mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time , and i rise in strong support of the rule and the death tax repeal permanency act of 2005 . 
i do so , mr. speaker , really to just speak about small business america and about a small businessman who raised me . 
it was 17 years ago today at the too-young age of 58 that my father , ed pence , passed away . 
it happens to be an unfortunate anniversary in my family , but on april 13 , 1988 , we said goodbye to my father . 
he was a small business owner that many on the floor of the congress today would classify as a rich american . 
now , the rich american that i saw was a man who started out in a very small business in columbus , indiana , and worked tirelessly to raise his four sons and two daughters and build a business that employed several hundred local people in support of their families . 
it is really , with the memory of my father in mind , that i rise in vigorous support of the permanent repeal of the death tax . 
because while my family was reeling from the grief of the loss of my father to a sudden heart attack 17 years ago today , also we were settling into the reality that much of what he had built , all of which he had already paid taxes on , was now subject to as much as a 47 percent estate tax . 
my father 's death and the business that he built and the resources that he had husbanded , after paying all of his debts and all of his taxes , should not have been subject to another tax . 
and we come into this well today on behalf of small business owners and family farmers just like my dad to put to an end permanently this truly immoral death tax in america . 
it is the reality out there , not the heated rhetoric of rich versus poor , that explains why 89 percent of small business owners favor permanent repeal . 
in fact , they know that more than 70 percent of family businesses do not survive to a second generation ; 87 percent do not make it to a third generation . 
much is made of middle america that i am proud to represent and the fact that main streets and courthouse squares are largely boarded up . 
people want to blame the internet . 
they want to blame mass retailers . 
well , i put the majority of the blame in practical terms at the doorstep of the death tax . 
it has waged war on small business and family farmers all across america , and we will begin to reverse that in a permanent way today . 
so in the tender memory of my father , of his earnest labors , and with it in my mind the men and women who to this day labor to raise their families and build small businesses and family farms all across america that i extol the authors of this bill . 
i endorse the rule , and i vigorously support the permanent repeal of the death tax . 
