{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/sen-whitehouse-statement-on-tax-extenders-vote", "Sen. Whitehouse Statement on Tax Extenders Vote", "2014-12-17", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Sheldon Whitehouse", "W000802", "www.whitehouse.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.17.14\n\t\t\t Sen. Whitehouse Statement on Tax Extenders Vote \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, DC \u2013 Last night the U.S. Senate passed legislation to extend a number of expired tax provisions.\u00a0 Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joined eight Democrats and eight Republicans in opposing the package.\r\n\u201cThe so-called \u2018tax extenders\u2019 package includes the one-year extension of a hodgepodge of over four dozen tax provisions.\u00a0 This extension is not for the year ahead of us, as one might reasonably expect, but rather for the year that\u2019s mostly past us.\u00a0 In other words, we will be extending for 2014 tax programs that expired at the end of 2013.\u00a0 This means that, for the most part, the bill will offer credits and deductions to reward things that have already happened while doing absolutely nothing to help businesses and individuals plan for the future,\u201d Whitehouse said in a statement submitted to the Congressional Record.\r\n\u201cIn total, there are 50 or so extensions in this bill, and the only thing they seem to have in common is that Congress repeatedly packages them together.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly,\u201d Whitehouse continued.\u00a0 After noting good provisions like clean energy incentives and a tax credit for hiring veterans, Whitehouse went on to cite \u201cunjustifiable tax giveaways\u201d for \u201cNASCAR tracks and racehorses,\u201d and ugly provisions \u201cthat reward U.S. corporations for shifting money overseas to avoid paying taxes.\u201d\r\nThe full text of Whitehouse\u2019s statement is below.\r\n-----------------------------------------\r\nFloor Statement of Sheldon Whitehouse\r\nOn H.R. 5771\u00a0 \r\nDecember 16, 2014\r\nMr. WHITEHOUSE.\u00a0 Mr./Madame President, later this week, the Senate will likely take up and pass legislation to extend several dozen expired tax provisions.\u00a0 While I support a number of the individual provisions extended by this bill, I rise today to explain why I reluctantly plan to oppose it.\u00a0\u00a0\r\nThe so-called \u201ctax extenders\u201d package includes the one-year extension of a hodgepodge of over four dozen tax provisions.\u00a0 This extension is not for the year ahead of us, as one might reasonably expect, but rather for the year that\u2019s mostly past us.\u00a0 In other words, we will be extending for 2014 tax programs that expired at the end of 2013.\u00a0 This means that, for the most part, the bill will offer credits and deductions to reward things that have already happened while doing absolutely nothing to help businesses and individuals plan for the future.\r\nIf tax policy is intended to influence behavior, the extenders bill is a double failure: it spends money rewarding things that have already happened and offers no incentives for businesses and individuals for the year ahead.\u00a0\r\nLet\u2019s take for example the production tax credit for wind energy, a program I strongly support that encourages the construction of wind farms.\u00a0 The provision in the extenders bill offers this incentive for properties for which construction has commenced by the end of 2014.\u00a0 That\u2019s three weeks from now.\u00a0 Instead of giving energy companies time to plan and prepare wind projects, we\u2019re saying: if you happen to have one ready to go, you\u2019ve got until the end of the holiday season to break ground.\u00a0 The clock is ticking.\r\nIn contrast to Congress\u2019s temporary, year-to-year treatment of the wind tax credit and other incentives for renewable energy, Big Oil and Gas enjoy permanent subsidies in the tax code.\u00a0 It\u2019s long past time to reform the tax code so it reflects America\u2019s 21st Century energy priorities.\u00a0 Permanent incentives for oil and gas and temporary programs for renewable energy is simply upside-down public policy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nIn total, there are 50 or so extensions in this bill, and the only thing they seem to have in common is that Congress repeatedly packages them together.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly.\u00a0 Let\u2019s start with some of the good provisions.\u00a0 In addition to clean energy incentives, the bill extends a popular tax credit that encourages businesses to hire veterans, a host of incentives for energy efficiency, and a provision that ensures that families that lose their homes in foreclosure don\u2019t incur tax bills for the deficiencies.\u00a0 These provisions have strong bipartisan support.\r\nThen there\u2019s the bad: the unjustifiable tax giveaways.\u00a0 These include so-called \u201cbonus depreciation,\u201d a program that allows corporations to deduct the costs of equipment right away instead of spreading out the deductions over the life of the equipment.\u00a0 Congress first included this provision in 2009 in the Recovery Act when it made some sense.\u00a0 The idea was to encourage businesses to accelerate their purchases when the economy most needed the investments.\u00a0 We\u2019ve extended it so many times, though, that now we\u2019re just giving money away to corporations for buying things they would have bought anyway.\u00a0 That\u2019s a nice subsidy for the businesses, but not a wise use of taxpayer dollars.\r\nThe bill also includes tax giveaways for NASCAR tracks and racehorses.\u00a0 While I know these sports are popular, it\u2019s hard to justify subsidizing them with taxpayer dollars at a time when we\u2019re running large deficits and face the prospect of more budget sequestration.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nAnd then there\u2019s the ugly, the stuff that does actual harm.\u00a0 There\u2019s a pair of provisions in the bill--the \u201cactive financing\u201d and \u201ccontrolled foreign corporation look through\u201d provisions--that reward U.S. corporations for shifting money overseas to avoid paying taxes.\u00a0 Sadly, there are already a number of provisions in the tax code that encourage companies to move operations and assets overseas.\u00a0 We should repeal those provisions, not enhance them as the extenders bill does.\u00a0\u00a0\r\nThis one-year, retroactive mixed bag of extensions will increase the budget deficit by over $41 billion.\u00a0 To put that figure into perspective, that\u2019s more than the annual budget for the entire Department of Homeland Security.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nEarlier this year, my senior Senator from Rhode Island, Jack Reed, lead an effort to extend unemployment benefits for the millions of Americans who have struggled to find work in this uneven economic recovery.\u00a0 Republicans repeatedly filibustered his unemployment insurance legislation, with many citing the $17 billion price tag and the offsets included to pay for it.\u00a0\r\nI expect many of these same Republicans will vote to pass the $41 billion tax extenders bill, legislation which is not offset and will add to the deficit.\u00a0 If Republicans are truly as worried about the deficit as many of them claim to be, they need to raise these concerns consistently and not forget them when it\u2019s convenient.\u00a0 Spending through the tax code is still spending, and we should offset it.\r\nMr./Madame President, next year this body will have new leadership and a fresh opportunity to tackle our nation\u2019s problems.\u00a0 I hope Senate Republicans will show us they can exercise the power of being in the majority responsibly.\u00a0 President Obama says he is eager to work with the Republican majority on several major bills including tax reform.\u00a0 I too am eager to work with Republicans on sensible, responsible tax reform\u2014reform that ends the era of year-to-year extensions, eliminates wasteful tax spending, and decreases the deficit.\u00a0 I thank the chair, and I yield the floor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n###", 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", 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