Congressman Steven Horsford Statement on Passage of Support American Teachers Act

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) released the following statement after the House of Representatives voted to pass his bipartisan Support American Teachers Act of 2019, accepting a Republican amendment to incorporate an additional increase to the tax deduction for educators. Of its passage, Congressman Horsford released the following statement:

"Today is a great day for our nation's educators and first responders. Every day, teachers and first responders around the country provide valuable and necessary services and spend money out of their own pockets in their mission to serve our communities. In my state of Nevada, teachers spend an average of $750 every year for their classrooms," Congressman Horsford said. "I am proud that my legislation, which was made bipartisan with the approval of a Republican amendment, will allow teachers across the country access to $1,000 tax deduction every year as they shape the minds of our country's children. With this vote, we are telling teachers across the country that we recognize their sacrifices and we are working to put money back in their pockets."

Prior to the vote, Congressman Horsford spoke on the House floor in support of the legislation, drawing on a constituent story from a teacher in Nevada's Fourth Congressional District. The Congressman's floor speech can be watched here.

According to a Department of Education Survey, 94 percent of American public school teachers reported paying for school supplies out of their own pocket in the 2014 to 2015 school year. In 2017, nearly 25,000 educators in Nevada claimed the educator expense deduction for out-of-pocket classroom expenses.

The legislation passed alongside the Restoring Tax Fairness for States and Localities Act, an important step to reverse the cap on the deduction for State and Local Taxes (SALT). This Restoring Fairness for States and Localities Act addresses many shortcomings of the destructive Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which, rather than devote resources to making wise investments in our workers and small businesses, further burdened working families, endangers Americans' retirement security, and gave tax breaks to large corporations and the richest Americans while penalizing America's workers.