12:44
foreign the ways and means meet committee will
12:50
now come to order the chair has determined that there's a quorum present we are holding today's meeting in a
12:55
hybrid format in compliance with the rules and regulations for remote committee proceedings pursuant to house
13:01
resolution 8. we have gathered in this manner a number of times already but before we begin let
13:07
me remind all of a few procedures to hopefully keep these proceedings running smoothly first consistent with regulations the
13:14
committee will keep microphones muted to limit background noise members are responsible for unmuting themselves when
13:20
they seek recognition or when recognized for their five minutes committee staff will mute the members
13:26
only in the event of an inadvertent background occurrence second when members are present in the
13:32
proceeding via WebEx they must have their cameras on if you need a step away from the proceedings please turn your
13:39
camera and audio off rather than logging out of the platform the third when a question is put before the committee
13:45
members who are present on the WebEx platform are reminded to unmute themselves for The Voice vote finally in
13:52
the event of a request for a record vote we will pause proceedings to allow the clerk to set up all members who are
13:58
present remotely should stay on the platform to vote please do not come to the hearing room if you are already
14:03
present remotely and now let me turn to today's business in today's meeting we will consider
14:10
legislation aimed at addressing a long-standing social security problem as
14:15
well as six resolutions of inquiry first we will take up HR 82 the Social
14:21
Security Fairness Act of 2021. which would fully repeal the Social
14:26
Security government pension offset the GPO and the windfall elimination provision known as the WEP
14:33
I am intimately familiar with these issues and Provisions and they cause challenges and problems
14:39
for many public employees in my constituency and Beyond the bill we are considering today while
14:45
very popular we also acknowledge that there are concerns with the broader impact on the solvency of Social
14:51
Security we are faced with very challenging questions how to address the legitimate
14:56
concerns of hard-working public servants while also safeguarding social security for all and indeed for generations to
15:03
come I remain committed to finding a path forward and will continue working
15:09
closely with member Brady to find meaningful relief to those who have spent their lives in service of their
15:15
communities Mr Brady's efforts on this along with mine repeatedly have been
15:21
enthusiastic and supportive of trying to find a real solution next we will address several resolutions
15:27
of inquiry that the minority has introduced the committee takes our responsibility to conduct oversight quite seriously but
15:35
that's not what these resolutions are about today in this Congress we've held numerous hearings with the Biden Administration
15:41
and continue to carry out this essential function of congress with consistent engagement from the executive branch
15:47
further it's my understanding that the Biden Administration has been quite responsive to requests from this
15:52
Congress this stands in stark contrast to the stonewalling that we were met with in the previous administration
15:59
instead of accepting prior responses even if they have not been what they wanted to hear
16:04
these issues are being forced on the committee to waste time and simply further talking points in the campaign
16:10
season let me be clear these resolutions have no legal Force this is purely an exercise in politics
16:17
and it doesn't get to the heart of what is ailing our country there's nothing here that will help Americans put food
16:23
on their tables pay their bills or take care of these families for these reasons I will urge colleagues to vote to report
16:29
the resolutions adversely when we turn to their consideration with that let me recognize Mr Brady for the purposes of
16:36
an opening statement thank you chairman Neil let me begin with the resolutions of inquiry President Biden promised on
16:42
his first day in the white house he would bring transparency quote truth back to the government but as this with
16:48
his promises to unite America defeat coven make our neighborhoods safe he failed on This Promise Too from the
16:55
greatest theft of American tax dollars in history to the sudden destruction of 30 million tax returns to the giveaway
17:01
of life-saving American vaccine patents to China to a rash proposal to give up
17:07
congress's sovereignty of America's tax code to foreign organizations to an illegal effort to know or the Obamacare
17:13
leader of the law descending stimulus checks to felons and the dead by administrations pursued unprecedented
17:20
executive overreach to impose radical White House policies that are hurting the American people in driving inflation
17:26
even higher during his first year the presidents issued more executive orders and proved more major regulatory burdens
17:33
than any recent president many of them have been rejected by federal courts those actions have been costly for the
17:39
American people because the public deserves to know how these radical actions occurred Congressional Republicans have repeatedly sought 17:46
information from the administration about the expected and the actual impacts of these policies administration
17:52
of course ignores congress's oversight responsibilities I was pleased when Ways and Means oversight chair and Pascal
17:58
agreed the IRS should never ignore a request by any member of this committee I think we all feel that way about how
18:05
the agencies in our jurisdictions ways it means Republicans will use every tool available we invite our Democrat
18:12
colleagues to join us an exercise in committee's robust oversight and investigative Powers now and in the
18:18
future because the American people struggling in President Biden's cruel economy deserves to know how their
18:23
government works also under the discussion today is that chairman noted is an issue that I care
18:30
deeply about and many of us have spent years working on making sure our teachers police and firefighters are
18:36
treated fairly in Social Security by providing relief for workers and retirees who are harmed by the windfall
18:42
elimination provision or web web's a one-size-fits-all policy from 1983 that
18:47
reduces Social Security benefits for public servants who spent a portion of their career contributing to a social
18:53
security substitute but they've also paid Social Security taxes in a second job or first career or even a last
19:00
career each month that we wait to address the web millions of public servants are losing benefits they worked
19:06
hard to attain they deserve equal treatment and Social Security just as other workers are treated but how
19:13
Congress provides relief from WEP and the government pension offset is crucial first the solutions
19:19
should seek equal treatment from public servants in a social security substitute without creating worse treatment for the
19:27
96 percent of American workers who only paid in the Social Security we don't want to flip the unequal treatment
19:33
punishing the vast majority of workers in retirees and Social Security through their benefits or their spouse's
19:40
benefits secondly any solution should protect the solvency of social security
19:45
for the long term Social Security is already in deep financial trouble running a nearly 2.2 trillion deficit
19:51
over the next 10 years Congress doesn't act these Social Security benefits will be cut by stunning 24 percent in 2034
19:59
barely a dozen years from now so Congress shouldn't take any action that accelerates the insolvency of Social
20:06
Security over its 75-year window finally the solutions shouldn't impose require higher payroll taxes either on workers
20:13
or Main Street businesses already struggling with record high inflation later during this debate I plan to offer
20:19
the bipartisan equal treatment of public servants act 2021 the bill includes the solution not only improves Social
20:25
Security's finances but also permanently replaces the unfair web with the new more Equitable formula that takes an
20:31
important step but public servants on equal footing with other American workers this bill will replace the web
20:37
with the fair formula based on each individual's work record tailored to their work history not a
20:43
one-size-fits-all formula is this bill perfect yet absolutely not there are
20:49
some outstanding issues we are working on to make sure it's fair to all while protecting the finances of Social
20:55
Security I plan on withdrawing the amendment appropriate times the chairman neolai in this committee can continue to
21:02
work to find consensus to repeal and replace web immediately beginning to get public servants more of their
21:08
hard-earned social security and do it in a way that doesn't accelerate the insolvency of this important program
21:13
that chairman Eli yield back thank you Mr Brady and for what I think
21:19
is a very accurate description of the immediate business that's in front of us so the first order of business today is
21:25
HR 82 the Social Security Fairness Act of 2021. this bill aims to address the
21:30
long-standing problems called by Social Security's windfall elimination provision or web and the government
21:35
pension offset known as GPO while well intended these Provisions unfairly penalized many hard-working
21:42
public servants and their family members after serving their communities for years teachers fire police officers and
21:48
other public employees in certain states are hit with an unwelcome surprise after retiring a reduction in their social
21:55
security benefits due to web and GPO these Provisions negatively affect over
22:00
2 million retired public servants across the country including one hundred thousand in my home state of
22:06
Massachusetts I know how important this is because I hear from workers and retirees with
22:11
great regularity about the web problem and the need for action I have heard from countless constituents
22:17
about the shock and dismay when they learn that their reward for serving as a Public Employee is an unexpected
22:22
reduction in the social security benefit that they were counting on this is not a new issue for me or for
22:28
the committee I've been a long Champion with Mr Brady of fixing the WEP program
22:34
his efforts here should be acknowledged in trying to find a solution he and I have been consistent in our
22:40
steadfast effort over tens of meetings to try to fix the web the bottom line is
22:46
clear public servants like teachers Municipal workers and Public Safety officers should not miss out on the
22:51
Social Security benefits they earned over Decades of hard work there is a lot of support for addressing
22:57
this issue at the same time as the committee was sole jurisdiction over Social Security it's our duty to ensure we are
23:03
safeguarding the fiscal health of social security for all its participants there
23:09
are concerns about the impact of this bill and what it would have on the Social Security trust fund Social
23:14
Security actuary it was estimated that HR 82 would reduce the Financial Health of Social Security's trust fund moving
23:21
up by one year the date when the system could not pay full benefits to 2034. this is part of the real challenge to
23:28
address the legitimate concerns of hard-working public servants while safeguarding social security for all for
23:34
generations to come so did it today we are responding to the rightful interest in this issue and also
23:40
following the regular order by considering HR 82 I remain committed
23:46
to addressing this issue forging a path forward working hand in hand with Mr Brady
23:51
our ultimate goal is enacting legislation that provides long overdue relief these hard-working public
23:57
servants now let me offer Mr Brady an opportunity for an opening statement
24:03
thank you Mr chairman and I agree with those remarks I first want to thank Republican leader of the house administration committee representative 24:09
Rodney Davis for his diligent authentic work to provide relief to public servants from two 1980 era laws the
24:16
doctor Social Security because they participated in a social security substitute at work and paid into Social
24:22
Security as well in their second job or second career those of us who've worked on the web and the GPO issue for years
24:29
owe him and his colleague a debt of gratitude for raising the profile of these unfair social security provisions
24:36
Social Security Fairness Act has been around four decades in Congress it's never become law or even close for two
24:43
very valid reasons first because it goes beyond equal treatment for public servants who are in a social security
24:49
substitute and in many cases grants them better treatment than the 96 percent of
24:55
workers who participate only in Social Security that simply flips the unfairness off a few and imposes it on
25:02
the many no no one wants that and it's not just the web the same goes for the government pension offset which affects
25:09
two worker families is similar to The Dual entitlement rule that affects spouses and widowers in Social Security
25:15
with repeal of the web of the GPL in this bill spouses and widowers who paid
25:20
in Social Security their life entire lifetime would continue to have their spouse's benefit reduced by half while
25:27
public servants in the substitute would not this would create smaller benefits for the spouses and widowers of the 96
25:36
percent of families who paid in Social Security their entire lifetime that too is an equal treatment equal treatment
25:42
it's unfair and no one wants that the second major concern is this bill is so
25:48
expensive it adds over 800 billion dollars to the unfunded liabilities of Social Security as well as adding 103
25:55
billion dollars more to the over for this decade 2.2 trillion dollar in
26:02
Social Security deficits just this decade as a result social security goes bankrupt sooner by a full year making
26:09
even harder for you for a future Congress in this committee to save Social Security from severe benefit Cuts
26:16
while I'd argue that these teachers police officers and firefighters particip participating in the substitute
26:22
have already made these contributions in the Social Security without getting their fair share back given the pending
26:28
insolvency of Social Security this is a perilous issue if we want real relief to
26:34
become law we have to marry the good work of authors Davis and spanberger in
26:39
our committee share goal of Social Security fairness with a better way to provide relief for our police teachers
26:45
and firefighters this is important like others I've worked nearly two decades to find a bipartisan bill that achieves
26:52
fairness and can become law and together I found a remarkable leader in
26:58
chairmanial on this issue as well that's why I introduced the bipartisan equal treatment of public servants act which
27:05
includes a solution that not only improves Social Security's finances but also permanently replaces the unfair web
27:11
with the new more Equitable formula puts public servants on equal footing with other American workers Not only would
27:18
this bill replace the web with a fair formula based on each individual's work record would generate about a hundred
27:25
billion dollars in savings over the next 75 years which can be used to resolve
27:30
the differences the chairman Neal and I are working on you know me immediately begins to put Social Security back into
27:36
the pockets of teachers police and firefighters who are treated unfairly in web and ensures everyone is good and
27:42
better off than they are today through the next 40 years it is not perfect yet still needs work no question but
27:49
chairman Neil is equally diligent on this issue has also has legislation along these same lines we continue to
27:56
try to narrow the differences which really issues 40 years in the future it'll have already been addressed when
28:02
Congress saves and strengthen Social Security within the decade well we have to take seriously the long-term finances
28:08
and impacts of changes in Social Security we are close but there are still some pretty important hurdles to
28:15
resolve we don't have an agreement yet and we know the clock is ticking so we
28:21
are committed to working together this week next week the week after until we
28:26
find common ground on a bill that can deliver with authors Davis spanberger and the co-sponsors of the Fairness Act
28:33
hope to achieve for our public servants with Anna yield back I thank the gentleman and I think it is Our
28:39
intention here to certainly acknowledge the good work of Mr Davis and Miss stanberg on this issue as well
28:45
so the committee will now proceed to consideration of HR 82 without objection the measure will be considered as read
28:51
and open for Amendment any point does anyone wish to strike the last word
28:56
we'll go back and forth now Mike the gentleman from California is
29:03
recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman thank you for
29:08
having the hearing and a special thanks to uh Mr chairman and Mr ranking member
29:14
for their commitment on addressing this issue I moved to strike the last word
29:20
there's no question that our country benefits greatly from the valuable and important contributions made by our
29:27
seniors and it's critical that we ensure they have our support Social Security is
29:33
one of our nation's most successful government programs which currently provides monthly benefits to almost 70
29:39
million people there are 145 000 Social Security benefactors in my
29:45
district in in California who receive 236 million dollars in benefits each
29:51
month and I want to point out that this isn't just money to these folks this is money that's spent in local communities
29:58
if you use the the most minimum multiplier effect these dollars
30:05
are spent across the fifth congressional district of California to help everyone
30:11
the WEP and the GPO impact hard-working Americans who spent years serving our
30:18
public these two Provisions are on Fair arbitrary and undermine the retirement security of many retired public sector
30:25
employees their spouses and their families pension offset requirements have had unfair and negative
30:32
consequences on retirees including teachers firefighters and other state
30:37
and local government employees public servants the dis a disproportionate
30:42
number of these workers are women and many of them live in California this is
30:48
a long-standing issue and I believe reform is needed but but we need to make
30:55
sure we do it the right way I'm committed to continuing to work with my colleagues to find a solution that
31:01
addresses this issue and enables public servants in my community and across the
31:07
country to receive the retirement benefits they not only deserve but the
31:12
retirement benefits they worked so hard to obtain thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr ranking member and I yield back
31:19
thank you Mr Thompson does anybody else wish to strike the last word the gentleman from Nebraska Mr Smith is
31:25
recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I thank you and our ranking member for bringing this bill up for discussion that it's important now
31:32
this uh Social Security we know is an important component of how most Americans plan for their retirement in
31:38
the concept of fairness has been Central to the way we pay into the system and receive benefits from ever since its
31:44
Inception I wholeheartedly agree that we need to address these long- standing concerns with web and GPO it is just as
31:51
important to make sure that seniors Across America aren't being shortchanged by the benefit calculations as it is to
31:57
avoid unintentional overpayment unfortunately these aren't new concerns as have been stated I'm still
32:04
disappointed we couldn't move a bipartisan solution out of the committee when we had the opportunity to do so back in 2016. however as written this
32:12
bill will actually increase costs by 146 billion dollars over 10 years and the
32:18
Social Security Administration chief actuary projects that will shorten the solvency window of social security by at
32:24
least a year with the Social Security unable to pay full benefits to seniors by 2034 or
32:30
possibly even sooner the solvency concerns must be addressed in the comprehensive manner web and GPO must be
32:36
addressed as as part of a bipartisan piece of legislation to strengthen and
32:41
actually save social security for future Generations not as a standalone effort on the consensus calendar which could
32:48
further complicate our ability to plan for Social Security's long-term future my vote to advance this bill out of
32:54
committee today is for that purpose to make sure we have the time and space to draft a comprehensive solution which
33:00
ensures that our seniors and the generations behind them can continue to expect Social Security to be there as a
33:07
foundation for their retirement I appreciate the intention for this vote to help secure a more thoughtful
33:13
consideration on the issue rather than being forced through on the consensus calendar however I can't in good
33:19
conscience a vote in support of a motion which supports this out of committee positively because I believe this should
33:25
be considered as part of a broader legislation to modernize and sustain Social Security thank you I yield back
33:31
thank the gentleman we certainly hope that the purpose of this gathering this morning is to crystallize the issue and so it's more understandable for all that
33:37
are involved and with that let me recognize uh does anybody else would like to move strike the last word
33:42
thank you Mr Mr Larson is recognizing I think the last word thank you Mr chairman and I moved to strike the last
33:49
word gentleman's recognized Mr chairman as you often have said this
33:55
is the most consequential Committee in Congress the votes that this committee takes
34:03
are important and it's recognized throughout both Chambers
34:09
just how important they are I want to commend first and foremost President Biden
34:16
we're coming out early and talking about the need for total
34:21
repeal of WEP and GPO as both Mr Brady
34:26
and chairman Neal have indicated a measure long overdue
34:33
I especially want to commend Abigail spamberger and Rodney Davis
34:39
for their incredible work to get this message
34:45
to a point where the most consequential committee
34:50
in Congress is addressing it now
34:59
Sam Johnson is someone I revered in this body uh both because of his service to the
35:05
country but he was also chair of the Social Security subcommittee
35:12
he also had a comprehensive bill that addressed all of Social Security
35:20
not just 2.7 million people but all 65 million people
35:28
that are on Social Security I think the work of Rodney Davis
35:36
and Abigail spamberger has brought this now to a point where hopefully
35:45
as President Kennedy would say that we can rally Hearts to fire Center to address the real issue I have an
35:52
amendment I'm going to introduce but I only wish that
35:59
Rodney Davis who lost an election
36:04
would still remain in Congress to continue to move that initiative forward
36:09
and I especially command Abigail spamberger in this electoral season
36:16
where people go after one another for taking a stand in a district not impacted by weapon GPO
36:24
but has numerous federal employees throughout the state of Virginia in a
36:30
very close election she had the courage to stand up and vote
36:37
voting is what serving in Congress is all about
36:43
sometimes those votes are difficult and challenging
36:49
well Mr chairman I want to commend you and Mr Brady for your approach I would
36:56
also add in my Amendment there's a much broader issue that has to be faced in a
37:02
nation that's in in the midst of a pandemic in a nation that's going through inflation and the group that's
37:09
hit hardest by that are people on fixed income and that group happens to be the
37:15
seniors of this great nation and I hope and can continue to push for a markup of
37:22
our Social Security 2100 is sacred trust and with that Mr chairman I yield back I
37:28
thank the gentleman is there anybody else who would like to strike the last word chairman I'd like to strike the last word please recognize Mr Smith uh 37:35
to strike the last word and you should be fully aware the chair has a plan here for recognizing everybody who wishes to
37:42
speak they've all been winking at me gentleman from Missouri is recognized to
37:48
strike the last word thank you Mr chairman um I want to thank you and ranking member Brady for uh for having this
37:55
discussion I also want to thank several of our colleagues um that's not just on this committee I
38:01
know the uh missile letlow from Louisiana Mr Graves from Louisiana along with Mr Davis from Illinois has been
38:08
working and advocating for this issue um and it's something that they greatly care about you know Social Security it's
38:16
a vital Lifeline for seniors across the country providing Financial stability
38:22
for those who have worked hard they've paid into the system and earned their
38:27
retirement this is true for all Americans including those affected by
38:32
Whip and GPO these workers our teachers are firefighters police officers they
38:40
deserve fair and equal treatment for their social security benefits current law falls short on that promise
38:46
and I hope I hope our committee can rectify the wrongdoing moving forward this legislation being considered today
38:54
however well-intentioned is not the solution a full repeal of WEP and GPO
39:01
trades one Injustice or another and jeopardizes the entire social security program in the process at a price of 180
39:10
billion over the 10-year budget window and growing to more than 800 billion
39:16
over the 75-year projection enacting this bill would be like a permanent .12
39:23
payroll tax increase for All American workers and will accelerate the Social
39:31
Security trust fund in solvency date by one year preserving social security for all
39:38
beneficiaries is the top concern for me and my constituents and any legislation
39:43
that further derails the solvency of the program should be strongly considered with that concern in mind I look forward
39:51
to working with my colleagues on this bipartisan issue and finding a solution that fairly addresses the mistreatment
39:58
of workers affected by Whip and GPO thank you Mr chairman and I yield back thank you is there any other member who
40:05
wishes to strike the last word the gentleman from Texas Mr Doggett is recognized to strike the last word thank
40:10
you Mr chairman for many years I've been a sponsor of legislation to end both the windfall elimination provision and the
40:17
government pension offset I'd hope that today would finally be an opportunity to see action to correct this Injustice and
40:24
I hope the process that you have just described and Mr Brady has referred to will eventually produce some Real
40:30
Results this year for the many who have waited so very long the original purpose of WEP as signed
40:38
into law by President Reagan was not unreasonable it sought to ensure that those who had significant employee
40:45
employment for which no Social Security employee employer taxes were being paid
40:50
and who were entitled to some separate government pension would not be treated the same as those
40:57
who paid into Social Security their entire career in practice however the web formula is
41:03
unfair and has a disproportionate impact on those with the lowest incomes and benefit amounts it often penalizes
41:11
teachers firefighters and other Public Service workers upon who we so very much
41:16
depend even when a portion of their employment was outside of Social Security
41:22
the web can mean a monthly social security check is cut by as much as 50 percent
41:28
a faculty member at Austin Community College for example who may have extensive prior employment covered by
41:34
Social Security ought not to have to take that kind of hit it is just not right
41:40
my very first debate over this provision with Mr Brady was actually way back in 2004 an opposing legislation that he
41:48
supported to close what was referred to as the last day rule by which some Texas
41:53
teachers would switch to non-teaching jobs at the end of their career to circumvent the web
42:00
their self-help was hardly the best way to address the web but it was certainly understandable
42:05
later in 2016 as chairman of this committee Mr Brady authored legislation purporting to correct the web and while
42:13
the objective was worthy I was concerned that as written the Brady proposal harmed more people than it helped and
42:20
even though Mr Brady was both the author and the chairman of this committee on the day we were to consider the bill on
42:26
his own card he pulled his proposal down without seeking a vote or debate
42:31
is I've told supporters of web and GPO repeal who've asked me about that effort
42:37
and others over many years the cost of repeal to the Social Security System
42:42
even though it is a cost that is already really borne by these public servants themselves
42:48
is significant the current estimate is 182 billion dollars the difficulty of
42:55
obtaining agreement on how to pay for that cost is made all the Greater by the fact that this is a major problem in a
43:03
few States like Texas California and Massachusetts Illinois and Ohio but not
43:08
in the remainder who have had their Public Service remain within the social security system
43:14
to fix the WEP and the GPO is costly you either pay for it with more revenue or
43:21
you impact the solvency of social security or reduce the benefits of others who rely on Social Security as Mr
43:29
Brady proposed back in 2016. I maintained that the most practical way
43:34
to deal with this problem is through broader Social Security reform that's how we got weapon the first place and an
43:41
opportunity to do that has been Advanced by Mr Larson with his Social Security 2100 proposal it may not be perfect but
43:49
it offers the most comprehensive vision and a reasonable path forward for our
43:54
consideration and it should be considered his bill stands in stark contrast to our
44:00
Republican colleagues who don't really have a plan to preserve and strengthen Social Security they do have a number of
44:07
schemes to break a promise that millions of Americans who paid into Social Security depend upon Republican Senate
44:14
campaign chair Rick Scott's notion that Social Security should be vulnerable every five years is irresponsible and
44:21
dangerous Republican Senator Ron Johnson wants to remove all security from Social
44:27
Security and put it on a chopping block every year just like any other government expenditure and the
44:33
Republican study committee here in the house has made cutting Social Security a poor tenant in its proposed budget
44:39
especially in these tough times we cannot entrust Social Security to those who would only cut more holes in the
44:46
safety net we must also continue to vigorously oppose the risky privatization plans that Republicans
44:53
would have used to divert substantial payroll taxes the Wall Street management fees I believe that Social Security 2100
45:02
is the best path forward to resolve this problem but at a minimum I hope that by
45:08
year end we see action on the web to reduce the inequity that exists and I
45:14
yield back I think the gentleman is there any other member who wishes to strike the last word the gentleman from South Carolina Mr rice is recognized to
45:21
strike the last word thank you Mr chairman uh this is one of about I don't know seven or eight items on our agenda
45:27
today and the reason that this is on our agenda is is the president excuse me the
45:34
chairman at the beginning of of the hearing said that most of these items that are up for
45:41
hearing today are a political stunt and that they are they are no real substance
45:47
and won't help American families uh actually most of these deal with things like
45:54
discovering if there's fraud in in the in the coveted payments that we paid out for unemployment and so forth and uh and
46:02
also on trying to figure out why the IRS destroyed 30 million tax returns I think Americans are very concerned about these
46:08
things and I do resent the chairman referring to our our motions my request for
46:15
information on why the IRS destroyed these tax returns which are a legitimate
46:20
thing that the American people are worried about as a waste of time in a political stunt but this wet issue is is particularly
46:29
important this is so important that 290 members of Congress have signed a motion
46:36
to bring this to the floor to have a vote on it 290 two-thirds of the people
46:42
in Congress want to have a vote on the floor and the only reason we're having this hearing today is to prevent that
46:48
vote that's what we're doing we're going to prevent the vote that two-thirds of the members of Congress uh want to have
46:55
on this wet provision my mom my mother was a school teacher she taught for the federal government on
47:02
the Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach South Carolina raised two children single mom on that school teacher's salary
47:09
when she when the base closed as a result of one of the bracks in 1992
47:16
she went to work for uh she went to work prepare it for Early Childhood preparing
47:21
the Early Childhood plan for the state of South Carolina and she really set up certification of
47:28
daycare workers and so forth in the state and she retired from that a proud
47:34
lifelong public servant when she got her first social security check she was shocked
47:41
she was shocked that the government she called me she said the government is stealing my social security
47:48
I was I don't know 20 years ago I'd never heard of the wet before then I
47:54
was a tax lawyer I did some research and sure enough well she died April 13th
48:00
and she and we were we've been talking about this this wet program
48:06
the whole time I've been in Congress and there have been proposal after proposal after proposal to get this resolved well
48:14
mom never saw that she passed April 13th you say Mr chairman that you hope this
48:21
whatever this is today uh it's not a hearing whatever this is
48:27
today crystallizes the issue well if you really want to crystallize the issue we ought to have a hearing on it
48:35
this two-year Congress which is almost over we've had 19 hearings
48:41
there's plenty of issues that could help American families like this to resolve their to make their lives
48:49
better and help them putting food on the table but no the majority should be embarrassed about
48:55
what they've done this Congress the only time we have a hearing is when they at the last minute with no notice
49:01
when they want to bring something up and force it through
49:06
if we want to crystallize this issue Mr chairman let's get serious about it let's have hearings let's bring in
49:13
people who know what they're talking about tell us educate this committee on on the
49:19
the upsides and the downsides and let's take a vote and get it resolved and because we've sat on our hands for
49:26
decades with this 290 members of Congress
49:32
have have signed a resolution to bring this to a vote on the floor and we're having this hearing today to prevent
49:39
that vote we should be ashamed I yield back
49:44
well the chair normally tries to refrain from commentary on a member's statement believing that the flow of legislation
49:51
and the purpose of crystallizing the issue is so stated is to offer a
49:56
spotlight on the challenge that's in front of us in the gentleman's comments he's making it sound as though this was easy to do
50:05
what we're suggesting here is that the house will have an opportunity to work its will and to cast a vote
50:12
in a point of personal correction here Mr Brady and I did have an agreement four years ago that was prepared to go
50:18
to the house floor on a very solemn Friday morning there were groups that had previously
50:24
agreed to the solution who then rejected it at the last moment and Mr Brady and I were concerned that
50:29
if the issue were defeated on the house floor that day that would be the end of the issue we attempted instead to keep
50:36
oxygen in the issue to continue the conversation and to genuinely find a solution
50:42
there is some truth to what everybody says about this issue and I have treated it precisely in that
50:49
manner is there any other member who would like to strike the last word
50:56
I believe that the next person to be recognized is the gentlelady from California Miss Chu
51:04
um Mr chair I move to strike the last word as a former educator for over 20 years
51:10
in the state of California I'm deeply concerned about the hardship faced by recipients of the windfall elimination
51:16
provision well lady please unmute we're having trouble hearing you
51:27
hello can you hear me now okay um well Mr chair I moved to strike the
51:33
last word as a former educator for over 20 years in the state of California I'm
51:38
deeply concerned about the hardships faced by recipients of the windfall elimination provision and government pension offset
51:46
both of whom are seeing their earned retirement benefits unfairly reduced the
51:51
GPL reduces or eliminates Social Security spousal benefits if a worker spouse has a government pension and whip
51:58
reduces Social Security public service worker benefits by as much as 40 to 60 percent
52:04
that means that millions of hard-working public servants are receiving less for their retirement even though they've
52:11
typically worked for lower wages than most private sector workers and believe me I've heard from Plenty of them from
52:18
my state of California in fact in my own case I paid for 20 years into California State teachers
52:25
retirement system while my husband paid into the Social Security System throughout his life however due to the
52:32
GPO because because of my teacher's pension I cannot collect on his Social
52:37
Security should he pass away and I know many others who've worked and saved their whole Lives who face similar
52:43
situations what's more uh reductions to Social Security benefits hurt state and
52:49
local government's ability to recruit and retain employees especially those in
52:54
mid-career who stand to lose Social Security benefits they've earned
52:59
we have to reform these rules for our nation's dedicated teachers firefighters and police officers to ensure their much
53:08
deserved stability and Security in their retirement I'm a I am a co-sponsor of HR
53:14
82 the Social Security Fairness Act which would repeal both the Whip and GPO
53:19
titles to ensure that public servants receive their full earned Social Security benefits but while the web GPO
53:28
programs are in desperate need of an update it's also been more than 50 years
53:34
since Congress has bolstered Social Security benefits this in turn has
53:39
caused more than 5 million beneficiaries to live below the federal poverty line and today the current benefits we do
53:47
have are at risk if Congress does not act we will see major cuts by the year
53:52
2034 according to the Social Security actuary it's imperative that we also act
53:59
to ensure that the trust fund is adequate to pay out the benefits Americans have earned and deserve
54:06
we must work to fix the web GPO problem while also ensuring our social security
54:12
system can support future generations of Americans as is the case in Social
54:19
Security 2100. we must work forward uh and ensure that everybody can have a
54:29
beneficial retirement thank you I yield back I thank the general lady is there another member who wishes to strike the
54:35
last word the gentleman from Texas Mr Arrington has recognized to strike the last word Mr chairman I'm just anxiously
54:41
waiting to chime in on this but it's going to be very positive I believe in you I have the I always want to
54:48
recognize those who are well I know and you I know you're surprised don't act so surprised but I I have the utmost
54:54
confidence in you I do and I know you're sincerely committed to this and I I
55:00
think at one time you and ranking member Brady had a bipartisan solution and I
55:06
think you're probably pretty close to coming back to having a unified solution I've seen unified Solutions on this
55:14
committee work really well and while there are a lot of legislative
55:21
um solutions to problems so many create even bigger problems that is something
55:28
we all have to be cognizant of and I think HR 82 does that and I commend the
55:33
folks that put the effort in to garnering the support so I think the
55:39
the very fact that the number of co-sponsors on HR 82 is so high just
55:45
shows you how the appetite for solving this problem within the broader Congress and I know that's easier said than done
55:52
but this for me represents a very
55:57
important commitment I made to our retired teachers among other public
56:02
servants but there is rarely a public forum or town hall that I have
56:10
where the first question from usually a retired teacher on the front row raises
56:17
their hand and says please we worked hard we served our community and we just
56:22
want the benefit that is due us that we paid in to this for so again my vote of
56:29
confidence is in you and ranking member Brady to solve it in the right and responsible way and
56:37
and I thank you for the time I yield back thank you uh Mr Arrington for those good comments uh let me recognize uh who
56:43
else would like to move to write the last word the gentleman from New Jersey Mr Pasquale has recognized to strike the
56:49
last word Mr chairman I think it's a good idea we had this hearing on this legislature today even though one it'll
56:57
wind up against the wall looks like I think it's very important I associate
57:02
myself with most of the ideas that I heard and thoughts on both sides of the aisle
57:08
I trust that that you and the ranking member will come up with a resolution of
57:16
this before the end of the year and I want to you know thank Larson for
57:21
hanging in there all the work that he's done and the committee has done is not going to be in
57:28
vain at all just like I don't think this meeting is in vain today and for uh Roger Davis
57:38
and Miss manager I think that they've worked very hard also now I know one
57:44
Larson's bill is paid for and this bill is not
57:50
that's a pause but I think that
57:56
Tom Rice hit the nail on the head you know in terms of not how this
58:03
committee operates but how we've had to accept leadership's
58:08
dictums about what's more important than other things I made a commitment in 1996
58:14
when I first ran for the Congress that I would never ever ever vote to PRI privatize Social
58:22
Security that I will always try to protect it that I always tried to make the number
58:28
in terms of the increase in the cost of living every year mean that there'd be some money
58:35
for each individual knowing how many people live on Social Security
58:40
how many people live on Social Security and uh Tom the story you told is a
58:47
person on and uh how can you not listen
58:52
you tell me and things cost things sometimes you have to put up the money
58:58
sometimes you have to find a way to do it so the committee has special responsibilities to protect and expand
59:05
Social Security millions of retired First Responders and teachers
59:11
and other public servants have suffered under the windfall elimination provision
59:17
in the government pension offset repealing these Provisions is not
59:23
something we just started to talk about last month we've been talking about this for 15
59:30
years and I think we're getting closer and
59:35
closer to resolution of the two problems I just mentioned repealing these Provisions would finally allow Public
59:41
Service employees to get a fair Shake as the co-chair of law enforcement
59:47
caucus and fire Services caucus I hear from our First Responders every day that's not an exaggeration
59:54
about how important reforming these policies is to them
59:59
in New Jersey more than 23 000 retired and disabled workers and their families
1:00:05
are affected by the WEP and across America more than 700
1:00:11
000 Social Security beneficiaries are affected by the GPL it's important to note that repeal of these Provisions is
1:00:18
included in chairman Lawson's legislation which I continue to strongly support and it is again fully paid for
1:00:27
we must not lose sight of the needed benefit expansions Social Security 2100
1:00:33
provides it's an important bill and it handled the WEP and GPO problems
1:00:40
and I believe a responsible way today we have the opportunity to consider
H.R 82
the Social Security fairness I know the sponsors worked on it very very hard it
1:00:52
is a small step towards helping public servants I don't think it's enough
1:00:59
I don't think it's enough to vote no on 82 even though it's not paid for because
1:01:06
I am positive of the work that was put into it by both the the major sponsors
1:01:12
of this legislation I support HR 82. I think it's a path to a solution before
1:01:20
the end of the year and I look forward to the to its consideration in our committee today and
1:01:27
no wonder the First Responders are confused when I hear that we're against alleged piece of legislation that's
1:01:33
going to help them in this matter and yet it's not paid for it has bipartisan support but it has bipartisan
1:01:40
opposition so they're confused and we've made them confused go back
1:01:46
to Rice's Congressman Rice's remarks I want to commend the leadership for
1:01:52
getting us here today I intend to vote for 82. thank you
1:01:58
thank the gentleman are there other members who wish to move strike the last word the gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr smucker is recognized to strike the last
1:02:05
word that thank you Mr chairman and ranking
1:02:10
member Brady uh we do have an obligation as members of the Ways and Means Committee to ensure
1:02:16
that the social security system that our constituents have relied upon uh that
1:02:22
we're able to keep the promise to them and we know that even apart from the issue in the discussions today Social
1:02:30
Security is not on a strong financial footing currently the Social Security trust fund will become insolvent in
1:02:37
- so unless we take steps to save the system to secure the system to
1:02:43
ensure that we can keep the promise that has been made to the American people unless we take steps to do that those
1:02:49
that depend on Social Security could have their benefits cut by 20 it's insolvency is not a hypothetical it's
1:02:56
unfortunately imminent coming up sooner than uh we may expect I do believe that
1:03:03
there's broad bipartisan agreement that those beneficiaries subject to the windfall elimination provision or WEP or
1:03:10
government pension offset GPO especially uh policemen police women firemen and
1:03:16
women and teachers should not be put at a disadvantage compared to those under
1:03:21
traditional social security uh I also think that most of us agree
1:03:26
that those on web or GPO probably should not also get an undue advantage over
1:03:32
other constituents of Social Security which is what would happen if we enact a straight repeal without fixing the
1:03:38
benefit formula unfortunately this proposal under discussion today puts the solvency of the entire social security
1:03:45
program more at risk than without it the bill would cost taxpayers 146 billion
1:03:52
over 10 years and increases that solvency Gap by 800 billion over 75
1:03:57
years at a time when Social Security is already too close to insolvency this bill would only increase that risk
1:04:04
moving up trust fund depletion from 2034 to 2033. members on this committee have
1:04:11
more responsible solutions for instance I'm a co-sponsor of leader Brady's equal
1:04:16
treatment of public servants act it's legislation that would repeal the web and replace it with a fair formula that
1:04:23
ensures that our teachers firefighters police officers postal workers and more receive their fare of Social Security
1:04:29
without bankrupting the trust fund we all know that the legislation we are considering today will not solve the
1:04:37
problem I'm hopeful that my colleagues can instead work together as many has been saying on a bipartisan fiscally
1:04:44
responsible solution to provide equal treatment for our nation's public servants while continuing to practice
1:04:50
protect the promise of social security for all its beneficiaries thank you Mr chairman
1:04:55
I thank the gentleman is there any other member who wishes to move to write the last word the gentleman from Illinois
1:05:01
Mr Davis has recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman and I also want to commend my colleague
1:05:08
namesake from Illinois Rodney Davis for his
1:05:13
outstanding work he and representative spenberger have done on this issue
1:05:20
fixing the web GPO issue is critical for Illinois it affects teachers letter carriers
1:05:28
postal workers and state employees I strongly support fix in the web and
1:05:35
GPO issues I look forward to working with you Mr chairman to fix weapon GPO
1:05:42
without accelerating the insolvency of the Social Security trust fund our
1:05:48
Harmon is 65 million current beneficiaries I have a large senior presence in my
1:05:56
district and we must protect them at all costs I
1:06:02
strongly support the Social Security 2100 Act that fixes both web and GPO and
1:06:10
as well the ACT improves social security for 65 million beneficiaries
1:06:17
and I don't know anything that is more important for them and to them than
1:06:24
Social Security I think you must thank the gentleman are there other members who move would
1:06:29
like to move to strike the last word that the gentleman from Oklahoma Mr Hearn is recognized to strike the last
1:06:34
word Mr chairman ranking member Brady I thank you for your long work on this and uh
1:06:41
I'd like to move to strike the last word you know the windfall elimination provision impacts some of our nation's
1:06:48
best public servants our teachers who teach our children our firefighters and police officers who are
1:06:54
First Responders and protect our communities it's unfairly reduces Social Security
1:06:59
benefits for millions of Americans who dedicate their lives to service and their communities
1:07:04
we shouldn't be looking for ways to cut their benefits we need a solution to the windfall elimination provision it's a
1:07:11
top priority for me and has been since I've been in Congress it's our job to ensure our public servants receive the
1:07:17
benefits they've paid into their whole lives however almost 150 billion dollars in new
spending opening the door to large overpayments and benefits and advancing insolvency by eliminating Social
1:07:30
Security benefits at a faster rate is not the solution this is what the Social Security
1:07:36
Fairness Act does ranking member Brady has proposed a common sense solution that achieves
1:07:42
sustainable solvency repeals the windfall elimination provision formula
1:07:47
and creates a new formula that would equalize payments for public servants this legislation would ensure that
1:07:53
public servants receive the same treatment as other hard-working Americans even those have already retired and felt
1:08:00
the negative impact of the weapon if we keep going down the same path Social Security is only 11 to 13 years
1:08:07
from solvency I cannot in good conscience vote for our spending a bill that Advocate solvency
1:08:14
while providing no replacement to ensure Fair benefits for our public servants I
1:08:19
yield back thank the gentleman is there any other member who wishes to
1:08:25
move to strike the last word the gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr Boyle has recognized to strike the last word
1:08:30
Mr chairman I move the strike to last word element is recognized I'd like to voice my strong support for HR 82 the
1:08:38
Social Security Fairness Act for far too long these two Social Security Act Provisions have unfairly
1:08:45
reduced and eliminated benefits for millions of Americans including countless constituents in my district
1:08:51
who have devoted their lives and careers to public service as of this past December nearly 2
1:08:58
million Americans were about 3 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries were impacted by the windfall
1:09:05
elimination provision and at that same point almost 750 000
1:09:11
Social Security beneficiaries had their benefits reduced by the GPO
1:09:16
the elimination of these two Provisions would immediately benefit millions of retired firefighters teachers police
1:09:24
officers federal employees and other public servants so I thank every one of my colleagues on
1:09:31
this committee and I think we can all agree on just how important it is that we are having this
1:09:37
conversation today and that finally action is taking place I am proud to be a co-sponsor of HR 82
1:09:45
and I urge its passage and its report to the Full House of Representatives so we
1:09:52
can finally get this done this is about fairness it is time to stop penalizing
1:09:58
public servants without a yield back I thank the gentleman are there other
1:10:04
members who would like to move to strike the last word gentleman from Arizona Mr Schweikert has recognized to strike the
1:10:10
last word thank you Mr chairman move to strike the last word um when our colleague Mr Reed chose to
1:10:17
retire I found myself getting the benefit of becoming the ranking member on Social
1:10:23
Security and along with having a brand new little baby that came out of nowhere we'll
1:10:30
explain that later um I spent my August with binders and binders
1:10:36
on Social Security I beg of you to understand the scale of
1:10:42
the problem the scale of the math the scale of the demographics
1:10:48
have you ever spent days reading something and then calling the experts and then calling the experts back and
1:10:53
trying to get your head around a 75-year window
1:10:59
a couple hundred trillion dollars of functional economic shortfall
1:11:07
I'm elated we're having this discussion I beg of everyone to take seriousness
1:11:12
the scale of what we must fix and must accomplish because this is both a just a
1:11:19
cultural moral structural obligation we have
1:11:24
the issue on the web we need to fix but I would beg of us all
1:11:30
to consider fixing this part as one of the legs of a grand bargain
1:11:36
where it is part of the entire package because we're gonna all have to step up
1:11:42
and do some things that are uncomfortable we're going to have to go back and do our advanced math and own
1:11:47
put batteries in our calculators but in this whole discussion
1:11:53
this is just one of many major Social Security issues it's time to deal with
1:12:00
it's time to basically step up and say we're going to do some of the hardest work we've ever done
1:12:06
and that threshold is now upon us and with that I yield back
1:12:11
I thank the gentleman there are the members who wish to strike the last word hearing none now proceed to
1:12:17
consideration of HR 82 and without objection the measure will be considered as red we are now prepared to proceed to the 1:12:25
stage of amendments to HR 82. is there any member who would like to
seek recognition Mr chairman I have an amendment at the desk the gentleman from Connecticut Mr Larson is recognized to
1:12:37
proceed with his Amendment Jeremiah reserve a point of order gentlemen from California Mr Thompson has reserved a
1:12:42
point of order the gentleman is recognized thank you Mr chairman
1:12:49
uh chairman this has been a extraordinary conversation Mr Larson would you wait
1:12:56
for a minute while we dispersed with the make sure the amendment is passed out it's being passed out
1:13:33
gentleman from Connecticut Mr Larson is recognized to proceed with his Amendment excuse me
1:13:44
thank you Mr chairman uh Mr chairman uh I've introduced the amendment Social
1:13:51
Security 2100 a sacred Trust before I begin again I want to
1:13:56
compliment uh President Biden
1:14:02
for underscoring the importance and the need to repeal WEP in GPO
1:14:07
and again thank Rodney Davis and Abigail spamberger
1:14:13
for their courage as many of our colleagues have acknowledged today
1:14:18
the need for us to look at this in a comprehensive
1:14:24
manner I thank Mr Schweikert who just posed the question to the committee and more
1:14:30
importantly when you hear Tom Rice speak about his
1:14:36
mother that's what this is all about
1:14:42
I would also add that the chairman of this committee also
1:14:48
grew up and was weaned on Social Security having lost his mother
1:14:53
his father and then the grandmother that was caring for them
1:15:01
I never doubt his veracity and his commitment to Social Security
1:15:07
and weapon GPO is vitally important it's part of our comprehensive
1:15:13
bill and it's paid for because that's the way it should be but
1:15:21
we're talking about 2.7 million people
1:15:28
they need to be addressed but to Mr schweiker's point
1:15:34
so do the 65 million people on Social Security currently
1:15:40
for 51 years Congress has kicked the can down the road
1:15:49
not just in the past decade but for 51 years as I said earlier Sam
1:15:55
Johnson had a proposal that was never allowed to come before this committee so we're making
1:16:02
progress we need to have these discussions and we need most of all to
1:16:09
have a vote on these issues your social security by the numbers 65 million Americans are currently on it
1:16:18
ten thousand Baby Boomers A Day become eligible for Social Security
1:16:23
and gen xers and Jen Sears will need it more
1:16:28
than Baby Boomers 2.3 million
1:16:33
Americans get below poverty level checks from Social Security
1:16:41
below poverty level checks in the wealthiest nation in the world that has to be addressed
1:16:48
23 million Americans deserve the tax cut that is in Social Security 2100 as they
1:16:56
continue to work after they retire to make ends meet
1:17:02
the numbers are daunting but this isn't about numbers
1:17:09
this is about Tom Rice's mother this is about Richie Neal's mother and
1:17:16
father and grandparents this is about families all across the country
1:17:22
President Biden is right this is a sacred Trust
1:17:28
and it's our responsibility this can't be done by executive order or
1:17:34
or through the judicial branch it only can be done in Congress
1:17:39
and in 51 years Congress has not enhanced Social Security at all
1:17:49
in 1972 Richard Nixon was president and a gallon of milk cost 72 cents everyone
1:17:55
here knows this this is a mirror test issue look in the
1:18:02
mirror you all know how many constituents you have in your District
1:18:07
and we are either going to vote on this issue in a comprehensive manner or Kick
1:18:13
the Can down the road again and if it's the election that's a bother
1:18:19
do it in the lame duck but commit to the American people to those seniors that are out there
1:18:27
relying on us in the midst of a global pandemic in the midst of inflation where
1:18:32
everybody says what are you going to do for inflation you know the group we can help out the people on fixed income
1:18:40
seniors in our country that need congress's help
1:18:46
and neither will talk to talk or walk the walk But as time we bring up comprehensive
1:18:52
reform and it's time this Committee of consequence addresses it and we urge the
1:18:58
leadership to take it up on the floor and vote for those who are sworn to Serve and Protect I yield back thank the
1:19:05
gentleman is there any other member who wishes to be heard on Mr Thompson continue to reserve his
1:19:12
point of order yes are there other members who would like
1:19:17
to be heard on the amendment no that's it okay
1:19:23
Mr Larson chairman it was my intent and I thank you again to withdraw this
1:19:29
amendment knowing that the amendment is none germane
1:19:36
though I think the issue is so germane and important
1:19:42
to every family in America and everyone in this room I yield back and thank you
1:19:49
thanks the amendment is withdrawn let me just uh acknowledge the good work
1:19:55
the passion that Mr Larson has brought to this discussion and it is timely and he has worked very hard on this issue
1:20:01
for a considerable period of time is are there any further amendments the
1:20:07
gentleman from Texas the ranking member Mr Brady is recognized thanks Mr chairman as I noted before I would like
1:20:13
to offer and withdraw the equal treatment of public servings Act of 2021
1:20:18
this bill it's been discussed so in the in the for the sake of time this will be
1:20:24
brief but as you noted in 2016 we together were very close to um to taking
1:20:31
up and passing a similar bill that would provide immediate relief I wish our
1:20:37
teachers policing firefighters and our retirees would have that money in their pocket today they don't uh and I think
1:20:44
it's important here that we do all that we can some I think have lost hope I think it's important that we provide
1:20:51
them hope that we can solve this and so with that Mr chairman I withdraw that
1:20:57
Amendment and look for two points look forward to working with you on a
1:21:03
solution that works and secondly as Republicans we certainly look forward to
1:21:08
working with Mr Larson and anyone in a bipartisan way to save and strengthen Social Security without a withdrawal the
1:21:16
gentleman has withdrawn his Amendment are there any additional amendments to be offered at this time
1:21:24
now let me recognize Mr Thompson Mr I'm sorry Mr Brady would you like to
1:21:30
continue yes Mr you know I'd ask unanimous consent to speak out of order
1:21:35
briefly gentlemen is recognized so Mr chairman these new procedural
1:21:41
rules are confusing to many including to to members of Congress so to be clear
1:21:46
any motion to pass for example with no recommendation it doesn't kill this bill
1:21:53
that's right but removes it from The Fast Track consensus calendar so the committee can work to fix the
1:22:00
long-standing and very real unfairness and insolvency concerns in a way that
1:22:05
ultimately helps it become the law of the land no doubt the many co- sponsors and stakeholders of the bills will be
1:22:13
disappointed the truth is if you're not familiar with the complexity of Social Security you wouldn't know that the bill
1:22:20
inadvertently creates a massive new unfairness for the 96 percent of Americans our constituents who are in
1:22:27
Social Security today and actually accelerates the insolvency of this important program no one wants that so
1:22:35
the obligation of this committee really is to take good intentions and common goals which we share with this bill and
1:22:41
help them become long I hope we'll all commit to addressing these in the weeks remaining in this year I agree with you
1:22:48
Mr chairman and these members The Time Is Now to create fairness for our public servants and we need to get this done
1:22:55
yield back I thank the gentleman now let me recognize Mr Thompson for the purpose of
1:23:00
offering a motion thank you Mr chairman I move that the committee report
H.R 82
1:23:05
without recommendation to the House of Representatives the question is on
1:23:11
reporting HR 82 without recommendation to the House of Representatives all of those in favor signify for saying aye
1:23:16
aye those opposed by saying no in the opinion of the chair of the ice habit the motion is agreed to when H.R 82 is
1:23:22
ordered without recommendation to the Full House of Representatives
1:23:27
thank you without objection the staff is authorized to make Technical and
1:23:33
conforming changes to the bill I thank the members for what I think was a very civil conversation I also would point
1:23:39
out that I think that the questions that have been raised here were entirely legitimate we understand the challenges
1:23:45
that are in front of us and now perhaps a full engaged conversation will take
1:23:51
place about this very issue I remain committed Mr Brady and I have talked
1:23:58
tens of times on this issue we discussed it again this morning and I just want to reiterate that we did have a proposal
1:24:05
four years ago that was taken down the morning of the vote because of our concern that it
1:24:10
might not have passed the House of Representatives that day the next order of business is house
1:24:16
resolution 1269 this resolution would require the treasury Department to produce Revenue modeling data and
1:24:23
reports estimating the direct and indirect impact of oecd pillar 1 agreement and the economic effects of
1:24:29
the agreement to the United States Treasury the treasury Department has made progress on negotiating an
1:24:34
agreement under pillar one that would eliminate discriminatory Digital Services taxes and other unilateral tax
1:24:41
measures that Target U.S companies members on both sides of the aisle have raised concerns about taxes that unfairly Target U.S companies and I'm
1:24:48
glad that the administration is working to address discriminatory taxes with secretary yellin's leadership we are
1:24:54
closer than ever to a durable agreement although significant progress has been made many options are open in the
1:24:59
agreement and the technical specifications of the agreement remain in flux with so many fluid elements any economic
1:25:07
estimates will be based on premature assumptions about the details of the agreement with so many fluid elements
1:25:12
any economic estimates will be based on premature assumptions about the details of the agreement this resolution does
1:25:18
nothing to help everyday Americans put food on the table pay their bills or take care of their families the Democrats on the committee are focused 1:25:25
on legislation that will help women family seniors and all Americans I urge my colleagues to report this resolution
1:25:30
adversely let me recognize Mr Brady for the purposes of an opening statement
1:25:38
Mr chairman I would yield my time to Mr Hearn the author of The Resolution
1:25:43
Mr Hearn is recognized thank the ranking member thank you Mr chairman
1:25:48
um we have a responsibility of oversight and to do our work as the ways it means
1:25:54
committee and we're concerned by the Biden administration's unilateral effort to commit the United States to Global
1:26:00
tax policies that could make us less competitive on the global scale this should concern all of us and it
1:26:07
does impact all of us in one form or another they are grave consequences for
1:26:13
our economy should we lose the Competitive Edge on corporate tax policy pillar one could very well be a global
1:26:20
surrender of American Tax sovereignty and the tax Riders of this committee deserve
1:26:26
deserve both Democrats and Republicans deserve to know the details of the unilateral negotiations by this
1:26:31
Administration Congressional Republicans have repeatedly asked for the basic Revenue
1:26:36
estimates on the proposed reallocation since the administration presented it to the oecd in April of 2021.
1:26:44
we have asked in briefings with the office of tax policy at the 2021 and 2022 budget hearings with secretary
1:26:52
Yellen and in written correspondence the treasury Department continues to provide
1:26:58
inadequate answers and has deprived the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation enough information to generate their own
1:27:05
estimates Republicans should not only be the ones concerned with how the treasury's
1:27:10
negotiations will affect the U.S Fisk and U.S companies
1:27:16
all Americans should be concerned if the administration is proposing we send our
1:27:21
taxing rights to countries like China and Russia it's been a Fool's errand for the
1:27:27
administration to engage in the oecd digitalization tax agreement negotiations well without substantive
1:27:33
bipartisan input from tax writing committees in the House and Senate it is past time the treasury shows some
1:27:40
accountability for the oecd pillar 1 agreement and be transparent with the tax Riders on this community again
1:27:47
Democrats and Republicans I will assure my colleagues on the left that this administration's go to loan approach
1:27:54
that fails to comply with the Constitution's demands will not produce a durable result at the
1:28:00
oecd our International treaty network has worked well over the last century to promote bilateral trade investment and
1:28:07
prosperity everyone on this committee understands the importance of progress on new Global
1:28:12
Tax agreements but Congress must approve any commitments any commitments that my erode the U.S Revenue base are
1:28:19
significantly impact bilateral trade and investment flows I urge my colleagues to
1:28:24
report this resolution favorably and I reserve the balance of my time thank you gentlemen gentlemen for his
1:28:32
comments uh the unless Mr Brady wants to use the balance of that time
1:28:37
the committee will now proceed to consideration of HR resolution 1269 without objection the measure is
1:28:43
considered as red and open for Amendment at any point does anybody wish to move strike the last word
1:28:50
the gentleman from Nebraska Mr Smith is recognized to strike the last word thank you I certainly want to thank my
1:28:56
colleague for offering this resolution we've seen that there's far more disagreement than agreement about
1:29:02
implementation of oecd pillars one and two internationally not only is the Biden Administration failed to convince
1:29:09
Congress to implement this agreement for our country other entities like the EU have also failed to implement it even
1:29:16
more alarming we are already seeing countries who signed onto the oecd agreement looking for ways to undermine
1:29:23
and even cheat the system for example both Canada and Denmark have implemented new local content taxes on streaming
1:29:29
services if they don't procure enough content in those countries secretary Yellen wanted this flawed
1:29:36
Global tax agreement so badly that I think she gave a lot away we deserve to know how much U.S tax revenue treasury
1:29:42
beliefs she gave away in the process and I yield back thank the gentleman is there any other
1:29:48
member who wishes to move strike the last word Mr chairman the gentleman from South Carolina Mr
1:29:55
rice is recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman uh this is one of the uh requests for information
that the chairman deemed a waste of time of the of this hearing and and a
1:30:06
political stunt we spent a lot of time in the tax cuts and jobs act trying to figure out how to
1:30:12
make America a competitive place to do business and one of the primary ways we did that was by amending our
1:30:18
International tax system and by lowering tax rates for multinationals so that
1:30:24
they could America would be a good place to do business and we stopped offshoring and we prevented millions of American
1:30:31
jobs from going overseas very proud of the result of that bill the result of that bill was
1:30:38
lowest unemployment in decades among among every demographic in our country
1:30:44
including African-Americans Hispanics women and so forth and the lowest poverty ever on record ever
1:30:52
something we should all be very proud of the body Administration comes in and they want to undermine
1:30:59
or or potentially undermine all the progress that we made in the tax cuts and jobs act by creating a new Global
1:31:07
tax system you know Mr chairman I think he referred to Ways
1:31:12
and Means is the most consequential Committee in Congress and I and I want
1:31:17
to believe that that's true it has been the most consequential Committee in Congress but in this two-year Congress
1:31:24
we've only had 15 hearings 15. I think I think people back home expect
1:31:30
us to do more than that I think they expect us to hold real hearings and not just showpieces and I think they expect
1:31:37
us to explore things that could undermine our economic prosperity
1:31:42
and the fact that the majority here is willing to just turn over the reins on something so
1:31:50
consequential as a global tax system when this committee is is the committee of jurisdiction for
1:31:57
taxes in this country and we're willing to just turn over the reins to the Biden Administration and say you know go do
1:32:04
what you need to do you don't need to keep us apprised of it all we want is information so that we can make reasonable decisions
1:32:11
for our constituents back home and we haven't had any hearings on this
1:32:17
we've had 15 hearings in two years the majority should be ashamed
1:32:23
and and the only reason the majority is turning their head the other way and letting the administration just do as
1:32:30
you will is because Congress has devolved into red team blue team they're
1:32:36
on our team we're not going to question what they're doing doesn't matter let them go ahead and do what they're going to do we're not going 1:32:42
to question it well if you do that Mr chairman and that's what you're doing if you do that
1:32:47
then I would hesitate to say that this committee is of so much consequence
1:32:53
because you're turning over the reins to the executive all we want to know is what the
1:32:58
executive branch is doing and whether it will undermine American competitiveness
1:33:03
and whether it will once again start sending millions of American jobs overseas and whether it will once again
1:33:11
undermine our economic growth as this Administration has done a great job of
1:33:17
undermining our growth in the two years that they've been in office and with that Mr chairman I yield back
1:33:24
remember
1:33:33
Dr Murphy with that let me recognize the gentleman from Illinois is through the hood to
1:33:39
strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I move to strike the last word gentleman's recognized
1:33:45
thank you uh Mr chairman I'm supportive of Representative hearn's resolution of
1:33:50
inquiry requesting economic impact analysis performed by the Department of Treasury relating to the oecd pillar one
1:33:57
agreement as elected representatives of the American people we have a duty to make certain U.S businesses and their
1:34:03
workers are prioritized in all multilateral agreements negotiated by the executive branch more specifically
1:34:09
as members of the chief tax writing Committee in Congress we should be kept informed of these International
1:34:15
negotiations and their impact on the U.S economy the oecd agreement pillar one
1:34:21
was supposed to end the worldwide escalation of digital service taxes or dsts which disproportionately hurt
1:34:29
American businesses and their workers addressing the DST issue was a bipartisan priority for most if not all
1:34:36
of the members in this room in the treasury Department's press release announcing the oecd Inc inclusion
1:34:42
framework last fall the administration stated that the agreement was quote a win for American businesses which would
1:34:48
no longer have to compete on the international playing field tilted against them unquote if that's true why
1:34:55
then isn't Congress allowed to see the analysis treasury conducted to reach that conclusion
1:35:01
there is a real concern that pillar 1 like dsts would unfairly harm the United States analysis conducted by the Oxford
1:35:08
University Center for business taxation found that 64 percent of amount a
1:35:13
profits under pillar one would come from U.S headquartered companies that sounds to me like an international playing
1:35:20
field tilted very much against the United States I urge my colleagues to support rep hearn's resolution of
1:35:27
inquiry requesting this economic impact analysis having more information about the potential effects of pillar one as
1:35:35
an alternative to dsts should be something all of us in this room can support Congress needs to be brought in
1:35:42
on these negotiations so that we can help to ensure U.S businesses and their employees are protected from potentially
1:35:48
harmful changes regarding International tax thank you and I yield back
1:35:53
thank the gentlemen let me is there any other member who wishes to move strike the last word the gentleman from North Carolina Dr Murphy is recognized to
1:36:00
strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I moved to strike the last word gentleman's recognized uh
1:36:07
thank you I think it's very important that we all just kind of reflect and give context as to why we are here today
1:36:14
the resolutions of inquiry are an important oversight tool they allow a member regardless of political party
1:36:21
regardless of administration to compel documents from that Administration whether it be from their party or not it
1:36:27
is something that we in Congress are supposed to do as oversight and to be frank it's one of the last two is
1:36:33
available to the minority to hold the majority and the administration accountable again regardless of party
1:36:39
yet what we are seeing in this Administration is an unprecedented abuse
1:36:45
of power when the speaker ushered in proxy voting under the guide of the public health emergency
1:36:51
she did not care what institutional Norms she bulldozed to achieve her goal of consolidating power we have had some
1:36:57
members who have rarely been here in the last two years it's absolutely absurd
1:37:03
she threw out the motion to recommit which was the minority's right to offer an amendment to legislation on the floor
1:37:09
this is a bipartisan country and she's actually turned it into just an another
1:37:15
abuse of power and for 790 days speaker Pelosi turned off the mechanism for
1:37:20
Resolutions of inquiry to be considered 790 days these tools were not simply
1:37:26
institutional Norms they are available so that we all regardless of party can
1:37:32
best represent our constituents and the speaker of the house is short- sighted decisions trampled on those constituents
1:37:39
voices to put it plain and simple this was and continues to be a Frank abuse of
1:37:45
power and that's just not happening in the people's house it's happening in the administration and in the white house on
1:37:52
Sunday the president declared the pandemic was over but he's continued to use his emergency
1:37:58
powers this pandemic should have been over nine months ago the Administration has shown
1:38:04
time and time again that they can and will use these powers to weaponize their
1:38:09
radical agenda let me just give you a few examples you know the public health emergency and National Emergency was put
1:38:15
in by the Trump Administration appropriately at the time they did the right thing but what we've seen since
1:38:21
then are Frank abuses of power under the guise of the National Health Emergency and the public health emergency things
1:38:28
that were otherwise not constitutional for example the student loan giveaway
1:38:34
giveaway it's really a transfer of debt to those people who did not benefit from it and it's a transfer of that debt to
1:38:41
uh to taxpayers who'd want nothing to do with this second
1:38:47
on the public health emergency let me just give everybody a little bit of uh uh fact here no state is allowed to
1:38:55
audit their Medicaid rolls when I was back in our state house I was senior
1:39:00
chair of Health policy we audited our Medicaid rolls every year because individuals end up being on the rolls
1:39:07
and they no longer qualify so now since for the last two years no state has been able to audit their
1:39:13
Medicaid roles now to the tune that one in four Americans is on Medicaid
1:39:19
that's absolutely an abuse of power it's not needed and it's a wrong use of
1:39:24
taxpayers money the courts have struck down several of the unconstitutional measures by this President and the 1:39:31
administration this is why these resolutions are so important they allow
1:39:37
the Amor the minority to ask tough questions and conduct proper oversight again regardless of party
1:39:44
so while I'm sure that we'll hear from some friends about the use that we're using obstruction And Delay tactics it's
1:39:51
absolutely wrong in in a true Essence we're guaranteeing the other party
1:39:56
it's time in a future date to ask these same questions our constituents sent us
1:40:01
here to hear their voices regardless of party and that's what we should be doing thank you Mr chairman I will yield back
1:40:08
thank you Dr Murphy there are the members who wish to strike the last word a gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr snucker
1:40:14
is recognized to strike the last word thank you did it again thank you thank you Mr
1:40:20
chairman uh I want to thank uh represent representative Hearn for introducing uh
1:40:26
this amendment it's a common sense amendment that I think every member of this committee should support and I hope
1:40:32
we uh have that happen today uh we simply want to know
1:40:38
the information that the the secretary used the information she's relying on when
1:40:45
she talks about these proposals is being roughly Revenue uh neutral we're
1:40:50
concerned we that there is not transparency uh in her proposals there's
1:40:56
not transparency in the Global Tax negotiations and the jurisdictional jurisdictional changes that will result
1:41:03
from oecd's pillar one and pillar 2 agreements pillar 1 will apply digital
1:41:08
tax on the largest companies in the world but based on how that pillar is written we believe that the biggest tax
1:41:15
burden in fact almost exclusively the tax burden will be levied on American companies we're deeply concerned that
1:41:21
these tax rule changes could result in fewer American jobs and increase costs
1:41:27
for consumers and again as I mentioned secretary Yellen has gone on record stating that she believes the proposal
1:41:33
will be roughly Revenue neutral a quote but how did she arrive at that conclusion that's what we're asking
1:41:40
we've been asking for that information of Treasury we've been asking to share their analysis analysis since April of
1:41:47
last year but have received nothing and I believe our constituents have the right to
1:41:53
understand how treasury evaluated the implications of pillar one when signing
1:41:58
us up for it so I I hope to see today the support of all of my colleagues on
1:42:03
this committee thank you Mr chairman thank the gentleman is there any other member who wishes to
1:42:09
strike the last word are there any amendments and if not the
1:42:15
chair is prepared to recognize Mr Thompson I move the committee report H Rez 1269
1:42:24
adversely to the House of Representatives the question is on reporting HR
1:42:29
resolution 1269 adversely to the house all those in favor signify by saying aye aye Mr chairman request the yeas and
1:42:36
nays we can also have a no vote in terms of the question and then we will proceed to you Mr Hearn rapidly you still want
1:42:44
to make those opportunity there okay you didn't all opposed no no no no no no no
1:42:50
the gentleman from Oklahoma is recognized Mr chairman I record request the
1:42:55
recorded vote please gentlemen from Oklahoma has requested a recorded vote in the clerk will call the rule we
1:43:01
appreciate Mr Doggett Mr Thompson
1:43:08
Mr Thompson votes I Mr Larson Mr Larson votes yes
1:43:15
Mr blumenauer Mr blumenauer votes I Mr kind
1:43:21
Mr kind votes I Mr Pasquale Mr Pasquale votes I Mr Davis
1:43:28
Mr Davis votes I Miss Sanchez I miss Sanchez votes I
1:43:35
Mr Higgins Mr Higgins votes I miss Sewell
1:43:45
Mr bene Mr Benny votes I Miss Chu
1:43:51
I miss you
1:43:57
Miss Moore Miss more votes I Mr kildee Mr kilde
1:44:05
votes I Mr Boyle Mr Boyle votes I Mr buyer
1:44:14
Mr Evans aye Mr Evans votes aye Mr Schneider
1:44:19
aye Mr Schneider votes I Mr swazi aye Mr swazi votes I Mr Panetta aye Mr
1:44:28
Panetta votes I Miss Murphy aye Ms Murphy
1:44:35
issues suspicious activity reports it's not just thrown out like a mere bag of
1:44:41
shelves done for specific reasons Mr Gomez
1:44:47
Gomez I Mr Gomez votes I Mr Horsford
1:44:52
Mr Hartford Mr Horsford votes I miss Plaskett I this Plaskett votes I Mr Brady no Mr
1:45:01
Brady votes no Mr Buchanan no Mr Buchanan votes no Mr Smith of Nebraska
1:45:07
no Mr Smith of Nebraska votes no Mr Kelly no
1:45:12
Mr Kelly votes no Mr Smith of Missouri Mr Smith of Missouri votes no Mr rice
1:45:20
Mr rice votes no Mr Schweikert Mr Schweikert votes no Mr lahood
1:45:27
Mr lahood votes no Dr wenstrope Dr wenstrup votes no Mr Arrington
1:45:34
Mr Arrington votes no Dr Ferguson
1:45:41
Mr Estes no Mr Estes votes no Mr smucker no Mr smucker votes no
1:45:49
Mr Hearn no Mr Hearn votes no this is Miller no this is Miller votes no Dr
1:45:56
Murphy Mr Dr Murphy votes no Mr kustoff
1:46:03
Mr kostoff votes no Mr Doggett aye Mr Doggett votes I
1:46:09
Miss Sewell
1:46:19
Mr buyer all right Mr buyer votes I
1:46:26
Dr Ferguson
1:46:31
Mr chairman aye Mr chairman votes I
1:46:45
is the clerk prepared to report the tally
1:46:51
Mr chair I have 24 size 16 nose
1:46:56
they're being 24 eyes and 16 knows the motion is agreed to HR resolution 1269
1:47:01
is ordered reported adversely to the House of Representatives without objection staff are authorized to make Technical and conforming changes to the
1:47:08
bill and members have two additional days to file with committee clerk supplemental additional dissenting or
1:47:13
minority views our next order of business is house resolution 1285 this resolution required
1:47:20
the president to provide certain documents and correspondence relating to the recent decision by members of the
1:47:26
World Trade Organization to waive certain intellectual property protections for covid-19 vaccines specifically the resolution requests
1:47:33
information related to the impact of the waiver on covid-19 pandemic vaccines and Therapeutics
1:47:38
the covid-19 pandemic is indeed a global Health crisis let my we remind our
1:47:43
colleagues that since the beginning of the pandemic Civil Society groups and many WTO members have pressed for
1:47:49
accommodations to intellectual property rules for covid-19 vaccines
1:47:54
facilitate the end of the covid-19 pandemic the United States trade representative worked with our trading
1:47:59
partners to ensure the trade rules support the Global Response of the pandemic these efforts included a waiver
1:48:04
of intellectual property protections for covid-19 vaccines in this regard I would note that all WTO members have agreed to
1:48:13
the waiver specifically WTO members agreed that developing countries can waive WTO
1:48:18
patent rights for the production supply of covid-19 vaccines for the next five years this waiver as is acknowledged by
1:48:26
resolutions does not apply to China finally I would note that the Biden Administration believes strongly in
1:48:33
intellectual property Protections in the service of ending covid-19 pandemic however the administration did work with
1:48:39
WTO members to craft a temporary waiver for vaccines the administration's goal here is to get as many safe and
1:48:45
effective vaccines to as many people as possible this resolution does not help everyday
1:48:51
Americans put food on the table pay their bills or take care of their families committee Democrats continue to
1:48:57
be focused on legislation that will help women family seniors all Americans I urge our colleagues to report this
1:49:04
resolution adversely let me recognize Mr Brady for an opening statement
1:49:10
Mr chairman I will yield my time to the author of The Resolution Mr Smith and Nebraska excuse me the gentleman from
1:49:18
Nebraska Mr Smith is recognized thank you Mr chairman and a ranking member Brady this resolution requests the
1:49:24
president send certain information to the house relating to a waiver of intellectual property commitments
1:49:31
emphasis commitments under the WTO trips agreement specifically the resolution
1:49:36
request information demonstrating that the trips waiver will increase Global Supply of coveted vaccines the extent to
1:49:44
which coveted vaccines have been destroyed due to their expiration the proposed trips waiver expansion to cover
1:49:50
Diagnostics and Therapeutics will increase Supply and whether the People's Republic of China will obtain access to
1:49:57
IP related to coveted vaccines Diagnostics or Therapeutics even if China is expressly excluded colleagues
1:50:05
on both sides of the aisle should agree that the scope of this request is very narrowly tailored regardless of
1:50:11
individual member views on the trips waiver this resolution deserves bipartisan support So this committee can
1:50:17
analyze the efficacy of the waiver and whether or not it should be expanded to include Diagnostics and Therapeutics
1:50:24
I will also add the bipartisan agreement consultations with Congress on the trips waiver by the Biden administration were
1:50:31
seriously lacking amazingly the administration never actually shared its views with Congress until it had already
1:50:38
agreed to the waiver at the WTO now we find ourselves in the exact same position once again with respect to
1:50:44
Therapeutics and Diagnostics despite the president's own admission the pandemic is over
1:50:49
still the trips waiver includes a six-month period for WTO members to quote decide on its extension to cover
1:50:55
the production of supply of covid-19 Diagnostics and Therapeutics end quote
1:51:00
we are already halfway through this six month period yet the Administration has
1:51:06
not yet consulted with this committee or taken a position on an expanded waiver nor have they shared any analysis on the
1:51:12
impact of even expanding the waiver we cannot once again learn about the administration's position on an IP
1:51:19
waiver after a final agreement if we are serious about the Congress primary jurisdiction over International Trade we
1:51:26
must insist Congress remain in the driver's seat I urge all my colleagues to report the resolution favorably and
1:51:33
certainly urge bipartisan cooperation thank you thank the gentlemen are there other members who would like to move to
1:51:39
strike the last word the gentleman from Illinois Mr lahood is recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I move to strike
1:51:45
the last word I was recognized uh Mr chairman I want to thank representative Adrian Smith for this
1:51:51
timely and substantive resolution uh to request further information on the waiver of intellectual intellectual
1:51:57
property commitments under the WTO agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property uh very important
1:52:04
before the 12th WTO ministerial early this year I along with many of my
1:52:09
colleagues on this committee expressed concern for the U.S position on this agreement and its potential to harm
1:52:16
long-standing U.S intellectual property rights and future innovation as we all know strong IP protections
1:52:23
have facilitated the research and development of new Therapeutics and have enabled hundreds of voluntary
1:52:28
Partnerships to allow for the sharing of technology and information to scale up vaccine manufacturing around the world
1:52:35
for these reasons I opposed the initial WTO agreement which relates to vaccine
1:52:40
production however I am even more concerned about the possibility left in the agreement to
1:52:46
broaden the waiver for Diagnostics and Therapeutics this is an unnecessary expansion and a slippery slope towards
1:52:53
allowing adversaries like China access to U.S intellectual property moving
1:52:59
forward we must ensure appropriate congressional oversight over the Biden Administration on this issue and this
1:53:06
resolution does that I continue to support a balanced approach and I have led bipartisan
1:53:12
letters most recently with my colleague rep Jimmy Panetta to the administration asking them to focus on supply chain
1:53:18
resiliency to support International vaccine delivery efficiency and treatment access while also supporting
1:53:25
Innovation moving forward we must look at ways to strengthen our supply chains and support research development and
1:53:32
Innovation Congress should be updated frequently on the negotiations of the Biden Administration on this issue so we
1:53:38
can protect our national security intellectual property and access to Future treatments Therapeutics and
1:53:44
Diagnostics I fully support representative Smith's resolution of inquiry as a common sense tool to ensure
1:53:52
appropriate congressional oversight thank you and I yield back thank the gentlemen are there other
1:53:58
members who wish to strike the last word the gentleman from Oregon Mr blumenauer has recognized to strike the last word
1:54:03
thank you Mr chairman uh I moved to strike the last gentleman's recognized you know uh this is
1:54:11
has been a difficult and challenging effort we have seen
1:54:17
internationally the strength of the pharmaceutical industry to choke off opportunities to
1:54:25
be able to expand vaccine activities that's why hundreds of Civil Society groups members of organized labor Faith
1:54:32
great groups even the pope have backed the trips waiver as a critical aspect of
1:54:38
global Health strategy needed to make possible a robust global economic
1:54:44
recovery I appreciate the administration taking a whole of government approach to ending
1:54:51
the covid pandemic including working with our trading partners to ensure that trade rules support a global response to
1:54:59
the pandemic now Pfizer sold 36.7 billion dollars of the coveted
1:55:06
vaccine in 2021 moderna sold 17.1 billion both companies have forecast
1:55:13
similar revenues in 2022 the pharmaceutical industry has made
1:55:19
their plans clear resisting efforts in moving forward talking openly about significant opportunities to raise
1:55:26
prices of their vaccine as the global transitions to annual boosters means
1:55:32
that candidly or developing nations will miss out
1:55:38
a trips waiver will more equitably distribute vaccines globally not just to
1:55:43
the richest Nations it will stop the proliferation of new variants around the world by quickly ramping up Supply in
1:55:51
every corner we have a stake in being able to end this pandemic
1:55:57
globally and until we do this globally nobody is going to be safe
1:56:03
I sincerely believe that there are opportunities for us to be able to move
1:56:08
forward to expand supplies I frankly take the notion that somehow we have to
1:56:15
hold the rest of the globe hostage in the name of innovation is overblown
1:56:22
there is a reason why we've moved forward in the past selectively we can
1:56:28
do so in the future having the trips waiver approved by the
1:56:34
WTO was an extraordinary development it required unanimous support and I think
1:56:41
we ought not to chip away at that we ought to build on it moving forward there are areas where we need to
1:56:47
increase our opportunities to expand access to vaccines this is the least we
1:56:54
can do thank the gentleman other members
1:57:00
wishing to strike the last word the gentleman from Ohio Dr winstrup is recognized thank you Mr chairman I moved
1:57:05
to strike the last word someone's recognized twice in this committee I urged Ambassador Ty to reconsider the
1:57:11
Biden administration's decision to support a waiver of key IP protections for covid-19 vaccines and Therapeutics
1:57:18
despite the strong concerns raised here by Ways and Means Committee members the administration went through with the
1:57:25
damaging decision to agree to an IP waiver at the World Trade Organization ministerial conference earlier this
1:57:32
summer as a physician co-chair of the doctor's caucus I was very actively engaged with
1:57:38
the operation warp speed team throughout the vaccine trials and development I recognize the value in encouraging
1:57:45
people across the world to consult with the medical professional about the covid-19 vaccine it's both a
1:57:53
humanitarian imperative to help countries as well as a necessary step to increase our Collective Health security
1:57:58
here in the United States but to my knowledge there's there has been absolutely no evidence presented
1:58:06
that the IP waiver agreed to by WTO members earlier this year will have any
1:58:11
impact on the ability of developing nations to secure more doses of vaccine
1:58:16
on the contrary I'm concerned that the waiver could actually disrupt complex
1:58:22
tightly coordinated Supply chains and allow new unlicensed producers to enter
1:58:27
the marketplace with vaccines and other products that may not meet the same rigorous standards and safety
1:58:34
precautions and quality standards that currently authorize vaccines and Therapeutics must meet
1:58:41
this is a dangerous step Additionally the waiver inaccurately implies that IP
1:58:46
is hindering the response to the covid-19 pandemic and weakens core IP
1:58:52
principles enshrined in the World Trade organization's agreements while distracting from the true constraints
1:58:58
such as inadequate health care and distribution infrastructure
1:59:03
concerningly the waiver agreement reached by the WTO members in June
1:59:09
contains a clause which raises the possibility that IP protections could also be waived for Therapeutics and
1:59:16
Diagnostics which would do further harm to core IP principles and raise the
1:59:21
possibility that adversarial Nations could receive access to even more
1:59:26
sensitive U.S technology Beyond vaccines it's absolutely critical that we
1:59:33
favorably report this resolution so that the House of Representatives can gain access to any materials which provide
1:59:40
background and context on the administration's decision to waive IP rights for covid-19 vaccines
1:59:48
Congress has a constitutional duty to regulate commerce with foreign Nations a
1:59:53
responsibility which has been seriously Abridged by the administration's unilateral decision to waive aspects of
2:00:00
the trips agreement without Congressional approval we should all be hesitant to allow that
2:00:07
to happen I hope that my colleagues will support this resolution and reassert congress's
power over international trade and our responsibilities when it comes to
2:00:17
international trade that I yield back back to gentlemen let me recognize other
2:00:22
members who wish to move strike the last word Mr Schmucker from Pennsylvania is recognized
2:00:29
thank you Mr chairman it's it was American ingenuity that develop safe and effective vaccines
2:00:36
and Therapeutics under operation warp speed that put this country through the got
2:00:43
this country through the pandemic now I worry that the trips waiver
2:00:49
hinders that Spirit of innovation and investment that has America as a global
2:00:55
leader in biotechnology development we certainly all supportive of brought access to covid-19 vaccines for those
2:01:02
who want them and this resolution just simply requests that the administration show its work
2:01:08
provide the documentation that the Biden administration's trips waiver plan would
2:01:13
actually meet its goals my question is if the administration of Democrats are so confident that the trips waiver will
2:01:19
meet its promises then why should there be a problem supporting this resolution
2:01:25
again I'm concerned the trips waiver guts the intellectual property protections necessary for future
2:01:30
development leaving us potentially a greater risk in the event of another pandemic
2:01:36
it's unnecessary as well the Africa Centers for Disease Control and prevention recently caught on the U.S to
2:01:42
pause donations of vaccines to the continent noting that current challenges are on getting shots in arms not in the
2:01:48
supply of vaccines needed so before this Administration explores expanding the trips waiver
2:01:55
uh to to Therapeutics and Diagnostics we should be able to see the administration's evidence that the
2:02:01
waiver today is operating as intended a yield back thank you gentlemen are there other
2:02:07
members who would like to strike the last word the gentleman from Georgia Dr Ferguson has recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman um I
2:02:14
would hope that everybody on this committee would support this uh this
2:02:19
inquiry and getting to getting getting to the the process of how the
2:02:25
administration decided to give away intellectual property I think I think is important oversight question for this
2:02:31
committee but I think giving away our intellectual property is an absolutely horrible
2:02:38
precedent to set one of the witnesses last week Professor Wu Dr Wu from Harvard said in
2:02:47
his response and one of the responses that any trade agreement that we have going forward should have very very
2:02:54
strong intellectual property Protections in it not give it away his words his
2:03:00
position and I agree with him on that and keep in mind that this this technology is just not about covet 19.
2:03:08
this technology can be used in a lot of other ways and it's taken decades to develop and to Simply give this
2:03:15
technology away and this intellectual property away and it could wind up in
2:03:20
the hands of Bad actors is not the right thing and let's think talk practically about what it would mean let's just say
2:03:27
that a company decided that they were going to take on this intellectual property well I mean think about what
2:03:34
would have to happen in order for that company to produce vaccines safely
2:03:40
they've got to go out and find a site to build a facility they have to build a facility they've got to hire they've got
2:03:45
to get the main they've got to get the Machinery in place God knows how long that's going to take with the supply chain issues that we've got they've got
2:03:52
to train a Workforce and they've got to develop develop the product we can do that so much more quickly
2:03:58
right here in America we should be doing that we should if the issue is to get enough to get more vaccines out well
2:04:06
let's get more vaccines out the door but let's not give away our intellectual property that is wrong it it hurts
2:04:12
American innovation and it really does create the environment where innovators are not going to want
2:04:20
to do they're not going to feel comfortable producing the product innovating and producing the products here in America because what's to say 2:04:26
that the federal government won't come take their stuff and give it to somebody else
2:04:31
it's a horrible precedent to set it's not going to have the impact that the that uh that that the administration
2:04:38
believes that it will and we should fight back hard against doing this I mean what's next are we going to give
2:04:43
away our our Tech our intellectual property on cyber security are we going to give away our intellectual property
2:04:50
on on new technologies for for for cleaner energy are we going to give away
2:04:55
everything that we invent in this great country it's our competitive Advantage we should be doing everything possible
2:05:03
to put America and Americans first not giving away our intellectual property we
2:05:10
should fight hard against doing that we can provide the vaccines we can provide
2:05:15
the testing the Diagnostics we can do that we should do that we should invent things here in America we should make
2:05:21
things here in America and we should sell it to the rest of the world we shouldn't invent it and then give it away to to folks that really quite 2:05:28
candidly May mean to do us harm in the future with that Mr chairman I yield back thank the gentlemen are there other
2:05:34
members who wish to strike the last word the gentlelady from West Virginia Ms Miller is recognized to strike the last
2:05:40
word I moved the strike the last ladies recognized thank you
2:05:52
thank you an Administration has seemed hell-bent on sharing our country's IP with the world
2:05:58
however sharing our IP does very little to ensure vaccines are actually going in arms what we should be focusing on is
2:06:06
strong Supply chains and distribution channels further this unprecedented move by the
2:06:13
administration could have long-term effects on American innovation we need to be encouraging companies to
2:06:21
continue to be on The Cutting Edge of medicine however if sharing their IP
2:06:26
could chill future therapies and cures you need to be careful we must ensure
2:06:31
that the administration is doing their due diligence on this waiver I urge my
2:06:37
colleagues to report the resolution favorably I yield back
2:06:42
thank the gentlelady are there other members who would like to strike the last word
2:06:49
we are now prepared to move to amendments and if there are no amendments we're prepared to proceed
2:06:58
for what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition but Mr chairman I move that the committee
2:07:04
report H Rose 1285 adversely to the House of Representatives
2:07:11
the question is on reporting HR resolution 1285 adversely to the house those in favor signify by saying aye all
2:07:18
right those opposed no no the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the motion is agreed to an HR chairman
2:07:25
gentleman from Nebraska is recognized I request I request a record vote the gentleman from Nebraska has requested a
2:07:31
recorded vote and the clerk will call the roll Mr Doggett
2:07:36
Doggett votes I Mr Thompson the Thompson votes I Mr Larson
2:07:42
Mr Larson votes I Mr blumenauer Mr blumenauer votes I Mr kind
2:07:49
Mr Klein votes I Mr Pasquale Mr Pascal votes I Mr Davis
2:07:56
Mr Davis votes I miss Sanchez aye Ms Sanchez votes I Mr Higgins
2:08:04
Mr Higgins votes I miss Sewell
2:08:11
Miss Del Bene Mr benevotes I Miss Chu
2:08:16
I miss chuvotes I miss Moore
2:08:22
Miss Moore votes I Mr kildee Mr kilty votes I Mr Boyle
2:08:27
Mr Boyle votes I Mr buyer [Music]
2:08:34
Mr Evans aye Mr Evans votes I Mr Schneider
2:08:39
aye Mr Schneider votes aye Mr swazi Mr swazi votes I Mr Panetta aye Mr
2:08:46
Panetta votes I Miss Murphy
2:08:54
Mr Gomez
2:09:00
Mr Gomez votes I Mr Horsford Mr Horsford votes I miss Plaskett Miss
2:09:07
Plaskett votes I Mr Brady Mr Brady votes no Mr Buchanan no Mr
2:09:14
Buchanan votes no Mr Smith of Nebraska no Mr Smith of Nebraska votes no Mr Kelly
2:09:21
Mr Kelly votes no Mr Smith of Missouri Mr Smith of Missouri votes no Mr rice
2:09:29
Mr rice votes no Mr Schweikert Mr Schweikert votes no Mr lahood
2:09:36
Mr lahood votes no Dr wenstrup Dr winstrup votes no Mr Arrington
2:09:45
Mr Arrington votes no Dr Ferguson Dr Ferguson votes no Mr Estes
2:09:52
Mr Estes votes no Mr smucker Mr smucker votes no Mr Hearn no Mr Hearn
2:10:00
votes no Mrs Miller no this is Miller votes no Dr Murphy
2:10:06
Dr Murphy votes no Mr kustoff Mr kustoff votes no
2:10:12
Miss Sewell
2:10:18
Mr Beyer
2:10:27
Mr chairman I
2:10:33
Mr chairman votes I clerk will report the tally
2:10:40
there are no other members who wish to be recorded
2:10:45
there's Mr buyer we will recognize Mr Beyer Mr buyer Mr buyer votes yes
2:11:13
Mr chair I have 23 eyes 17 no's on this vote the eyes of 23 and the nose are 17
2:11:19
the motion is agreed to HR resolution 1285 is ordered reported adversely to
2:11:25
the House of Representatives without objection staff are authorized to make Technical and conforming changes
2:11:30
to the bill and members have two additional days to file with committee Clerk supplemental additional dissenting
2:11:35
or minority views our next order of business is house resolution 1262 this resolution directs
2:11:42
the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide certain documents and correspondence between the White House and HHS relating to the 2:11:49
reinterpretation of the tax credit for coverage under the qualified Health Plan and requirements to maintain minimum
2:11:55
essential health coverage the side from the nature of this resolution there were several
2:12:00
problematic details with it as a measure to begin with the resolution as directed at the wrong Federal agency the
2:12:07
Department of Health and Human Services is not in charge of interpreting the Affordable Care Act Provisions
2:12:12
contained in the Internal Revenue code that responsibility lies solely with the Department of Treasury and Internal
2:12:18
Revenue Service here the regulation at issue falls under section 36 B of the
2:12:23
Internal Revenue code furthermore this resolution would not do anything to help lower health care costs for hard-working
2:12:30
American families and as I have made clear in my letter to Treasury and IRS I strongly support proposed regulations
2:12:36
that would allow millions of Americans with unaffordable employer- sponsoring coverage to access premium tax credits
2:12:42
in the ACA marketplaces this regulation is also consistent with the statutory tax and Congressional
2:12:48
intent behind ACA I welcome our colleagues on the other side to work with us to strengthen ACC ACA and do
2:12:55
more to reduce health care costs for families at the moment they have refused to do that I find it's somewhat ironic that
2:13:02
our colleagues now seem interested in conducting oversight related to Aca why were they not in the last
2:13:08
Administration attempting to strengthen the protections for ACA instead of making changes including junk plans
2:13:16
this resolution does nothing to help everyday Americans put food on the table pay their bills or take care of their
2:13:22
families our committee Democrats are focused on legislation that will help women families seniors and all members
2:13:28
of the American family I urge my colleagues to report this resolution adversely let me recognize Mr Brady for
2:13:36
an opening statement thank you Mr chairman I yield my time to the author of The Resolution Mr Buchanan of Florida
2:13:42
the gentleman from from Florida Mr Buchanan is recognized on the resolution thank you Mr chairman we're here today
2:13:49
because in April President Obama chose to expand Obamacare with a stroke of a pen in the past I might have called it
2:13:56
this action unprecedented but President Biden put this type of a congressional sidestepping developed by President
2:14:03
Obama on steroids a decade ago the Obama Administration worked to implement the
2:14:09
massive boondoggle known as Obamacare at that time Congressional Democrats and outside groups put significant pressure
2:14:15
on President Obama to use the executive action to expand the definition of of
2:14:20
affordable to determine eligibility for premium tax credits despite the pressure
2:14:26
the Obama administered Administration decided it couldn't illegally expand the
2:14:32
definition of affordability because the statue was clear only a subsequent act of Congress could rewrite the law
2:14:39
ironically President Obama was featured at the White House celebrating with President body the announcement he was
2:14:45
reversing his old boss decision and moving forward with this legal illegal expansion
2:14:54
some have claimed Democrats wrote this bill to get it passed even even members
2:14:59
of their own party knew it was flawed claiming that the administration is fixing a glitch is false rewriting a
2:15:05
statue by executive action a decade later is an affront to the rule of law
2:15:10
and blazing violation of separation of powers career lawyers at the government
2:15:16
agency don't typically overturn a decade of precedent like this this is why we
2:15:21
believe the decision was pushed on them from the top and why we want their communication with the White House it's
2:15:28
likely the White House pushed these agencies to reverse prior decisions for
2:15:33
political reasons that we believe that the American public is on the hook for another 45 billion over the next decade
it should be looked into that's our Point as inflation rages and prices of
2:15:44
food and energy remain high the Biden Administration continues to pour gasoline on the inflationary fire at the
2:15:52
rate as I mentioned before for it 45 billion dollars the taxpayers are going to have to deal with the amendment the
2:15:59
administration needs to be held accountable and Congress needs to assert its Authority on oversight issues for
2:16:05
this reason I urge my colleagues to report the recommendation favorably thank you Mr chairman and I yield back I
2:16:11
thank the gentleman other members who wish to be recognized to strike the last word
2:16:19
Mr chairman Mr rice the gentleman from South Carolina Mr rice is recognized to strike
2:16:25
the last word Mr chairman the Biden Administration has
2:16:30
taken President Obama's pin and phone approach to government and turned it turned the volume up to 11. the decision
2:16:38
to Simply rewrite Obamacare and expand it at a cost of 45 billion dollars is an
2:16:43
affront to the separation of powers and something that this committee if it were
2:16:49
acting as it should an oversight of the administration and protecting the role
2:16:54
of Congress in our government is set forth in the Constitution uh we would be very interested in
2:17:00
unfortunately we're getting this type of behavior with this Administration over and over it was only last month the
2:17:07
administration announced its plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt with a stroke of a
2:17:14
pen this is absurd and of course Congress should be holding hearings and doing
2:17:19
whatever it can to prevent the administration from these unconstitutional illegal executive
2:17:26
actions but because congress's control of the in the control of the blue team
2:17:31
and the administration's on the blue team we happily sit on our hands and turn our heads as the administration
2:17:37
flouts the rule of law even speaker Pelosi recognized that the president doesn't have the legal authority to
2:17:44
cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt any more than they have to expand Obamacare outside of the
2:17:52
law at a cost of 45 billion dollars and yet we sit on our hands silently and do
2:17:58
nothing we we have only 15 hearings in two years and ignore the duty that our
2:18:05
people back home elected us to do when asked about the president canceling
2:18:10
student loan debt Pelosi said it would take an act of Congress not not an executive order to cancel student loan
2:18:18
debt but the president did it anyway and speaker Pelosi has made no effort to
2:18:24
move this ledger to move legislation through Congress to block this effort and nor has this committee
2:18:31
these actions by the abiding Administration will continue unless Congress reasserts itself
2:18:38
to present prevent abuses of Power by limiting the Executive Branch from exercising the core functions reserved
2:18:45
to it we referred Mr chairman you referred to this committee as the most consequential Committee in Congress and
2:18:51
yet we sit on our hands and ignore the fact that the administration continues to break the law
2:19:00
simply because we're the majorities on the blue team and the
2:19:05
administrations on the blue team and therefore they can do whatever they want and we will simply remain quiet and not
2:19:11
have any hearings and not conduct our legitimate oversight it is it is an affront to our duty to
2:19:18
our constituents and it is our front to our duties under the Constitution Mr chairman I yield back
2:19:27
word the gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr Schmucker is recognized to strike the last word
2:19:33
thank you Mr chairman the Administration has added again Shifting the goal post whether it be on recognizing inflation
2:19:39
how to define a recession or the crisis of the Southern border this Administration often doesn't level with
2:19:45
the American people here we have yet another example of President Biden's willingness to bend the rules in his favor
2:19:51
when examining this executive overreach to quote fix the family glitch
2:19:56
when ObamaCare was first enacted the premium tax credit subsidies were designed to prohibit family members of
2:20:03
an employee with affordable employer-sponsored coverage from qualifying for the subsidies President
2:20:08
Obama determined that the law was clear and that any changes to extend subjects
2:20:13
to families would require a change in the law what has changed President Biden just simply decides to reverse that
2:20:20
interpretation and through executive overreach spend billions of taxpayer dollars this is the committee that has
2:20:27
jurisdiction over policies impacting our health care markets that by the way was
2:20:33
the opinion of the Obama Administration as well it is our duty to completely understand how the administration can
2:20:39
spend 45 billion and further discourage employer-sponsored Insurance in favor of more government interference in health
2:20:45
care all these resolutions asked is that the bite Administration show their work and clearly explain how they came to
2:20:52
believe they had the authority to bypass Congress it's my hope that Democrats if
2:20:58
they support this resolution we can then have a robust debate on the merits of the policy and whether it actually
2:21:04
improves access to care a yield back Mr chair I thank the gentleman the other members
2:21:09
who wish to move to strike the last word hearing none we are prepared to proceed to the amendment phase that there are no
2:21:15
amendments chair would recognize the gentleman from California Mr chairman I move that the committee report H Rose
2:21:22
1262 adversely to the House of Representatives
2:21:27
the question is on reporting HR resolution 1262 adversely to the house all those in
2:21:33
favor signify by saying aye those opposed no no in the opinion of
2:21:38
the chair of the ice habit Mr chairman I asked for a record gentleman from Florida has requested a recorded vote
2:21:43
the clerk will tally the role Mr Doggett Mr Doggett votes I Mr Thompson
2:21:50
Mr Thompson votes I Mr Larson Mr Larson votes I Mr blumenauer Mr
blumenauer votes I Mr kind Mr kind votes I Mr pascrow
2:22:02
Mr Pasquale votes I Mr Davis Mr Davis votes I miss Sanchez
2:22:09
I miss Sanchez votes I Mr Higgins
2:22:15
Mr Mr Higgins votes I masseur
2:22:20
Mr bene aye Mr benevotes I Miss Chu
2:22:26
I miss chuvotes I miss Moore I there's more votes I Mr kildy
2:22:33
Mr kildee votes I Mr Boyle Mr Boyle votes I Mr buyer
2:22:39
Mr Beyer votes I Mr Evans aye Mr Evans votes I Mr Schneider
2:22:45
aye Mr Schneider votes I Mr swazi hi Mr swazi votes aye Mr Panetta Mr Panetta
2:22:53
votes I Miss Murphy to do that
2:22:59
that's what we should do Miss Murphy take your job bye
2:23:04
Miss America votes aye Mr Gomez Gomez I Mr Gomez votes I Mr Horsford
2:23:12
Mr Horsford votes I miss Plaskett Miss Plaskett votes I
2:23:17
Mr Brady Mr Brady votes no
2:23:23
Mr Brady votes no Mr Buchanan no Mr Buchanan votes no Mr Smith of Nebraska
2:23:29
Mr Smith of Nebraska votes no Mr Kelly no Mr Kelly votes no Mr Smith of
2:23:35
Missouri Mr rice
2:23:42
Mr rice votes no Mr Schweikert Mr Schweikert votes no Mr lahood
2:23:53
Dr wenstrup Dr winster votes no Mr Arrington
2:23:58
Mr Arrington votes no Dr Ferguson Dr Ferguson votes no Mr Estes
2:24:05
Mr Estes votes no Mr smucker Mr smucker votes no
2:24:11
Mr Hearn Mr Hearn votes no Mrs Miller no Mrs
2:24:17
Miller votes no Dr Murphy Dr Dr Murphy votes no Mr kustoff
2:24:24
Mr kustov votes no Miss Sewell
2:24:29
Miss Sewell votes I Mr Smith of Missouri
2:24:40
Mr lahood it's true the hood votes now Mr lahood votes no
2:24:48
Mr chairman Mr chairman votes I
2:25:02
Mr chair I have 25 eyes 16 no's there being 25 eyes and 16 knows the
2:25:09
motion is agreed to HR resolution 1262 is already reported adversely to the House of Representatives without
2:25:15
objection staff are authorized to make Technical and conforming changes to the bill and members will have two additional days to file with the 2:25:21
committee clerk supplemental additional dissenting or minority views our next order of business is house
2:25:28
resolution 1283 relating to the Internal Revenue Services decision to destroy 30 million paper information returns in
2:25:36
March of 2021 in September 2021 the treasury Inspector General for tax
2:25:41
administration publicly reported that the IRS destroyed about 30 million paper information returns earlier that year
2:25:49
these information returns were primarily from the tax year 2019 and were being processed in 2020. they were destroyed
2:25:58
because the IRS has an Antiquated system that did not allow these returns to be processed after the end of the year
2:26:04
the IRS also needed to use the same computer system to process business returns needed to provide covid relief
2:26:10
which had a higher priority at the end of 2020. the returns destroyed amounted
2:26:15
to less than one percent of the 3.2 billion information returns processed by the IRS in 2020. the IRS has stated that
2:26:23
destruction of these forms will have no impact on taxpayers the IRS provided an extensive bipartisan briefing to the
2:26:30
committee on this matter subsequently the IRS told the committee that the documents sought by this resolution
2:26:35
would wholly jeopardize voluntary compliance the IRS further told the committee that it is not releasing the
2:26:41
document and as the release represents a significant risk to the agency this
2:26:46
resolution does nothing to help everyday Americans put food on the table pay their bills or take care of their families the committee Democrats remain
2:26:53
focused on legislation and policies that help women family seniors and indeed all Americans I urge our colleagues to
2:27:00
report this resolution adversely let me recognize Mr Brady for the purposes of an opening statement
2:27:06
thank you Mr chairman I'd like to yield my time to the author of The Resolution Mr rice South Carolina the gentleman
2:27:11
from South Carolina Mr rice is recognized thank you Mr chairman the resolution is simple last year the IRS
2:27:17
decided to destroy 30 million paper information returns and we want to understand why most of the returns were
2:27:24
information returns used to cross-check tax filings to confirm their veracity most were filed by small businesses and
2:27:31
individuals simply trying to comply with the ever increasing burden of the
2:27:36
federal government we have questions about why this decision was made what implications it has for tax
2:27:41
administration and whether the policy changes are necessary whether policy changes are necessary to avoid this
2:27:47
problem in the future if 30 million paper information returns can simply be destroyed with no consequence we have
2:27:54
questions about whether those forms should be filed as all at all during our oversight of this issue we'll learn the
2:28:00
IRS Wade the pros and cons of this decision in a memorandum our staff asked for a copy of the memorandum that the
2:28:06
IRS refused to provide the copy of the document because they said release of the document would reveal sensitive IRS
2:28:13
information if true this is perfectly reasonable concern for the IRS to express the
2:28:19
Congressional oversight does not end there agencies cannot avoid Congressional oversight simply by saying
2:28:25
there's a risk to the agency the next step in the process includes negotiating to
2:28:31
an alternative accommodation that still allows Congress to conduct oversight while protecting the information the
2:28:38
agency considers sensitive but to date the IRS has refused to engage in
2:28:44
negotiations on this front and this committee refuses to move forward because the it's under the Biden
2:28:51
Administration our staff requested this memory memorandum on May the 17th ranking
2:28:58
member Brady sent a letter about this issue on June 13th and reiterated our quest for the memorandum Mr chairman I
2:29:04
asked this letter be included in the record so ordered to date the IRS has not responded to ranking member Brady's
June 13th letter last week our staff reached out to the agency to try to resolve the issue and avoid proceeding
2:29:17
with this resolution the IRS however did not make time for a phone call with staff to discuss the issue
2:29:25
and they made no indication of a willingness to make the make an accommodation this is unacceptable
2:29:31
Congressional oversight is one of the most important responsibilities of a Congress and when an agency is
2:29:37
uncooperative Congress must use all available tools to com to fulfill its oversight responsibility I have
2:29:44
consistently pressed the IRS on their confounding inability to modernize their technology despite being provided 300
2:29:52
million dollars annually to do so I believe had their technology been up to
2:29:57
date these returns would have been used as intended and the destruction of the returns would not have occurred moreover
2:30:03
oversight of the irs's decision-making will become even more important now that the IRS has received 80 billion dollars
2:30:11
in mandatory funding as provided by the IRA bill that the
2:30:16
Democrats just ran through Congress over the next 10 years and plans to hire 87
2:30:22
000 new employees I hope that the Democrats will at least agree to some measure of oversight over
2:30:29
this new Army of IRS agents republicans in Congress will continue to to conduct
2:30:35
oversight of the IRS with all tools at our disposal Mr chairman you referred to
2:30:40
my resolution as a political stunt and a waste of this committee's time I wonder if the millions of small business owners
2:30:47
and individuals who wasted millions of hours preparing these returns only to
2:30:53
have the IRS destroy them would agree with that I urge my colleagues to report this resolution favorably thank you Mr
2:31:00
chairman I yield back well there are other members who wish to move to strike the last word the
2:31:06
gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr Schmucker is recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I'd like to thank
2:31:12
Mr rice for uh introducing this resolution you know it's one of the most frustrating things for me one of the
2:31:18
things that we hear from constituents about more than anything else the delays in processing at the IRS I have
2:31:25
constituents who still have not received their refunds from 2019 and at the same time then the IRS
2:31:32
was the last agency last Federal agency bring its employees back to the office
2:31:37
so while they kept their employees at home they are not serving the needs of constituents and I would guess every
2:31:44
member up here is hearing the same thing from folks in uh in their districts and then the Democrats just passed this with
2:31:51
the so-called inflation reduction act which will dedicate 80 billion to the IRS as Mr rice just said but the large
2:31:59
portion of that will go towards enforcement rather than improving the
2:32:04
processes at the IRS and ensuring that they're more responsive and more timely uh with the American people and then I
2:32:11
think it's just inconceivable that the IRS would resort to destroying paper documents rather than working to bring
2:32:18
their employees back into the office so I think the American taxpayers deserve to know what's going on why this
2:32:24
happened this resolution would be instrumental in getting answers for our constituents thank you Mr chairman I
2:32:30
yield back thank the gentlemen uh members who would like to strike the last word the doc Dr Ferguson is
2:32:37
recognized to strike the last word Mr chairman before I get into my questions can I refer can we go back to your
2:32:44
opening statement on this I anticipate you will no and and go you had a line in
2:32:51
there that said that this caused security issues for the for the for the IRS do you mind
2:33:00
I am repeating the words of the IRS as they have instructed us would you mind
2:33:06
reading that again for us if we could find it as you want to proceed and I will find it here and we'll go back and
2:33:11
do it again okay yeah thank you because I again if they're if there's security concerns with an agency I certainly
2:33:17
think that we we as members of Congress in our oversight capacity should should
2:33:22
dig down into that and understand that especially for an agency that has been one of the largest purchaser or firearms
2:33:29
and ammunition um if if they're concerned about their security and safety and having to purchase that much weaponry and we got
2:33:37
87 000 new agents coming on this thing just deserves some attention but I want
2:33:44
to go back to something and reiterate a point that my colleague Mr smucker touched on and that is the fact that the
2:33:52
the customer service and the the advocacy for for the taxpayer at the IRS
2:33:57
is just almost non-existent at this point you've talked about hiring 87 000
2:34:02
additional agents okay which is you know I hear about this from my constituents back home all the time they are they are
2:34:11
they know what's fixing to happen they are they are about to be that they feel
2:34:16
that the weight of the federal government coming down on them for for for no reason but why aren't we focusing on doing the
2:34:23
things on getting the back returns taken care of why aren't we focusing on on making sure
2:34:29
um that that the IRS employees are fully back in in the office working why aren't we making sure that we're doing things
2:34:36
on behalf of the American people instead of doing things to the American people so you know this I I agree with Mr rice
2:34:45
as well this is not a political stunt this is legitimate oversight that this that this committee should be doing to
2:34:52
understand why 30 million documents just got destroyed okay without asking the
2:34:58
question I mean if there's if they're good reasons hey let's let's talk about that but shouldn't we ask that question
2:35:04
and shouldn't the IRS shouldn't we be able to dig down more deeply into that I I think this is I think I would
2:35:11
encourage everyone to support this and Mr chairman if you're ready to sure when the gentleman relinquishes his time okay
2:35:17
uh with that I will can I I will reserve the balance of my thank you gentlemen so in a memo that
2:35:24
was an email that was sent to the Republican staff director on this issue let me read verbatim
2:35:32
in response to your request I'm advised the document includes information on what data is transcribed or not
2:35:37
transcribed timing of case selection as well as what data can be matched or not matched
2:35:43
access to this information allows taxpayers to potentially avoid our systemic abilities to identify
2:35:48
non-compliance in essence wholly jeopardizing voluntary compliance it
2:35:53
could even allow information that would evade detection the IRS is not releasing
2:35:59
the document as the release of this document represents a significant risk to the agency I want to include this
2:36:05
into the record so the the risk to the agency did they
2:36:10
Define what that risk was of what the consequences of any damage would be to the agents they did not to my knowledge
2:36:17
inform us of precisely what that was well in that case I'm going to go back and I think I had two minutes and 18
2:36:23
seconds left I want I want to go back and say this is exactly why we need to be you want to reclaim your time reclaim
2:36:29
my time please um this is exactly why we should be looking into this is they said it would
2:36:35
create a risk to the agency if they haven't defined what that risk is we need to know about that so again this
2:36:42
seems pretty basic to me let's go you know let's find out exactly what's happened so we can understand this risk
2:36:49
thank you Dr Ferguson if the measure fails my suggestion would be that the staff directors on both sides simply
2:36:57
have the IRS and for a private conversation and then inform members or members should be able to participate if
2:37:02
they would like yes and I think members should participate in that Mr chairman thank
2:37:07
you thank you are there other members who would like to strike the last word I believe the gentlelady from West Virginia Ms Miller
2:37:13
would like to move to strike the last word I moved to strike the last word gentlelady is recognized thank you chairman Neal and ranking member Brady
2:37:20
you know this year the IRS had 10.6 million unprocessed business and
2:37:26
individual returns and 3.2 million unprocessed amended returns
2:37:32
I even had a lady approach me in a water aerobics class last week
2:37:38
upset that she had yet to receive her return from the IRS and we'd already
2:37:44
done an inquiry about it I'm very concerned with the irs's decision to destroy 30 million American
2:37:51
taxpayer records this also raises concerns with the irs's future abilities
2:37:56
to effectively process even more paperwork such as the 1099-k forms which
2:38:03
will be used for Democrats expanded reporting requirements on working- class Americans
2:38:09
in order to pay for their Reckless spending package last year Congressional Democrats used a budget gimmick to lower 2:38:16
the reporting requirement of gig economy workers and small businesses from twenty
2:38:22
thousand dollars and two hundred separate transactions to Simply six hundred dollars of income
2:38:29
this will lead to taxpayers receiving a form they've never seen before for taxes
2:38:35
that most of them don't even owe leading to overpayments and the IRS receiving an
even higher volume of 1099k forms as the IRS obviously struggles with its
2:38:47
already overburdened workload now is not the time to add more fuel to the fire
2:38:53
I introduced H.R 3452 called the saving gig economy taxpayer act to fix this
2:39:00
mistake thank you and I yield back my time thank the gentlelady other members who wish to move to strike the last word the
2:39:07
gentleman from New Jersey Mr chairman I I find that there's some
2:39:14
Merit in this resolution believe it or not uh thanks for indeed I I'm not finished
2:39:21
[Laughter]
2:39:27
need I uh sure would note this is the first time that the gentleman is
2:39:34
share with you the fact of who is the boss at the iron
2:39:40
RS you know we've had um hearings about this and I would think
2:39:46
that some potent questions here the IRS has to come before us and answer
2:39:52
some of your questions I I cannot vote for the resolution because of how it's presented but I'll
2:40:00
tell you one thing uh we we needed Personnel we want to go
2:40:07
back to the hit over the history Mr chairman we need the personnel but I find it very difficult to put that
2:40:15
kind of money into the hands of an individual who has not proved himself at all
2:40:21
but remember how we got there thank you Mr chairman thank the gentleman are there other
2:40:26
members who would like to strike the last word
if there are not to be any amendments the chair would recognize the gentleman from California Mr Thompson Mr chairman
2:40:38
I move that the committee report hrez 1283 adversely to the House of
2:40:43
Representatives the gentleman has moved that we adversely report H.R 1283 to the house
2:40:50
all those in favor signify by saying aye all opposed no no no the opinion of the
2:40:58
chair of the eyes have it Mr rice uh request recorded vote I'd like to is that true Mr rice I'd like to
2:41:04
request recorded that Mr rice requests a recorded vote
2:41:11
the clerk will please call the rule Mr Doggett Mr dog it votes I Mr Thompson
2:41:18
Mr Thompson votes I Mr Larson
2:41:24
Mr blumenauer Mr blumenauer votes I Mr kind Mr kind votes I Mr pascrow
2:41:32
Mr pascrow votes I Mr Davis Mr Davis votes I miss Sanchez
2:41:39
hi hi Miss Sanchez votes aye Mr Higgins Mr
2:41:45
Higgins votes I miss Sewell Miss Sewell votes I miss Del Benet
2:41:52
aye Mr Benny votes I Miss Chu I was two votes I Miss Moore I miss more
2:42:00
votes I Mr kildee Mr kilty votes I Mr Boyle
2:42:05
Mr Boyle votes I Mr buyer
2:42:13
Mr Evans I Mr Evans votes I Mr Schneider aye Mr Schneider votes I Mr swazi
2:42:21
aye Mr swazi votes aye Mr Panetta Mr Panetta votes I Miss Murphy
2:42:28
aye Ms Murphy Murphy votes I Mr Gomez
2:42:35
Mr Gomez votes I Mr Horsford Mr Horsford votes I miss Plaskett
2:42:42
Miss Plaskett votes I Mr Brady no Mr Brady votes no Mr
2:42:47
Buchanan no Mr Buchanan votes no Mr Smith of Nebraska no Mr Smith if
2:42:53
Nebraska votes no Mr Kelly Mr Kelly votes no
2:42:58
Mr Smith of Missouri no Mr Smith of Missouri votes no Mr rice
2:43:04
Mr rice votes no Mr Schweikert Mr Schweikert votes no Mr lahood
2:43:14
Dr wenstrup Dr wenshaw votes no Mr Arrington
2:43:19
Mr Arrington votes no Dr Ferguson Dr Ferguson votes no Mr Estes
2:43:27
Mr Estes votes no Mr smucker Mr smucker votes no Mr Hearn
2:43:33
Mr Hearn votes no Mrs Miller no Mrs Miller votes no Dr Murphy
2:43:40
Dr Murphy votes no Mr K ustoff Mr Kristoff votes no
2:43:47
Mr Larson Mr Larson votes I Mr buyer
2:43:58
Mr lahood Mr chair
2:44:08
Mr lahood votes no Mr chair
2:44:14
aye Mr chairman votes I
2:44:22
the clerk will report the role Mr chairman I have 24 eyes 17 no's
2:44:30
they're being 24 eyes and 17 knows the motion is agreed to HR resolution 1283
2:44:35
is ordered reported adversely to the House of Representatives without objection staff members are authorized
2:44:41
to make Technical and conforming changes to the bill and members have two additional days to file with the committee clerk supplemental additional 2:44:47
dissenting or minority views our next order of business is house
2:44:52
resolution 1288 this resolution would require the Department of Labor to provide all documents in their
2:44:57
possession relating to unemployment insurance fraud perpetuated by foreign criminals after the enactment of
2:45:05
the emergency unemployment programs in March of 2020. we should all be proud of the work that we did to provide
2:45:11
desperately needed unemployment benefits to workers during the pandemic our economy recovered much faster than
2:45:18
Europe or other places because of it those benefits allowed hard-working Americans to put food on the table keep
2:45:23
a roof over their heads until they indeed could go back to work and I would remind all that the 11 the 22 million
2:45:30
jobs that were lost have now all been recovered they helped delay the groundwork for the fastest jobs recovery
2:45:35
in America's history criminals did take advantage of overwhelmed State
2:45:40
unemployment offices to file fraudulent unemployment claims and no one should be
2:45:46
able to get away with that that's why ways it means Democrats provided the Biden Administration with
2:45:52
two billion dollars to address unemployment fraud and Equity issues revealed by the pandemic we should note
2:45:59
the U.S attorney's offices are quite busy the Administration has used these dollars well and they've worked with the
2:46:05
Inspector General and Department of Justice to prosecute criminals and have recovered hundreds of millions of
2:46:10
dollars in fraudulent payments but this resolution would do nothing to fight fraud it's likely that the documents it
2:46:16
seeks of the Department of Justice the inspector General's office reports and are currently a part of criminal investigations and prosecutions
2:46:23
think we don't want to jeopardize this resolution does nothing to help everyday Americans put food on the table
2:46:29
pay their bills or take care of their families Democratic committee members are focused on legislation that will help women
2:46:34
family seniors and indeed all Americans for this reason I urge our colleagues to
2:46:40
report this resolution adversely let me recognize Mr Brady for the purposes of an opening statement
2:46:47
Mr chairman I would like to yield my time to the author of The Resolution Dr Winstrom Dr Winstrup is recognized
2:46:53
thank you Mr chairman on behalf of Representative lorski I'd like to introduce for consideration
2:46:59
this resolution of inquiry directing the Secretary of Labor to provide the House of Representatives documents in the
2:47:06
secretary's possession related to unemployment insurance fraud or UI fraud during the covid-19
2:47:12
pandemic we have a role here specifically this resolution directs the secretary to
2:47:19
provide documents on unemployment insurance funds flowing to criminal syndicates and fraudsters in foreign
2:47:25
countries like China and Russia like to remind everyone that the president has declared the pandemic is
2:47:32
over and so we should move on from this point our Democrat colleagues continue to turn
2:47:38
a blind eye to what is possibly the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history we're facing billions of dollars lost to
2:47:45
unchecked unemployment fraud involving organized cyber crime and international crime rings
2:47:52
yet the Democrats have ignored repeated calls for congressional oversight hearings this resolution is the first
2:47:59
time this committee has given any air time to discussing the issue and only
2:48:04
now because the majority is compelled to during previous markup a build back
2:48:10
better I offered an amendment to address unemployment fraud the chair recognized the problem and it showed me that we
2:48:17
would address the issue and he would discuss it with the speaker I'd like to submit a document for the record that
2:48:24
summarizes the amendment and the partisan vote tally that took place during that time
2:48:34
Mr chairman I'd also like to submit two letters for the record one dated March 15 2021 and the other dated February 22
2:48:42
2022 these letters call for a ways and means oversight hearing to investigate
2:48:47
the size scope and severity of criminal fraud and pandemic unemployment programs
2:48:53
here in objection such will be the order Mr chairman neither of these letters received a response a hearing on
2:49:00
unemployment fraud remains long overdue it's our responsibility to act as good stewards of taxpayer dollars we have to
2:49:07
ensure accountability to American taxpayers that their dollars are not lost to fraudsters and international
2:49:12
crime syndicates I never dreamed that in the United States of America combating fraud would be a partisan issue where
2:49:20
Democrats prefer to accept it all taxpayers expense this isn't a victimless crime unchecked fraud turned
2:49:27
thousands of Americans into unwittingly ident to unwittingly identify theft
2:49:32
victims I had one constituent who called my office crying he was notified that someone took unemployment out of his
2:49:39
wife's name his wife had recently passed away reports range from 80 billion to
2:49:45
163 billion in fraudulent unemployment payments some outside experts say the
2:49:50
numbers even higher under the Biden administration department labor has only exacerbated fraud by allowing the use of
2:49:57
blanket waivers that would let States off the hook for for due diligence and fact-finding
2:50:04
during our markup of the American Rescue plan we introduced these amendments and to stop this the Democrats unanimously
2:50:11
rejected all these proposals including an amendment offered by representative Devin Nunes to verify the identity of
2:50:17
applicants for unemployment benefits and get documentation prior to sending any
2:50:23
money now that the programs have ended these cases are working their way through
2:50:29
court system it's become increasingly clear that groups who perpetrated unemployment fraud pose a national
2:50:35
security risk look unemployment fraud has left taxpayers on the hook for potentially
2:50:40
hundreds of billions yet only a little over 4 billion has been recovered Democrats may not be willing to even
2:50:47
admit the problem but Republicans are taking action in June we introduce the chase covet unemployment fraud Act of
2:50:54
2022 the bill would jumpstart efforts to claw back federal funds and pursue
2:50:59
recovery of fraudulent payments by ensuring aggressive investigation and prosecution of criminal fraud in
2:51:06
pandemic unemployment programs enough is enough it's time for this committee
2:51:12
and Congress to go after fraudsters and recover the dollars that have been lost
2:51:17
and that begins by having a labor department provide a full accounting of pandemic unemployment fraud I urge my
2:51:25
colleagues to report this resolution favorably as it's an opportunity to show
2:51:31
that you are not okay with fraud and with that I yield back thank the
2:51:36
gentlemen are there other members who wish to strike the last word the gentleman from Nevada Mr Horsford is recognized to strike the last word thank
2:51:43
you chairman Neal I moved to strike the last word get you Jason
2:51:49
thank you gentlemen is recognized thank you to the chairman and ranking member
2:51:55
um good afternoon and I want to thank my colleague Dr Winstrip uh for his commentary on this
2:52:03
and of course um Miss Wolorski who we again extend our
2:52:09
condolences to her family and I'm not surprised of her advocacy on such an
2:52:14
important issue I was proud to vote in favor of the pandemic unemployment assistance program
2:52:20
to help people who traditionally would not have qualified for unemployment insurance because of the type of work
2:52:26
that they did but sitting here listening to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle Express concerns about
2:52:33
unemployment insurance fraud I couldn't agree with you more now I don't accept the fact that fraud
2:52:40
and identity theft is something that we should just allow to happen and that is
2:52:46
why I agree we should be taking action that's why I introduced HR 8661 the
2:52:54
guaranteed unemployment assistance and reducing deception act the guard act I
2:53:00
think that we can all agree that the pandemic revealed many structural inadequacies of our nation's
2:53:08
unemployment system that are administered by the states criminal organizations seized on the
2:53:14
opportunity to steal finding ways to illegally access
2:53:20
people's benefits sometimes simply by applying as someone they simply knew
2:53:26
existed and had a job that's why my bill enables aggressive
2:53:31
action to recover pandemic unemployment benefits that were paid to these criminal cartels it supports prosecution
2:53:39
of ringleaders and helps fraud victims my bill also protects against the future
2:53:45
use of weaknesses discovered during the pandemic and it gives the Department of Labor new tools to assist penalize and
2:53:53
reward States performance in key areas such as program integrity and fraud
2:53:59
prevention the guard act which I've authored will help States improve their systems and
2:54:05
empowers the appropriate agencies to do their job and protect our constituents
2:54:11
to go after and recover from funds from Criminal cartels that took advantage of
2:54:17
the pandemic crisis and I'm very thankful to the support of organizations
2:54:23
like the national employment law project in support of my legislation so I am
2:54:28
glad to see that we can all agree on the importance of a strong unemployment insurance program and we shouldn't
2:54:36
wait we should take action on my legislation so I urge my Republican
2:54:42
colleagues to join me in this effort I invite you to become a co-sponsor of my
2:54:48
legislation and I appreciate the chairman and the committee staff for
2:54:53
their work with me on this legislation to protect our constituents hold
2:54:59
criminal cartel accountable and protect taxpayer resources particularly
2:55:05
during an economic downturn like we experienced during the pandemic with
2:55:11
that Mr chairman I yield back thank the gentleman are there other members who wish to be recognized to strike the last word the gentleman from Florida Mr
2:55:16
Buchanan has recognized to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I'd like to move the strike to last week's
2:55:23
recognized I'd like to thank my colleague Mr Winstrup for his introducing this resolution I can't understand why when
2:55:32
you see the Washington Post report 163 billion dollars in fraud you take a look
2:55:37
at as high as maybe 400 billion dollars in fraud we need to be looking at this clearly because we have an oversight
2:55:44
responsibility the other thing Mr chairman you and I talked about and you were very open to is everybody knows for
2:55:50
as long as I've been on the committee is in terms of Medicare fraud which is high as 10 60 70 billion dollars a year I
think that's the number that's kind of going out the door one way or the other but these are types of things that
2:56:03
should be bipartisan that we should be working on and taking a look at the better this is just clear you can argue
2:56:09
about some programs but this is just when we got clear fraud we need to figure out you know where we're at
2:56:15
together and figure out a way to resolve some of these things going forward with that I yield back sure I just to comment
2:56:21
on that because I think you're the gentleman's right about Medicare in particular and I I think it might not be a bad idea based on what you've 2:56:27
suggested perhaps that Mr Brady and I were to invite the appropriate head of the justice department who handles
2:56:32
Medicare fraud to come in and address these issues with us we can do it privately not to impede an investigation yeah
2:56:42
Florida Texas Oklahoma and Southern California are centers of it okay
2:56:47
uh are there other members who wish to strike the last word the gentleman from Nebraska Mr Smith is recognized to
2:56:54
strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I am greatly concerned with uh
2:56:59
jelly the fact that we have a great resolution here brought by Dr winstrup
2:57:04
and it is being dismissed and by the majority when we know that there is a
2:57:10
huge problem out there you know early in the pandemic we had bipartisan action to try to keep people employed try to get
2:57:16
folks the resources that that they needed and time was of the essence and we have had a lot of time to now go
2:57:25
back and and root out the fraud that we that we are told is rampant
2:57:30
and the fact that someone in need cannot access benefits because someone else
2:57:36
stole their identity that needs attention the fact that the
2:57:41
Washington Post as was pointed out earlier has estimated that there's been 163 billion dollars in fraud
2:57:49
through the unemployment compensation we should all be alarmed about that and
2:57:56
we need it I know that there are prosecutors out there going after the fraudsters but to
2:58:03
go after fraud after it has happened is not as efficient as setting up a process before payments are made
2:58:10
to prevent fraud I mean I I can't even imagine how many prosecutors it it might
2:58:16
take to go after 163 billion dollars of fraud that has that has been perpetrated
2:58:22
by an Untold number of individuals so that we need to take this more seriously
2:58:28
I wish that the administration would take this more seriously I I think they're taking an entirely different
2:58:34
approach but I you know this time here has actually been described as a waste
2:58:40
of time and I think actually the true waste of time is that in the past two years is where we have failed to conduct
2:58:46
oversight on not just this but the IRS backlogs the leaked confidential
2:58:52
taxpayer information and the administration's failure to really take inflation seriously those are the things
2:58:58
that we need to address much more seriously than we have seen and I yield back I think the gentleman uh are there
2:59:05
other members who wish to strike the last word and chill recognize Mr Kelly to strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I want to submit for the record
2:59:11
a letter sent March 12 2021 to you Mr
2:59:17
chairman this is Mrs Molorski had made this initial request
2:59:22
and we have requested several times to have a hearing based on the fraud that was taking place
2:59:28
in this issue and the estimates range from 80 billion to as much as nearly
2:59:34
half of all coveted unemployment Aid I'll sit another way 400 billion is more than the entire 2021
2:59:42
budgets of the Army and Navy combined I know you have great respect for this
2:59:48
committee and I and and I got to tell you I I know you and I know how you feel about it what I can't understand is a
2:59:55
committee that is charged with the oversight of
3:00:01
these programs in two years has ever failed to actually come together to have an oversight
3:00:06
meeting on this and to find out what's going on this is all taxpayer money
3:00:12
and for whatever reason we've decided for one reason or another and I don't know we just don't pay attention to it
3:00:20
and I can tell you today's today's hearing I was going to save this for tomorrow but
3:00:26
what is it that we're doing really at the very end of this session we've decided to look into some of these
3:00:33
issues it can't be because we didn't have time
3:00:38
because we've had very few hearings we've had very few briefings and I go back to the tax cuts and jobs act we
3:00:44
spent almost two years having hearings having briefings having members be able to come forward ask questions that they
3:00:49
wanted to ask and try to get answers to it before we brought it up for a vote
3:00:55
this this committee is so consequential and as and I know you have this deep
3:01:01
respect for ways and means and I know I know you feel that way
3:01:06
my question is where is your party's leadership on this
3:01:12
for whatever reason we have not been able to do the type of inquiries the type of hearings that we should be
3:01:18
having so I wanted I want to again submit this Miss Molorski of course passed but she had a concern back in
3:01:25
March 12th of 2021 and requested some action on this
3:01:32
it's never been addressed it's never been addressed of all things that should not be
3:01:39
my opinion should not be politically motivated but should be policy motivated this
3:01:45
committee above all other committees and this is without any disrespect to other committees because they all have an
3:01:51
importance this committee has the greatest committee to the American people
3:01:56
it's one of the oldest communities if not the oldest committee and with jurisdiction that covers almost everything that comes down to what's 3:02:03
important to our taxpayers why at the end of a session
3:02:09
will we decide to hurry up and Rush something through to say well we did we did have a hearing on it
3:02:16
um is it any wonder that the American people have lost the faith trust and
3:02:24
confidence that they need to have in our form of government I know the people I represent ask me all
3:02:31
the time why don't you do something about it and I said I love to but we haven't been
3:02:36
at the table we haven't been in the room we haven't been in the building we haven't even been allowed to be in the
3:02:41
town I see votes that take place day after day on that floor people voting proxy oh
3:02:48
somebody's going to proxy for me why why in the world I live in
3:02:54
30 hours a week qualifies for being temporarily employed not fully
3:03:00
employed the American people pace place all their faith and trust and confidence
3:03:05
in us and for whatever reason the political
3:03:12
jamming that we see has taken place over the incredible policy that this committee has come come up with during
3:03:19
the course of our of our government's existence I do not criticize you Mr chairman you know that I have great
3:03:24
affection for you because I know who you are and I know what you feel I just really do question the majorities
3:03:31
commitment to what it is we're trying to get done when we fail to address this I can't
3:03:36
believe that over the combined the combined budgets of the Army and the
3:03:43
Navy 400 billion dollars and possible fraudulent payments this is
3:03:49
all taxpayer dollars every single dollar every single penny and we couldn't find time
3:03:55
to look into what was going on it's a great disappointment not only to me but to all members of this and I
3:04:02
especially to you sir because I know you would have probably done this sooner have we had the green light to do it but
3:04:07
I am going to submit this further submit this for the record so ordered thank you thank the gentleman uh let me recognize
3:04:13
the next member who wishes to strike the last word and that would be the gentleman from Missouri Mr Smith thank you Mr chairman as uh my colleague
3:04:21
from Pennsylvania just just noted of the hard work of our former colleague Miss congresswoman Wolarski uh I want to
3:04:29
publicly thank her for putting forth this effort in in pushing this resolution and trying to address
3:04:37
all of this fraud and I want to thank you Dr Winstrup as well for carrying on her memory memory and making sure that
3:04:44
this is taken care of this is a huge issue Mr chairman if you look back when President Biden
3:04:52
took over we had more than a trillion dollars of excess coveted funds that was still
3:04:59
just lingering out there the response that the Democrat majority had was to pass another spending bill
3:05:08
two trillion dollars two trillion dollars they called it covet relief but less than nine percent
3:05:14
of it actually went towards covet it went towards so many other things that we've been highlighting how much waste
3:05:19
it was but we gave opportunities
3:05:25
to the majority and they refused to include Common Sense
3:05:30
proposals that would have strengthened identity verification and fraud
3:05:35
prevention measures in the UI program the majority was in such a rush to spend
3:05:42
American Tax tax dollars trillions of Americans tax dollars
3:05:48
that their hastily crafted plan left trillions vulnerable to exploit
3:05:54
trillions vulnerable to foreign crime rings foreign crime rings
3:06:01
the so-called rescue plan became law over 17 months ago and still not a week
3:06:07
goes by that there isn't a new headline about stolen identities harming an unemployment recipients crime Rings
3:06:15
stealing small business relief dollars and the list goes on multiple multiple
3:06:21
news outlets have reported that fraud from federal pandemic spending has exceeded hundreds
3:06:28
hundreds of billions of dollars but the exact figure is unknown
3:06:35
the exact figure is unknown and why because the Biden Administration and the
3:06:41
house Democrats refused to perform any oversight
3:06:46
any oversight and that's what this resolution is all about this resolution is all about just giving
3:06:54
us one ounce of oversight to see how hundreds of billions of dollars have
3:07:02
been used under fraud I can't believe that that can't be
3:07:07
bipartisan I don't understand why this committee why our colleagues on the other side of
3:07:14
the aisle refuse to join with us to see why hundreds of billions of dollars
3:07:21
are being lost in fraud The Washington Post which is not the most conservative
3:07:26
paper by any means has said over a hundred and sixty billion dollars in fraud
3:07:33
why can't one person on the other side help get get this Administration to
3:07:41
respond myself ranking member Jordan Luke Demeyer and
3:07:46
Brady we sent a letter not too long ago to the Department of Justice on this very issue
3:07:52
this very issue and you know what they sent back to us copy of testimony
3:08:00
that was not a response to our letter not a response
3:08:06
I hope my colleagues have enough respect
3:08:12
for American taxpayers that this committee would actually look
3:08:17
into the oversight of hundreds of billions of dollars that's being misappropriated do it for Jackie
3:08:23
Wolarski she saw it was a problem I hope that you all will do the right
3:08:30
thing I yield back Mr chairman thank the gentleman the chair would note that the justice department minutes ago charged
3:08:36
another 47 people with 250 million dollars worth of fraud in the pandemic relief programs uh are there other
3:08:43
members who wish to be recognized the gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized to strike the last word Mr
3:08:49
Smucker like to thank the chairman and Mr chairman if we could go back to your
3:08:55
comments uh you talked in your comments if we may about the justice department
3:09:00
and again just refer to that about the justice department prosecuting folks with unemployment and you you uh raised
3:09:08
a figure I thought of a several hundred billion dollars recovered I was wondering whether I misunderstood that
3:09:13
or if you had an actual figure
3:09:21
it was interrupted here I'm sorry Mr uh chairman I was uh looking for a clarification during uh your uh initial
3:09:29
comments um on this resolution you had referred to the Department of Justice Prosecuting
3:09:36
and you raised an amount that had been recovered and I wanted to know that I
3:09:41
wanted to clarify the amount I believe it's 250 million dollars right now that I believe is on the heels of other uh
3:09:48
hundreds of millions of dollars that currently within the realm of Justice 250 million 250 at the moment I just
3:09:54
thought that it was uh ironic that as we were talking about this issue another 47 people have been yeah I'm saying I'm I'm
3:10:01
sorry but you had mentioned earlier uh dollars recovered for this uh that the
3:10:06
unemployment that's 250 million or it's uh what this was just announced and as
3:10:12
Mr Smith correctly noted is not exactly the most Republican newspaper in the country The Washington Post is reporting
3:10:17
that yeah that's on food I was just trying to understand how much we felt we believe was recovered and um
3:10:26
no fair enough uh if I might though I think that the arguments that have been made are about have been about
3:10:31
unemployment insurance but also routinely the references were made to the word fraud yeah
3:10:36
uh thank you I guess the point I wanted to make it's still a very very small amount compared uh to the uh the total
3:10:44
amount of fraud that the Department of Labor's own Watchdog has put out and then I just I wanted to react to two
3:10:50
other things Mr chairman that you said in your opening comments uh you talked about the the benefits of this program
3:10:57
uh for American people who had received the additional unemployment benefits and I just want to point out that this
3:11:04
resolution has nothing to dollars that went to the American people this resolution is about dollars that went to
3:11:11
foreign crime organizations and individuals it's not even to people who receive benefits that shouldn't have
3:11:18
it's about a massive fraud perpetuated by Foreign agencies so it does have
3:11:24
nothing to do we can have a debate about whether the unemployment program was was beneficial whether it worked whether in
3:11:30
disincentivized work but that's not what this resolution is about at all and then the other comment you made was that this
3:11:36
resolution does not help to put food in the table and to some degree I'd take issue with that because I think any time
3:11:41
that we can root out fraud we can understand what has happened it's going to help American taxpayers and put more
3:11:47
food ultimately on their table and so I think I think this is an important resolution
3:11:53
uh and I I you know I I am as well flabbergasted that Democrats who may
3:11:58
even agree with some of these resolutions that are unwilling to uh to support them and I go back to what
3:12:05
Mr Pasquerell said um uh which I think is indicative of this entire process today he he said he
3:12:12
actually agreed I don't want to put words in his mouth he he believed there was some uh um validity to the concerns
3:12:19
that were raised in the IRS but yet he said he couldn't uh support it because of the form of the question so my
3:12:26
question is what form would he be able to support is this truly that just because it comes from Republicans
3:12:32
Democrats won't support real questions that we are asking that are important for the American taxpayers or is it
3:12:39
because we have a Democrat president have we gotten to the point where oversight by Congress a a core function
3:12:46
of Congress where we're to provide oversight cannot be done when it's the president of your own party so uh Mr
3:12:54
chairman I I know I've gone on but uh I I don't understand why members of of the
3:13:02
Democrat Party are not interested or seemingly uninterested in really learning what has
3:13:08
happened and what the administration knew about the fraud that was prevalent in this program
3:13:14
hundreds of billions of dollars uh in this program so I I'm frustrated
3:13:20
with the process here today apparently even when Democrats agree uh just they
3:13:26
won't they aren't willing to work with us to provide the oversight that Congress should be providing on the
3:13:32
administration thank you Mr chairman I yield back thank you gentlemen there are now four
3:13:37
votes on the floor and uh we have one more resolution to go so we will return
3:13:43
after we recognize uh Mr Estes or as much progress as we can make before that happens Mr Estes I believe would like to
3:13:50
strike the last word thank you Mr chairman I move the strike Last Story gentleman's recognized thank you Mr chairman um early in the covet 3:13:57
pandemic Congress did some critical work to provide a safety net support for unemployed Americans uh during the covet
3:14:04
pandemic but many Kansans in my district suffered from unemployment through no fault of their own and they suffered to
3:14:11
receive the benefits and even talk to a live person at the Kansas Department of Labor what makes this even worse is that 3:14:16
while thousands of Kansans would spend hours in some cases days trying to get a hold of somebody at the Kansas
3:14:21
Department of Labor hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims are being successfully processed
3:14:27
criminals took advantage of this crisis and hurt hard-working kansans in the process just last week an audit revealed
3:14:34
that the Kansas Department of Labor paid 466 million dollars in fraudulent
3:14:39
unemployment claims for March 2020 to March of 2022. and the Kansas State
3:14:45
legislatures continuing to investigate this issue in September of 2020 when it was most critical for the Kansas Department of
3:14:52
Labor to operate at a full capacity to help these unemployed Kansans they had to shut down due to 45
3:14:58
000 fraudulent claims clogging up the system throughout the public health emergency my office has heard from countless
3:15:04
constituents who are struggling to feed their family pay the rent or in danger of losing their car
3:15:09
this experience was just of Kansans estimates are that there's 80 to 160 billion or more in unemployment benefits
3:15:17
that were improperly paid across the country our constituents and taxpayers deserve
3:15:22
an accurate accounting of the true scope of this problem and the Department of Labor must release all relevant
3:15:27
documents to help us and that's why I support this resolution Mr chairman I yield back I thank the gentleman does anybody else
3:15:34
who would like to be recognized the gentleman from Tennessee Mr Kustoff has recognized to strike the
3:15:40
last word thank you Mr thank you Mr chairman and I moved to strike the last words recognized thank you all right when we
3:15:48
look at when we look at this resolution it is it's pretty simple it's not
3:15:54
nefarious uh it does something that I think we all agree that is noted and is necessary
3:16:02
that there has in fact been fraud that some of the fraudsters pursuant to
3:16:08
the resolution are in foreign countries like China and
3:16:15
Russia so when you when you read the the face of the resolution
3:16:20
it's simple it's it's self-explanatory and it is not nefarious
3:16:27
and with that I would like to yield the remaining time to my colleague from Ohio Dr Winstrol
3:16:34
I think I think I thank the gentleman thank you Mr chairman I just want to say this res this resolution
3:16:41
is not worthless we can't continue to ignore wrongdoing
3:16:47
Mr chairman I know you had to step out when I was speaking the first time and I was addressing some things to you with
3:16:54
all due respect I remember during the markup for build back better I said we're going to offer a lot of amendments
3:17:01
and you guys will vote every one of them down you said ah I'm not so sure about that
3:17:07
well you did we voted them all down during that time I offered an amendment
3:17:13
to address this particular fraud issue and you were kind enough to say that
3:17:20
when you recognize the problem and you assured me that we would address it
3:17:25
and that you would even discuss this with the speaker well this resolution is the first time
3:17:32
this committee has given any air time to discussing the issue and now only
3:17:37
because the majority has no choice you're compelled to hear about it and uh while you were out I submitted a
3:17:43
document summarizing the amendment that I had offered and the partisan vote that took place that day voting it down
3:17:52
and we do need to address this and I had never dreamed that in the United States
3:17:58
of America that combating fraud fraud on the government would be a partisan issue
3:18:04
where it seems Democrats prefer to accept it and ignore it and it's all a taxpayer's dispense
3:18:10
so we do have a tremendous role here but also what I would like to say is and
3:18:17
I'm curious is it is it under the speaker's direction that we haven't done this I I submitted for the record two
3:18:23
letters that we sent to address this issue asking that this issue be addressed
3:18:29
and we got no response so I don't know if that's coming from the speaker or where but I do say this
3:18:34
right now sitting here today this is an opportunity to show
3:18:40
that we are not okay with fraud both sides of the aisle to say we are not
3:18:46
okay with fraud and we will address this issue and this committee will take its role
3:18:51
I know that other other agencies are taking some action but this committee needs to take its role up in this
3:18:58
situation passes support this resolution and let's move forward as a committee
3:19:04
and do some good bipartisan work that I know we can do with that Mr chairman I yield back
3:19:13
but there is time left on Mr Dr Winstrup's time yeah Mr chairman I am uh
3:19:19
fine with my time and you'll look back to you thank you
3:19:25
I don't think there are any amendments to this request so with that I'd like to recognize the gentleman from California
3:19:31
Mr chairman I move the committee report HR.1288 adversely to the House of
3:19:36
Representatives Mr chairman I'd like the quarter bill
3:19:42
so the question is on reporting HR 1288 adversely to the house all those in
3:19:48
favor say divide by saying aye aye those opposed no no the opinion of the chair of the eyes have it the motion is agreed
3:19:55
to an HR resolution 1288 is ordered adversely reported to the house
3:20:00
with Emily I'd like to request Dr Winstrup is recognized for a roll call vote
3:20:11
please the clerk will call the roll and we intend to move to the next resolution as soon as this is concluded Mr Doggett
3:20:16
Mr Doggett votes aye Mr Thompson
3:20:24
Mr Thompson Mr Thompson votes aye Mr Larson Mr Larson votes I Mr Blumenauer
3:20:30
Mr Blumenauer votes aye Mr kind Mr kind votes I Mr pascrow
3:20:35
Mr Pasquale votes I Mr Davis Mr Davis votes I miss Sanchez
3:20:43
hi Sanchez votes aye Mr Higgins Mr Higgins votes I miss Sewell
the Sewell votes I missed Albene aye Mr Benevotes I Miss Chu
3:20:56
I Miss Chu votes I Miss Moore Miss Moore votes I Mr Kildee Mr Kildee
3:21:03
votes I Mr Boyle Mr Boyle votes I Mr buyer
3:21:10
Mr Evans aye Mr Evans votes aye Mr Snyder aye Mr Schneider votes aye Mr swazi aye
3:21:17
Mr swazi votes aye Mr Panetta Mr Panetta votes I Miss Murphy
3:21:23
aye Ms Murphy votes aye Mr Gomez
3:21:30
Mr Horsford Mr Horsford votes no Miss Plaskett
3:21:36
this Plaskett votes I Mr Brady Mr Brady votes no Mr Buchanan
3:21:43
Mr Buchanan votes no Mr Smith of Nebraska
3:21:48
Mr Smith of Nebraska votes no Mr Kelly
3:21:56
Mr Smith of Missouri Mr Smith of Missouri votes no Mr rice
3:22:02
Mr rice votes no Mr Schweikert Mr Schweikert votes no Mr lahood
3:22:09
Mr lahood votes no Mr lahood votes no Dr wenstrup Dr Winship votes no Mr Arrington
3:22:17
Mr Arrington votes no Dr Ferguson Dr Ferguson votes no Mr Estes
3:22:23
Mr Estes votes no Mr Smucker Mr Smucker votes no Mr Hearn
3:22:29
Mr Hearn votes no Mrs Miller Mrs Miller
3:22:36
Mrs Miller votes no Dr Murphy Dr Murphy votes no Mr kustoff
3:22:42
Mr Kristoff votes no Mr buyer
3:22:48
Mr Gomez Mr Kelly
3:22:54
Mr Kelly votes no Mr chair Mr chair votes I
was Gomez recorded Mr Gomez you're not recorded
3:23:10
Mr Gomez votes I
3:23:21
the clerk will report the tally
3:23:30
Mr chair I have 23 eyes 18 no's there being 23 eyes and 18 knows the motion is
3:23:36
agreed in the an HR arrest 1288 is ordered reported adversely to the House of Representatives without objection
3:23:42
staff are authorized to make Technical and conforming changes to the bill and members have two additional days to file with the committee clerk supplemental
3:23:48
additional dissenting or minority views we now are prepared to proceed to the last resolution
3:23:54
and it is HR 1246 related to stimulus payments issued under the American Rescue plan of 21 2021 signed by Mr
3:24:02
White President Biden notably this resolution does not request any information for stimulus payments issued
3:24:07
under legislation signed by the former president I worked with the former president staff
3:24:13
Mr mnuchin on the cares act I know something about it in total the Eternal
3:24:18
Revenue Service issued more than 500 million stimulus payments worth 869 billion dollars to help Americans during
3:24:23
the pandemic payments that were 99 accurate according to the treasury Inspector General for tax administration
3:24:30
99 accurate much of this resolution relates to information that is already
3:24:35
public the treasury Inspector General for tax administration issued three reports addressing stimulus payments
3:24:42
issued to ineligible receipts Inspector General reported that 2.2 million
dollars 2.2 million payments were issued to ineligible decedents under the legislation signed by the former
3:24:54
president compared to fifty five thousand dollars in payments issued under the American Rescue plan Inspector
3:25:00
General has also issued other reports containing information on stimulus payments made to non-resident aliens and
3:25:06
potentially ineligible individuals the requested information does not require a
3:25:11
resolution or action by the committee or congress this resolution does not help everyday Americans put food on the table
3:25:17
pay their bills or take care of their families Democrats are committed to legislation and policies that will help
3:25:23
women families seniors and all Americans I urge my colleagues to report this resolution adversely and let me
3:25:29
recognize Mr Brady for the purposes of an opening statement thank you Mr chairman I yield my time to the author
3:25:35
of The Resolution Mr Smith of Missouri Mr Smith is recognized thank you Mr chairman what do what do federal
3:25:42
prisoners illegal immigrants Japanese citizens and people in
3:25:48
graveyards that are under the ground have in common they all received stimulus checks from
3:25:54
the American Rescue plan that's what this resolution's about and what did the American people get in
3:26:01
exchange for a two trillion dollar spending bill that was said to defeat covid but less than nine percent of it
3:26:07
actually went towards health care and putting shots in people's arms I'll tell you what they got they got sky high
3:26:14
prices increased cost of living inflation has gone up 13.7 percent since
3:26:22
passage of this two trillion dollar boondoggle and and and and and that
3:26:28
makes it difficult for every American to put more food on their table clothes on their backs and gasoline in their cars
3:26:33
Help Wanted signs are plastered in store fronts all across America because the
3:26:38
so-called rescue plan spent 400 billion dollars to pay workers to stay at home
3:26:44
and now the law has pushed the country into a recession adding an insult to all
3:26:49
of that injury and the rampant waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars that has occurred and continues to occur under
3:26:57
the American Rescue plan in the Rush to pass the Bill last year Common Sense
3:27:03
measures offered by Republicans to put safeguards in place to avoid such waste
3:27:10
and abuse were rejected by the Democrats instead Congressional
3:27:15
Democrats and President Biden spent 500 billion dollars on State and local bailouts that left behind a massive
3:27:23
trail of waste and abuse at the budget committee for the last 65 weeks we
3:27:28
expose a different item of waste 140 million dollars for a luxury hotel in
3:27:34
Florida seven million dollars for horse racing in Arizona four million dollars
3:27:40
to build beach bathrooms in a parking lot in South Carolina the list goes on
3:27:46
and on but what we are here discussing today and what my resolution seeks answers on
3:27:52
are the hundreds of millions in stimulus checks that the Biden Administration the
3:27:58
Biden Administration sent to prisoners like the Boston Marathon bomber
3:28:04
foreigners like those Japanese citizens living in Japan who were shocked when
3:28:09
checks from the U.S treasury started showing up at their homes illegal immigrants and even deceased individuals
3:28:17
to date oversight efforts have uncovered that 783 million in stimulus checks were
3:28:24
sent to over half a million federal prisoners fourteen hundred dollar checks were sent
3:28:30
to thousands of Japanese citizens living in Japan in fact to this day the U.S
3:28:36
embassy in Japan still has a link on its website directing Japanese citizens on
3:28:42
how to return those checks back to the IRS up to 4.38 billion in checks were sent to
3:28:50
illegal immigrants and 13 million dollars in checks were sent to people without verifying whether they were
3:28:56
still alive this is not an accounting error this is a failure of government a
3:29:02
failure of leadership the American people deserve a full and honest review of where their money went and what
3:29:09
attempts if any the Biden Administration has made to recoup or at least account
3:29:15
for the waste of taxpayer dollars so far the Biden Administration has stonewalled
3:29:21
an ignored oversight request as the ranking member of the budget committee I have sent the Biden Administration
3:29:27
numerous letters on the American Rescue plan alone neither secretary yellin or
3:29:34
rescues the rescues are Gene Sperling have bothered to answer or appear before
3:29:40
our committees the resolution of inquiry requires the treasury Department to
3:29:46
provide documents records and correspondence directly to the house about the number of stimulus checks and
3:29:53
dollar amounts from the American Rescue plan that went to convicted criminals foreign citizens illegal immigrants and
3:30:01
the dead it is clear that the Biden Administration has no interest in pursuing answers to these basic
3:30:08
questions that is why this committee must do our job and force the White House to do theirs I urge my colleagues
3:30:16
to support this measure of accountability on behalf of the American taxpayer and report the resolution
3:30:23
favorably I yield back like the gentleman are there other members who wish to strike the last word
3:30:28
believing there were no additional amendments chair would recognize the gentleman from California Mr Thompson Mr
3:30:33
chairman I moved the committee report HR.1246 adversely to the House of
3:30:38
Representatives the question is on reporting H resolution 1246 adversely to the house all those in favor signify by saying aye
3:30:45
aye those opposed no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it
3:30:52
we'll get there the motion is agreed to an HR res order reported adversary to
3:30:57
the house the gentleman is recognized gentleman has requested a recorded vote
3:31:03
and the clerk will please call the rule Mr Doggett it's a dog that votes I Mr Thompson
Mr Thompson votes I Mr Larson Mr Larson votes I Mr blumenauer
3:31:14
Mr Blumenauer votes aye Mr kind Mr kind votes I Mr pascrow Mr pascrow votes I Mr
3:31:21
Davis Mr Davis votes aye Ms Sanchez aye Ms Sanchez votes I Mr Higgins Mr
3:31:29
Higgins votes I miss Sewell
3:31:38
I Miss Moore Miss Moore votes I Mr Kildee Mr Kilty
3:31:44
votes I Mr Boyle Mr Boyle votes I Mr buyer
3:31:50
Mr Evans aye Mr Evans votes aye Mr Snyder Mr Schneider votes I Mr Swazi Mr Swazi
3:31:58
votes aye Mr Panetta Mr Panetta votes aye Ms Murphy
3:32:08
Mr Gomez I Mr Gomez votes aye Mr Horsford
3:32:14
Mr Horsford votes I miss Plaskett this Plaskett votes I Mr Brady
3:32:20
no Mr Brady votes no Mr Buchanan oh Mr Buchanan votes no Mr Smith of
3:32:25
Nebraska Mr Smith of Nebraska votes no Mr Kelly
3:32:32
Mr Smith of Missouri Mr Smith of Missouri votes no Mr rice
3:32:37
Mr rice votes no Mr Schweikert Mr Schweikert votes no Mr lahood
3:32:42
Mr lahood votes no Dr wenstrup Dr winstrip votes no Mr Arrington Mr
3:32:48
Arrington votes no Dr Ferguson Dr Ferguson Dr Ferguson votes no Mr
3:32:54
Estes Mr Estes votes no Mr Smucker
3:32:59
Mr Smucker Mr Hearn
3:33:05
Mr Hearn votes no Mrs Miller Mrs Miller votes no Dr Murphy
3:33:12
Dr Murphy votes no Mr Kustoff Mr Kustoff votes no Mr buyer
Mr Kelly Mr Smucker Mr Smucker votes no Mr chair
3:33:25
Mr chair votes I
3:33:39
Mr chair I have 23 eyes 16 no's they're being 23is and 16 knows the motion is
3:33:45
agreed and resolution 1246's order reported to the House of Representatives without objection the staff were
3:33:51
authorized to make Technical and conforming changes to the bill and members have two additional days to file
3:33:56
supplemental additional dissenting information adversely reported to the
3:34:01
House of Representatives there being no bit further business in front of the Ways and Means Committee the chair declares the committee to be 3:34:09
adjourned thanks Kevin