mr. speaker , i am pleased to rise today in support of this bill and the resilient american economy . 
this act will build on our legacy of tax relief that is fueling our economy , and will extend some very important tax provisions that will keep america 's economy moving forward . 
freedom and free enterprise go hand-in-hand . 
and keeping tax rates low so people have more of their hard-earned money in their pockets is the right way to go . 
texans want , need , and deserve to have their sales tax deduction extended . 
it is vitally important for texas . 
in texas , we like to say `` no new taxes. '' we finance our spending through a sales tax . 
in 2004 , we made sales taxes deductible from federal taxes again , but that deduction expires in just a few weeks . 
my constituents want to keep the sales tax deduction . 
this bill will allow any american to choose to deduct either state sales tax or their state income tax through 2006 . 
that is a great idea . 
next , this bill extends the popular research and experiment tax credit . 
luckily , we fine-tuned it to make it work even better . 
many companies in our districts will be able to use this new alternative simplified credit . 
they will be able to add good research and create new jobs because of it . 
this extension and expansion of the credit are great for american jobs and our economy . 
finally , we must extend the tax rate reduction on capital gains and dividends . 
this pro-growth policy helped spark the economy that we are seeing today . 
people and companies need to have some certainty for making decisions about long-term capital gains and dividend policy . 
forcing folks to work with short-sighted tax policy just does not make sense . 
we have to change that if we want to see our economy stay the course . 
mr. speaker , i am proud to support this bill and urge my colleagues to support it . 
