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“We’re just a few short hours south of my home in Wichita, Kansas, and it’s great to have my colleagues here in the heartland,” said Rep. Estes during the hearing. “Some of the folks in the D.C. bureaucracies and on the east and west coasts call this flyover country. But what we’ve seen here today – and many of us already knew – is that folks in Oklahoma, Kansas, and other states here in the middle of the country are the most vibrant, hardworking, dedicated, and patriotic people in America."

"Agriculture is a major industry, and it’s these men and women who feed, fuel and clothe our country, and the world. We’re also home to many manufacturers," continued Rep. Estes. "In fact, just up I-35 in south central Kansas – we call it the Air Capital of the World. Here in Oklahoma City and throughout the Midwest, organizations of all sizes are building planes, earth drilling tools, ag products, and more."

Rep. Estes touched on legislation he plans to introduce that would restore immediate research and development (R&D) expensing, a bipartisan bill the National Taxpayers Union has called a "no-brainer."

Regarding Rep. Estes' legislative proposal, Mills Machine Company Owner and President Chuck Mills said, "R&D is huge, so I appreciate you doing that."

Rep. Estes also discussed energy policy with the committee and witnesses.

"In addition to good tax policy, we need to make sure we have good energy policy. We're suffering now from rising prices. Not just gas prices – we're also seeing it in heating homes and the impacts on businesses and families," said Rep. Estes.

Another bill proposed by Rep. Estes is the Marginal Well Protection Act – legislation that prevents the EPA from levying excessive fees on wells that produce less than 15 barrels of oil and less than 90,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day.

"The more oil and natural gas we can produce – supply and demand – then the less it's going to be to the consumer," said Charter Oak Production Co. Founder and Managing Member Joe Brevetti.

Watch Rep. Estes' Remarks

Full Remarks:

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing outside of the D.C. beltway and thank you to all our witnesses for being here today.

We’re just a few short hours south of my home in Wichita, Kansas, and it’s great to have my colleagues here in the heartland.

Some of the folks in D.C. bureaucracies and on the east and west coast would call this flyover country. But what we’ve seen here today – and many of us already knew – is that folks in Oklahoma, and Kansas, and other states here in the middle of the country are the most vibrant, hardworking, dedicated, and patriotic people in America.

Agriculture is a major industry, and it’s these men and women who feed, fuel and clothe our country, and the world.

We’re also home to a lot of manufacturers. In fact, just up I-35 in south central Kansas we call it the Air Capital of the World. Here in OKC and throughout the Midwest, organizations of all sizes are building planes, earth drilling equipment, ag products, and more. In 2017, Republicans overhauled our outdated tax code to benefit families, small businesses and entrepreneurs. Our goal was to make sure we got the economy going and in fact it worked. 

What we’ve seen as well is that we’ve actually collected more taxes. So, in 2022, just last year, we collected over 700 billion more dollars in taxes than the Congressional Budget Office said we would have done if we had not done the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and business actually paid 12% more in 2022, than they would have without the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

It lowered the rates and ultimately got the economy going, which meant we collected more in taxes, and we’ve got the lowest unemployment rates both pre-covid as well as post-covid, just because of having the economy going. 

Unfortunately, some of those provisions that were put in place temporarily are starting to expire. One of those that really has had an impact on a lot of businesses is the median expensing of research and development cost, it expired last year and I am working to reintroduce legislation that will help restore this crucial tax program so that small businesses here in the Midwest can continue expanding research and development, creating more good paying jobs in the United States and this will help ensure we have a strong economy and a strong America.