[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5077-S5078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Government Spending

  Mr. President, on a totally different matter, while American families 
worry about rising costs, Washington Democrats want to embark on yet 
another reckless, multitrillion-dollar taxing-and-spending spree. 
Recent surveys show that more than 80 percent of Americans are somewhat 
or very worried about the rising cost of living. And 73 percent say 
they are worried about impending tax hikes. But our Democratic 
colleagues have dreamt up another reckless taxing-and-spending spree 
that would stick families with even higher costs, even higher taxes, 
and an even shakier economy.
  The overall pricetag is so outrageous--outrageous--and the potential 
economic damage so significant that you can almost forget to look at 
all the terrible policies Democrats are hoping to hide behind the jaw-
dropping dollar figure: blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants; pieces 
of their effort to take over all 50 States' election laws under false 
pretenses; a socialist price-setting scheme for prescription medicine 
that would lead to fewer new treatments, fewer new cures, and 
especially hurt people with rare or unusual diseases; a bill that would 
have ``the swamp'' redistributing money away from working families who 
don't make childcare arrangements the way Democrats want.
  And then there is the huge catalog of expensive and radical Green New 
Deal policies that Democrats say they want to ram through as part of 
this spree. For example, Democrats want to use a party-line vote to 
slap an expensive new carbon tax on certain imports before American 
consumers get to buy them. That is after already sticking working 
families with higher prices due to inflation.
  To add insult to injury, international trade experts warned this new 
carbon tax scheme will lead to foreign retaliation, costing our Nation 
jobs, wages, and economic prosperity.
  It is a one-two punch, threatening the livelihoods of working 
families across our country. Just ask the American farmers who worry 
foreign retaliation will depress their grain and livestock prices while 
increasing their input costs like fertilizer.
  Democrats also want a new set of top-down mandates that would crush 
the affordable forms of energy that keep Americans' lights on, heat and 
cool Americans' homes, put gas in Americans' cars, and provide a whole 
lot of American workers their jobs. They want every Senate Democrat to 
line up unanimously behind the most liberal plans to wage a war on 
fossil fuels.
  I have said it before, and I will say it again. Our distinguished 
colleague, Chairman Bernie Sanders, may not have won the last 
Presidential primary, but on the Democratic side, it sure looks like 
his socialist philosophy is winning the war. House Democrats, the far 
left, and the administration keep floating this endless eco-socialist 
shopping list, and apparently, they expect every single Senate Democrat 
to simply fall in line.
  They want to further expand job tax credit giveaways for costly 
electric cars when 80 percent is going to households earning six 
figures and up.
  They also want money and mandates to push the entire Federal 
Government fleet toward electric cars as well. So wouldn't you just 
love to see an IRS auditor pull up to your tax audit in a $97,000 
Tesla?
  By the way, the Biden administration's own statistics admit the 
comparable gas-powered vehicle would cost taxpayers tens of thousands 
less.
  Democrats have even floated big Federal giveaways for electric 
schoolbuses, but zero help if rural schools need to replace a diesel 
bus with another diesel--just what rural school boards have been 
longing for.
  And don't forget Democrats' discussion of using Federal dollars to 
remodel or reconstruct millions of homes or buildings they find 
insufficiently ``green.''
  I remember a while back when Democrats won one outlet's ``Lie of the 
Year'' award for promising: If you like your doctor, you can keep your 
doctor.
  Maybe this year will feature a remake: If you like your house, you 
can keep your house.
  It just does not end, Mr. President. It reads like one mass effort to 
upend life in places like Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, and Iowa 
and all throughout the American heartland until it fits the fashions of 
west coast millionaires--another effort to push the

[[Page S5078]]

unaffordable, unworkable Green New Deal on American families who do not 
want it. This is just one corner of the absurd, reckless taxing-and-
spending spree that our Democratic colleagues are cooking up.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). The Senator from Wyoming.