[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 198 (Monday, November 15, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H6249-H6251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CORRECT COURSE AND SAVE AMERICA

  (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McCARTHY. Madam Speaker, we are just days away from voting on a 
2,000-page bill that will very likely cost $4 trillion; a bill that the 
White House Chief of Staff recently bragged, ``twice as big in real 
dollars as the New Deal was.''
  Can you imagine that? Let that sink in: 2,000 pages, $4 trillion, 
twice as big in real dollars as the New Deal was. Given its size, 
scope, given its unquestionable impact on American life, the American 
people deserve an honest, transparent debate about its true cost and 
content.
  Yet, here we are, and not one Member of this House can honestly say 
they have analyzed, studied, or reviewed it. We know this because the 
Congressional Budget Office has made it clear that they won't have the 
final analysis on how much the bill costs until Friday, at the 
earliest. But even without the CBO report, we already have a pretty 
clear idea that the final price tag will be far more expensive than 
what Democrats are claiming.

[[Page H6250]]

  Now, according to estimates from the University of Pennsylvania 
Wharton School--one of the best business schools in the Nation--they 
say that new spending would increase by over $4 trillion. Now, that is 
twice as much as the Democrats say it will cost. And it is not just the 
top-line cost, it is the tax increases, too.
  According to Tax Policy Center, a center-left think tank, 20 to 30 
percent of middle-income families will see their taxes go up in 2022. 
Now, that directly breaks President Biden's pledge that he wouldn't 
raise taxes on the middle class.
  Let me make sure I state that clearly. According to Tax Policy 
Center--now this is a center-left think tank--says 20 to 30 percent of 
middle-income families. These are the ones who are already having a 
hard time because of inflation, who are already going to celebrate the 
most expensive Thanksgiving in their lifetime, paying for gas higher 
than they have seen, and inflation, to many of them, higher than they 
have ever had in their own lifetime. The President promised them he 
would not raise their taxes, but the Tax Policy Center says 20 to 30 
percent are going to have their taxes raised.
  The Democrats are trying to pull a bait-and-switch on the American 
people. Tell them one thing but vote on something else. The American 
people obviously know better than to believe a bill of this size would 
cost zero dollars.
  I have listened to the President say--and I think he is on late-night 
TV--who would possibly say this bill would not cost money. The Wharton 
School of Business says it is more than $4 trillion. It is only the 
President who first claimed, ``if you are middle class, we won't raise 
your taxes.''
  We know that is not true. Wharton tells us again, yeah, it is not 
true what the President says. It is going to cost you $4 trillion.
  So in desperation, Speaker Pelosi is demanding the House vote on this 
bill even as we do not know exactly how much it will cost or how it 
will truly impact our lives. If that sounds familiar to you, it should. 
You see, it is exactly what Speaker Pelosi did just 10 years ago while 
trying to pass ObamaCare. Remember her famous words? ``We have to pass 
the bill to find out what is in it.'' Well, here we go again.
  So what is the rush? After all, several of my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle have been very clear. They want to make sure that 
this bill actually matches up with what the White House says it will.
  I just watched--before we depart, they wanted these same Members to 
pledge and sign a letter that they would vote for whatever this bill 
said if the others would vote for the infrastructure bill. Could you 
imagine your constituents looking at you, not even asking if you read 
what was in the bill because you pledged to vote for it before you 
could even read it.
  Speaker Pelosi is rushing this bill to the floor because once they 
find out that Build Back Better does nothing to lower gasoline prices 
or reduce food prices, or fix our broken supply chain, or stop illegal 
immigration at the border. It doesn't make our streets any safer or our 
schools better for the children. Once they find all that out, they will 
reject it overwhelmingly.
  Madam Speaker, I know that many of my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle understand this. But they truly do not want to vote on this 
bill because they know it can't be justified. Madam Speaker, I know 
that they know it can't be justified to spend trillions of dollars when 
inflation just hit a 30-year high. They know it just can't be justified 
to spend trillions of dollars on programs that benefit them politically 
while hiking taxes on the middle class. They can't.
  Madam Speaker, they know it can't be justified to spend trillions of 
dollars for mass amnesty during the worst border crisis in history. 
They know it can't be justified to spend trillions of dollars that 
would make gasoline even more expensive than it currently is on a 7-
year high.

  Madam Speaker, they know it can't be justified to spend trillions of 
dollars to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to spy on any American who spends 
as little as $28 a day. They know it can't be justified to spend 
trillions of dollars to make the labor crisis worse by turning the 
child tax credit into welfare without any work requirement.
  They know it can't be justified to spend trillions of dollars to 
abandon the Hyde amendment, allowing for taxpayer-funded abortion on 
demand. And they know it cannot be justified to spend trillions of 
dollars to dictate our children's education standards so that 
Washington has the final say in what our children learn.
  On the merits, this bill deserves to be defeated. Fundamentally, it 
is anti-worker, anti-family, anti-jobs, anti-energy, and anti-American. 
From bank surveillance to bailouts, it takes the problems President 
Biden and Washington Democrats have created over the past 9 months and 
makes them much, much worse. Its destructive policies should alarm 
every American.
  Madam Speaker, Democrats aren't just ignoring what is going on 
throughout the country. It is worse. They aren't even pretending to 
listen. And that is the fundamental difference between Democrats and 
Republicans.
  Madam Speaker, the Democrats are focused on securing the Speaker's 
legacy. House Republicans are focused on solving the labor crisis.
  Democrats are focused on so-called equality. We are focused on 
quality education.
  Democrats are focused on payoffs for illegal immigrants. We are 
focused on protecting the border.
  Democrats are focused on the Green New Deal. We are focused on 
lowering the gas prices.
  Democrats are focused on mandates. Republicans are focused on more 
freedom.
  When you look at those differences, it is no wonder that the American 
people want a change in leadership.
  Madam Speaker, just this morning, a Democrat in the Texas House of 
Representatives changed parties. This comes just two weeks after voters 
from Virginia to Seattle rejected the radical Democrats and voted to 
return to commonsense.
  Madam Speaker, you understand this very well, I know, that Joe Biden 
won Virginia by 10 points; he won New Jersey by 16.
  Madam Speaker, on that night, it wasn't just Virginia that flipped 
but the races in New York; the races in your own State, in Minneapolis; 
and in Seattle for the city attorney.
  Madam Speaker, there was good news and bad news that night. In New 
Jersey, the good news for many people across this country was a 
Republican truck driver with less than $200 defeated the second most 
powerful elected position in New Jersey--the Democrat Senate President. 
That was the good news. The bad news in this new Biden America is we 
just lost another truck driver when we need so much more help.
  It is not just the message, it is the mandate. Not for left versus 
right, but for right versus wrong.

                              {time}  1415

  My question is: Will Washington Democrats listen?
  So far, Madam Speaker, that answer is no. They are focusing on 
themselves and on the demands of Speaker Pelosi.
  Madam Speaker, I know today the longest serving Democrat in the 
Senate announced retirement. I don't know what plans Speaker Pelosi 
has. I know she has been to Europe three times in the last 3 months. I 
don't know if she plans on staying longer.
  I know in her press conference that she said that this will be the 
culmination of her career. Maybe that is why she is pushing so hard for 
people to vote on a bill that costs $4 trillion that breaks the 
promises of President Biden before anybody could actually read it or 
analyze it. I just think that is wrong.
  But we have the chance this week to correct course and save America.
  Madam Speaker, so many Americans--Independents, Democrats, and 
Republicans--went to the polls last Tuesday. It wasn't a little pocket 
of one place said one thing and one said another. It was overwhelmingly 
resounding, a rejection of the current policies of this majority.
  Madam Speaker, this one-party rule of Washington in 1 year has given 
us not just inflation but rising gasoline prices, a labor crisis, a 
supply chain crisis, chaos, crime, and, worst of all, failure.
  As we sit here today, Madam Speaker, Russia brings thousands of their

[[Page H6251]]

military to the border of Ukraine. They feel empowered because they are 
able to have a pipeline that President Biden okayed but that America 
was denied.
  We watch China pressure Taiwan even further.
  Madam Speaker, we still have Americans stuck in Afghanistan.
  Madam Speaker, it is just a little more than a week away from 
Thanksgiving when millions of Americans will gather together. But those 
events may be smaller because they may not be able to afford the gas to 
drive to see their family. They may not be able to afford the most 
expensive Thanksgiving dinner they have ever had. They are looking to 
Washington to do better.
  Madam Speaker, the worst thing possible we could do is not to listen 
to them. They have spoken loudly, and they have spoken clearly that the 
path that we are on is wrong. They cannot afford it; they cannot accept 
it; and they expect us to do better.
  But an idea to rush a bill this large and not have any analysis and 
to think the American people won't understand it--they have watched 
what happened this year under one-party rule, and on Tuesday, they said 
that will change. I just hope, Madam Speaker, that this body listens 
and waits for the report because they will not be able to justify a 
``yes'' vote for it.
  America cannot afford it. For the good of the country, let's take 
ahold of it, and let's defeat this bill.

                          ____________________