[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H5103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THOUGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS ON SPENDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, this body just spent several weeks 
considering a massive spending bill proposed by the Democrats. In my 
case, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, we went through a 4-
day markup considering the bill and debating the bill, and I want to 
just share some of my thoughts and takeaways.
  The number one takeaway is that I just cannot comprehend how my 
Democrat colleagues on this bill are thinking. In fact, I hope the 
American people are paying attention because I have never seen such 
divergent views about how to create prosperity for all Americans. I 
have never seen such differing opinions about how to do it.
  Now, I will give this to the Democrats: I believe they do want to see 
the American people prosper. They want to help people. I know we as 
Republicans want to do that, and I hope they grant us that same 
courtesy of believing that. But this administration has already spent 
trillions of dollars in the past 6 months, trillions of dollars, and 
now, with this bill, they want to spend another $3\1/2\ trillion.
  Democrats literally believe that Big Government is the answer. They 
believe Big Government will solve these problems and will help 
Americans prosper.
  At the same time, they are disincentivizing work and advancing 
policies that increase dependence on the Federal Government as if they 
don't even understand that those who are working and businesses 
creating jobs and prospering are the ones who are paying the taxes that 
will pay for these programs. I just don't get it.
  Republicans have a far different answer. We believe in the American 
people. We believe in their creativity, their hard work, their 
ingenuity. We believe in achieving the American Dream. I have lived 
that American Dream.
  I was born in an Old Order Amish family, number 10 of 12 children. My 
father was first a farmer and then a roofer, raising 12 children on 
that income. I was the first in my family to graduate from high school. 
I paid for my own education. My parents required me to attend a private 
Christian school.
  I bought a small business when I was 17 years old, operating out of a 
spare bedroom in my parents' home, and lived the American Dream. Over 
25 years, I grew, with other family members, that company to be a 
leader in the type of construction we were doing, creating jobs for 
hundreds of Americans, family-sustaining jobs.
  There are stories like that all across this body, all across the 
district that I represent, all across the country. It is what we call 
the American Dream, the idea that every generation can do better than 
their parents' generation and their grandparents' generation before 
them.
  I think we have a choice in this body, and I think the choice is 
clear. Will we allow the government to dictate every facet of American 
life, or will we renew our trust in the American people and in their 
freedom? That is a question that will determine how our kids and our 
grandkids will be able to live and whether they have the same 
opportunities that we had.
  I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, whose side I am on. I am on the side of 
the American people. We have already seen the damage done as a result 
of these policies that the Democrats have implemented.
  We are seeing inflation where the American people are paying more for 
goods, and their paycheck is buying less than it did before. It is only 
going to get worse if we continue going down this path. These programs 
can only be paid for with more debt, printing money, or raising taxes 
on hardworking Americans. It doesn't work.

                              {time}  1115

  Tell me a time in history when it has worked, when a country has 
overdelivered, overspent, and overpromised.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a choice in this body. Every American's desire 
to achieve greatness is what has made our country the envy of the 
world.
  Let's reject these policies and let's put us on a path to allowing 
every American the chance to achieve their own American Dream.

                          ____________________