Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. BECERRA. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, it could be very confusing trying to understand what is going on. I see in today's gallery a lot of young Americans--our future leaders--and they are probably wondering: Is this something that might affect me in the future?
Because I think everyone in America has this dream, this hope that our country makes available of making it in America, we all aspire to do well.
I know my parents--my father didn't get more than a sixth grade education--aspired to see their kids do more. I know they are very proud of what their children have been able to accomplish.
Make no doubt, we all want to make sure that we make it in America. We all want to make sure that we have what we need to buy that first home, to send our kids to college, to save up enough for retirement.
Most Americans would say: I have made it. That is the American Dream. If I can guarantee those things and know my kids are going to have an opportunity to be better than me, that is great. Can I do more? I would love to do more.
I don't think that most Americans say that we have to give a tax break not to the wealthy, not to the megawealthy, not to the ultra-megawealthy, but to the uber-mega-ultra-superwealthy, a tax break that would cost all us taxpayers $270 billion because this bill is not paid for when, at the same time, that $270 billion would pay for the same amount of coverage for the entire National Institutes of Health to do all the research that we expect it to do to help us cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, lung cancer, and heart disease.
All that research that the National Institutes of Health is doing with all those great scientists and all those universities today in America costs for 10 years the same amount that this bill would cost to give not 1 percent of the wealthiest--one-tenth of 1 percent of the wealthiest Americans--a tax break that costs $270 billion.
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Mr. BECERRA. Every time a proponent of this measure gets up and says, We want to protect the family farmer, they have to say, Well, we mean the one-tenth of 1 percent of the wealthiest Americans who may be a family farmer.
I guarantee you that guy is not going to have callouses on his hands if he is a family farmer, and he is one-tenth of 1 percent of the richest Americans.
Let's be real. We have priorities. We want to make it in America. We want to buy that house; we want to send our kids to college, and we want to be able to retire securely.
You don't have to be the one-tenth of 1 percent richest Americans, at the cost of $270 billion to all the other Americans, especially every one of those folks sitting in this gallery today, to say we have got to give a tax break to the uberwealthy.
Let's not vote for this bill.
I see in the gallery of this Chamber tomorrow's leaders. They have dreams and they have priorities for their future.
The American people are pretty straightforward about what their priorities are.
Having the opportunity to buy our own homes, send our kids to college, and having a secure retirement are parts of the American dream that we all aspire to.
Thanks to the decisive actions taken by Congressional Democrats and President Obama during the Great Recession, our economy is on the rebound: Over the last 61 straight months our economy has created over 12 million jobs, the longest consecutive period of job growth on record. Wages have grown by over 5% over the last year. The high school graduation rate is at an all time high.
Despite these gains, for too many families the American dream is still out of reach.
Congress's number one priority should be to build on this foundation to boost wages and economic growth. It should be to strengthen investments in the middle class. It should be to ensure our tax code and economic policy rewards hard work, not just wealth.
The legislation we are considering today does none of these things.
It won't benefit any middle class Americans. It won't make investments in our education or our infrastructure, it won't create ladders of opportunity into the middle class, and it won't put the American dream within reach for working class families.
Instead, this legislation is a special giveaway to the wealthiest estates.
At a time when the wealthiest 1% of Americans hold more than 40% of the nation's wealth, it would widen the wealth gap even further.
And we're not even talking about ``the 1%'' today--the group that benefits from this legislation is even more exclusive.
This bill would only benefit uber-mega-ultra-super wealthy estates.
This bill would give a mere fraction of the richest 1% estates a special tax break of over $3 million each, and leave working class families to pick up the tab.
This bill only benefits fewer than 2 of every 1000 estates and costs $270 billion. What other investments could be made with this money?
100% of school nutrition programs, which provide nutritious meals to 31 million children every day; 100% of Social Security survivor benefits, 3/4 the cost of providing Pell grants to more than 9 million students a year over the next 10 years; 31 times the funding for Head Start for FY 2015; 39 times the funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for FY 2015; 104 times the funding for the Food and Drug Administration for FY 2015.
Health Care: You could fund NIH's budget for 2015 9 times over. FY 2015 estimates: 461 times NIH Alzheimer's funding, 394 times NIH breast cancer funding, 50 times NIH general cancer funding, 894 times NIH stroke funding, 265 times NIH diabetes funding, 1929 times NIH Parkinson's funding, 221 times NIH heart disease funding.
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The bottom line is that this bill fails
[Begin Insert] to help the middle class get back on their feet.
It doesn't make it easier for the hardworking small business owner and it doesn't make it more affordable for a hardworking family to send their kids to college.
It's time for Congress to get to work and ensure that we put the American Dream within reach for every American, not just the wealthiest few.
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