Also Provides for the Common Defense and gives the U.S. More Control over World Oil Market
Washington, D.C. – United States Representative Todd Rokita (IN-04) issued the following statement after he voted for a package of two bills that likely will end up on the President’s desk. The bills lock in major conservative policy victories for Hoosiers.
Permanent Tax Relief that Provides Certainty
The package provides permanent tax relief to Indiana families and businesses. It also freezes Obamacare’s 2.3% medical device tax for the next two years, protecting the over 20,000 Hoosiers who rely on the medical device industry for a job. Indiana is second in the country in life sciences exports, totaling nearly $10 billion.
It also permanently enhances and extends Section 179 deductions that will give certainty to Hoosier farmers and manufacturers to make investments in equipment and plan long-term.
“Many provisions in this bill will help Hoosiers keep more of their hard-earned dollars and grow their businesses. This package is a huge win for the Indiana medical device and life science industries. Taxing the industry more only yields less innovation. When it comes to life-saving medical technology that can lower total health care costs, I want more of it,” said Rep. Rokita.
Rep Tape Reform and Pro-Life Initiatives
The legislation also accomplishes a number of conservative victories that will block the burdensome policies from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS):
- Supports Hoosier farmers by prohibiting the application of the Clean Water Act in certain agricultural areas, including farm ponds and irrigation ditches, effectively blocking the harmful Waters of the U.S. regulation.
- Repeals harmful labeling requirements on American meat, the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements, ensuring our agriculture industry will not suffer more than $1 billion in trade penalties.
- Rejects funding for new or expanded EPA programs that let top-down bureaucrats pick winners and losers, holding the agency to its lowest spending level since 2008.
- The package severely restricts IRS’s income stream by funding the IRS at $1.7 billion lower than President Obama’s budget request.
- Prohibits the IRS from suppressing free speech by interfering with the civic participation of 501 (c) (4) organizations.
- The package builds on pro-life family values, by renewing the Hyde Amendment and adding new provisions that protect the unborn by prohibiting taxpayer funding for abortion.
“Traveling through Indiana and speaking with Hoosiers, I continue to hear about the need to rein in the federal government in all industries from farming to manufacturing. In addition to growing our economy by permanent and consistent tax policies, the legislation significantly rolls back government red tape. Hoosiers around Indiana consistently tell me about the need to block corrupt government agencies that are hurting businesses,” added Rokita.
National Defense and Oil Market
Finally, it strengthens national security by adequately funding our defense and tightening the requirements under our Visa Waiver Program due to the imminent threats to our homeland from radical Islamic terrorism. It also lifts the government’s 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports which will encourage investment, spur innovation, and create jobs here at home instead of depending on countries like Russia and Iran.
- Denies visa waiver status to any individual who has traveled to certain terrorism hotspots, including Syria and Iraq, in the last five years.
- Upholds our Constitutional duty to protect our country by dedicating 62% of spending toward national defense.
- Gives the United States more control of the market and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
- Lifting the 1975 American oil ban will also reduce the trade deficit.
“The legislation strengthens our military and repeals the outdated ban on oil exports. It ensures we have a funded defense department at a time when there is a lot of uneasiness in the world and shifts energy dependence away from bad actors like Russia and Iran,” said Rokita.
The entire package contains the Fiscal Year 2016 omnibus spending bill as well as the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes (PATH) Act.
The bill passed 316 to 113.
