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I opposed the House version of the tax reform bill because the loss of broad-based deductions like state and local taxes would have caused significant tax increases on many of my middle-class constituents in the high-tax, high-cost state of California. It increased the marginal tax rate on high income earners and abolished life-line deductions such as casualty loss, medical expenses and student interest. I urged that we should leave no taxpayer behind. I want to thank Chairman Brady, the Republican Leadership and the conference committee for heeding these concerns. Their final product exceeds my expectations, and on behalf of California taxpayers I can now offer my enthusiastic support. The new version leaves the casualty loss, medical expense and student interest deductions intact.

This Vote Note refers to the earlier House version of the tax reform legislation. The Congressman supported the final version of the bill, and he discussed his support in House floor remarks titled Morning Again in America.

This amendment assures that the tax reform bill leaves no taxpayer behind. It retains all the provisions on C-corporations and pass-throughs that are desperately needed to produce the kind of economic growth that our country is capable of. It strikes the provisions in the bill that change the personal income tax code and replaces them with a permanent, one percent across-the-board reduction in the rates in every bracket. This should fit within the existing budget authority and save an average family about $600 per year on their taxes.

I’d like to begin this Veterans day by travelling back to the day after September 11th, 2001. I want to pause for a moment, and ask you to remember what you felt as the sun rose that morning. I don’t mean the shock or horror or outrage. There was something far more important, when we sensed our country was under attack and in great danger.

In the last four national elections, Americans made it clear that we won’t accept the economic stagnation we’ve suffered during this past decade. Obama’s policies of higher taxes and greater regulatory burdens suppressed economic growth to a dismal 1 ½ percent annual average – about half the post-war growth rate of three percent.