[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 134 (Friday, July 30, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5205-S5206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               H.R. 3684

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, after weeks like this, I find it 
hard to explain to Floridians back home how Congress is actually 
working on behalf of their families.
  I think it is safe to say that every Member of the Senate believes we 
should be investing in infrastructure. For me, it is pretty simple. I 
believe we should invest in real infrastructure: roads, bridges, 
airports, and seaports.
  As Governor of Florida, I did just that. Over my 8 years as Governor, 
Florida invested $85 billion in real infrastructure across our State, 
and we did it while cutting taxes and fees 100 times and paying off a 
third of our State debt. In other words, we paid for these big 
investments in infrastructure by growing our economy and supporting job 
creation. That is what is important to Floridians, and I am immensely 
proud of our accomplishments.
  So I support doing the exact same thing at the Federal level. But 
what we are doing here just doesn't make any sense. Nowhere in the 
world does business happen like it does here in the U.S. Congress.
  We started this week with ongoing negotiations about a big 
infrastructure deal. Of course, outside of the small group involved in 
these negotiations, no one here had any clue what was actually being 
debated. We had no text; we had no real information on how much was 
being spent; and we certainly had no idea how this was all supposed to 
be paid for.
  Then, on Wednesday, we got the big news: A deal had been reached. 
Well, that might be great, but we still had no real details. We still 
don't have the text of the bill.
  Now the majority leader expects us to start voting on amendments, and 
maybe even this whole package, this weekend. This is insanity. Nowhere 
in the world would this be the process. We are expected to make a 
decision on spending $1.2 trillion of American taxpayer dollars, and no 
one in the U.S. Senate has had the chance to even read the bill.
  Typically, the Congressional Budget Office would score a bill like 
this before the Senate considers it. That score gives us important 
information about the true cost and financial impact of the legislation 
on the Federal Government and the American people. Of course, that is 
not the case with this bill. The CBO hasn't had the chance to review it 
at all.
  Do you think any company would sign off on a massive expense without 
all the details? Would a family make a huge purchase without knowing 
exactly what it is for? Of course not. But that is how things work here 
in Congress, and that is not right.
  This is exactly why I ran for the U.S. Senate, to make Washington 
work for Florida families and stop this madness of reckless spending 
and backroom deals that don't deliver and aren't paid for.
  Speaking of pay-fors, well, they just don't exist in this bill. This 
is how backward and awful Washington is. People up here think they can 
just make big, empty promises and sell it to the American people. They 
think families will just buy whatever they are selling, no questions 
asked.
  Nope. It is time for some accountability. My friend from Indiana, 
Senator Braun, recently did a great job of laying out the claims and 
facts of the so-called pay-fors in this bill, so I am going to borrow 
from him a bit to show what is really going on here. Here are just a 
few of the most ridiculous examples.
  First, half of this bill is supposedly paid for with $550 billion 
from the highway trust fund. That fund is $100 billion in the red. The 
money isn't there. So that is not real.
  The bill also proposes using billions of repurposed COVID relief 
funding. I am all for repurposing this money, but we borrowed it to 
begin with, so this is robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is not like it is 
free money.
  They also want to use $49 billion in savings for delaying a Medicare 
Part D rebate rule and another $9 million paid for another year of 
mandatory sequester. Why would we cut Medicare to pay for roads?
  The 4.6 million seniors in Florida deserve better. Any savings in the 
Medicare Program should stay in the Medicare Program. Let's all 
remember, the Medicare trust fund is actually heading toward 
bankruptcy.
  And, of course, there are a handful of other fee increases thrown in 
there with lofty and unrealistic revenue estimates that they will claim 
will get us fully paying for this $1.2 trillion package.
  What they won't say is that these fees will almost certainly increase 
the costs of everyday goods and make it more expensive to get a 
mortgage and afford a home.
  There is no shame in Washington; just greed. Everyone wants so badly 
to say that they have given you something, but they always forget to 
mention the cost and that you actually

[[Page S5206]]

have to pay for it. The cost is important.
  I have said it a million times, and I will say it again: Reckless 
government spending causes higher inflation. It is a proven fact. And 
we are seeing the consequences of reckless spending across America 
right now.
  Eighty-seven percent--eighty-seven percent--of Americans are worried 
about inflation. Low- and fixed-income families are having to cut back 
on purchases because of rising costs. I am hearing it from families 
across Florida who are worried.
  A father of three in Jacksonville is temporarily helping take care of 
two other kids because their father is out of work. He has started 
working a second job driving Uber just to pay for groceries that are 
rapidly increasing in price. Now his Uber job is becoming less and less 
profitable because of the rising price of gas. Gas is up over 50 
percent in 1 year.
  A mother of four in Wauchula said that she used to be able to go to 
the grocery store and spend a certain amount for an entire month's 
groceries. Now she can't. Two hundred dollars in meat is no longer 
enough to feed her family of five. She has been forced to choose 
between gas to get to work and groceries for her family and is picking 
up extra jobs just to make ends meet.
  I can relate to this. I grew up in a poor family. My mom would take 
in ironing for extra money. She would give either my older brother or 
me the exact change to go to the grocery store, but she said: You have 
to check the price of everything because things are going up in price, 
and if we don't have enough money, you cannot buy it.
  A restaurant owner in Tampa told me that the cost of meat has gone up 
from $9 a pound to $18. Gas prices and food prices, coupled with the 
struggle to find workers, have been very hard on his business.
  Another family in Kissimmee told me how hard it is to keep food on 
the table because everything is so expensive. They are having trouble 
keeping their car because of the cost of maintenance and gas, but if he 
doesn't have a car, he wouldn't have a way to get to work to take care 
of his family.
  The price of gas affects nearly everyone. Right now, average gas 
prices are up nearly a dollar since last year. For a family who fills 
up their gas tank once a week, if they drive a car, that means Joe 
Biden raised their expenses $600 a year. If they drive a truck, Joe 
Biden raised their expenses by $1,000 a year.
  So next time you hear a big promise, remember these stories. These 
are real people bearing the real cost of the Democrats' reckless 
spending in Washington.
  Biden and the Democrats say they care about people, but they have 
done absolutely nothing to help families struggle to keep up with 
inflation. Their plan is to spend more money, not less.
  We have nearly $30 trillion in debt, and there are no plans to slow 
down. And that is exactly what we are seeing in this bill. We can't 
forget that this is just the start. Chuck Schumer said it on the floor 
yesterday. This is just part one and leads to Biden's and the 
Democrats' $5.5 trillion tax-and-spending spree on their liberal 
priorities. These two bills are together. They are welded together. 
There is no separating them.
  Right now, the message that President Biden and Democrats here in 
Washington are sending to the American people is clear: They don't care 
about inflation. They don't care that their reckless spending is 
causing prices to skyrocket. If that is the cost of getting their 
liberal wish list, so be it. They aren't focused on inflation or 
spending, just on more government dependency and control.
  Just look at what is happening this week with new COVID mask and 
vaccine mandates. I had COVID, and I got the vaccine. I think people 
should get vaccinated. But that is not what this is about. It is not 
about taking a measured approach and following the science and telling 
exactly how they came to the conclusion. It is about creating fear and 
chaos to grab power and control you.
  I am here to say that enough is enough. It is time to wake up to 
reality. It is time for every fiscally responsible Member of the Senate 
to join me to say we don't accept the status quo. We won't watch in 
silence while the futures of our children and our grandchildren are 
mortgaged and this Nation is driven deeper in debt with reckless and 
wasteful spending. We won't stand by while inflation wreaks havoc on 
our families and businesses. We can get spending under control, but we 
have to start accepting responsibility, and the time to do that is now. 
This isn't political. It is good government, and it is common sense.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois