[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 192 (Tuesday, November 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7589-S7590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Government Spending

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the 
Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending spree.
  On Thursday, President Biden came here to Capitol Hill to meet with 
Democrats over in the House. Just hours before he got here, economists 
sounded the alarms once again about the economy that our Nation is 
facing under President Biden.
  Economic growth slowed to just 2 percent. Now, this is the slowest it 
has been since the post-pandemic recovery began. This was also 
significantly lower than even the experts expected. So there was a 
disconnect. It was really low and even lower than they expected.
  Growth is slowing down; hiring is slowing down; and shelves are empty 
all across America. We have a growing supply chain nightmare. Prices 
continue to go up. I heard about it all across the State of Wyoming 
this past weekend.
  So what did President Biden do in response?
  Well, he ignored the alarm bells. He gave his blessing to the latest 
version of this reckless tax-and-spending bill.
  And the new version looks a lot like the old version--just as 
radical, just as reckless, and just as unpopular with the American 
public. There is nothing really new in the bill except more budget 
gimmicks.
  And it is interesting that NBC News, this weekend, came out with a 
poll that only 22 percent--only about one in five Americans think that, 
under Joe Biden and the Democrats, the country is on the right path. 
Seventy-one percent said we are on the wrong path.

[[Page S7590]]

  And the bill that is being proposed by the Democrats is still about 
2,500 pages long and still contains the worst parts of the old bill.
  So what is in the new one?
  Well, here are a couple of things. It still supersizes the IRS. This 
new bill would still give the Internal Revenue Service $80 billion to 
hire an army of IRS agents. Now, Democrats know this is unpopular, yet 
they continue to defend the proposal.
  Why would that be?
  The American people have spoken out. They complained to Congress. 
Democrats don't seem to care. That is because Democrats need to squeeze 
working Americans for more of the hard-earned money they make.
  Why do they want it?
  So the Democrats can spend it.
  What do they want to spend it on?
  Well, the largest part of this bill has to do with energy. It would 
spend half a trillion dollars for parts of the Green New Deal. That 
includes over $2.5 billion for something they call tree equity.
  It still includes enormous handouts to people who buy electric luxury 
vehicles. Now, we already give billions and billions of taxpayer 
dollars in subsidy to electric vehicle makers and owners. This would be 
even more.
  Studies show 80 percent of these subsidies go to households making 
more than $100,000 each. Well, Democrats say that is not enough. This 
bill still would give $12,500 to couples making up to $800,000 a year 
to buy luxury electric vehicles.
  The bill still includes the $1,500 payouts to people who buy electric 
bicycles. It is a mystery to me how electric bicycles can be better for 
the environment than regular bicycles. They are obviously not. It just 
shows that this policy is really not about the environment; it is about 
payoffs to Democrat elites in the big cities.
  That is why the bill still includes the Civilian Climate Corps. Now, 
this is an army of full-time, taxpayer-funded climate activists. They 
would get paid generous stipends and salaries. And what would they get 
paid to do? To protest American energy projects.
  Now, just last week, climate protesters stopped traffic in New York 
City during rush hour. People were just trying to get to work or get 
home, just trying to take their kids to school, yet they had to sit in 
traffic because of professional protesters, and this administration 
wants to hire up to a million of them.
  Now, Democrats know this isn't popular. That is why they changed the 
name of the Climate Corps in the new bill. They didn't change the 
purpose. Now they are trying to call it the Land Corps. It sounds like 
a harmless group. It is the same civilian climate army, a green army to 
attack American oil, gas, and coal.
  Now, this name change alone is an admission that this idea is very 
unpopular. Democrats know the American people don't want to spend 
billions of dollars to subsidize protesters.
  A recent poll found 90 percent of Americans are unwilling to pay more 
than $100 a year to fight climate change. We are already paying more 
than $1,000 a year in energy costs to drive and to heat our homes due 
to Joe Biden's energy policies. This is $1,000 more than we did last 
year.
  At home this past weekend in Wyoming, I noted and talked to folks 
while I was filling up that gas is a dollar a gallon higher than it was 
when Joe Biden took office. Natural gas prices have doubled, and that 
means a lot because half of the families in America use natural gas to 
power their homes.

  This bill also increases taxes on American energy production. 
Democrats specifically target a new tax on natural gas production. So 
this would raise taxes and prices significantly--even higher--for 
American families who already this winter are facing a 7-year high in 
the cost of natural gas and are already trying to decide this winter 
are they going to be able to heat or to eat. That is becoming a concern 
of families all across America under Joe Biden's agenda and economy.
  One in five American families have already cut their spending to pay 
for their energy bills this year. The American public and people are 
paying too much for Joe Biden's energy agenda. They don't want to pay a 
penny more. They are tired of it, fed up.
  Democrats know their agenda is unpopular with the American public. 
That is why this bill would also permanently change the makeup of the 
country, because the new version of the bill would give amnesty for 
millions upon millions of illegal immigrants. The Parliamentarian has 
said Democrats couldn't pass amnesty in the last version of the bill, 
yet Democrats want amnesty so badly they are going to try it all over 
again. Apparently, version C is coming soon.
  This is supposed to be a spending bill, not an immigration bill. If 
they want to do an immigration bill, they ought to introduce an 
immigration bill. Yet Democrats know that they don't have the votes to 
pass the kind of immigration bill that they want to pass--not at a time 
when we have a flood of illegal immigrants coming across the southern 
border, with more on the way.
  So they are trying to cram it into this spending bill. They are 
hoping that the American public won't notice. If Democrats have their 
way, this would be the most consequential immigration bill in half a 
century. The bill would give millions of illegal immigrants amnesty and 
then give them plenty of taxpayer money because this bill includes new 
permanent welfare programs with no work requirements--none at all--and 
no citizenship requirements. That is what the Democrats are proposing.
  It is no wonder that we have a border crisis at our southern border, 
a flood of illegal immigrants. With this bill, Democrats are promising 
amnesty, as well as free childcare, free preschool, and even free 
college to illegal immigrants. This is in addition to the $300 checks 
they already sent to illegal immigrants with the spending bill that the 
Democrats passed along party-line votes in March.
  Democrats seem to do everything that they can to reward illegal 
immigration. The Wall Street Journal reports the Biden administration 
now wants to give millions of dollars to families who came here 
illegally in 2018 and were detained for illegal entry. The number being 
reported is that the Biden administration wants to give them $450,000 a 
person.
  Now, this is more than six times the annual income of a typical 
American family, Mr. President. It is more than 50 times the per-capita 
income of El Salvador. $450,000 per person will mean millions upon 
millions of taxpayer dollars for families who came here illegally. You 
talk about an incentive for people to come here illegally--this is 
exhibit A. The total payout could be more than a billion dollars.
  Now, let me just contrast that number of $450,000 with the fact that 
those who lose their lives defending the country, like a marine--a 
young marine from Wyoming, Rylee McCollum, who was one of the 13 killed 
in Kabul, Afghanistan--the United States sends to those families 
$100,000, and Joe Biden is promising 4\1/2\ times that much for people 
who came here illegally.
  Mr. President, the Democrats say this is a new bill. It is the same 
old Democrat agenda: high energy costs, amnesty for illegal immigrants, 
welfare and payoffs to wealthy donors.
  And this is the bill endorsed by the President of the United States. 
It is no wonder that 71 percent of Americans this past weekend said 
this country is heading in the wrong direction. It is the wrong 
direction under the Democrats and under Joe Biden.
  Democrats ought to listen to the American people. People are furious 
with this administration. Listen to the sirens blaring with the poor 
economic numbers reported last week. It is time to stop making the 
Biden economy even worse. It is time to stop the freefall. Stop this 
reckless tax and spending before the administration does even further 
damage to our economy and our country.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bennet). The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
3 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.