[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 85 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2405-H2406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MARKING TAX DAY

  (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McCARTHY. Madam Speaker, 35 years ago, I fulfilled my American 
Dream to own a business when I opened a small deli. I was only 20 years 
old.
  As a former small business owner, I understand how tough things can 
be, even in the good times. Running a small business taught me two 
important lessons: first, you are the first to work, last to leave, and 
the last to be paid; second, your margins are tight, and high taxes too 
often make it impossible for Main Street to beat the odds.
  These lessons, which inspired me to enter public service, come to 
mind as we mark tax day. We should be on track for an incredible 
comeback. From jobs to vaccines, President Biden inherited an economy 
that was moving in the right direction because of Operation Warp Speed 
and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which created the best economy in more 
than a generation.
  But the policies of the current administration have squandered all 
that progress. Bidenomics has made a mess of the economy, transforming 
what should have been a strong comeback into a serious crisis in less 
than 6 months.
  First, Democrats jammed through $1.9 trillion of the so-called rescue 
plan that continued to give taxpayer-funded handouts to people to stay 
home and do nothing.
  When he signed this spending package into law in March, President 
Biden promised America that help was on the way. But for business 
owners across the country, help wasn't on the way; ``help wanted'' 
signs were.
  Describing his struggle to hire employees, Rod Harl, the CEO of Alene 
Candles, told his local paper last week: ``We have had more than 100 
positions open since the start of the year, and just recently, we 
increased sign-on bonuses to $1,200 for hourly positions, in part 
because we were competing with an entity that can print its own money--
the Federal Government--and its $300 extra per week additional 
unemployment benefit.''
  Sadly, this isn't unique just to Mr. Harl. It is the same story I 
hear from businesses nationwide.
  In a matter of months, we went from the highest job openings on 
record in March, 8.1 million--remember, that is the same month that 
President Biden signed his bill, that he thought help was on the way--
to the biggest jobs report miss in more than two decades. Unemployment 
actually increased, despite the record number of openings.
  For a brief moment during the pandemic, it made sense to encourage 
people to stay home, but now in May 2021, it defies logic. We should 
not tax the people who are working to continue to pay people who choose 
not to.
  Another concern I hear from businesses and workers is rising 
inflation. Consumer prices in April saw their largest increase in a 
single month since 1981, soaring by more than 1 percent. Inflation 
taxes every single American and especially affects those with the least 
income.
  But remember what President Biden promised, that he wouldn't raise 
taxes on families making less than $400,000. By causing inflation to 
rise, President Biden has broken that pledge, and we are less than 5 
months into this administration.
  Madam Speaker, any economics class would tell you that the worst 
thing to do is exactly what Bidenomics has done to this country. He 
inherited one of the strongest economies, a GDP growing, and he 
actually did the opposite. He paid people to stay home. He put more 
money into the economy from government, which only drives up inflation. 
We have not seen something like this since Jimmy Carter took this 
country into stagnation.
  Now, Americans are paying more at supermarkets, hardware stores, and 
gas stations, and it has only been 5 months. In fact, we have a serious 
gas shortage in a nation that was recently energy independent.
  Could you imagine, Madam Speaker, becoming President of the United 
States and having a country that is energy independent, that is 
actually sending natural gas to other nations, to waking up to no gas 
in the gas lines in America--not because Congress passed a bill but 
because the President signed an executive order?
  Madam Speaker, I remember wanting to see my grandmother one day. It 
was back during the Jimmy Carter years, and my father told me no. I 
asked why we couldn't drive to see grandma, and it was because our 
license plate ended in an even number, not an odd. That is the only 
other time that you can compare what is happening in America today.

                              {time}  1915

  17,000 gas stations nationwide were completely emptied out. The 
average price of gasoline remains above $3. This is the highest 
gasoline has been since the last time Biden was in office. In 
California, the average was $4.12. In Virginia, prices were as high as 
nearly $7 a gallon.
  It didn't have to be this way. He didn't have to attack the 
hardworking Americans in the energy industry. His own Secretary of 
Energy said pipelines were good, even though he ended the Keystone XL 
pipeline and went after the ability for Americans to even drill on 
Federal land.
  So now, Russia is sending gasoline to America? Does that make any 
sense, to make our enemies stronger, while Russia builds up thousands 
of troops along the border of Ukraine or enters into negotiations with 
Iran, who supplies missiles to shoot at our allies?
  Instead of priming the pump, Bidenomics has emptied the tank. From 
inflation to gas lines, the American economy today looks more like it 
did in 1979 than in 2019, when wages were rising, businesses were 
growing, and unemployment was at record lows.
  None of this is an accident, you see, Madam Speaker. It is a direct 
result of bad Federal policies that have distorted incentives and 
prices.
  Yet President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and other Democrats still want 
to tax and spend more. Even the most liberal economists tell you that 
is wrong, which very seldom happens. They decided to propose another 
$5.2 trillion in new spending, as if there is a bottomless cash pit for 
politicians to draw on.
  They also decided to propose the largest tax increase in American 
history, including making the corporate tax rate the highest in the 
world; higher than France; higher than Venezuela, a socialist country; 
and higher than Communist China.
  Madam Speaker, why would the Democrats and Speaker Pelosi want to 
give China a benefit over America? I don't understand why we wouldn't 
look after American workers first.
  These proposals reflect a fundamental difference between Republicans 
and these new socialist Democrats. Republicans believe that there is 
dignity and value in hard work and risk-taking. Democrats believe that 
progress comes by forcing people to be dependent on their government. 
That is not

[[Page H2406]]

progress, to force somebody to be dependent on government.
  They want to control the decisions you make: when you can work, when 
you can drive, whether you should wear a mask. It doesn't matter what 
the science or the CDC says. If Speaker Pelosi has the power, she will 
enforce it on you.
  They want to control what you can read on the internet and what you 
can teach your children. But look at history. I don't see a single 
country where Democrat socialist ideas worked before. They have all 
been failures.
  My greatest fear is the direction you are sending America. In 5 
months, America goes from energy independence to having gasoline 
stations without gas; from an economy where you have done nothing but 
grow back, to creating inflation we haven't seen in decades; to 
empowering our enemies, who only harm our allies. You have more help 
wanted signs in America--8 million--and you missed the jobs report, the 
worst we have seen in decades, by the action taken on this floor.
  The hard part about it, Madam Speaker, is we warned you. We told you 
what would happen. We told you you were going to create inflation. We 
told you you were going to kill American jobs. You are going to reward 
people not to work. I have never been a believer in participation 
trophies. They don't work. They don't help. Certainly, those small 
businesses that have struggled to survive, you are crushing them.
  Every indication, every number shows it. To sit here on the floor and 
say you will not raise their taxes, you are doing it right now. You are 
hurting the most vulnerable. Gas prices are higher. The bread, the 
lumber to even build the house, you are pricing them out.
  The recent surge of bad economic news, in what should be a robust 
recovery, is a warning sign that your ideas are not working now. The 
last time inflation was this high, Joe Biden was Vice President. The 
last time gas prices were this high, Joe Biden was Vice President. We 
found the common denominator: President Biden's bad policies. 
Unfortunately, instead of learning from history, President Biden and 
Democrats are choosing to repeat it.
  That was one of the low points in America, when inflation was high, 
interest rates were there, and the rest of the world questioned whether 
America was what they used to be. We proved what policies could matter: 
incentive to work, letting people keep more of what they earned; making 
America energy independent.
  What is so amazing to me, when President Biden was elected, he had 
Operation Warp Speed, he got a vaccine, and he was vaccinated before he 
was even sworn in. He had millions of doses of the vaccine being 
produced. He had an economy rising, coming out of the COVID pandemic. 
He had more help wanted signs. If he literally did nothing, America 
would be stronger. But he took the wrong actions, led by the socialist 
Democrats of this floor, Madam Speaker. Now America is hurting.
  The only thing I ask: study history, listen to those who are creating 
jobs, take the incentive away where government is everything, and 
unshackle what holds us back. Let Americans have the freedom they 
deserve and desire. Prove that the next century will be ours once 
again.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair.

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