mr. timothy heenan, at prax air, the largest provider of gases in north and south america. he joined in 2004 from earnst and young specializing in the development and implementation of international tax strategies. thank you all very much for your time and the committee has received each of your written statements and they'll be made part of the formal hearing record. each of you will be recognized for five minutes for your oral remarks, followed by questions. so mr. fritt, we'll begin with you. you're recognized for five minutes. >> good morning. chairman camp, ranking member levin and members of the committee, i very much appreciate this opportunity appear before you today to discuss the importance of tax reform to fedex. we believe reducing the u.s. corporate tax rate significantly to be more in line with the rest of the developed world is essential to overall economic and job growth. and will help our company continue to invest in critical infrastructure to compete and grow. before i tell delve into the details of how we analyze tax reform i'd like to make a couple of p

mr. timothy heenan, vice president for treasury and tax at praxair inc. praxair is the largest provider of industrial gases in north and south america. mr. heenan joined praxair inc. 2004 from earnest and young were hit last year a senior manager specializing in the development and implementation of international tax strategies. thank you all very much for your time today. the committee has received each of your written statement and they will be made part of the former hearing record. each of you will be recognized for five minutes for your oral remarks followed by questions. so, mr. fryt, we begin with you. you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. good morning, chairman camp, ranking member levin, members of the committee. i very much appreciate this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the importance of tax reform to fedex. we believe that reducing the u.s. corporate tax rate significantly to be more in line with the rest of the developed world is essential to overall economic and job growth, and will help our company continue to i