[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4525-S4526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Government Spending

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, unfortunately, predictions about the 
negative economic effects of the so-called American Rescue Plan seem to 
be coming true.
  In March, Democrats pushed through this massive partisan spending 
bill. They claimed it was urgently needed COVID funding. In reality, 
the bill was filled with unnecessary spending, from a staggering $350 
billion slush fund for States, a majority of which didn't need any more 
government money to weather the rest of the pandemic, to almost $129 
billion for schools, even though schools had spent just a tiny fraction 
of the tens of billions of dollars Congress had already given them.
  At the time, Republicans warned about the bill's level of spending. 
More than just one liberal economist warned about the size of 
Democrats' spending plan, with former Obama adviser Larry Summers 
noting that the bill could ``set off inflationary pressures of a kind 
we have not seen in a generation.''
  Well, it turns out he was right to be worried. Last week, the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics released its report on May's consumer prices, and 
the news was not good. Inflation reached its highest level in nearly 13 
years, with consumer prices up 5 percent from a year ago. Core 
inflation, a measure of inflation that excludes food and energy prices, 
soared to its highest level in nearly three decades.
  And what does that mean? Well, higher prices for Americans. The price 
of everything from bikes to bacon has shot up. Auto insurance costs 17 
percent more than it did a year ago. Used cars cost 30 percent more. 
Shoes and whole milk cost 7 percent more. Inflation is starting to look 
like it could become nontransitory, or what most Americans call a 
serious problem.
  And Democrats' government spending spree is contributing, but, of 
course, that is not causing Democrats to hit pause on the economic 
overstimulation. Democrats are looking at more trillion-plus-dollar 
spending bills.
  The President just released a budget proposing to hike government 
spending by trillions of dollars over the next 10 years. Under the 
President's plan, the Federal budget would be $6 trillion for fiscal 
year 2022, rising to $8.2 trillion for fiscal year 2031. Now, to put 
those numbers in perspective, the entire Federal budget for 2019 came 
to $4.4 trillion. The President is proposing to nearly double that by 
2031.
  It is disturbing that the overspending in the American Rescue Plan 
hasn't made Democrats think twice about future government sprees, but 
it is not all that surprising because in the Democratic Party these 
days, dogma tends to triumph over reality--or practicality. Democrats 
are ever more fanatically committed to expanding government and taxing 
Americans, and they are not slowed down by little details like damaging 
the economy.
  Take the increased unemployment benefits situation. Congress provided 
a Federal increase in unemployment benefits early in the pandemic when 
businesses were closed and workers had few alternatives to keep their 
families afloat, but as early as last fall, there were signs that our 
economy was rebounding. And with the arrival of the COVID vaccines, it 
became clear that America would be able to get fully back to work 
sooner rather than later.
  But Democrats insisted on continuing the increased unemployment 
benefits until September of 2021, and the effect has been predictable. 
Despite record-high job openings, many people are declining to return 
to work because they can make more money staying home and drawing 
unemployment benefits.
  Businesses hit hard by the pandemic are desperate to return to full 
operating capacity, but they are being slowed down by the fact that 
they can't find workers. In response to the worker shortage, a number 
of Governors around the country decided to stop accepting the Federal 
increase in unemployment benefits. They wanted to help businesses in 
their States and get their residents back to work.
  And how did Democrats respond to that? Well, more than one Democrat 
responded by suggesting that the Federal Government step in to make 
sure these payments continue. That is right. Despite evidence that the 
increased unemployment benefits were discouraging workers from going 
back to work, some Democrats wanted to prevent Governors from halting 
these payments.
  Nowhere is Democrats' devotion to dogma over reality more notable 
than in their proposed capital gains tax hike. Now, I don't need to 
tell anyone that ``tax the rich'' has become the rallying cry of the 
Democratic Party. And one of the ways that the President plans to tax 
well-off Americans is by doubling the top capital gains rate to almost 
40 percent.
  The problem is that a 40-percent capital gains rate substantially 
exceeds the revenue-maximizing rate. In nonaccountant speak, what that 
means is that Democrats could collect more

[[Page S4526]]

government revenue if they raised the capital gains tax less. Let me 
repeat that. Democrats could collect more government revenue if they 
raised the capital gains tax less.
  Now, you would think that the President would want to maximize the 
revenue the government could collect, especially with his plans for 10 
years of massive government spending, which I alluded to earlier. But 
in today's Democratic Party, taxing the rich is more important than 
maximizing government revenue, just like tax hikes on corporations are 
more important than making sure our economy grows and that American 
companies can compete on the global stage--or raising taxes is more 
important than passing legislation to boost American infrastructure.
  That is right. The President would have reached an agreement with 
Republicans on a substantial infrastructure bill, but he tanked 
negotiations because he was insistent that any bill repeal parts of the 
2017 tax reform legislation, the same legislation that had driven up 
wages and boosted our economy before the pandemic hit.
  Democrats are so committed to taxation that they included a provision 
in the bloated COVID legislation that they passed specifically 
prohibiting State governments from using COVID relief money to cut 
taxes. Apparently, Democrats are fine with government payments to 
Americans, but allowing them to keep more of their own money is off the 
table.
  Democrats have long been interested in higher taxes to pay for more 
government spending, but to today's Democrats, taxation is rapidly 
becoming a good in itself. Democrats are no longer just interested in 
raising taxes to raise revenue. If they were, they wouldn't be planning 
to jack up the capital gains tax rate to over 40 percent. They are 
interested in raising taxes because they believe that success should be 
punished.
  In the increasingly socialist Democratic Party, it doesn't matter how 
hard you work to get where you are, how many people you have created 
jobs for, or how much good you are doing with your money; if you have 
been successful, you should be heavily taxed for your efforts, even if 
those heavy taxes actually cost the government money or hamstring the 
American economy.
  The growing commitment in the Democratic Party to an increasingly 
rigid, socialist dogma is deeply disturbing, and it is certainly not 
limited to a fanatical commitment to taxation or spending. It embraces 
everything from a social agenda that is increasingly hostile to freedom 
of religion and freedom of speech to a fundamental belief that 
government knows best when it comes to how Americans run their lives.
  But, for today, I am just going to limit myself to taxes and 
spending. Let's hope that Democrats rethink their planned government 
spending sprees before inflation really gets out of control and hard-
working Americans end up paying the price.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.