{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/republican-amendment-ambush-157-billion-multinational-giveaway", "Republican Amendment by Ambush is $157 Billion Multinational Giveaway", "2017-11-08", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Lloyd Doggett", "D000399", "doggett.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee, spoke during the Republican Tax Bill (H.R. 1) mark-up concerning how the Republican\u2019s last-minute amendment is a $157 billion giveaway to multinational corporations. You may view Rep. Doggett\u2019s full speech here. \u00a0Rep. Doggett said:\n\u201cOn Monday, five and a half hours after this Committee began, the Chairman urged adoption of a 33-page amendment no Democrat had ever seen before [Amendment 1]. He would not tell us what was in this amendment, what it cost, nor would he permit us even five minutes to review this complex amendment outside of the committee.\n\u201cMr. Levin correctly called this a \u2018mockery\u2019 of the committee, that essentially placed us under \u2018authoritarian\u2019 rule. I have now reviewed that surprise amendment and the Joint Taxation Committee analysis \u2013 it is a $157 billion gift to multinational tax dodgers\u2014particularly the Koch brothers and big Wall Street banks.\u00a0$157 billion of the total $160 billion cost of this amendment presented in secret endeavors, is to tax attorneys who can find more ways in foreign islands to avoid paying taxes. The Republicans have eroded 95 percent of the \u2018base erosion\u2019 provisions of their original bill.\n\u201cWith the same $157 billion that is a corporate giveaway \u2013 the medical expense deduction for middle class families, the student loan interest deduction to help with loans that are burdening so many students, the out-of-pocket cost of teachers across America, the adoption tax credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit to help veterans and others get back in our workforce \u2013 all of those could have been included in this bill and still would have left a billion or two left to spare.\n\u201cAnd now Republicans apparently plan another amendment by the Chair\u2014another amendment by ambush to significantly change this bill. This will only lead to more wrongs because the debate on the entire bill will close before we ever have the cost analysis or the full implications on what any of these last minute changes do.\u201d\n###\nFollow Lloyd Doggett\nFacebook:\u00a0www.Facebook.com/RepLloydDoggett\u00a0|Twitter:@RepLloydDoggett\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram:@RepLloydDoggett", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/republican-amendment-ambush-157-billion-multinational-giveaway"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7830329705029726, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}