Episode 147 LIVE： Welfare In Drag – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz
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Summary
The House of Representatives has just passed legislation reforming the tax code, and it is no bueno. It is not a tax bill, it s a welfare bill, and I m going to expose in this episode how the uniparty worked together to great effect against those of us who are trying to advocate for regular Americans, and not the ones that the lobbyists and the special interests are paying off to do their bidding.
Transcript
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matt gates the biggest firebrand inside of the house of representatives you're not taking matt
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gates off the board okay because matt gates is an american patriot and matt gates is an american
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hero we will not continue to allow the uniparty to run this town without a fight i want to thank
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you matt gates for holding the line matt gates is a courageous man if we had hundreds of matt gates
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in dc the country turns around it's that simple he's so tough he's so strong he's smart and he
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loves this country matt gates it is the honor of my life to fight alongside each and every one of you
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we will save america it's choose your fighter time send in the firebrand
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welcome back to firebrand we're broadcasting live out of room 2021 of the rayburn house office
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building here at the capitol complex in washington dc the house of representatives has just passed
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legislation reforming the tax code and it is no bueno it is not a tax bill it's a welfare bill
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i am going to expose in this episode how the uniparty worked together to great effect against
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those of us who are trying to advocate for regular americans and not the ones that the lobbyists
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and the special interests are paying off to do their bidding so unfortunately they are uncorking the
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champagne on k street right now at your expense we're going to go through all of that thanks
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everyone for joining the live stream uh on x b sully says uh happy to be here to connect with fellow
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patriots let's take this country back fully agree and dr hardcore on rumble wants everyone to google
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blinken morrell cia collusion and i remember that i remember the blinken morrell cia collusion that
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was during the trump camp campaign against biden where you had blinken as a senior biden campaign
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official working to try to get these 51 so-called intelligence experts to discredit all of the
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corruption that was being exposed regarding hunter and joe biden on the biden laptop and it was in fact
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someone at the cia telling folks that they might not get their manuscripts approved for their books
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they might have to go through more difficult red tape if they didn't do what the biden campaign
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wanted them to do that's what you'll find out if you'll google it and i remember being in those
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depositions and there should be greater consequences in terms of not funding the very enterprises that were
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misused for politics in the 2020 election and that's why i have to break this cycle of continuing
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resolutions so i'm going to get now into this tax welfare mess that we are in in the house of
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representatives in the house ways and means committee they have jurisdiction over tax policy
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and so you had the chairman of that committee in the house a republican jason smith work at the behest
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of the democrat lead on tax policy senator wyden and they came together with this bill and i'll give
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you the opportunity to hear how republicans and democrats work together to pass it first so here's
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jason smith introducing this legislation take a listen the tax relief for american families and workers act
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is pro-growth pro-jobs pro-american the legislation locks in 600 billion dollars in pro-growth tax policies
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by restoring three key provisions from president trump's successful 2017 tax reform that have a
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proven record of creating millions of jobs raising workers wages and sparking more investment and economic
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growth right here at home this bill restores full r d expensing interest deductibility and a hundred percent
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expensing each of these policies will help american businesses grow create jobs and sharpen their
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competitive advantage against china this will create over 70 billion in new r d investment and over 900 000
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new jobs increase small business investment by 400 billion and generate 58 billion in additional take-home pay
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for american workers today america's small businesses are being pummeled by high prices and interest rates
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this package raises the expensing cap for small businesses beyond the limit set in the 2017 tax reform
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and it cuts paperwork for those small businesses by updating the irs form last changed when eisenhower was
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president not only are we helping businesses here at home but this tax relief package also ensures america is
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standing with our key economic partner taiwan by ending double taxation on american workers and businesses
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operating in both countries the child tax credit provisions reflect the same structure established by the
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2017 tax reform we maintain work requirements while enhancing the benefit to support families crushed by
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today's inflation and remove the penalty for families with multiple children it's both pro worker and pro
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family the reforms include meaningful tax relief for those affected by natural and man-made disasters and
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encourage more construction of safe affordable housing at the end of the day we are replacing bad tax policy
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with good tax policy by cutting off funding for the employee retention tax credit a covet era program
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that costs six times its original amount and is so riddled with fraud that the irs put it on its dirty
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dozen list of the worst scams in america this will save america
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we are back live and did you notice that the way they said they're paying for this tax cut
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is by repealing covid dollars so there's all this money stacked up that money that is pulled back in
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a rescission is not actually a pay for because it's it doesn't continue so they're using non-recurring
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savings in order to drive up the debt long term this bill will increase america's debt so it's really
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funny to hear jason smith talk about interest rates we know we've covered extensively on this program
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that the highest interest rates that you are paying right now for home loans car loans on credit cards
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all of that is driven by the debt and federal spending and when you engage in a tax cut which isn't really
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a tax cut it's just a giveaway that could that's going to drive up the debt there's no question
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about it then this argument well we have to pass this bill for china we have to be competitive against
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china this is going to be the new drumbeat every time they want corporate welfare every time some big
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business has the right lobbying firm has given out the right bribe money and campaign donations and they
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want your money for their goals to reduce their risk profile it's always going to be oh well you
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know we we have we have to we have to beat china we don't beat china by becoming more like china china
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has fused government and industry that is not what we should do in the united states of america matter of
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fact following the china playbook will inevitably lead to us losing to china they'll run the china
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playbook better than we do so we have to run the america playbook with more free enterprise and a
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flat tax code not a tax code with all these jagged edges and special giveaways and nooks and crannies
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for the powerful it wasn't just republicans who were in favor of this bad bill it was able to pass with
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an overwhelming majority because democrats loved it too here's the democrat lead on the ways and means
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committee richie neal take a listen the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for 30 seconds thank
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you mr speaker we've heard the arguments here this is what's possible and despite what some have said
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here this does expand the child tax credit it's clear no legislation that comes to this floor is
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perfect we tried very hard and we succeeded on the democratic side in improving this legislation so
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what's in front of us tonight is pretty simple 16 million children will benefit from the improvement
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to the child tax credit that's a fact we got a few other facts to share about how inflationary this bill
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is and the real and the real stinker is that this legislation is going to be a massive giveaway to illegal
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aliens the point was made brilliantly by my colleague chip roy of texas take a listen
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i do rise in opposition to this legislation and i do so reluctantly because i know of the significant
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amount of work by my friend from missouri by those on frankly on both sides of the aisle to reach
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agreement my friends on ways and means important provisions in this legislation that are critical for
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job growth for economic growth critical for the well-being of our country numerous businesses i know
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in texas and around this country that understand the importance of the expensing provisions interest
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provisions research and development but unfortunately as happens in this town this legislation comes with
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provisions that frankly the people i represent are tired of and it's provisions that would continue to
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expand the welfare state as the wall street journal editorialized about by expanding the child tax
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credit in ways that will continue to fund uh people directly through refundable credits uh which we
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find to be problematic and we think undermines the kind of economic activity and incentive to work and
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incentive to um uh you know produce value that we think is critically important for economic growth
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but importantly that that provision is also available to parents who are here in this country illegally
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of children born in the united states we think that's a problem we think that is not just allowing
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essentially birthright citizenship anchor babies but funding it that's a problem now my colleagues on
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this side of the i will rejoin that that was a product of the 2017 bill that was pushed by and passed by
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republicans including president trump to which i say right so what it's still wrong it's still bad policy
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we shouldn't do it and we should not be perpetuating it now all through the 11th hour last night i worked
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hard trying to find a way to come up with a provision that might be palatable on both sides of the aisle
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this side of the aisle to find a way to say let's get that provision pulled off so we can move the pieces
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that will be good for economic growth and prosperity that i think has bipartisan support and clearly
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support on this side of the aisle unfortunately we've not done that and i'm getting a lot of
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correspondence from people that i represent who are sick of the same old game in this town who are sick
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of saying we're just going to keep doing the same thing and we're going to in this case again continue
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to expand the welfare state and in this case do so in a way in which it entices people to be in the united
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states illegally benefit from being here illegally and do so at a time when we have a heightened level
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of illegal traffic into the united states 300 000 people crossing the border in december millions who
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have crossed under this president and we're now in the middle of that crisis going to continue to fuel
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the fire i think that is a mistake i think it is a mistake for the country i think it is a mistake on
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policy and i think it is a mistake politically i reserve we are back live grammy mcgee on x
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complaints about the big corporations being all that matters to far too many people i agree that's why
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you had the glue for this bill to pass because there was such a such a giveaway to corporate america
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and we don't stand for that we want the middle class of the country to succeed and we believe that
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corporations ought to be successful but the best way to make them successful is not to give them
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these targeted opportunities to not pay taxes it's to have a fair flat tax across the board that
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everybody pays and then everybody makes a contribution and everybody can thrive and you don't have
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government putting their hand on on the scale a lot of comments in the live stream also yes sir ski
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says gates air these traitors out rizzi on youtube says matt time to make sure government
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is hated but our country is loved and then rizzi on youtube also says that roy is a rhino for ukraine
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that is actually not true chip roy is in the fight against the efforts by the unit party to send more
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money to ukraine so i think his voting record on those matters has been pretty closely aligned to what
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you've seen from myself marjorie taylor green thomas massey tim birchett there's a there's a good group
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andy biggs there's a good group that stands against the inflationary act of sending money to ukraine and and i
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would count chip roy among that so on this tax bill masquerading uh around uh the floor really it's a welfare bill
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the feistiest debate the most tense back and forth exchange was between myself and drew ferguson now
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you'll remember that congressman drew ferguson is from georgia he has announced that he is not seeking
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re-election to the congress and he was one of the 20 plus members who refused to vote for jim jordan
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at the end of jim jordan's campaign for speaker here's my debate against this bad welfare bill
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and my exchange with congressman ferguson take a listen to the extent that this is a tax bill there
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are good provisions in it on business expensing for economic growth but my friends this is not a
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tax bill this is a welfare bill masquerading as a tax bill the wall street journal was correct to
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identify the ways in which this legislation vastly expands the welfare state and so this is how the
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bipartisan agreement came together if the republicans were willing to give the democrats what they
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wanted for illegal aliens to get massive subsidies and welfare then the democrats were willing to give
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the republicans what they wanted on a bunch of business welfare the child tax credit as currently
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contemplated will be a massive pull factor to bring people into this country illegally and we could have
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as the majority party demanded constraints to stop them from being able to use the money
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that way but but bipartisanship was more important than good policy and as my friend from kentucky mr
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massey noted recently if you aren't paying taxes and you get a refundable tax credit in the form of a check
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that's not a tax cut that's not even tax policy that's just welfare that's just giving people money
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that didn't initially pay it in and a bunch of them are here illegally but it's not just a welfare bill
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in that respect it's also corporate welfare these r and d tax credits that they've put in there are
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so targeted they're bought and paid for by the lobbyists who fund their campaigns and give them
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donations and it is entirely wrong we should have a flat tax code and the r d tax credits that they're
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putting in are are deeply misguided they continue to distort the economy and frankly it's just another
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flavor of a lot of a lot of the green new deal tax credits that you act like you're against but
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indeed mr speaker that is not the case this is not a tax bill it is a welfare bill in drag and that may
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be appealing to some of the proponents i yield back the complete mischaracterization about the child tax
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credit is oh it's the most intellectually dishonest conversation that i have heard on this floor in a very
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long time this is about making sure that people that work and their families have the ability to
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get ahead but let me tell you something we all believe on this side of the aisle that you should
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work in order to receive federal benefits that is something that this bill does and i find one 15
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seconds mr chairman because i think it's important 15 seconds the gentleman from florida just
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characterized this bill which the child tax credit piece which is something that president trump
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signed into law is giving people that are here illegally a check i hate to see that mischaracterization
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from my colleague from florida about president trump's signature bill i yield back the gentleman from
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florida is recognized if my characterization of the child tax credit is intellectually dishonest
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i'd love to hear the warrants behind that claim because none of my colleagues can state how
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a huge sum of this money is not going to hand up in the hands of illegal immigrants and when it comes
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to evaluating that context in the era of trump versus the era of biden it is somewhat embarrassing
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that i would have to remind a republican colleague that it's the biden administration that's let in 10
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million additional people which vastly blows out the cost of this particular endeavor under trump you
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didn't have an open border so there was less a concern about drawing more people here illegally
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dk on x wonders how people can just lie with a straight face dennis on youtube says that the swamp
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creatures don't like a flat tax go shopping on youtube says flat tax only and on getter unsheepled
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says that a flat tax will never pass because the well-connected get too much out of a system like
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the one we have organized and you know what yes under an ideal circumstance i would want our tax policy to
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broaden the base and lower rates and be a flatter system and while the system we have right now is
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certainly not ideal we should not advance bills that make it worse that go in the wrong direction
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of a flat fair easily to comply with tax code this is going to be inflationary this is going to drive
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up interest rates and it's going to put a ton of money in the hands of illegals who didn't pay the tax
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in but are going to get the refund and here's the answer congressman ferguson anyone can get this child
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tax credit with an employee id number not a social security number and all these people who are coming
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across the border illegally and getting this phony asylum status they get a tax id number so they're
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going to get the checks on all of this we easily could have written into this bill that you have to
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have a social security number that is valid in order to receive the benefit but you see they didn't
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do that because they wanted the democrat votes and so they were willing to do a massive giveaway to
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illegals in order to facilitate their corporate welfare further debate on the point was made by
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Kentucky's Thomas Massey he was a guest on this program recently take a listen
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look there's something in this bill called tax credits but they're also called refundable so
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what is a refundable tax credit it's welfare by a different name we are going to give cash payments
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checks to people who don't even pay taxes the hard-working constituents that I represent in Kentucky are
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tired of getting up at 6 a.m driving an hour or two to work working their hind ends off to watch their
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neighbors collect these checks of which there will be more of after this bill it's just wrong now does
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anybody find it interesting that the democratic leadership has not even claimed time in opposition to this bill
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why is that why aren't they opposed now there are a few democrats opposed maybe some don't think it goes
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far enough or some are opposed to the what they call corporate welfare in here but by and large the
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democrats are not opposed to this because this is an expansion of the welfare state that is what it is
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so here's my concern about that you know is it is it mean to give away money no it's not mean
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oh we could consider it compassionate until you think about the implications now this tax bill they
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say it's paid for what does that mean what does it mean when it's paid for there's some gimmicks in here
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that are not going to reduce the debt this is actually going to cost now by washington dc math
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it's paid for but when you look at the debt when you look at the national debt it will go up as a result
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to this bill everybody in here knows it we know these are gimmicks when you call it a pay for
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this bill will increase our debt what's that going to do it's going to cause inflation to go up
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that's going to affect everybody including the people you're trying to give the money to for having kids
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this is bad policy i'm opposed to it and i urge a no vote and i yield back to the gentleman from texas
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we get the feedback from getter share saying thomas massey is right we are tired of that in missouri as
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well so this was the debate i've shown you what jason smith had to say about the bill what the democrat
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lead richie neal had to say about the bill i showed you our arguments against it overwhelmingly on the
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live stream you are not for this madness trigger warning on youtube and the madness we should figure
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out a way to do live polls on this stuff joel but in the meantime i have to report to you that this
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legislation passed with 357 yes votes and only 70 no votes so i'll break that down by party 169 republicans
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voted yes only 47 republicans voted no 188 democrats voted yes and only 23 democrats voted no so if you
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look at the yes votes the 357 yes votes 188 of those came from democrats and 169 of them came from
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republicans so we are we we passed a welfare bill yesterday that we dressed up like a tax bill but
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it's really a welfare bill in drag and we passed it with more democrat votes than republican votes
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it's a democrat bill and they got the republicans to do their bidding even when we were in the majority
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it's disgraceful now i i want to also preview the work that's coming up next week on tax policy there's
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something called the salt debate around taxes and no that's not sodium salt is an acronym for state
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and local taxes and there was this big deduction that people got in blue states for their state
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and local taxes off of their federal income taxes and one of the ways that we actually paid for part of
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the trump tax cuts was to remove that deduction and as a florida man i supported that because if you
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have some crazy high taxes in new york or connecticut sorry new yorkers and people from blue states i
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love you but i don't think people in low tax states should have to subsidize people in high tax states
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just because you guys have a bunch of goons in your state legislatures and on your local governments
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who want to take more of your money like the answer is if you don't want to give more of your money
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to wasteful government in blue states you have to pick better leaders you can't expect the people in
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arizona florida south carolina to subsidize the high taxes that that other people are paying and so
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the new yorkers the new york republicans who special breed of cat they want to introduce a bill
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to increase the extent to which married people can claim that deduction against their federal taxes
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with their state and local liabilities i will oppose this i call on all florida representatives to
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oppose the efforts to degrade erode or even take one grain of salt away from the trump tax policies it is
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the obligation of every florida representative to defend those trump policies on salt and not to go back
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to subsidizing people in high tax states and if floridians vote for the advancement of this type
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of legislation then they are betraying the people of the sunshine state it's that simple we have a
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demand that we're making of the leadership if they want to bring that salt bill to the floor we want
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legislation on the floor that says that you don't get welfare unless you have a valid social security
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number so if they're going to get a salt vote we want to vote to make sure that illegals are not just
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raping the system because they're able to use a tax id number instead of an actual social security
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number those negotiations are ongoing and i will be participating in their continuation as soon as
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we conclude this program so thank you so much for tuning in for lending your advocacy and your enthusiasm
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to the work we're doing here in the united states congress be a part of our newsletter go to gates.house.gov
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