Washington, D.C. - Congressman Jason Smith (MO-08) introduced H.R. 217, the Permanent Tax Relief for Working Families Act, to make permanent the new Child Tax Credit established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which he coauthored as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.

 

“Becoming a parent is the most important job a mother or father will ever have, but our tax code could do a better job of supporting working families,” said Congressman Smith. “In the last year that it has been in effect, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act put more money in Missourians’ pockets, and we need to give parents the long-term certainty that it will stay there. Making the new Child Tax Credit permanent will allow families the chance to plan, save, and invest in their future and help parents get started on the right foot when starting a family.”

 

While crafting the new tax law and advocating for a more beneficial Child Tax Credit, Congressman Smith worked closely with Ivanka Trump, a champion for working families and a strong proponent of doubling the tax credit. Speaking previously at the U.S. Capitol to rally support for the expanded Child Tax Credit, Ivanka Trump said it is a priority of the Trump administration to ensure working American families can thrive.

 

“When you think about the last time there was comprehensive tax reform, it was decades ago. The composition of our workforce looked very different, and our homes looked very different,” said Ivanka Trump. “Today in the vast majority of homes, parents are working. Our tax code has to recognize this reality and support our dual values of work and family.”

 

Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law by President Trump, the Child Tax Credit was only available to certain qualifying families and worth up to $1,000. Because of Congressman Smith’s work, the credit was expanded to $2,000 per child with a valid social security number and made refundable.

 

While the initial Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017 made the enhanced Child Tax Credit permanent, Senate filibuster rules prevented permanency. Without any action from Congress, the Child Tax Credit will decrease from $2,000 to $1,000 in the coming years.

Washington, D.C. - Wednesday Congressman Jason Smith (MO-08) and Senator Ted Cruz (TX) introduced the Student Empowerment Act, which would expand the use of tax-free 529 College Savings Plans to allow families to save for K-12 education expenses.

 

Eligible expenses would include tuition, books and instructional materials, tutoring expenses, fees for exams related to college admissions, and educational therapy for students with disabilities.

 

“The Student Empowerment Act will help working families afford everyday K-12 education expenses and plan for their children’s future,” said Congressman Smith. “Education is a huge driver of unexpected expenses, and expanding access to 529 savings accounts will make it easier for parents to afford an education tailored to their child’s unique needs. I thank Senator Cruz for his partnership in making education more affordable and upholding individual liberty in education.”

 

Additionally, the Student Empowerment Act would allow all families to use tax-free 529 savings accounts, regardless of where their children receive their education. It would change current law, which does not permit families to use 529 savings accounts for homeschool expenses.

 

“Under the Student Opportunity Amendment, homeschool families were wrongly and cynically excluded by Senate Democrats, leaving them ineligible to utilize the expanded usage of 529 savings accounts,” Sen. Cruz said. “This bill re-includes homeschoolers, and empowers every family with access to an education that truly fits their child’s needs. I am proud to champion school choice with Rep. Smith and am hopeful my colleagues will move swiftly to empower all students.”

 

The Student Empowerment Act builds on Senator Cruz’s Student Opportunity Amendment included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which expanded 529 account availability for K-12 tuition expenses.

 

Similar legislation authored by Congressman Smith and Senator Cruz passed out of the U.S. House last Congress, but unfortunately was not taken up by the United States Senate.

 

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Unfortunately, the ongoing debate over border security has been marked with insanity for years, but especially now with Nancy Pelosi in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

Speaker Pelosi publicly said that building a physical barrier on our southern border would be “immoral.” I believe allowing criminals and drugs to flow into our country uninhibited is immoral. Illegal border crossing attempts have spiked to 60,000 now every month, more than the populations of Cape Girardeau and Rolla combined. In one year’s time, border patrol agents apprehended more than 17,000 adults with criminal records, which is more people than all of Poplar Bluff. And at a time when heroin is killing 300 Americans every week, experts say 90% of this poison enters our country across the southern border.

 

Up until 2012, more than 90% of attempted border crossings were by adult males. Encouraged by liberal politicians pushing open borders, there has been a massive increase in families forcing small children to make the perilous journey. Border patrol agents encountered more than 20,000 children at the border last month alone, 4,000 of whom were five years old or younger. The liberals’ idea of ‘compassion’ is a sham, encouraging thousands of children to march across the desert and endure harsh, deadly conditions. Their idea of ‘generosity’ is encouraging people to take a dangerous trek where they are frequently robbed and kidnapped by criminal gangs and women are often assaulted and vulnerable to trafficking.

 

It’s not that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t think our country can afford to secure our border, she’s just playing petty partisan politics. One of her first acts as Speaker was to pass a bill that would reopen the government with no additional border security funding but included billions of taxpayer dollars in additional foreign aid. The foreign aid she passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives is ten times the amount that President Trump has requested for border security. I think our tax dollars are better spent here at home protecting our country first and foremost before benefiting others. And I take personal offense that she would offer millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to perform abortions overseas before considering one more dollar to keep our nation safe. The President and Senate both agreed and said her plan was going nowhere, but she forced the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on it – twice.

 

Her party wasn’t always this way. In 2008 the national Democrats’ platform said, “We need to secure our borders, and support additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology here and at our ports of entry.” It called for more Customs and Border Protection agents and supported their mission to keep our country safe, dismantle human smuggling organizations, and combatting crime. People in the so-called ‘resistance movement’ are quick to say, “Love trumps hate.” I wish their hatred for President Trump didn’t become more important to them over loving our country and its citizens.

 

Not listening to the border security experts is insane, and so is making them work without pay. The President has listened to border patrol leaders, visited the southern border, and advocated for the commonsense increase in security that they’ve asked for. I’m proud to have voted for the only bill that would have received President Trump’s signature because it fully funded his request for physical border security and would’ve prevented a government shutdown. Sadly, the partial government shutdown caused by Nancy Pelosi is now the longest in our country’s history. I’m not sure how it will end, but I have a feeling it will include more, well, insanity.

Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Congressman Jason Smith (MO-08) will hold a public forum about the government shutdown at Jen’s Diner on Thursday.

 

Congressman Smith will provide an update on the ongoing negotiations over border security and then he will lead a public discussion with folks in attendance about what they’d like to see in a deal to secure the border and reopen the government.

 

Congressman Smith meets regularly with the White House and is holding this public discussion so he can relay the thoughts and ideas directly from southeast Missourians to President Trump. He often holds public listening posts and forums across southern Missouri on such topics as regulatory relief, healthcare transparency and pricing, and middle class tax relief. These events are of particular importance to Congressman Smith so he can share feedback from Missourians directly with the White House. 

 

WHO:           U.S. Congressman Jason Smith                        

 

WHAT:         Public discussion about the government shutdown and border security

 

WHEN:         Thursday, December 27th, 2018

                       12:45 p.m. CT

 

WHERE:      Jen’s Diner

                       3933 S Westwood Blvd

                       Poplar Bluff, MO 63901

 

Starting something new can be challenging and intimidating, but when it’s a small business the stakes are high with your entire livelihood on the line. With this Saturday being Small Business Saturday and November being National Entrepreneurship Month, I want to take the opportunity to celebrate these job creators. The entrepreneurs who take the risk to start a business or a farm, armed only with fresh ideas and hard work, drive the economy and embody the best of the American spirit.

 

When most people think of “small businesses,” they probably think of local mom and pop shops, but small businesses make up 99 percent of businesses in the U.S. They employ half of the country’s workforce and create seven out of ten new jobs in America. In Missouri where our economy is driven by agriculture, 90 percent of farms are small businesses. That’s why it’s vital to have a government that supports business, instead of making it harder to live the American dream. Every time I meet with small business and farm owners across southern Missouri, they tell me what they want the most is the government to interfere as little as possible and let them do what they do best.

 

That’s why I’ve made it a mission to rein in the unelected bureaucrats in Washington who have never stepped foot on a farm in Missouri or never had to run their own business. Because left unchecked, Washington’s career bureaucrats will pile on burdensome rules for job creators and producers, not realizing that every piece of red tape impacts bottom lines and makes it harder to do business in America.

 

In President Obama’s last year in office, his administration added roughly 17,000 pages of rules and regulations to the federal register, dragging the economy down by billions of dollars on his way out. Larger firms and farms with teams of attorneys and accountants have an easier time keeping up with the red tape, but small businesses and local farm owners don’t have the time or the resources that Uncle Sam demands. Thankfully we now have a pro-business President in office, and we have repealed over a thousand of the most burdensome regulations. This has saved $23 billion in economic costs in the last year alone and contributed to small businesses being more optimistic about their future than ever before.

 

But regulations are just one example of how our country was becoming increasingly hostile to job creators before President Trump took office. The U.S. had the highest business tax rate in the world, which punished anyone who wanted to do business in America and encouraged investors and entrepreneurs to take their jobs to other countries. President Trump and I are working hard to change the anti-business culture in Washington so our economy and our country can grow, and last year we took a landmark step with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which I co-authored. We lowered tax rates for small businesses and farms of all sizes, allowed businesses to fully expense internal investments, and rewrote the tax code so fewer family farms are subject to the death tax.

 

All of this has made the United States open for business and competitive again on the world stage. Since President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, the economy has boomed and hiring has surged. More than two million jobs have been created in the U.S., and for the first time in over two decades there are more jobs in America than people searching for work.

 

Starting and running a business or a farm is hard work already before the government gets involved, but these entrepreneurs who risk everything to turn their dream into reality truly make America special. I’m proud to work with President Trump to cut red tape and remove the extra weight from Washington, so small business and the American dream can stay healthy and thriving.