Which 37 House Dems Say Deficits Don't Matter When It Comes to Corporate Tax Breaks?

As we all know, Republicans only care about deficits when it comes to spending that benefits working- and middle-class Americans. When it comes to corporate tax breaks, they couldn't care less about deficits.

House Republicans showed that double standard again on Wednesday by passing the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2015, a bill that extended two research and development tax credits at a cost of $224 billion.

The House Democratic leadership has opposed the House GOP's strategy of passing unfunded tax breaks and doing tax extenders in a piecemeal way.

Here is Sandy Levin (MI-09), the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, in a dissenting view in the Committee report for the bill:

The two permanent tax extender bills approved by the Republicans at the markup would add more than $224 billion to the deficit. Together with the seven bills that were approved by the Republicans in the previous markup, these nine bills would add more than $317 billion to the deficit. In the 113th Congress, Ways and Means Committee Republicans selectively approved 14 of the more than 50 expired tax provisions, totaling more than $825 billion worth of deficit-financed, permanent tax cuts. This selective approach failed last Congress, with none of these permanent provisions being enacted into law. The bills marked up by the Committee set us down a partisan path, when we should be embracing bipartisanship and working in a responsible, bipartisan manner on tax reform.

...

[W]e also oppose the manner in which Republicans are proceeding--selecting to make permanent another two provisions today in addition to the previously passed seven provisions at a cost of more than $317 billion without any offset from the more than 50 tax provisions that expired at the end of last year. This approach is both fiscally irresponsible and contrary to the goals of bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform.
Expired provisions must be dealt with in a comprehensive manner. The Republicans did not take up other tax extenders that also are important to Democratic Committee Members. Left to an uncertain fate are provisions like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, the New Markets Tax Credit, and the renewable energy tax credits, as well as the long-term status of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

The House passed the bill 274 to 145.

237 Republicans and 37 Democrats voted for it. 144 Democrats and 1 Republican voted against it.

That one Republican was Walter Jones (NC-03).

Here are the 37 Democrats:

Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Katherine Clark (MA-05)
Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Bill Keating (MA-09)
Joe Kennedy (MA-04)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Joe Larson (CT-01)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Dina Titus (NV-01)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Tim Walz (MN-01)