businesses cannot afford to hire 

others and give them jobs because of 

the costly, unnecessary regulations imposed by government. 

b 1020 

According to the World Bank’s 2012 

‘‘Doing Business in a More Transparent 

World’’ report, the U.S. now ranks 13th 

in the world in places to start a business. We trail countries like Belarus, 

Macedonia, and Rwanda. Now, isn’t 

that lovely? 

America should not be a place where 

people wait for a government handout 

check. Instead, they should get a paycheck for working. 

Individual achievement used to be 

celebrated in this country, but the administration seems to punish success. 

And what does the government do 

when individuals are successful? The 

government punishes them with taxes. 

According to the collectivists, business wealth was created by government, and so it belongs to everybody. 

Sounds a lot like statism to me, 

Madam Speaker, the idea that citizens 

should be beholden to the government 

for everything and government is worshipped as the savior of us all. That is 

not the American philosophy, I know. 

So the policy is, under the statists, 

tax people to death. Madam Speaker, 

you’ve heard that statement. If something moves, regulate it. If it keeps 

moving, tax it. And then if it stops 

moving, subsidize it. Government is 

doing all of the above to businesses in 

this country. And government is also 

overtaxing those small businesses, 

keeping 23 million Americans from 

finding jobs. 

Madam Speaker, small businesses 

create most of the jobs in this country. 

You see, when a small business is successful it can expand by hiring people. 

Government doesn’t create jobs; people 

and businesses do. 

So what next? Are the good days of 

American exceptionalism behind us? 

No. Americans are as exceptional as 

ever before, and it’s the government 

that is our problem. 

Where I come from, we teach our kids 

that, in this country, no matter who 

you are or where you came from, hard 

work and personal responsibility will 

pay off. In the America I know, people 

earn their paycheck and don’t sit 

around waiting for a free government 

check. 

Small business owner Jacqueline is 

correct. Individuals, American ingenuity, and free enterprise create success, not Washington. That is the 

American Dream, Madam Speaker. And 

when you see the President, tell him 

he’s wrong. 

And that’s just the way it is. 

f 

WE NEED PNTR NOW 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

New York (Mr. MEEKS) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. MEEKS. Russia, with some of the 

world’s most sophisticated consumers 

and a rapidly growing market, will join 

the World Trade Organization by summer’s end. After 18 years of negotiating 

with the United States and the World 

Trade Organization, after improving 

their trade laws and reducing tariffs, 

yes, very shortly Russia will be a member of the World Trade Organization. 

For the United States, this could 

mean improved market access for our 

exports of goods and services. It could 

mean protections if Russia violates 

international rules. It could mean a 

trade boost, an additional 50,000 jobs or 

more right here in the United States of 

America, and all of this, if the United 

States and this Congress lifts the Cold 

War relic, the Jackson-Vanik amendment, and authorizes permanent normal trade relations. We’ve waived 

Jackson-Vanik for over 20 years. We 

now need PNTR, and we need to do it 

now. 

Our competitors will have access to 

that market. We will then fall behind 

them. 

We can compete with anybody in the 

world. This is the greatest country in 

the world. Let’s not lock ourselves out 

of the market in Russia. Let’s not put 

ourselves behind our competitors. 

Here’s an opportunity for us to come 

together. 

You heard earlier this morning my 

friend and colleague, DAVID DREIER, 

bringing folks together, talking about 

how we can do this together with the 

President of the United States, who 

has an export initiative, to create more 

jobs. 


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H4914 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 18, 2012 

Here we can demonstrate to the 

American people that we’re concerned 

about creating jobs, and that we’re 

going to make sure that we take advantage of that opportunity by bringing PNTR for Russia immediately, getting involved, and trading with them 

to create jobs right here in the good 

old United States of America. 

f 

TAX CLIFF 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 

Tennessee (Mrs. BLACK) for 5 minutes. 

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, it has 

been 41 months of unemployment above 

8 percent, and the President is calling 

for higher taxes on small businesses. 

That is the devastating reality currently facing 13 million unemployed 

Americans. 

America’s in the midst of a jobs crisis unlike anything this country has 

seen since the Great Depression. And 

the President’s most recent answer to 

this crisis? A tax hike on small businesses to feed Democrats’ insatiable 

appetite for more wasteful, ever-expanding government spending. 

This past week, the President followed up his recent call for higher 

taxes by scolding entrepreneurs. And I 

quote: ‘‘If you’ve got a business, you 

didn’t build it. Somebody else built 

that.’’ 

His disdain for American enterprise 

truly underscores that he not only 

doesn’t know what it takes to start and 

run a business, but he is clueless about 

how jobs are created. 

If the President gets his way, instead 

of small businesses creating more paychecks for more workers, they will be 

paying more taxes to the Federal Government. I wonder if the President has 

considered the fact that small businesses create two out of every three 

new jobs in America? And that means, 

for the majority of the nearly 13 million unemployed Americans, their best 

hope of being able to provide for their 

family hinges on small businesses’ ability to hire more people. 

The administration’s onslaught of 

new regulations and ObamaCare’s costly taxes and mandates have already 

placed a huge burden on our Nation’s 

small businesses. The President now 

wants to add insult to injury and siphon away 201 billion more dollars 

from the American job creators. 

Now, a new study released yesterday 

from Ernst & Young confirms what 

many Americans already know: the 

President’s latest tax hike plan would 

destroy 700,000 jobs and further weaken 

our struggling economy. 

The House is scheduled to vote in a 

couple of weeks on legislation to extend all of the current Federal income 

tax rates while, at the same time, laying the groundwork for making our 

Tax Code simpler and fairer by lowering rates and closing loopholes. Progrowth tax reform is needed to help 

create the climate for job creation and 

to ensure more jobs stay right here in 

the United States. 

The most recent unemployment report shows that the number of people 

leaving the job market to go into Social Security disability outnumbers 

the number of people who are going 

back to work. Let me repeat that. The 

most recent unemployment report 

shows that the number of people leaving the job market to go on Social Security disability outnumbers the number of people who are going back to 

work. 

So, regardless of one’s political ideology, it’s truly unconscionable for the 

President or any Member of Congress 

to be calling for tax hikes on Americans when millions are out of work and 

the economy is still treading water. 

But, to make matters worse, this 

week many Democrat leaders in the 

Senate have said that they are willing 

to allow these taxes to increase for all 

Americans if they aren’t able to get 

their way and raise taxes on 1.2 million 

small businesses. Now, every day the 

President and the Senate Democrats 

continue with this political posturing 

and class warfare nonsense while the 

economy suffers and small businesses 

suffer, and ultimately, the American 

people suffer. 

The question is, will the President 

and the Senate Democrats who run 

Washington work with the House Republicans to stop this huge, job-killing 

tax increase from hitting small businesses and every American who pays 

an income tax? Or will they continue 

to insist on higher taxes to pay for 

wasteful government spending and 

bailouts for political allies? 

f 

b 1030 

INTERNATIONAL AIDS 

CONFERENCE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

New York (Mr. RANGEL) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. RANGEL. This Sunday, the 

International AIDS Conference is going 

to be held in our Nation’s Capital. It 

was some 30 years ago that this serious 

disease became known in our great 

country and spread from other parts of 

the world. Since that time, we’ve lost 

over a half a million people, yet we 

have not found a cure for this deadly 

disease. 

I have introduced legislation, H.R. 

1462, with Senator GILLIBRAND, to see 

whether or not we can have more national attention focused on the fact 

that we can do a lot more than we are 

doing. 

The major thrust, of course, of what 

we have to do is to educate people that, 

although it used to have great stigma, 

there are so many different ways to 

come in contact with the disease. Education is one way that we can help people. Prevention, of course, is another, 

but I would like to emphasize the need 

for testing. So many people are walking around with the virus and have no 

idea that they have it. Even though 

there have been efforts made by community organizations for free testing, 

this is one of the exciting things about 

the President’s Affordable Care Act. 

There is no question that after we 

get finished with the political circus 

that we are forced to go through because of the coming election that more 

and more Americans will understand 

the benefits they are receiving even 

now from this universal coverage, 

which so many people need, and the 

dramatic decrease in cost when people 

are able to get preventative care. Preventative care is one of the major parts 

of the President’s Affordable Care Act. 

What it means is that people can now 

go to doctors for regular checkups and 

can find out things in time to prevent 

them from becoming more serious. 

My mom had three kids. When I was 

a kid, someone told her that she was 

going to the doctor with us, and we 

were not sick. Well, that was something that we didn’t think was a luxury 

we could afford. Now, in seeing how important it is to contain serious illnesses and to reduce the costs of health 

care, it is so important that preventative care be a part of our national 

health system, and the quicker we get 

on with the implementation of this 

great bill, the more lives and the more 

dollars we will be able to save. 

So, remember, if you have any interest at all, take a look at what is going 

to be happening in September. The 

Congressional Black Caucus, during 

our legislative weekend that month, 

will have professionals come in to talk 

with us, to teach us, to tell us what we 

can do to extend this education process 

throughout our great country. 

f 

GRANT PERMANENT NORMAL 

TRADE RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

New York (Mr. REED) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. REED. I rise this morning to express my support for the Russian accession to the WTO and for our need here 

in this Chamber and in Washington, 

D.C., to grant Russia PNTR status so 

that we can establish a strong, forward-looking trade relationship with 

Russia. 

Madam Speaker, it’s simple. American trade opportunity, as represented 

by the Russian market, equals American job opportunity here on our soil, 

and I am proud to support this need to 

get PNTR trade status for Russia. 

I am also joined this morning by a 

good friend from North Dakota to 

whom I would like to yield, Mr. BERG. 

Mr. BERG. Today, I rise to urge Congress to grant permanent normal trade 

relations, also known as PNTR, with 

Russia. Russia will soon join the World 

Trade Organization. This will increase 

trade with Russia, and it will create 

significant export opportunities. However, before we can take advantage of 

these trade benefits, we must grant 

permanent normal trade relations with 

Russia. 

This is a great opportunity for our 

State of North Dakota to increase 


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