American Research And Competitiveness Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. BECERRA. I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, let's make sure we get something straight. I don't think there is a Member here on the floor who doesn't agree that we want to invest in research and development so that we keep that innovation here at home and create jobs that pay well here at home. We all want to incentivize that job creation. We all want to make sure that the economy grows in the future. That is not what is at issue here. What is at issue is that this bill sends exactly the wrong message about our commitment to invest not just in our future but in our children and in what we call the middle class and the American Dream.

See, there is a cost involved in doing research and development tax credits. That is a tax break. We are willing to give companies a tax break that the families who are up in this gallery won't get. When they file their taxes, they won't get to write off some of their costs for doing certain things because they are not companies, and they are not doing research and development.

We, as a community, as a country, are saying it is valuable to give a country a tax break to do that research that gives us the next invention. Great, but there is a cost. How much? $180 billion. It ain't free. We have got to pay for it. So it is not an issue of not supporting research and development; it is wanting to be responsible and wanting to be honest with the American people in saying let's pay for it. Democrats are saying we can pay for it. Let's close those tax breaks that are essentially tax loopholes that everyone in America would agree are not fair. Use the money you save from closing tax loopholes to pay for something we all want, which is research and development tax credits.

Now, this isn't free. If we don't pay for it, what happens? Guess what? You don't want to pay for it? You know this is going to cost three times more than what we spend on our veterans. So we are going to say, Veterans, you shouldn't get any services because we had to do this research and development tax credit, and we didn't pay for it.

Perhaps you want to tell that to all of those folks who are looking for the cure for cancer or for the cure for diabetes. Guess what? We are spending about three times as much with this research and development tax credit--unpaid for--than what we pay for all of that medical research we do through the National Institutes of Health. This is not free.

Student loans. How many folks have to worry about paying for their student loans for their kids to go to college? Guess what? The cost of this bill is about what it would cost to continue the programs that we have in place for our kids who go on to college so we can keep the cost of student loans low. You want to eliminate that so people have to pay a lot more--market rate interest rates--for those student loans? Guess what? That is what we would have to do.

There are consequences. If we are going to get away from deficit spending, you have got to pay for things. If you think it is a priority, then let's pay for it, but don't act like you can do these things for free. They cost money. All we are saying is let's pay for what we all agree is important--a research and development tax credit for companies that will do that research here in America. Let's not try to hoodwink the American public. This is not free. It is the right thing to do. Just about every American family would say, Guess what? Maybe I have to pay a few more dollars in taxes, but I am keeping that American company here, investing in innovation here, creating jobs in America.

Priorities. Let's make the tough choices. Let's vote against this and vote for a bill that actually pays for the cost of something we want to do with the research and development tax credit.

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