At a House Ways and Means Committee field hearing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, industry witnesses from agriculture, convenience retail and aerospace told members that provisions in HR 1 that make certain 2017 tax changes permanent will increase investment and hiring.

The committee convened with Chairman Smith presiding. Witnesses who testified in favor of the bill included Kevin Koester, a fifth‑generation rancher and former National Cattlemen’s Beef Association official; Raymond Huff, president of HJB Convenience; Will Fulton, vice president of business development at Robinson Helicopter; and Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. Economist Joshua Rao of Stanford also testified about expected macroeconomic effects.

Why it matters: Supporters said permanence and restored tax provisions reduce uncertainty for capital investment, allow family farms and pass‑through businesses to plan multi‑year investments, and accelerate research and manufacturing projects that they said would create jobs locally.

Industry leaders focused on a set of business provisions in HR 1: the permanent extension of the qualified business income deduction (often cited as “section 199A”), expanded and restored Section 179 expensing and 100% bonus depreciation for equipment, restoration of immediate R&D expensing and adjustments to the treatment of interest deductibility. Witnesses repeatedly said the estate tax exemption provision — frequently called the “death tax” by proponents — matters to family farms and small businesses.

“For cattlemen like me, long term relief from the death tax is a significant victory. I cannot overstate that,” Kevin Koester said, describing estate‑tax planning burdens his family faced and adding that permanence provides planning certainty for multigenerational ranch operations.

Raymond Huff, who operates convenience stores in the Los Angeles area, said the restored bonus depreciation and the permanent pass‑through deduction are key to reopening stores and expanding his workforce after pandemic losses. “Bonus depreciation alone will help me double the size of my most profitable store that will allow me to add 5 more employees,” Huff testified.

Will Fulton described how immediate R&D expensing and capital‑cost provisions would accelerate Robinson Helicopter’s development of a new aircraft and linked the investment to wildfire response and other first‑responder missions. “The immediate expensing of equipment will enable us to do so faster, cheaper, and better,” Fulton said.

Jay Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers described the package as “an investment of a generation in America's manufacturers,” saying permanent expensing, interest deductibility and the 21% corporate rate support competitiveness and spur capital formation.

Economist Joshua Rao said the combination of permanent full expensing, R&D expensing and interest‑deductibility rules would boost long‑run output in his view. “The beautiful bill is not exploding debt. It is exploding prosperity,” Rao said during his testimony, noting academic estimates that some pro‑growth provisions raise long‑run GDP.

Committee members pressed witnesses on particulars: Democrats questioned distributional effects and whether firms would pass gains to workers, while Republicans emphasized certainty and the timing benefits of having provisions in place before year‑end investment decisions.

The hearing also included discussion of sectoral details: the cattle witnesses and several members attributed recent retail beef price increases to supply‑and‑demand pressures rather than tariffs; manufacturers emphasized U.S. supply‑chain limitations for some inputs; and small‑business witnesses described how the capital provisions would affect reopening and hiring plans.

No formal committee vote took place during the hearing. Members on both sides said they would press their policy arguments in subsequent committee and floor action.

Ending: Supporters told the committee that permanence reduces planning risk and can accelerate hiring and plant investment; opponents at the hearing continued to press questions about distribution and fiscal cost. The hearing record will include written statements and submitted materials from witnesses for the committee file.