Providing for Consideration of H.R. Salt Marriage Penalty Elimination Act; and Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Denouncing the Harmful, Anti-American Energy Policies of the Biden Administration

Floor Speech

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Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, let me remind everyone how we got here. State and local taxes were always deductible--State and local taxes-- since the Civil War, before we even had a tax code, until the House Republicans and Mr. Trump stole the deduction in the 2017 Republican tax scam.

Do you remember that? It wasn't advertised as a tax increase. It was, furthermore, buried. Mr. Speaker, over $600 billion was buried. Where did that money go? You know where it went.

Despite pervasive half-truths and outright lies, SALT has always been about the middle class. The $10,000 cap Republicans imposed has been a heavy burden for middle-class families across this Nation, and our public services relied on SALT absolutely.

All told, firefighters, police officers, first responders, teachers, mayors, county officials, and Governors have begged us to fix this.

Democrats passed a full repeal through this Chamber. We passed SALT relief numerous times. Over and over, we have been blocked. We have never given up, and we won't.

Multiple times this term, Ways and Means Republicans voted down an amendment which I put forth to raise the deduction and fix the marriage penalty. This is double taxation. I thought this was what we were trying to get rid of. Instead, they had a tax cut in 2017 where they hid getting rid of the deduction. Now, it is a $10,000 minimum.

My amendment is the same as legislation put forth by Mr. LaLota of New York, a Republican. When we tried a few weeks ago, every committee Republican voted ``no.''

This badly flawed measure is a far cry from middle-class tax relief, and it is really the bare minimum we could do.

This certainly is no way to enact tax policy. This is no way to treat tens of millions of Americans and communities.

What we have before us is a fig leaf to paper over that Republicans opposed middle-class tax relief. I believe, in the election of 2018, this was one of the issues.

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Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, that fact should surprise no one, since it was Republicans that stole away that middle-class tax help in the first place.

This is a very critical issue, Mr. Speaker. I hope we address it sooner rather than later.

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