PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3312, SYSTEMIC RISK DESIGNATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2017; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Louise McIntosh Slaughter (Democrat, NY) \u2014 2017-12-19

such time as I may consume. prgtoken , I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. prgtoken , I think America is pretty apprehensive this morning, certainly those who know that two American Presidents and one Governor of Kansas have tried trickle-down fairly recently and found it did not work at all and, indeed, caused great economic harm. But we are walking into trickle-down once again. prgtoken I think there is a word that describes when you do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result--I won't use that word, but I suspect most of us know exactly what I am talking about-- particularly at this time when this economy was really booming, really doing well. prgtoken I appreciate that there were pockets where people were not getting jobs, and this was pointed out by Richard Neal frequently last evening. We have such a skills gap that jobs are going unfilled in America, and that is what we really should be working on today. prgtoken The fact is that corporations are awash with money. The stock market is booming, and we have the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years. Why in prgtoken the world would we trifle with that to try a failed trickle-down policy again? prgtoken Now, emergency procedures were used to bring the bill up before us today. Now, what is this urgent attention that nobody could have any amendments or anything, that it was an emergency? prgtoken We are not reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program, which a lot of people think is an emergency because it provides healthcare to more than 9 million children. We are not reauthorizing community health centers, which serve more than 25 million people; and, after killing Planned Parenthood--the money--that means a lot more people will need a community health center. We are not renewing the Perkins Loan Program, which many low-income students rely on for their education. prgtoken Those three programs expired on September 30, but we are not considering them today. Instead, despite a record of 86 months of job growth--every single month for 86 months we have grown jobs--and an unemployment rate that remains steady, the majority is prioritizing tax cuts--not tax cuts for the middle class. prgtoken Don't let anybody tell you that this is tax reform. It isn't. It is a moving around of rates, but very specifically geared toward helping the rich with nothing much for the middle class who work hard to make ends meet, but tax cuts for the wealthy. The middle class will see their money go directly to the rich. prgtoken That is what the bill was designed to do. You can tell by who wrote it. There is not a single ic fingerprint or breath anywhere to be found. Instead, it was crafted by the lobbyists who virtually run Washington under the majority's leadership. Some swamp clearing. prgtoken Consider this: there are 11,000 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. More than half of them--more than half