{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://barletta.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/barletta-statement-on-tax-extenders-legislation", "Barletta Statement on Tax Extenders Legislation", "2015-12-17", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Lou Barletta", "B001269", "barletta.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  Congressman Lou Barletta, PA-11, today voted in favor of legislation that makes permanent many tax provisions and extends others, preventing a tax increase for millions of Americans. The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act achieves certainty for individuals and businesses by extending or making permanent 55 provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that expired on December 31, 2014 and extending other policies for two and five years. The bill passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 318-to-109.\nAmong the tax policies made permanent for individuals were:\n Enhanced Child Tax Credit.\n\tEnhanced American Opportunity Tax Credit (for post-secondary education).\n\tEnhanced Earned Income Credit.\n\t$250 deduction for K-12 teachers for school supplies (indexed for inflation).\n\tCharitable giving incentives (food inventory, conservation easements, and IRA charitable rollover).\n\tState and local sales tax deduction.\n Among the tax policies made permanent for businesses were:\n Research and Development Tax Credit.\n\tSection 179 Expensing (helps cyclical businesses like farming and construction invest in new property and equipment).\n\tActive financing exemption.\n\t15-year recovery for leasehold and restaurant improvements.\n\tCharitable contributions of S corporations.\n\t5-year recognition period for S corporation built-in-gains.\n The Medical Device Tax contained in Obamacare has been delayed by two years, helping device makers, their employees, and consumers.\nIn addition, the legislation reins in the IRS and protects taxpayers by:\n Firing IRS employees who take politically-motivated actions against taxpayers.\n\tRequiring IRS employees to respect the taxpayer bill of rights.\n\tProhibiting IRS employees from using personal email accounts for official business.\n Barletta issued the following statement:\nThis is very good news for anyone who works for a living, cares about their family, and pays taxes. These extensions and permanent changes provide real tax relief for Americans, providing them with certainty moving forward, that the deductions and credits they are used to getting will still be there for them. On the business side, we are recognizing that the best thing government can do is to create an atmosphere where they can reinvest and create jobs. This is a jobs bill  and a quality of life bill  for American taxpayers.\nPostponing the Medical Device Tax helps manufacturers, employees, and customers who rely on devices like pacemakers. We also rein in the IRS, which for too long has been terrorizing citizens for its own political agenda. This is a tremendous first step toward meaningful and comprehensive reform of our tax code.", 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": ["http://barletta.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/barletta-statement-on-tax-extenders-legislation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3508850242942572, "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"}