[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 183 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5665-H5670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





           IN OPPOSITION TO DEMOCRATS' RECONCILIATION PACKAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit 
extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oklahoma?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, tonight we are going to hear the truth about 
a truly bad bill.
  Biden's failed leadership has created an America where grocery 
stores' shelves are empty, gas stations are running out of gas, and 
crime is skyrocketing, our schools are failing, and our borders are 
wide open so that cartels can have complete control of what is going on 
at our southern border.
  This isn't the America any of us want. Whether we succeed or fail, we 
do it as one. Republican or Democrat, our future is the same. That is 
why it is so important to point out the truth of what is in this 
reconciliation package.
  The Biden administration has ignored crisis after crisis, putting all 
their eggs into this build back broke basket. So how come no one 
actually knows what is in it?
  We spent over 40 hours in Ways and Means marking up the build back 
broke plan last month and several other committees did the same, but we 
already know that the policies have changed since then.
  Democrats are adding radical unnecessary provisions while the 
American people aren't looking. For example, they are trying to make 
the IRS spy on American families' bank accounts. That is right, they 
want banks to give information to the IRS on any transaction over $600. 
This is a giant step towards living in a surveillance state.
  My constituents are horrified at what has happened to our country in 
just 9 months of Democratic control. They are worried that the freedoms 
we have held dear for the last 245 years will be stripped away right 
before their eyes.
  Tonight, we will hear from my colleagues about the dangerous 
provisions included in the build back broke plan, the honest truth 
about what our Democratic colleagues are trying to hide from the 
American people.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Harshbarger), my dear friend, a freshman, a fellow businessperson, and 
a person that I coauthored an op-ed with yesterday about our failing 
supply chain.
  Mrs. HARSHBARGER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to condemn the reckless 
and irresponsible proposed spending by the radical left.
  This reconciliation bill is nothing more than a socialist wish list.
  It disincentivizes people from working and it is littered with Green 
New Deal items we cannot afford.
  The Biden administration has outrageously claimed this bill costs 
zero, nada, nothing, zilch. If you believe that, then I have got a nice 
piece of oceanfront property to sell you in east Tennessee where I come 
from.
  This deficit spending is a wrong prescription for our country.
  Instead of calling this the build back better, they should call it 
the build back broke.
  It would raise inflation--you have to remember, inflation is 
taxation--making everyday necessities even more expensive than they 
have already become under the Biden economy; that is, if you can even 
get the items you need due to the supply chain disruptions.
  And it will fail to incentivize Americans to get back to work.
  What we need to focus on are real solutions to restarting our great 
American economy, not on increasing debt and government reliance.
  I urge my colleagues in joining me in opposing this out-of-control 
spending.
  Our country's future depends on it and the future of east Tennessee 
depends on it.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Joyce), my dear friend and a member of the Energy and Commerce 
Committee and a fellow classmate.
  Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Oklahoma for hosting this Special Order this evening.
  The reconciliation package that my colleagues are pushing for may 
play well to focus groups in liberal cities, but in Pennsylvania, the 
energy policies being introduced in this legislation would be a death 
sentence for thousands of family-sustaining jobs.
  It is clear that this administration is openly hostile to the energy 
industries that are critical in our State and that provide the baseload 
power that our Nation relies on.
  At a time when gas prices just reached a 7-year high, this 
legislation would create new taxes on the oil and natural gas 
industries.
  These regressive taxes would directly harm our middle-class citizens. 
They would harm the rural Americans who have to drive further distances 
and take longer commutes in order to get to work.
  This administration claims these taxes would pay to support working 
families. That is false.
  In reality, these taxes would pay to enact radical policies like 
creating green workforce tax credits that cost over $10 billion.
  These taxes would pay to give kickbacks to liberal companies that 
promote the false solutions offered by the Green New Deal energy 
agenda.
  Let's be clear: These taxes do not benefit the American people. This 
administration is willing to raise taxes on working Americans for the 
sake of their socialist energy policies.
  This is not responsible government. It is not a government that is 
working to improve the quality of life for all citizens.
  It is disappointing to see the administration lying about what this 
legislation does.
  This bill would bankrupt our energy producers and send prices soaring 
even higher.
  This legislation would not help to build our economy, it would not 
help to build our workforce, and it would not protect the American 
energy consumers.
  The truth is simple: We cannot afford this legislation. We must vote 
against it.
  I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for organizing this Special 
Order.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Donalds), a freshman, who is certainly not shy about getting out there 
and getting his feet wet and speaking out here, so we appreciate that.
  Mr. DONALDS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, it is important that we are here this evening because 
the President of the United States and the majority party has never 
actually talked about what is in this bill. They would like to throw 
out their catch phrase build back better, they like to talk about how 
they are helping the children and helping our economy transform, but 
what they never talk about is what they are actually going to do.
  What the American people don't know, Madam Speaker, is that in this 
bill is a $1.3 billion provision to give newspapers $12,500 per 
employee for local newspapers all across the United States. I don't 
know about you, but I don't know how that helps anybody build back 
better when we are giving tax dollars to newspapers.
  In this bill, it gives $42 billion in tax credits to the rich to buy 
electric cars. The reason why they are tax credits for the rich is 
because working families, middle-class families don't have the 
disposable income to buy electric cars; only the wealthy buy them. But 
that is in this bill.
  The administration wants to give the IRS access to your checking 
accounts. This is outrageous. This completely eliminates due process. 
It makes every American guilty until proven innocent. And the White 
House wants this provision in the bill because they can't tax the 
American people enough to pay for all their radical spending, so they 
have to go find every piece of change in the couch cushions.
  The only time in American history we unleashed the IRS on checking 
accounts and on bank accounts was when

[[Page H5666]]

we allowed for currency transaction reports to track drug cartels and 
businesses breaking the law from laundering money in the United States 
because of drugs and terrorism. That is when we unleashed currency 
transaction reports on transactions in the United States. It has never 
been done in any other time, but Joe Biden wants to do it to every 
American. And make no mistake, America, it is to every American.
  In this bill it raises taxes radically in our corporate sector, makes 
us the highest corporate tax income country in the world, higher than 
China. You know, China, the country that is our economic rival. And it 
raises those taxes. It makes us less competitive. But that is supposed 
to help us build back better?
  And let's talk about spending because in this very bill, one of the 
key proponents that Joe Biden and the Democrats want is to expand and 
continue the child tax credit, which pays $300 per child. But what they 
will never tell you is there is no provision in the bill to actually 
track based upon Social Security numbers to make sure that even if you 
are going to give a benefit--which, by the way, we should not give--
that anybody in the United States can get it. And I stress anybody in 
the United States because by the end of this year there will be easily 
2.3 to 2.5 million people who have crossed our borders illegally.
  This bill is a catastrophe. This bill spends far more money than we 
possibly have. It will create more--and I stress ``more''--inflation in 
our society, which is already crippling poor people. It is already 
crippling working families. It is not going to help our country.
  You know, back in February when we told the administration do not 
extend Federal unemployment benefits because it was going to pay people 
to stay home, Joe Biden said, no, it won't, everything is going to be 
A-okay.
  Well, look at our economy today. Everything is not okay. Everything 
is screwed. And if we listen to Joe Biden, somebody, frankly, who has 
never been right, somebody who has never had a job one day in his life 
about what it is going to take to actually allow our economy to thrive 
and prosper, our country is going to see its last great days.
  Madam Speaker, the reason why you guys can't get the votes is because 
even Democrats in your own party realize how destructive this will be 
to the small business owners in their districts, how destructive this 
will be to the economic vitality of the people in their districts. You 
can't get the votes. It is time to stand down. This bill is a disaster.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington), 
my dear friend from the food, fuel, and fiber district of West Texas, 
Texas' 19th District.
  Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for 
yielding, and he almost got there--the food, fuel, and fiber capital of 
the world in West Texas. But we are proud to be partners with our 
friends in Oklahoma who produce a little oil and gas and a little food 
and fiber themselves.
  But the gentleman from Florida is exactly right. I don't think that 
there is enough Democrats to support this gargantuan tax-and-spend bill 
on the American people because it would be their political death 
warrant, quite frankly. Because they represent people, working 
families, who will no doubt feel the burden. Even the most liberal tax 
policy experts say that the corporate taxes, in large part, will be 
borne by working families with lower wages and higher cost of goods and 
lower benefits.
  That is what taxing American job creators will do, as well as run 
those jobs right back to overseas where we brought millions back when 
we cut taxes. We will ruin America's competitive position, and we will 
no doubt be in a far worst situation than we are today, with runaway 
inflation, with labor locked out by foolish policies to pay people more 
to be on unemployment than to be at work.
  This is the largest tax bill, the largest spending bill, the largest 
expansion of government, the largest redistribution of wealth in the 
history of the United States of America--in the history.
  And part of this bill--and it is hard to know where to end and begin 
because the Democrats have had sort of a shock and awe strategy where 
it is hard to unpack all of the disastrous provisions--but they expand 
the welfare system in this country and trap millions more people on 
government dependency. And they will trap generations in a cycle of 
poverty because of new cash entitlements without any regard for 
personal responsibility or work requirements.
  The refundable child tax credit is exhibit A. It is half a trillion 
dollars in its current temporary form. But I guarantee you, if it goes 
into place, in any form, it will be made permanent. It is over a 
trillion dollars, and people will be paid cash per child with no regard 
for their ability to work, their responsibility to look for a job. 
Work-capable people with no responsibility.
  This will also enact the green new economic disaster. This is a 
climate alarmist utopian fantasy that will break the bank of our 
American coffers. It will ruin our economic prospects of recovery. It 
will certainly undermine, if not flat out destroy, America's energy 
independence and give the keys to China in terms of the future global 
economic leadership.
  But what is not discussed enough, because Democrats claim in their 
rhetoric that this is a tax on the rich; this is a tax on corporations. 
Well, first of all, the facts are, out of the 1.7 organizations, job 
creators organized as C-Corps, $1.4 million are small businesses. Small 
businesses in their proposal would be death by a thousand tax increases 
and mandates and regulations; marginal tax increases; a cut in the 
small business deduction; you have Obama surtaxes.
  Madam Speaker, in 41 States, small businesses under this proposal 
will pay more than 50 percent of their income to the government. On top 
of that, they have expanded powers for regulators like OSHA to increase 
their penalties upwards of 500 percent, increase their Fair Labor 
Standards Act penalties by 900 percent, empower regulators to fine 
small businesses upwards of $700,000 for not enacting, implementing the 
Biden vaccine mandate.
  Madam Speaker, to my friend from Oklahoma, this is riddled with 
horrible provisions, and to suggest that small businesses get a pass is 
more than disingenuous. Again, in addition to the tax increases, they 
have got mandates on government-approved retirement plans. They will be 
forced to unionize their workforce; taxpayers will subsidize union 
dues; unions will be able to funnel billions of dollars to Democrat 
organizations.
  So in addition to the progressive wish list part 2, after ``COVID 
relief,'' in addition to amnesty and citizenship for people who came 
into this country illegally, they have got a whole list of goodies for 
their union buddies and bosses, not the least of which is Americans get 
a higher tax break if they buy their electric bicycles and electric 
vehicles from unionized corporations.
  So this is a parade of horrible policies. It is an economic disaster. 
And as we unpack it, I hope and pray that the American people and our 
colleagues on the Democrat side of the aisle will do the right thing 
for our country and keep America in that pole position for future 
prosperity.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the food, fuel, 
and fiber capital of the world. I appreciate it very much.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Burchett), congressman from Tennessee's Second District, also spent 
time in the Tennessee State House, the Tennessee State Senate, and the 
mayor of Knox County, my dear friend who I served on the Committee on 
Small Business with, and a fighter for real America.
  Mr. BURCHETT. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Hern for that wonderful 
and accurate introduction, and thank him for being my friend.
  Madam Speaker, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and the far-left Democrats 
are playing the American people for fools. They are claiming their 
insane multi-trillion dollar agenda will cost nothing. Nothing.
  Madam Speaker, our constituents are not stupid. They know nothing 
Washington puts out is free, and they know

[[Page H5667]]

that the doggone Democrats want to tax them for this socialist scheme.
  Earlier today, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed 
Democrats are lying about the cost of Biden's agenda. The CBO found 
that the healthcare provisions alone would increase the Federal deficit 
by half a trillion dollars. Let me repeat that: Half a trillion 
dollars.

  It doesn't matter if the healthcare spending in this bill occurs over 
1 year or over 10 years, we never should blow up the deficit like this.
  On top of the actual healthcare costs, the CBO also revealed the 
healthcare policies would force millions of Americans into one-size-
fits-all government healthcare programs. Forget about keeping your 
employer-sponsored plan or personalized care. Under progressive care, 
as we like to call it in my office, Americans will get to rely on the 
slow-moving Federal bureaucracy for meeting their healthcare needs.
  Madam Speaker, Democrats have fought amongst each other for months 
over this big government boondoggle. The American public now knows what 
the Democrat-controlled Congress has been up to while our economy has 
tanked. Instead of trying to jam through trillions of dollars on the 
backs of American taxpayers, Democrats need to clean up this messy 
economy. Crucial shipping ports along our coasts don't have enough 
staff to maintain normal operating hours, creating a broken supply 
chain.
  I saw today where Florida, in fact, is in the market for that 
prestigious market.
  Some retail shelves have sat empty for weeks. Things have gotten so 
bad there that there is talk that some goods will not be available for 
the holiday season. Lacking supplies of certain goods have made the 
inflation crisis President Biden started even worse.
  Skyrocketing prices are a direct result of the blue State stimulus 
package Democrats passed back in March, another bill that cost 
trillions of dollars. Thanks to that legislation, too many folks are 
getting paid more to stay at home instead of going to work, which is 
contributing to our current supply chain woes.
  Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and this Democrat-controlled Congress are 
guiding our economy straight into the ground. Time and time again, 
Congress has proved that throwing money at the country's problems 
always makes the situation worse. It already happened once this year. 
It is time for Congress to abandon this big government socialism agenda 
before it is too late to save our economy.
  As I said at the beginning, our constituents are not stupid. They 
know they are the ones who always pay, either through inflation or 
taxes. Americans will not forget it was Democrats, driven by the far-
left political agendas who destroyed this economy.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. I 
appreciate him so much, as always.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Meuser), my dear friend, who spent 2 years on the Committee on 
Small Business, a fellow colleague from Pennsylvania's Ninth District, 
a gentleman that has been in business his entire life; his family has 
been in business their entire lives; have been on the receiving end of 
these failed past policies when you go after small business, so I think 
he is what I consider to be an expert in this area to talk to this.
  Mr. MEUSER. Madam Speaker, I thank my very good friend, the 
gentleman, Mr. Hern, of the great State of Oklahoma for yielding some 
time to me this evening.
  Madam Speaker, last year, we collectively spent $5.6 trillion of the 
American taxpayer money for COVID relief and recovery and to create a 
vaccine, all the while enormously increasing our debt, but we were in a 
serious pandemic, a serious crisis.
  Despite the effectiveness of this relief, the improving GDP and 
productivity taking place in our economy, the Biden administration and 
the Democrat Caucus passed the so-called rescue bill that was about 
three times more expensive than anyone thought needed. This and other 
erroneous policies set the stage for the havoc infecting our economy 
today.
  We have a serious workforce shortage, hyperinflation--high demand and 
low supply--strong consumer purchasing but no ``Made in the USA'' goods 
to fulfill that demand. This is the primary cause of the supply chain 
bottleneck at our ports. Add to it this administration's not-so-subtle 
attack on domestic energy production, and you have shortages and 
inflation not seen since the 1970s.
  Worse, it is not the high-earners or the well-off who are suffering 
from the Biden administration's decisions, it is middle income, working 
families and small businesses that are feeling the brunt of these ill-
conceived ideas.
  Madam Speaker, small businesses in Pennsylvania are breathless with 
anxiety and concern. Literally, every day I have a phone call with 
breathless constituents. They are rattled. Every one of them has a 
``Help Wanted'' sign hanging on their door, offering $20 an hour 
plus while the cost of everything goes up daily.

  What is the Biden administration's and the progressives in this House 
answer?
  Let's spend $3.5 trillion on programs that create more demand but do 
nothing to increase productivity and the supply of American-made goods, 
and then somehow calling it ``Building Back Better.''
  I would think it would be called breaking backs better because that 
is what it is doing--breaking the backs of hardworking Americans.
  Madam Speaker, this defines the Biden administration and the 
Democratic Caucus' economic strategy: Big taxes, big spending, big 
government.
  My constituents and I call it economic madness. We must defeat--not 
reduce, but defeat--this economy-wrecking conciliation.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Kelly), my dear friend, a man that has a tremendous passion in 
this area, whose family has spent a lifetime in business, a member on 
the Committee on Ways and Means, and a gentleman who also played 
football at Notre Dame.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, and 
we do sit on the Committee on Ways and Means together.
  Madam Speaker, I just think that where we look at today, I have heard 
so much in the last couple weeks about looking at this as kitchen table 
economics.
  Madam Speaker, if you want to talk about it in real terms that every 
single American would understand, people who actually do their bills at 
their kitchen table, that figure out what their future looks like at 
their kitchen table, then we need to start talking in terms that they 
understand.
  So when we talk about what America gains in revenues, what this 
Federal Government gains in revenues each year is $3.5 trillion. This 
Federal Government spends $6.5 trillion.

                              {time}  2015

  Now, people say, well, that is not too bad. That is only a $3 
trillion difference. But what it comes down to, if you want to use 
kitchen table economics, let's talk about what it means to people who 
actually sit at a kitchen table, sometimes work two jobs, sometimes not 
only the father but the mother gets up and go to work every day to put 
food on the table and put a roof over the head of their children and 
plan for the future.
  Let's talk about kitchen table economics, and let's reduce it down to 
terms that people actually understand: A person making $35,000 a year 
thinks it is okay to spend $65,000 a year.
  Nobody with any type of economic sense or common sense would say: I 
think that is okay. I think that is the way I should live my life. I 
think that is the way I should plan for the future because I think it 
is going to be really great for my kids and grandkids going forward.
  $3.5 trillion in revenue from taxpayers, and the government is 
spending $6.5 trillion. That is a difference of $30,000 a year for the 
average person on their kitchen table who is spending $30,000 more a 
year than they bring in. That is lunacy. Nobody would tell their sons 
or daughters to plan their life that way.
  The reason I brought this picture of this iceberg is because I 
believe America right now is facing a Titanic moment. The truth of the 
matter is, we can't really see what our total debt is.

[[Page H5668]]

It is below the surface. Funded and unfunded liabilities right now, 
which the American taxpayers are responsible for, is $130 trillion.
  It is truly a Titanic moment. We are steaming toward an iceberg that 
is going to sink the ship. We sit back and talk about these things in 
terms that don't really matter. We talk about tree equity. We talk 
about this equity and that equity. What we don't talk about is the 
equity to hardworking American taxpayers.
  We don't talk the truth to them, and we hope that we will pass a bill 
that they can't possibly imagine it can't possibly be paid for by only 
those making $400,000 or more a year.
  The constituents that I represent in Pennsylvania's 16th 
Congressional District know what it is like when they go to get a 
gallon of gas. They know what it is like when they have to heat their 
home this winter and know that it is probably going to be 50 to 60 
percent more this winter than it was last winter.
  Their gas, their groceries, everything that they consume is going up 
at a rate that they can't possibly imagine. And they can't imagine it 
because they are not being told the truth.
  We are talking about we are going to build it back better. We are 
going to ruin the greatest Nation the world has ever known by 
unsustainable spending and by an administration that fails to tell the 
whole truth and what is below the surface and what is going to sink the 
ship.
  The tip of the iceberg is the only thing the American people see 
right now. The truth lies below the surface. Getting the truth out is 
almost impossible, especially in this House, in the people's House on 
this floor.
  Madam Speaker, I am sorry to interrupt you. I know you are busy 
reading something there, but perhaps you ought to read that bill. You 
ought to see exactly what is being proposed. I don't believe the 
majority has read that bill. I don't believe the majority really 
believes in that bill. But I do know the majority will continue to keep 
their heads down, read their phones, read their cards, and listen to a 
false narrative coming out of the White House and a complicit media 
that refuses to tell America the truth.
  We are at a Titanic moment. We are facing debt we cannot possibly 
sustain. We are taking ourselves out of a position to be the strongest 
country in the world, and we are doing it right here in the people's 
House. We are discussing taxes and cost of living that are off the 
charts, that we have never seen in our life before. And we can continue 
to read our phones, read the teleprompter, and whisper to people: Just 
pay your fair share.
  Really? Really? Is that the way we are going to run it? Is that the 
way we are going to go forward? Are we going to go home to our home 
districts and say: Look, you are just going to have to pay your fair 
share.
  That is what we are going to keep telling them. We will whisper our 
way through this crisis, and it will end up as a disaster.
  How anybody can sit on the floor of this House representing their 
home districts, three-quarters of a million people is what most of us 
represent, and go back home and tell them: I did what was right for 
you.
  Never before has this country ever faced the crisis it is facing now. 
It is not because of a foreign power. It is not because of somebody 
trying to take us over. It is the rotting that is taking place right 
inside this House in this session.
  Madam Speaker, I would implore every single Member of the House--I 
don't care if you are a Democrat; I don't care if you are Republican; I 
don't care if you are liberal or you are a conservative, just stop 
being stupid because there ain't no fixing stupid.
  The path we are on right now is a complete disaster. Everybody knows 
it. Not everybody speaks it because they just don't want to break 
ranks.
  This is a Titanic moment. This is what America is facing. I would 
implore each Member of this House to wake up and do what is right for 
the American people.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for 
his passion on this subject.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah's First 
Congressional District (Mr. Moore), a fellow baseball player who had 
the distinction of hitting an in-the-park home run at our big win 2 
weeks ago. I really appreciate that.
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Madam Speaker, I rise to highlight one specific 
danger of the Democrats' $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. My 
colleagues have highlighted many concerns and many issues that this 
tax-and-spend monstrosity will advance, partisan priorities like 
taxpayer-funded abortions, the Green New Deal, a $2.1 trillion tax 
increase on businesses and hardworking American families. The provision 
that I am speaking of specifically threatens our individual freedoms 
and personal privacy.

  This provision is an expansive IRS mandate that would give the 
government unprecedented access into our wallets and spending patterns. 
This provision would force our neighborhood banks and local credit 
unions to hand over constituents' private financial information 
directly to the IRS.
  This decree levies an outrageous compliance cost on the credit unions 
and banks that serve my community, meaning higher fees and lower saving 
yields for First District families.
  More importantly, this intrusion into our transactions poses 
extraordinary privacy concerns and subjects Utahns' financial 
information to hacking, political targeting, and government 
surveillance. This abusive provision will collect massive amounts of 
personal financial data on middle-class families.
  Imagine the ways that any administration, Democrat or Republican, 
could be tempted to use that information and to intrude on our private 
businesses and lifestyle choices.
  Even still, this will not close the tax gap. This provision isn't 
targeting wealthy tax evaders, as President Biden claims. It is 
targeting normal, working-class, everyday Americans. $3.5 trillion, and 
for President Biden to say it is not going to cost us anything?
  Democrats know they can't tax enough to make up that difference, so 
they are finding these unique, obscure ways to employ or to basically 
deploy the IRS on everyday working Americans in their regular checking 
accounts.
  I condemn this unconstitutional and invasive Federal overreach, and I 
stand with Utah families who depend on the security and privacy that 
their financial institutions provide.
  I encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to oppose 
this provision, and I look forward to voting against the entirety of 
Speaker Pelosi's reconciliation package.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin's 
Sixth District (Mr. Grothman), who serves on the Budget Committee and 
is an advocate for workforce development and welfare reform.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I hope the American public is paying 
attention as we have three bills moving through here, including the 
reconciliation bill.
  In the year that we just finished, which included some supposedly 
once-in-a-lifetime COVID spending bills, 41 percent of the money spent 
by the government was borrowed. President Biden has laid out his dream 
for what will happen in fiscal year 2022, and now that we are back to 
normal, he still is borrowing 31 percent of the budget. Think about 
that.
  That would be like saying if you are making $60,000 a year, next year 
I am going to spend $90,000 a year. The top line numbers on this are 
just unbelievable. And these numbers are without taking into account 
the almost certain increases in interest rates that we are going to 
have to pay on our Federal debt.
  I would say there are so many horrible parts of this bill, but I 
think the most dangerous part is, in addition to not funding the 
southern border, there are provisions in here clearly designed to have 
a dramatic increase in the number of illegal immigrants, which will 
turn into legal citizens.
  Right now, America is used to having about 800,000 a year sworn in as 
new citizens. Pro-immigration groups suggest that this bill would add, 
in one shot, over 10 million new immigrants. Just disastrous.
  Among other carrots to get more immigrants here, we are giving away 
free Pell grants, which is to say free scholarships if you come here 
illegally. That is almost hard to believe, at a time

[[Page H5669]]

that the average American, middle-class kid is paying $20,000, $30,000, 
$40,000, $50,000 in debt to get his college degree and is going to wind 
up in debt into his forties.
  If you come here illegally under this crazy bill, we are going to 
give you free college. Unbelievable. Permanently changing America to 
say the government should take care of 3- and 4-year-olds when there is 
no evidence or scant evidence that this will improve the outcomes for 
American children and their education system, all you are doing is, I 
think, following an absolute horrible ideology that says that the 
government ought to be the ones taking care of the children.
  As far as families are concerned--increasing the marriage penalty, be 
it increase the marriage penalty for the earned income tax credit, 
increase in the marriage penalty on Pell grants, putting out more low-
income housing, which is also designed to break down the families and 
further erode the stability of future generations.
  Madam Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote no on the 
massive increase in the number of citizens here, the massive increase 
and the role the government plays in American life, and begin to 
restore themselves to some fiscal competence.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Wisconsin.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama's First 
Congressional District (Mr. Carl), a new freshman and a fellow small 
business owner.
  Mr. CARL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to object to this ridiculous, 
wasteful spending that my colleagues from across the aisle are trying 
to ram through with this proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.
  We have real needs in this country, but instead of addressing them, 
the Democrats are attempting to spend somewhere around $3.5 trillion on 
social programs, Green New Deal mandates, and all kinds of junk that 
adds up.
  If you were to take and stack up $3.5 trillion in $1 bills, you would 
have a total of 250,000 miles of bills. That is how tall it would be.
  This is unacceptable. It is totally ridiculous. It is absolutely 
absurd to consider spending that much money in an area that we are just 
beginning to get involved in, which is green energy.
  It would be one thing if money was going to actually improve this 
country in a massive way. You might see some support from the 
Republican side. You might even see some of your own Democrats coming 
back to your own party. But as we all know, there are things in this 
bill that are horrible.

                              {time}  2030

  I want to just mention three of them very briefly:
  One, we are throwing trillions of dollars at this ridiculous Green 
New Deal mandate. We are going to mandate things on corporations and on 
people they cannot afford. We are going to break the back of small 
businesses. It is coming.
  Two, we are spending billions of dollars to expand the numbers in the 
IRS--88,000 new IRS agents. Those agents aren't going to separate us 
from being Democrats and Republicans. All they are looking at is a 
dollar figure.
  Madam Speaker, I propose to you there is going to be some blowback on 
that. You are giving them the right to spy on every American in this 
country, and that is wrong. It is wrong. We shouldn't fear our 
government. We shouldn't fear the IRS. They should fear us because we 
are the taxpayer; we are the people.
  Three, it will direct taxpayers' dollars directly to perform and to 
promote abortion. Never has that ever been done in this country before. 
That is going to be a game changer.
  Madam Speaker, I suggest to you there is a tsunami coming up in 2022 
because the American people are upset.
  This bill will also increase taxes and the cost of living of 
everyday, hardworking Americans. Again, this is unacceptable.
  We are nearly $30 trillion in debt. Inflation has risen every month 
that President Biden has been in office, and Americans across this 
country are seeing their cost of living skyrocket. In my small 
community I am looking at gas at $1 more a gallon. You can't reach into 
a hardworking American's pocket, Madam Speaker, without feeling their 
gas money, and when they have to give a dollar more a gallon, they are 
going to remember that.
  Let me just remind my colleagues from across the aisle, the American 
people are fed up with this foolishness. I promise you, Madam Speaker, 
they will remember in 2022. That tsunami is coming. I have spent a lot 
of time trying to make a lot of friends on the Democratic side. I think 
it is extremely important for this House to work together and not 
against one another, but if you follow this administration off this 
cliff, there is no return. The American people are going to turn on the 
people who voted for it. It is time to get serious about fiscal 
responsibility and learn to live within our means.
  Or is it too late?
  Our children and our grandchildren deserve better than this, and I 
will not stand by and watch this country mortgage our future.
  Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We collect 
plenty of money, it is just how we spend it. We have got to learn to 
cut back. It is reckless and irresponsible for this body to continue 
throwing trillions of dollars around like there is nothing to it.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
oppose this terrible $3.5 trillion wreck bill, as I love to call it.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the 21st 
District of Texas (Mr. Roy). My dear friend, Chip Roy, has 
extraordinary passion about constitutional accountability and fiscal 
responsibility.
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for 
yielding. I have no ill will about what happened at the Cotton Bowl 
last week. But I will say that on the floor of the House of 
Representatives last week I was entertained by listening to the 
majority leader brag--brag--about voting 49 times to raise the debt 
ceiling in his career, the debt going up from $1 trillion to now $28\1/
2\ trillion.
  What do my illustrious colleagues on the other side of the aisle want 
to do now?
  Throw another $3\1/2\ trillion on top of massive inflation, people 
getting paid not to work, and an economy getting absolutely crushed. 
That is where my Democratic colleagues want to take us. But the thing 
is, it is not about the $28\1/2\ trillion. That is horrible--
undermining the dollar, undermining the economy, racking up debt, 
printing money, and making us weak compared to China.
  But it really isn't that. It is that my Democratic colleagues want to 
spend that money to come after you, the American people. That is what 
that money is for. It is to go after the American people. It is to fund 
the FBI to go after parents at school boards; a school board where this 
summer a dad went to talk to the school board and exercise his First 
Amendment rights because his daughter was raped in a bathroom.
  And what do the illustrious geniuses of the Loudoun County School 
Board do?
  What do the school board administrations across this country do, the 
association?
  They said that we should call them domestic terrorists.
  What does the Biden administration do?
  They come out and say that we are going to fund the Department of 
Justice, we are going to say we should have people going after 
parents--going after parents--for speaking at a school board where his 
little girl--his ninth grade girl--was raped in a bathroom by a dude 
wearing a skirt.
  What in the world is happening to our country?
  That is what my Democratic colleagues want to do. They want to fund 
bureaucrats to go after the American people. They want to fund OSHA. 
They want to give more money to OSHA, increasing the max for OSHA 
penalties for repeat offenders of violating the President's illegal, 
unconstitutional vaccine mandate from $70,000 to $700,000 minimum 
penalty, from $500 to $50,000 going after businesses who dare to say 
they don't believe it is their role to tell their employees that they 
must get vaccinated.
  But in the infinite wisdom of this President, he thinks he has the 
power to go after the American people.
  Well, God bless the pilots of Southwest, and God bless the employees 
out

[[Page H5670]]

there saying ``no'' and saying: You don't get to do that.
  But what do my Democratic colleagues want to do?
  They want to fund more bureaucrats to go after private citizens and 
private businesses who do not want to bow down to the edict of the 
President of the United States issuing an unlawful, illegal mandate. 
They want to fund more Federal Government restricting rights to work, 
$835 billion in welfare through the Tax Code, expand Federal Government 
control over local zoning, empowering the IRS, as my colleagues have 
already eloquently spoken about, and going after your ability to have 
the energy to fuel your businesses, fuel your homes, and making the 
American people subject to energy poverty.
  That is what our Democratic colleagues have in mind.
  Finally, giving billions of dollars to woke colleges, wealthy 
liberals, and the rest of the left's political base. That is the 
direction my Democratic colleagues want to take this country.
  I think the American people know this is the wrong direction.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this disastrous 
legislation, and I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Fourth 
District of Indiana (Mr. Baird).
  Mr. Baird is a decorated Vietnam veteran who was recognized with two 
Purple Hearts for the wounds he received while protecting our freedoms.
  Mr. BAIRD. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Kevin for coordinating this 
Special Order, and I thank the gentleman for doing that.
  Madam Speaker, this multitrillion dollar Big Government spending 
package proposed by the Democrats isn't going to help our country. In 
fact, it is going to be fundamentally harmful for generations of 
Americans to come. Right now, America is saddled with skyrocketing 
inflation rates that have left American families paying more for 
everything, and supply chain shortages threaten to make the holiday 
shopping season more difficult and expensive than ever.
  Democrats are promising a package that will prolong labor shortages 
and consequently inflation rates by continuing welfare benefits without 
work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents at a time 
when there are over 10 million jobs available.
  How can we resolve labor shortages and rising inflation rates when 
the Democrats continue to champion policies that encourage people to 
remain unemployed?
  Instead of addressing pressing issues that are having a true impact 
on American families, Democrats continue to push partisan initiatives 
that are nonstarters for many Americans, like mandating that taxpayers 
fund abortions.
  Madam Speaker, this package proves that many Democrats are out of 
touch with both the needs and the values of the American people, and I 
am proud to join my colleagues in standing in opposition to this 
legislation.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Eighth 
District of Florida (Mr. Posey).
  I would also like to say he serves on the Financial Services 
Committee which has a big part in the jurisdiction of this bill that we 
are discussing.
  I would also like to point out the distinction he had in working and 
serving in the Florida Senate when we had the election laws. Much was 
spoken about that today in some of the 1-minute speeches. He worked in 
the Florida Senate and helped work on the reform laws regarding what 
happened with the 2000 Presidential race.
  Mr. POSEY. Madam Speaker, ironically, it was my bill, the Election 
Reform Act of 2001--after the closest Presidential election in history, 
decided by about 350 votes--and my Election Reform Act, after all that 
hostility, passed 38-2 in the Senate and 120-0 in the Florida House, 
and that is how election reform bills should pass. If they don't pass 
with an overwhelming majority of both sides, they are not fair and they 
shouldn't be enforced.
  Americans are feeling the rise in prices at the gas pump and in our 
grocery stores. Favorite products are in short supply, and some are 
even not available. To make matters worse, they are discovering that 
the resolution before us is full of wasteful spending and big tax 
increases.
  The administration only responds to our economic crisis by making 
excuses and pointing fingers. Claiming supply chain disruptions and 
inflation are just high-class problems is incredibly wrong.
  Madam Speaker, you can call it what you want on TV, but at the end of 
the day, it is just, plain and simple, bad policy. All this resolution 
does that we are asked to vote for is to green-light more of it.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this 
resolution.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, may I ask how much time I have remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Oklahoma has 8 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I would like to give one last shout-out to 
Republican Study Committee Chairman   Jim Banks. He has been fighting 
this ridiculous spending from the get-go. It is largely due to Jim's 
leadership that so many Americans know just how bad this reconciliation 
bill really is.
  I would like to thank everyone who participated in tonight's Special 
Order. We heard really compelling stories from our colleagues about the 
dangers of Biden's out-of-control socialist spending. Our Nation is 
still recovering from forced lockdowns that killed small businesses 
across this country and wreaked havoc on the intellectual development 
of an entire generation of students.
  Our number one priority should be empowering job creators to grow and 
succeed and growing their local economies with them. Biden's build back 
broke plan kills small businesses and increases our reliance on cradle-
to-grave welfare systems. I am living proof that never-ending handouts 
simply do not work. They only increase the dependence on the system 
that will never help individuals become self-sufficient.
  To quote my favorite President, Ronald Reagan, the greatest social 
program in the world is a job.
  We need more people in jobs, not less. All that the Biden 
administration has to show for 9 months in power is an abysmal 
unemployment rate and record high inflation. It is simply not working. 
It is time to give fiscal responsibility a serious try.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).
  Mr. MOORE of Utah. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Hern for 
leading this entire session and the opportunity to close.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to close today's session by remembering 
the sacrifice and heroism of Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover who bravely 
gave his life while defending Abbey Gate from violent extremists in 
Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 26, 2021.
  After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Staff Sergeant Hoover 
knew he wanted to be a marine. At the time of his death, Staff Sergeant 
Hoover had served as a marine for 11 years and was on his third tour in 
Afghanistan.
  In Utah we have been devastated by this news.
  On Sunday after the attacks, I joined hundreds of Utahns gathered at 
the State capitol for a memorial vigil to honor Staff Sergeant Hoover. 
I also attended his funeral service before being laid to rest in 
Arlington National Cemetery and was overwhelmed by memories shared by 
his family and friends. He was treasured, loved, and admired, and he 
gave all for our freedoms.
  Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover will rightly be remembered as a hero in 
the Halls of Congress, in Utah, and across the Nation that he served.
  Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his recognition of 
such heroism.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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