[Pages H1901-H1904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Moore 
of Utah was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.)


                             General Leave

  MR. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Utah?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be joined by my 
colleagues this evening to talk about our progress on the 
reconciliation bill, as well as the importance of supporting our Main 
Street businesses during National Small Business Week.
  I understand some of my colleagues have commitments, and I want to be 
respectful of their time. So I will have them start us off before I 
provide some of my own comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Dakota (Mrs. 
Fedorchak), a much improved Representative from the previous individual 
of the great State of North Dakota.
  Mrs. FEDORCHAK. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Moore for 
yielding. I never get tired of that joke.
  Mr. Speaker, as we consider the critical reforms in the 
reconciliation process, I rise today to make the case for why we must 
eliminate the generous Federal subsidies for wind and solar energy paid 
for by taxpayers.
  By continuing to incentivize these intermittent energy sources with 
generous tax credits, we are distorting energy markets, sending the 
absolute wrong signal to investors, and spending hundreds of billions 
of dollars in taxpayer money.
  We must stop providing generous incentives that run contrary to the 
types of energy resources we need, and tonight I want to highlight 10 
reasons why. Yes, you heard me right. There are 10 good reasons to 
eliminate these incentives.
  First, the cost to taxpayers is enormous. Over the next decade, these 
subsidies are projected to cost up to $900 billion.
  Second, these subsidies are driving instability in our power grid. 
Right now two-thirds of the country is at risk of not having enough 
power to meet demand. That is not a few years from now. That is not a 
near, long-term problem. That is today. Keep in mind, the power needed 
for AI is also growing exponentially, further creating a more difficult 
problem for us.
  Third, grid operators are asking for dispatchable resources, such as 
coal, natural gas, and nuclear. Yet, we continue to incentivize the 
opposite.
  These reliable resources are being prematurely retired, and we are 
not replacing them with the technologies we can count on around the 
clock.
  This is not a political statement. It is simply a matter of physics. 
We don't need to imagine the consequences of retiring these baseload 
energy resources. Spain, just a few weeks ago, experienced nationwide 
blackouts, and their economy came to a grinding halt.
  Spain relied on wind and solar for 80 percent of its power, which is 
ultimately what jeopardized their grid. This should be a wake-up call 
for policymakers everywhere.
  That brings me to reason number four. Despite the warning signs and 
the cries from grid operators, 95 percent of the projects waiting to 
connect to our grid in the U.S. are wind and solar; 95 percent.
  That is not because of market demand for wind and solar. It is 
because of the very generous subsidies that this body and the rest of 
Washington continues to provide for these resources. This artificial 
growth is making it harder for reliable baseload generation to connect 
to the grid.
  Number five, the incentives. These same incentives are distorting the 
market. Eliminating these subsidies would allow private investment to 
go toward other technologies that are more in line with what our grid 
actually needs.
  As I mentioned earlier, with the rise of AI, we are going to need a 
lot more power. We should be sending the right market signals to bring 
the power on that will actually meet the demand that we need for the 
future.
  Number six, wind and solar are no longer emerging technologies. They 
are mature. They are widely developed. Wind and solar now account for 
17 percent of our electric generation.
  The cost of these technologies has also dropped dramatically, and 
this is the seventh reason to phase them out. Wind and solar 
technologies have less overhead, longer lifespans, and higher profits 
than they did when these credits were introduced nearly 30 years ago in 
the 1990s.
  For example, the cost of solar has decreased more than 80 percent 
since 2010. Truly, the market is more than capable of supporting 
continued growth without subsidies.

  As if that isn't compelling enough, there are yet more reasons to 
phase out these subsidies.
  Number eight, their efficiency has increased substantially. Today's 
wind turbines and solar panels are far more productive than they were 
even a decade ago.
  When I first started permitting these projects 12 years ago, the 
capacity factor for wind was around 25 percent. Today that average 
capacity factor is up to 40 percent and in some places even 50 percent. 
Clearly, these are proven technologies.
  Number nine, the true cost of installing wind and solar is often 
misrepresented. Advocates routinely leave out the cost of the massive 
transmission infrastructure needed to connect remote wind and solar 
projects to population centers.
  They also ignore the cost of backup generation needed to keep the 
lights on at night or when the wind isn't blowing. The low-cost claims 
don't account for these expenses, but, rest assured, utility customers 
still pay for them.
  And last, but not least, eliminating these subsidies is fully 
consistent with an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
  I believe in competition. Wind and solar are viable, market proven, 
widely available technologies. Mr. Speaker, it is time to let them 
compete and succeed without the help of Federal taxpayers.
  Phasing out these tax credits will save taxpayers billions of 
dollars, help restore reliability to our power grid, and help deliver 
on the promise of one big, beautiful bill to make America stronger, 
safer, and more competitive.
  Let's retire these subsidies permanently.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North 
Dakota for her remarks.
  I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman).
  Mr. STUTZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to talk on 
such an important issue that faces our country.
  Our country has been ailing since 2020, but, thankfully, President 
Trump is back, along with Republicans in both the House and the Senate, 
and we are ready to govern responsibly.
  The prescription that will help heal our country and get us back on 
track is the beautiful reconciliation bill that Republicans have been 
working on diligently to get to President Trump's desk. It cannot be 
overstated. Our debt crisis is out of control.
  When I was first sworn into office in 2010, our Federal Government 
had $9 trillion of debt. When I left temporarily in 2017, despite our 
efforts to curb spending, it had doubled to $18 trillion of debt, and 
now today in 2025, we are staring down the barrel of $36 trillion of 
debt.
  This is only going to hurt our children, grandchildren, and, frankly, 
it is going to hurt us today.
  Republicans' big, beautiful bill was passed out of our Budget 
Committee just under 3 months ago and is already well on its way to 
being approved by this body by Memorial Day.

                              {time}  1830

  The legislation that committees are marking up this week and next is 
going

[[Page H1902]]

to usher in the new golden age of America by prioritizing a 
revolutionary, conservative agenda that will improve the efficiency of 
government and finally get a handle on runaway spending that has gone 
unchecked for far too long.
  This bill is going to lower taxes. This bill is also going to 
increase border security and restore fiscal sanity back to the greatest 
country on Earth. Gone are the days of prioritizing wokeness, frivolous 
spending, and the leftist dream of open borders. Here to stay is a new 
era of putting America first.
  The American people spoke loud and clear in November. They are ready 
for Washington to operate in a new patriotic and responsible way, and 
our reconciliation package is the first step in that direction.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of such a 
historic opportunity, and we as Republicans cannot let this opportunity 
slip by. I appreciate our Speaker and the leader in the Senate working 
together well and this body working together to make sure that our 
country is strong, not only for our generation but for generations to 
come, and continue to keep America great.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana 
for his comments, and I appreciate his work. We share a lot of work 
together on the Budget Committee, and it has been a very active time.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman). 
Her State, quite possibly, may be the second-best State out there in 
the West, second to Utah, of course. I think we have that mantle pretty 
well locked up, but there are some other good ones in the running.
  Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I like being in the top five. I rise to 
recognize Wyoming's outstanding small businesses during this Small 
Business Week.
  Like Wyoming's diverse topography, from pastures to sagebrush to 
majestic mountains, our small business landscape boasts a robust 
variety of services and industries. We have small businesses catering 
to the oil and gas industry and mining and energy, and we have boutique 
shops that make up our incredibly vibrant downtown areas. We have 
international businesses, like Brunton, within our State and those with 
similar national prominence, even some supporting our space mission and 
our military and putting food on the tables of Americans across this 
great country.
  I recently had the opportunity to meet Wyoming's Small Business 
Person of the Year, Lauren Heerschap, of Brunton International. Lauren 
is an innovator who saw an opportunity to improve a product she used 
every day. She worked with her husband to refine the tool and presented 
it to Brunton, a company that at the time was just a business whose 
equipment Lauren was using.
  Within only a few years of presenting that idea, and the company 
deciding to move forward with then manufacturing and eventually 
marketing a new product, Lauren and her husband, David, purchased that 
company. Thanks to Lauren, Brunton International is now, once again, an 
American-owned company. It is a beacon of resilience and prominence, in 
no small part due to the company's passionate leaders, who are willing 
to take on new opportunities with enthusiasm and trudge through 
challenges with tenacity.
  Wyoming businessmen and -women are a special kind of people. If you 
are in business in Wyoming, you are willing to be both the janitor and 
the CEO, sometimes even on the same day. You have a growth mindset and 
are willing to take on the challenges brought by fluctuating markets. 
You both strive to progress into new areas but are willing to take time 
for one-off projects in order to help an individual in your hometown.
  For Wyoming's business community and small businesses across our 
great Nation, I am committed to ensuring that we pass legislation that 
creates a legacy and regulatory climate that allows our small 
businesses to be competitive and to grow.
  Small businesses are pivotal to the success of our Nation's economy. 
I join my colleagues this week in celebration of the small businesses 
that keep our country thriving, and I will work with them to ensure 
that there is opportunity long into the future.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming 
for her comments, and I appreciate her being a part of the Special 
Order this evening.
  Our last colleague who is going to address us this evening is a new 
Member from the great State of Kansas.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Schmidt), also 
an improvement to the previous Member. He is a good friend.
  Mr. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I will have no comment on that last comment 
from my colleague from Utah.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, that is smart.
  Mr. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to join my colleagues 
tonight in recognition of National Small Business Week, and actually, 
all the parts we have talked about are connected.
  National Small Business Week recognizes the importance of the small 
businesses throughout all of our communities, and the numbers aren't 
that different from State to State.
  In my home State of Kansas, 99 percent of the businesses that operate 
are small businesses. Whether they are small businesses on Main Street, 
small mom-and-pop shops, little manufacturing operations, farming 
operations, or supporting operations, 99 percent of our businesses are 
small businesses.
  Those 99 percent in my State employ about 600,000 Kansans, which is 
roughly half the total number of Kansans who work. All but 1 percent 
our businesses, 99 percent, employ half of our people who rely on them 
for their livelihood, for their hope, for their jobs, for their 
benefits in many cases, and for filling their days because they, 
obviously, have to work in order to support their families and pursue 
their dreams.
  We cannot overstate the importance of small businesses to all of us, 
the people we represent. Yet, that often doesn't get reflected in the 
decisions and the actions that come out of this town.

  My colleagues have talked a bit about reconciliation, and I say these 
are connected because we are going to make large policy decisions here 
in the House, in the Senate, and with the President over the course of 
the coming weeks that are going to have huge implications for all of 
those small businesses on our Main Streets and all of those individuals 
who work in them and rely on them for their livelihoods.
  We talk a lot about the tax implications. That is not my focus this 
evening. It is critically important. We have to extend the small 
business and middle-class tax relief so that those businesses can 
continue to operate and continue to employ the people we represent.
  I want to talk a little bit tonight about the regulatory environment 
and the burden that we have created--really, a tax by another means. 
When the government says to a small business, ``thou shalt do this,'' 
the compliance cost of doing it is borne by that business, and it comes 
out of their bottom line or out of their pockets. It takes away from 
their ability to invest in expanding, growing, and hiring more people. 
It has the same effect as taking another dollar of tax out of their 
pocket to pay not for their priorities, their community's priorities, 
or their employees' priorities, but for the government's priorities. 
That is true whether it is a dollar taken out of their pockets 
collected in tax, in cash, or whether it is a dollar taken out of their 
pockets and ordered by the government to be used to comply with a 
government requirement, a mandate, a regulation.
  I am one who believes, because my constituents have told me this, 
that one of the most important things we can and must do in this 
Congress is make real progress on regulatory relief for the small 
businesses that all of our communities rely on. We have begun to take 
some steps.
  You know, Mr. Speaker, that we are currently using one of several 
tools available to us in this body to undo some--a small number, but 
some--of the newer regulations that have piled burdens on our small 
businesses. We are using the Congressional Review Act. We only have a 
short amount of time that we can use that tool, so we have to strike 
while the iron is hot.
  So far, in the House, we have used that tool to propose undoing 15 
new regulations that were adopted in

[[Page H1903]]

roughly the last 6 months of the prior administration. Of those 15 that 
we have approved here, 3 have been signed into law by the President. We 
have done three. Another six have been approved by the Senate and are 
currently awaiting President Trump's signature. Then, there are an 
additional six that are awaiting consideration and, I hope and expect, 
passage in the Senate.
  That is good. It is a good thing. We are using the tool available to 
try to make progress to provide some relief for those small businesses, 
but, Mr. Speaker, it is barely a drop in the bucket.
  The chart next to me was compiled by George Washington University. It 
shows the number of pages in the Federal Register, starting back in 
1950. The Federal Register, of course, is the government book, the 
government entity, where all the agency regulations, not the laws 
passed by this body, but the agency regulations, the bureaucratic 
regulations, get published.
  They have the force and effect of law. They are just as burdensome 
and binding on somebody running a mom-and-pop shop on Main Street in 
Kansas as is a statute enacted by this body. Usually, they are 
regulations adopted by an agency at the direction or, arguably, with 
the permission of this body. We fight over that sometimes when agencies 
exceed the authority they were given.

  There is a penchant here in Congress to avoid some of the hard 
decisions and just ship it downtown, let the agencies have a lot of 
running room. As a result of that, you get lots of decisions. 
Sometimes, they are not consistent.
  One administration goes one way, and another administration goes the 
next way, or they adopt one regulation, then pile another regulation on 
top of it, and then another on top of that. I heard a term the other 
day--I had never heard it before--``coral reefing,'' this idea that you 
lay down something that is living and makes sense, then that layer 
dies, and you just build another on top and another on top. Eventually, 
you get this giant dead mass. That is what we have done with a lot of 
these agency regulations. Part of it is Congress' fault. Part of it is 
the agency's fault.
  If you look at this chart, Mr. Speaker, back in 1950, roughly the 
time they started publishing the Federal Register, compiling all these 
agency rules, diktats, actions, there were about 10,000 pages. That is 
about how long it was, the sum of all regulations adopted by agencies. 
The year I was born in, 1968, it had grown fivefold to 50,000 pages. 
When this chart was compiled about a year ago, a little more, it was 
nearly 200,000 pages. Nearly 200,000 pages of regulations that folks in 
our country, our small businesses, have to comply with.
  By the way, to put that in comparison, the number of pages in the 
U.S. Code, the laws actually adopted by the people's Representatives in 
this body, last time it was compiled, it was around 60,000 pages, so 
about four times, roughly, three or four times as many rules and 
requirements on Main Street businesses written by people nobody out in 
the real world ever voted for as opposed to laws that their elected 
Representatives are accountable for.
  By the way, this chart is not current. It doesn't include those 
regulations piled on top of this last tallest bar. Since this chart was 
compiled, we know that in the last 5 months of the Biden administration 
alone, more than 1,400 new regulations were adopted and shoved out the 
door. That is not 1,400 pages. That is 1,400 regulations, most of which 
were long, so this chart is actually much higher.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to remind all of my colleagues and all of 
us who serve in these roles how important it is that, during this Small 
Business Week, as we are doing our reconciliation bill and doing all 
the things we do, we not forget about this hidden tax, that we have 
created this burden that we have placed on the 99 percent of small 
businesses in our community, which employ half the people working in my 
State, making it harder for them to do what they do, what we rely on 
them to do, what we count on them to do, and, more importantly, what 
the people we represent, our constituents, count on them to do.
  We can't lose sight of it. We must fix this system, tear down some of 
the coral reef, and get those lines moving back down.

                              {time}  1845

  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kansas 
(Mr. Schmidt), who had excellent points. We all talk about small 
business. We all use it as a line and a bullet point, and we all say 
that we support them, and then where does the actual policy come in?
  Those are incredibly important points to highlight that they are the 
lifeblood. We have data that suggests that Utah, which has an 
incredible economy, strong work ethic, low unemployment, good 
volunteerism across the board, is ranked high in the economic 
indicators for the country, and we are heavily tilted toward small 
business out of Utah. There aren't an enormous amount of global 
headquarters for big, multinational firms. It is a ton of small 
businesses. I thank the gentleman for highlighting that.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my other colleagues for being here to discuss 
the goings-on for this week. We have heard so much about the 
reconciliation process and the dangers of not getting this done. There 
is a real threat.
  We are working under unique circumstances because there is a time 
limit set for the end of this year that, if we don't accomplish this 
piece of legislation, there is no other way to look at it except for 
the fact that taxes will increase on virtually every American family 
and business.
  We desperately want to create good, strong, predictable tax policy so 
that our companies and our families can continue to thrive and continue 
to understand what their landscape is for them to compete and go and 
create more job growth and actually go and create more revenue for our 
Nation to become a wealthier nation. This is a priority for 
Republicans. It is a priority for House GOP leadership, the President, 
his administration, and we are neck deep in the process of getting this 
over the finish line.
  This bill will deliver on our conservative agenda and make positive 
changes that we know that Americans want. From a more secure border to 
stronger domestic energy resources, to more efficient Federal programs, 
to a tax code that supports families and businesses, this is a once-in-
a-generation moment, and I am grateful to be part of this effort on 
both the Committee on Ways and Means and the Budget Committee.
  There is obviously a lot going into this and, on the Committee on 
Ways and Means, we are trying to find the sweet spot of many 
considerations at play. We need to ensure the provisions in the 2017 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act aren't just extended but, where possible, made 
permanent.
  If we don't act, we risk seeing critical policies roll back, such as 
the child tax credit, which goes back to just $1,000. It was $1,000 
prior to 2017. Republicans doubled it. That reverts back to $1,000, and 
$1,000 in 2026, after the inflation that we have seen over the last 4 
years in the previous administration, is a significantly different 
number than it would be from pre-2017.
  While we can't solve the debt crisis with this bill alone, it will 
drive strong economic growth, bolster GDP--we know this because we have 
seen this--and it puts us in a better position to address our national 
deficits. This is probably the most substantive action that I have been 
a part of, and it has been an honor to have been right in the thick of 
it.
  Over the last few weeks, several committees have passed bills aimed 
at saving hundreds of billions of dollars, and we are well on our way 
to making historic savings a reality. As we work through this, we are 
doing so with a clear focus on the needs of our economy, particularly 
on small businesses.
  This week is Small Business Week, and I am recognizing the hard work 
of our small business owners as something that we can all support from 
both sides of the aisle. Small businesses are the backbone of our 
economy, as I mentioned what it means to the State of Utah, and they 
are critical to every local community across this country.
  In this role, I am grateful to get to know as many small business 
owners as possible and hear their concerns, understand their areas of 
growth, what their opportunities are, and, most importantly, what their 
challenges are.

[[Page H1904]]

  Going back to the reconciliation package--and we are working on, 
particularly, the tax portion--we are looking to deliver positive 
results to our small businesses and craft policies that will allow them 
to thrive.
  The 199A, small business, LLC, S corp, deduction from their qualified 
business expense, a 20 percent deduction, expires at the end of this 
year. That is a massive tax hike on small businesses, and this is 
oftentimes a category that gets overlooked because my colleagues talk 
about corporations and about high-net-worth individuals, but the small 
businesses are structured in a way that their ordinary income is taxed 
at what some of the highest income individuals of our society are taxed 
at.
  These small businesses are taxed at a significantly high rate, 
oftentimes higher than other corporations. We need to make sure that 
199A is extended and, if not just extended, made permanent. The Tax 
Cuts and Jobs Act made our small businesses more competitive, and we 
want to continue to pursue policies that provide regulatory relief, 
economic stability, and the ability to grow and create jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues again for joining me tonight to 
talk about these important issues, and we will continue to dig into 
this in the weeks to come.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________