FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 07, 2004

CONTACT: Brendan Daly 202-226-7616

Pelosi: ‘Republican Corporate Tax Bill Uses Tax Dollars to Ship American Jobs Overseas’

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke tonight on the House floor in opposition to the House-Senate conference report on H.R. 4520, a pork-laden corporate tax bill that uses a $4 billion trade issue to enact billions in tax incentives to corporations that ship jobs overseas. The bill was approved by a vote of 280 to 141. Below are Pelosi’s remarks:

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this deeply flawed bill. And I thank the ranking member, Mr. Rangel, for his steadfast leadership on behalf of our manufacturing sector.

“This conference report is yet another example of the stark differences between Republican and Democratic priorities. We are faced with a simple problem caused by European trade sanctions, but Republicans are using a $4 billion trade issue to pry the door open wide for the special interests.

“This is a blatant example of corporate welfare, full of pork for the special interests. This is not, as the expression goes, “this little piggy goes to market.” This is the whole hog lot goes to the public trough. The oinking is so loud, the Republicans can’t even think straight. If you listen closely, you can hear those hogs oinking. Can you hear them?

“That may be why at every step of this process, Republicans have consistently made decisions that are against the interests of middle income Americans.

“The difference is clear. In our New Partnership for America’s Future, Democrats pledged to create new jobs here in America. But Republicans under this bill are exporting more jobs overseas. For more on this, I will follow Mr. Rangel’s lead and say please visit HouseDemocrats.gov to learn more on the New Partnership on America’s Future.

“Can you believe this? In the past three years, nearly half a million jobs have been shipped overseas, but instead of working to stop this hemorrhaging, this Republican bill tonight is has tax incentives to export Americans jobs. Think about it: They are using your tax dollars to ship your job overseas.

“In fact, as businesses around the country are hit with 12 percent tariffs on more than 1,600 products, Republicans have been holding this bill hostage so that they could include 24 extraneous provisions that will create jobs overseas rather than here at home.

“And no, Mr. Chairman, our distinguished Whip and I, in criticizing this bill, are not saying the problem shouldn’t be corrected. We are saying it should be done right -- not at the expense of middle income Americans, and not at the expense of increasing our deficit.

“This bill includes a whopping $42 billion in tax cuts for the foreign operations of U.S. multinationals. We all recognize the importance of multinationals to our economy. But we must face the facts: Many of these very same corporations already pay no income tax whatsoever. Many of these multinational corporations that are getting tax breaks in this bill pay no income tax whatsoever. And from 2001 to 2003, federal corporate tax collections fell to their lowest sustained level in six decades.

.“Democrats, led by Congressman Rangel, pursued a bipartisan bill that was tailored to create good-paying jobs in the U.S. without sacrificing our long-term fiscal health.

“The difference is clear. In our New Partnership for America’s Future, Democrats made a commitment to fiscal responsibility and pay-as-you-go budgets. Republicans chose in this bill to spend as they please and then to hide the true cost of their bill with expensive gimmicks. A convoluted combination of phase-ins, sunset dates, and changes in scoring rules masks the true cost of the bill and how it will constrict our choices in the future.

“This conference report is being touted as revenue neutral. But in fact it will cost nearly $80 billion over the next decade.

“The difference is clear. In our New Partnership, Democrats put forward an agenda to support manufacturers and small businesses. In this bill, Republicans chose to give handouts to special interests.

“Our manufacturing sector is struggling to stay competitive in a global market. The erosion of our manufacturing base is cause for serious concern in our country -- but not in the Republican Party. Under the Bush Administration, we have lost nearly 2.7 million manufacturing jobs. Despite this depressing fact, this conference report stripped language that would have given a bigger tax cut to companies that manufacture more of their goods in the U.S. They stripped from the bill a provision that would have given tax incentives to companies that manufactured more of their goods in the United States.

“The conference report also has broadly expanded the definition of “manufacturing” to include activities wholly unrelated to the manufacturing of goods and products.

“Now listen to this: The bill is riddled with special-interest giveaways, including suspension of custom duties on ceiling fans and steam generators, tax deduction on bows and arrows, fishing tackle boxes, and sonar devices, as well as tax incentives for other specialized industries.

“Even the Bush Administration’s Treasury Secretary has criticized the Republican FSC/ETI bills as including a “myriad of special interest tax provisions that benefit few taxpayers and increase the complexity of the tax code.” How’s that for an indictment?

“The choices that Republicans are making are clear. And they are the wrong choices. The same Republicans who today will find enough money for this special-interest giveaway have not found the funding to secure loose nuclear materials to protect the American people. They have shortchanged veterans’ health care by $1.3 billion. They have underfunded No Child Left Behind by about $9 billion every year, $9.4 billion this year, and have broken their promises on Pell Grants. And they have defeated a $1,500 bonus for our brave men and women in uniform returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I urge my colleagues to make the right choice and defeat this job-exporting, budget-busting, special interest handout.”

“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi