[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 29, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6750-S6751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the American people continue to hear 
about a steady stream of really bad ideas that Washington Democrats are 
packing into their next reckless taxing-and-spending spree.
  There is one clear thread that sort of ties it all together--pain for 
American families and profit for our adversaries, hurting families and 
helping China. It is a perfect policy storm that would stick working 
Americans with higher prices, higher taxes, fewer jobs, and less 
freedom, while also putting America at a global disadvantage.
  That is true about the radical environmental policies, as I explained 
yesterday. It is true about the Big Government healthcare provisions 
that would leave us with fewer new drugs and fewer cures. It was true 
about the Democrats' efforts to stuff a big amnesty for illegal 
immigrants into the bill. And it is especially true about the tidal 
wave of huge tax hikes and IRS snooping that Democrats are putting 
together behind closed doors: taxes on small businesses, taxes on 
family farms, double taxes on the ones who pass the reins to the next 
generation, new taxes that would make America one of the least 
hospitable places in the world to invest, grow a business, or create 
jobs.
  Nonpartisan analysis has confirmed there would be new taxes for big 
chunks--big chunks--of the 98 percent of Americans who make less than 
$400,000 a year, shattering President Biden's pledge to leave their 
wallets alone.
  And then there is the bizarre, unpopular new plan to give the IRS big 
new power to snoop into all of America's personal financial 
transactions in excess of a few hundred dollars.
  Currently, the government has special authorities to demand 
information on citizens' transactions in excess of $10,000. In theory, 
this is a targeted tool for sniffing out things like money laundering, 
terrorism, or massive tax fraud.
  Now, the Democrats want to create a new reporting requirement, not 
for $10,000 transactions but for anything over a few hundred bucks. If 
American families are sending or receiving $600 from their checking 
accounts, Democrats want the IRS to snoop through it--a massive new 
dragnet that would sweep up all kinds of ordinary transactions that 
normal, law-abiding Americans make all the time. In effect, Democrats 
want to let the IRS systematically snoop through normal families' 
checking accounts as though they were all potential financial criminals 
until proven otherwise.
  And then there was the latest fascinating statement from the authors 
of this awful plan. President Biden recently tried to suggest that, 
because they want to pair their reckless spending with their biggest 
tax hike in half a century, that somehow makes the entire package free. 
The President says it is free? Democrats want to jack up Americans' tax 
rates, drain money from people's pockets, spend it on socialism, and 
then say the whole thing nets out to zero dollars?
  This might be the best encapsulation of Washington-Democrat thinking 
I have ever heard. They want to print and borrow trillions of dollars 
and then set it on fire. But as long as they send your taxes 
skyrocketing at the same time, it is all a wash. Heads, they win. 
Tails, you lose. Heads, Democrats waste your money. Tails, they hike 
your taxes.
  This silly magical thinking rightly earned our President multiple--
multiple--Pinocchios from fact-checkers. And Democrats' reckless 
taxing-and-spending spree will earn it zero votes from Senate 
Republicans.

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