[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5135-S5136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to oppose 
Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending spree.
  If Democrats pass the bill, every American will end up paying more, 
and clearly pay more in taxes, also pay more for the costs that people 
are seeing today at home--goods, gas, groceries. These prices all 
continue to go up.
  First, let's talk about taxes. This bill would be the largest tax 
increase in the history of the United States--actually, in the last 
half century.
  The bill raises taxes on small businesses, and that means higher 
prices on everyone and also fewer jobs.
  The bill raises taxes on farmers and ranchers, who will have a harder 
time in terms of passing down the family farm or ranch to their kids or 
grandkids.
  The bill raises taxes on savings and investments. So seniors will 
either have to work longer or retire with less.
  It includes trillions of dollars in tax increases, yet Democrats seem 
to be pandering to their elite donors. They made sure to include 
special exemptions for rich people in blue States and for the owners of 
electric vehicles.
  Now a study from the University of California Berkeley--clearly not a 
conservative university--they say that 9 out of 10 electric vehicle 
subsidies go to the rich--go to the rich. Nine out of ten, according to 
Berkeley, go to the rich.
  Democrats also would give tax breaks for people making up to $400,000 
a year for all sorts of things, including sending their kids to summer 
camp.
  Is that what the Democrats want to vote for: Tax breaks for people 
making up to $400,000 a year to send their kids to summer camp?
  Well, the contrast with Republicans could not be clearer. Where 
Democrats

[[Page S5136]]

are making more handouts for their friends, Republicans actually 
simplified the Tax Code. Where Democrats' increases are going to 
eliminate jobs, our tax cuts increased job growth, increased 
employment, lowered unemployment, raised wages.
  The 2017 tax cut was an across-the-board tax cut. It helped 
businesses and working families, and the result was the best economy in 
my lifetime.
  In the months after the tax cuts, nearly 200 companies--200 
companies--announced raises for their employees.
  Six million American workers received either a bonus or a raise or an 
increased retirement contribution--6 million Americans after we passed 
that law.
  Now, before the pandemic, unemployment was at a 50-year low. Wages 
were growing at the fastest pace in a decade, and the biggest wage 
gains were for people at the bottom of the economic ladder.
  On average, American household income rose by more than $4,000 a 
year. Well, this is more than the increase over the entire 8 years of 
the Obama-Biden administration.
  We had the lowest poverty rate in a half a century. Child poverty was 
down; income inequality went down. The top 1 percent's share of taxes 
went up, so the richer folks were actually paying more in taxes.
  After Republicans cut taxes, we saw the lowest unemployment rates 
ever recorded for African Americans, for Hispanic Americans, and for 
Asian Americans.
  When we began to reopen the economy last year, it was the fastest 
recovery in American history. That was because we had such a strong 
economy before the pandemic.
  What a contrast to what we have with the Democrats over the last 6 
months. Since Democrats took control of Washington, we have seen the 
fastest rise in core inflation in 40 years--the fastest rise in core 
inflation in 40 years.
  And we have also seen the most unfilled jobs in Americans history. 
The American people are already paying more at the grocery store, 
paying more at the gas station; now the American people are bracing for 
the fact that they are going to pay a lot more on tax day as well
  Yet just as bad as the Democrats' tax increases, on top of that, we 
see reckless spending. Democrats tell us the bill costs $3.5 trillion. 
This is nearly the cost of what America spent in World War II. Yet the 
bill is actually much more expensive than $3.5 trillion, because 
Democrats continue to use accounting gimmicks to hide the real cost of 
the legislation.
  Last week, a nonpartisan group released a study showing the real cost 
is likely $5.5 trillion. This is on top of the $6 trillion we have 
already spent on coronavirus relief. Five and a half trillion dollars 
is larger than the entire economy of Japan, which is the third largest 
economy in the world.
  This is clearly a recipe for inflation. So now Democrats are waving 
around a report from a single discredited economist who says: Oh, don't 
worry about inflation.
  Well, the people in my home State of Wyoming are worried about 
inflation because they are living it.
  Now, this same economist has been wrong over and over and over again 
in his career. He predicted a recession under President Trump. Instead, 
we saw the best economy of our lifetime. He wasn't even close. His work 
was an influence on President Obama's stimulus plan, which gave us the 
slowest recovery in 70 years.
  So hard to know why the Democrats would want to even turn to this 
person other than he is saying what they want him to say.
  Who are you going to believe? Him or your own two eyes?
  And the people of Wyoming believe their own two eyes when they go and 
fill up with gas or they go to the grocery store or other stores and 
see their paycheck being eaten away.
  Now, Democrats now tell us they can spend their way out of inflation. 
Spend their way out of inflation?
  This isn't just wishful thinking. This is radical. It is extreme. It 
is dangerous. It is scary. Our economy doesn't need a dime of stimulus. 
We don't even need stimulus. We didn't need it 4 months ago, when 
Democrats borrowed and spent an additional $2 trillion.
  Prices are going up because Democrats spent too much already. The 
money supply hasn't gone up this fast since World War II.
  One Democrat Senator, this weekend, said inflation is happening 
because of money we have already spent.
  Well, if this is true, then why would we want to add fuel to the fire 
and spend more? Why would we want to do that?
  Democrats are printing more money without creating more goods and 
services. So if you print more money without creating more goods and 
services, this is almost a textbook definition of inflation.
  The two bills coming to the floor now would bring Democrats' total 
for the year to $8 trillion in additional government spending.
  According to an estimate from the Manhattan Institute, this is enough 
to give every American household $60,000; or it is enough to cut income 
taxes by one-third.
  Instead, Democrats are preparing more payoffs for their friends and 
donors. This bill is a full giveaway to union bosses, trial lawyers, 
leftwing professors. It includes taxpayer funding for full-time 
professional climate activists. It includes corporate welfare for 
connected companies.
  This tax-and-spending spree is utterly reckless. Not one Republican 
will vote for this bill. This means all it takes is one Democrat in the 
Senate or a handful in the House to stop this freight train to 
socialism. All it takes is one Democrat concerned about our future, 
willing to say: We shouldn't weigh down our children with debt or our 
economy with massive tax increases.
  President Biden and the Democrat party are in charge of this runaway 
train. Each and every Democrat is going to be held responsible for the 
consequences. This includes more inflation, more worker shortages, more 
debt, and more dependency.
  Look, Democrats did enough damage with their last spending spree. 
This new spending spree is much worse.
  Unlike their last spending spree, this bill includes massive tax 
increases. It is one more reason why the American people are already 
speaking out against this reckless tax-and-spending spree.
  People across the country and certainly home in Wyoming are fed up, 
and the poll numbers are showing it. Seventy-four percent of 
Americans--we are talking Republicans, Democrats, Independents--74 
percent of Americans are concerned this spending spree will accelerate 
inflation; 78 percent are rightly concerned about their own wages going 
up at a time when--with their own taxes going up at a time when their 
wages have been getting eaten into by inflation.
  The people are going to remember how you vote on this bill. They are 
going to remember it. They remember it every time they go to the gas 
station, every time they go to the grocery store, and they are clearly 
going to remember it when they go to vote.
  So election day will come, people will make their votes as citizens, 
and they will realize what the Democrats have done with this reckless 
tax-and-spending spree and how it has impacted them as they are paying 
more in taxes, having a greater national debt, and inflation eating 
away at their paycheck.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  (The remarks of Ms. Cortez Masto pertaining to the introduction of S. 
2513 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. I yield the floor.