BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
This bill addresses an issue that is worthy of being addressed. It surely would be taken up as part of overall tax reform. But this bill surely is not an emergency; and costing over $1 billion, it is not paid for.
Today, as this House leaves, there has been no action on Flint. That is an emergency--poisoned water, children at risk--and it is being required that emergency funding for Flint be paid for. In contrast, action on this bill is in no way an emergency, and it is not being required to be paid for.
And still no attention to Zika. That is an emergency. It is spreading while some here in D.C. are stalling. I quote Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. This is what he told one writer:
``First, we took money from other infections. We borrowed money from ourselves from malaria and TB.
``When we ran out of that money, we started tapping into the Ebola funds that we really should not be tapping into because we still need them to keep the lid on Ebola.''
``When we ran out of that . . . Secretary . . . Burwell had to do something she really did not want to do. She had to take money using her transfer authority from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and mental health and give it to us to be able to continue to prepare the sites for the Zika vaccine trials that we will be performing.''
So Zika, that is an emergency. It is spreading here while we, as I said, in D.C. are stalling. Here we go once again on this legislation, not an emergency, not being paid for. I think the way the House majority is handling this legislation and other legislation, or the lack of it, is inexcusable and in some respects is immoral.
Let me read from the Statement of Administration Policy: ``The Administration is committed to helping startups, boosting innovation, and growing the economy, and is willing to work with the Congress on fiscally responsible measures to achieve those goals. However, the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 5719 because it would increase the Federal deficit by $1 billion over the next ten years. Failing to pay for new tax cuts is fiscally irresponsible.''
Mr. Speaker, working on stock options and the tax treatment of it is one thing. Zika and Flint are orders of a different magnitude. For these reasons and others, I urge a ``no'' vote.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT