Ways and Means Democrats Unanimously Oppose Permanent, Unpaid-For Extensions of Tax Breaks

Statement

Ways and Means Committee Democrats today unanimously opposed moving forward on seven permanent, unpaid-for extensions of tax provisions that cost taxpayers $93 billion and take the Congress in the opposite direction of comprehensive tax reform through a pick-and-choose approach. Here's a snapshot of some statements from Committee Democrats:

Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY):

"Do you think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe there is a Tax Fairy? Maybe one that instead of leaving a quarter under your pillow for a tooth, will leave $8.8 billion under your pillow for this particular tax expenditure? ... The issue is my colleagues on the other side are happy to add billions to the deficit to pass a tax expenditure but can't seem to find any money to expand child care for working mothers or tuition assistance for young adults in community college."

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA):

"You can't just put it on a never-ending charge account. Because we know what happens when you do that -- that costs everyone a lot of money."

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA):

"What we don't support is cherry picking certain provisions and making them permanent while other deserving provisions languish waiting for tax reform."

Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI):

"This is contrary to the approach of finding common ground on tax reform. Extending these provisions permanently without paying for their cost would add nearly $100 billion to the deficit. Worse, the helter-skelter approach being taken today only serves to leave behind vital provisions that help hardworking American families, like the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit."

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY):

"I was here in 1986, and this is not how you do tax reform. All we are doing is increasing the deficit."

Rep. Richie Neal (D-MA):

"This will not get us to the altar of tax reform, encouraging people to say "I do,' if this is done in a piecemeal manner."

Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI):

"If we're going to come up with a new spending proposal or tax cut, we've got to find a way to pay for it, to offset it, so we're not increasing our debt burden on future generations. Just by coming forward with popular tax cut proposals without any pay-fors is probably the easiest thing for a Congress to do. But it's not going to get the job done."

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA):

"Taxpayers are paying for this tax deduction by having to put up more of their own revenue to cover the cost of the loss of revenue."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX):

"We have to evaluate these tax proposals against other government programs. The amount of revenue spent would fund the National Institutes of Health for several years."

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR):

"If we're going to have any hope of having comprehensive tax reform, we're not going to be able to, on a serial basis, deal with the items that we all agree with -- the easy stuff -- that narrows the range of what we're going to have going forward."

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL):

"I do not support passing unpaid for, permanent, and piecemeal tax breaks while the needs of other vulnerable citizens go unmet. We should be considering the EITC, AOTC, New Markets Tax Credit, Work Opportunity Tax Credit, Tuition and Fees Deduction, Promise Zones, Teacher tax benefits, and hundreds of other tax provisions that help our constituents and communities."

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