Senate Proceeding 02-03-09 on Feb 3rd, 2009 :: 4:26:25 to 4:31:30
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4:26:25 to 4:26:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: i'm looking forward to hearing from senator ensign, and i know we have a debate which we will but at this point i will yield the mr. ensign: the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. ensign: mr. president, first of all, i want to congratulate and thank my colleague from california, senator boxer.

4:26:25 to 4:31:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Ensign

4:26:47 to 4:27:08( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: a few years ago we word on this amendment not a lot of people knew about it. a lot of people -- it was actually the first time it was voted on in the finance committee, most of the republicans in the finance committee voted against it. i rember talking to senator nickles at the time, and he was leading the charge with republicans against the

4:27:09 to 4:27:29( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: amendment. frankly, because didn't understand. it doesn't sound right that somebody invested overseas can bring the money back at less than what they pay in the united states. but, companies, if they have to pay a 35% tax on the money they bring

4:27:30 to 4:27:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: back, senator boxer and i recognize the common sense that they're not going to bring the money back. and the chart that senator boxer had clearly showed that. very small amounts each year of the profits that companies made overseas actually came back into the united states until we passed what we called at the

4:27:52 to 4:28:13( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: time the invest in the u.s.a. act. and that year -- and the outside economists got it. they understood it. they predicted allen sinai, the economist at the time, did the studies. and he predicted between 00 billion and 00 billion would come back to the united states. it would produce tax revenues. it would produce jobs.

4:28:14 to 4:28:35( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: and guess what 60 billion came back to the united states. the congressional budget office joint tax, they said only about 00 billion would come back, and it would cost -- we would lose revenue to the federal government. well, 0 billion was the money that was repatriated,

4:28:36 to 4:28:56( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: so it actually increased revenues to the federal government. it didn't hurt the deficit. actually helped the deficit. the economists have actually studied, though, not only the dire revenues but the indirect revenues of the jobs that were saved and the jobs that were created, and the estimates are closer to 0 billion to 0 billion of addit tax revenue to the federal government.

4:28:57 to 4:29:18( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: so the invest in the u.s.a. act, which senator boxer and i worked on in a bipartisan fashion, it passed 75-25 in the united states senate. it turned out success. so we're trying to put this on this bill. and to our amazement, the outside economists again are predicting that 06 billion

4:29:19 to 4:29:41( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: this time is going -- that 60 billion this time is going to come back to the unitedtates. there is about 00 billion sitting overseas. it creates jobs overseas, helps the banks overseas with their capital, and they're not bringing it back because they have to pay tax rate. we want to bring them back one time, if they'll bring the money

4:29:42 to 4:30:03( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: back in the next 12 months, charge them isn't 5.25% on 60 billion better than 35% of zero? i mean, that's just common sense. that's going to help t deficit. i mean, we have about this and put some commonsense thinking into this.

4:30:04 to 4:30:25( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: i want to, mr. president, i want to submit two studies for the record. i would ask unanimous consent that both of these studies be added to the "congressional record", one by allen sinai and the other by robert shapiro and mather. i would ask unanimous consent those be inserte

4:30:26 to 4:30:48( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. ensign: by the way, robert shapiro, former clinton adviser, liberal economist. allen the imagination, at best, a moderate economist. these are not right-wing radical economists. these are not neoclassical economists that are talking about this.

4:30:49 to 4:31:10( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: and what their studies are showing today just like they showed before we acted before is that money's going to come back, the treasurer will be helped, jobs will be created in the united states and a side benefit is 0 billion comes into the banks in -- 60 comes into the banks

4:31:11 to 4:31:32( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: to capitalize the banks. what are we talking about? that our banks don't have enough capital. this, without a cost to the taxpayer, brings it back. with the wisdom of joint tax, they say that this bill will cost money and decrease revenues to the government. where all the fd by the out--