[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 211 (Tuesday, December 7, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8941-S8943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Build Back Better Act

  Mr. President, Democrats continue to work on their reckless tax-and-
spending spree--or perhaps I should say their reckless tax-and-spending 
disaster.
  Tax hikes, deficit spending, inflationary spending--it is all there 
in Democrats' spending package--plus, of course, that tax break for 
wealthy Americans. Yeah, that is right, a tax break for millionaires. I 
am talking, of course, about Democrats' expansion of the State and 
local tax deduction known as the SALT deduction, which would 
overwhelmingly benefit affluent taxpayers in mainly Democrat-led States 
and do almost nothing for middle- and lower-income families.
  For months and months, Democrats have been going on about the need 
for the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, which is, I find, at 
the height of irony that the Democrats' current bill contains a 
substantial tax break for wealthy Americans. I am not surprised that 
Democrats kept that SALT provision out of the Ways and Means Committee 
markup in the House of Representatives. After constantly talking about 
making the wealthy pay their fair share, it is a little awkward to 
publicly debate your tax break for the wealthy.
  Instead, Democrats stuffed the tax break into the reconciliation bill 
under the subtitle of, of all things, ``social safety net.'' Yes, that 
is right, social safety net.
  Well, who benefits from this particular safety net exactly?
  About 94 percent of the tax benefit would go to the top 20 percent of 
earners. About 70 percent will go to the top 5 percent of earners. And 
nearly one-third of this tax benefit would go to the top 1 percent of 
households in this country.
  The average tax savings for middle-income households from raising the 
SALT cap would be 20 bucks--$20. Meanwhile, millionaires would receive 
an average tax cut of almost $15,000.
  Well, I guess the priorities of wealthy Democrat donors in blue 
States trump Democrats' plans to make wealthy Americans pay their fair 
share. Not only does the bill contain a tax break for millionaires, 
this tax break is one of the most expensive parts of the bill. In fact, 
it is the second most expensive item in the House-passed bill over the 
next 5 years.
  That is right. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal 
Budget, only Democrats' childcare and pre-K programs would exceed the 
cost of raising the SALT cap.
  Now, given their rhetoric, you would think that Democrats might have 
chosen to forgo this tax break for the wealthy and spend the money on 
one of their other programs that they fund for only part of their 
bill's 10-year budget window. But no. This tax break is apparently so 
important to Democrats that they are willing to shortchange some of 
their other priorities in order to include it.
  We have also heard a lot from Democrats about how corporations need 
to pay their fair share, which, I guess, is whatever Democrats 
determine it to be. The Democrats' bill does include a corporate 
minimum tax--except it turns out that it is not really a corporate 
minimum tax and some corporations won't have to pay the full tax.
  Democrats have carved out certain exceptions to the corporate minimum 
tax, including clean energy tax credits. So if you are a corporation 
engaged in Democrat-approved activities, you will be able to avoid 
paying some or all of the corporate minimum tax. If you don't qualify 
for Democrats' approved carve-outs, on the other hand, you can look 
forward to paying the full tax bill.
  Democrats' hypocrisy might be amusing if this bill weren't so 
dangerous, but, unfortunately, there is not much to laugh about when it 
comes to this bill.
  Democrats' Build Back Better spending disaster will pour $1.75 
trillion in government money into an already overheated economy, which 
will likely prolong the serious inflation we are currently 
experiencing.
  Democrats' helped create our current inflation situation by flooding 
the economy with a lot of unnecessary government money earlier this 
year, and now Democrats are going to pour another $1.75 trillion onto 
the inflationary fire.
  American families are already experiencing the worst inflation in 
more than 30 years. I don't even want to think about what inflation 
will look like if Democrats succeed in passing on another $1.75 
trillion in spending.
  Now, I say $1.75 trillion, but, of course, Democrats only arrived at 
that number through a series of shell games and budget gimmicks. The 
real cost of

[[Page S8942]]

the Democrats' bill is much, much higher. An honest accounting of the 
bill puts the number in the range of $4.5 to nearly $5 trillion--$5 
trillion. To put that number in perspective, the entire Federal budget 
for fiscal year 2019 was $4.4 trillion--the entire Federal budget.
  Democrats are proposing a major expansion of government, and they are 
deceiving the American people into thinking that it can be paid for 
with $1.75 trillion. That is simply not true. Democrats have arrived at 
that number by putting some of their provisions, from tax measures to 
new programs, into place for as little as a year. But, of course, 
Democrats don't have the slightest intention of having those tax 
measures or new programs expire after a year or 2, or ever.
  Take the child allowance. Democrats' legislation would have their 
child allowance sunset in 1 year--1 year. But, of course, Democrats 
fully intend for their child allowance to be made permanent. But by 
only funding the child allowance and other measures for a fraction of 
their bill's 10-year budget window, they can disguise the true cost of 
permanently implementing these measures and how much these measures 
will end up costing the American people.
  And, make no mistake, these programs will cost them. Democrats may 
talk about funding their legislation with taxes on corporations and the 
wealthy, but ordinary Americans are going to be paying for a major part 
of the bill. A substantial part of the Democrats' tax increases on 
business and investment would be passed on to consumers in the form of 
higher prices or reduced services, and those price hikes will come on 
top of the inflation that we are already experiencing and the 
additional inflation we are likely to experience as a result of this 
bill.
  Americans are also likely to pay for this legislation with decreased 
economic growth and fewer economic opportunities, and they may pay in 
further tax hikes when Democrats try to extend their programs and need 
to come up with money to at least partially pay for them.
  I am hard pressed to think of anything more irresponsible than 
Democrats passing this legislation at this time. As I mentioned, 
inflation is currently at a 30-year high. American families are 
struggling with high gas prices, high grocery bills, high rent prices, 
the high price of used cars--and the list goes on. Yet Democrats are 
planning to pass a bill that is likely to worsen our inflation 
situation and extend our current inflation crisis even further, not to 
mention driving up our deficit and worsening our country's fiscal 
health.
  We don't know what government money will be needed down the road. We 
are emerging from a pandemic that required a lot of unexpected 
government expenditure, and we don't know what other challenges our 
country will end up facing in the future. Yet Democrats are planning to 
keep spending as if there is no tomorrow with absolutely no regard--
absolutely no regard--for our current inflation situation or for 
possible future needs.
  It is deeply, deeply irresponsible, and if Democrats succeed in 
passing their spending spree, the American people will be paying a very 
steep price for decades to come.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join my friend 
and colleague from South Dakota to oppose the Democrats' reckless tax-
and-spending spree.
  There are 18 days left until Christmas. So who is on the Democrats' 
shopping list this year?
  Well, it is the same people who are on the list every year: illegal 
immigrants, union bosses, professional activists, and the donor class 
of millionaires.
  In the Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending bill, they all get big 
presents from the government. The rest of America gets more spending, 
more taxes, more debt, and higher prices as they are already struggling 
and suffering under the largest, highest inflation in the last 30 
years.
  Democrats call the bill Build Back Better. For most Americans, it is 
a break-your-back bill.
  In this bill, Chuck Schumer's hometown will get tens of billions of 
dollars to bail out their public housing authority.
  Joe Biden likes to say, if you want to know somebody's values, he 
says, look at their budget.
  Well, let's look at the budget that the Democrats are putting forth, 
because the second most expensive item in this bill is a tax break for 
millionaires and billionaires in New York, in New Jersey, in 
California, and in Chicago.
  The cost of that sole component: $275 billion, which will have to be 
paid by the hard-working men and women in this country.
  This is one of the bill's top expenses because it is a top priority 
for Democrat elites. Under the Democrats' bill, the bottom 60 percent 
of Americans would get zero of those dollars; $275 billion to the 
richest of the rich.
  In 2016, nearly half of the money went to just four States: 
California, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey.
  Rural States like Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and 
West Virginia received the lowest amounts of tax relief. Democrats want 
the people in States like Wyoming and West Virginia to pay for these 
tax cuts for the millionaires of California and New York.
  Under this legislation, low-tax States would essentially subsidize 
high-tax States. What is this going to do to the high-tax States? Well, 
it will encourage them to raise State taxes, which is probably another 
reason that Democrats support it.
  Democrats also have lots of Christmas presents in this bill for 
people who come to this country illegally. The Parliamentarian said 
Democrats can't pass amnesty for illegal immigrants in a previous 
version of the bill, but Democrats want illegal amnesty so badly that 
they are going to try all over again.
  Let me remind you: This is a spending bill; it is not an immigration 
bill. Democrats know that they don't have the votes to pass the 
immigration bill that they would like to see. Frankly, they know they 
will never have enough votes in the Senate for an amnesty bill for 
illegal immigrants. So they are trying to cram it into a spending bill. 
Democrats are hoping that the American people won't notice.
  If Democrats have their way, this spending spree would be the most 
consequential immigration bill in half a century. The bill would give 
amnesty to 6\1/2\ million people in the country illegally. It would 
also give them five new entitlements.
  The bill includes new permanent welfare programs. There would be no 
work requirements--not a single one--and no citizenship requirements. 
This includes free childcare, free preschool, and even free money for 
college. Now, this is in addition to the $300 check every month for 
every child Democrats already send to illegal immigrants that they have 
sent earlier this year.
  So it is shaping up to be a long December for American workers and 
taxpayers, and people know it because we already had the most expensive 
Thanksgiving ever.
  On Friday, we saw one of the most disappointing jobs reports in a 
disappointing year. The jobs report says we created less than half the 
number of jobs that the experts predicted we would produce last month. 
Still, there are almost 4 million fewer Americans working than before 
the pandemic. At the same time, inflation is only getting worse.
  People in all our States are wondering if they are going to be able 
to afford to have presents under the tree this year; wondering if they 
can afford a tree at all because, of course, the cost of Christmas 
trees are up 30 percent--30 percent more this year than last.
  More and more Americans find they are heading to shop at the dollar 
stores. Yet many dollar stores, you have seen in the press, aren't 
dollar stores anymore. Dollar Tree is selling more and more items for 
$1.25. Dollar General is opening new stores with a $5-or-less business 
model. Prices are going up everywhere you look.
  One of the reasons for inflation in Joe Biden's economy is the rise 
in cost of energy. Natural gas is at a 7-year high. Winter is almost 
here, and prices are up dramatically. The price of gas at the pump is 
at a 7-year high as well. Yet Biden and the Democrats say everything is 
fine.
  It is just fascinating. Last week, the Democrats' headquarters sent 
out a

[[Page S8943]]

tweet. It was a graph showing gas prices had dropped by 2 cents over a 
week. The caption was ``Thanks, Joe Biden.'' I actually thought it was 
a joke. It was serious. They actually said: Hey, good, the price of gas 
is up $1.25 since he took office, but it dropped 2 cents last week, and 
let's celebrate the success of Joe Biden.
  This is just another example of Democrats' bad math. It is an example 
also of Democratic leaders who are completely out of touch. Gas is up 
$1.25 a gallon since Joe Biden took office. A 2-cent drop is hardly 
enough.
  So here is my 2 cents' worth: The American people don't want pennies 
from Joe Biden; they want a refund from the last election. That is what 
they deserve. They want affordable, available, reliable American 
energy.
  Joe Biden said last week:

       I have used every tool . . . to address price increases.

  On the contrary. President Biden has used every tool to drive up 
prices. He has attacked American energy. He has driven up costs for all 
Americans. He has shut down the Keystone Pipeline. He is threatening 
other pipelines. He has blocked oil and gas leases on Federal land. He 
has threatened to raise taxes on the production of natural gas. We are 
now producing about 2 million barrels of oil a day less than before the 
pandemic.
  The Secretary of Transportation thinks he has a simple solution to 
the energy crisis. This is what Pete Buttigieg said. He said it is 
easy. He said last week that families who buy electric cars ``never 
have to worry about gas prices again.'' Well, it is simply false. You 
would think somebody as educated as the Secretary of Transportation 
would intuitively say: Gas prices affect grocery prices. Gas prices 
affect retail prices and the price of just about everything else.
  Look, even for the Biden administration, this is really out of touch 
with mainstream America or people who live anywhere outside the bubble 
of the beltway. People who are struggling with inflation can't afford 
to go out and buy an electric vehicle. Seniors and families just 
starting out aren't going to go out and buy an $80,000 electric 
vehicle.
  We know who buys these luxury vehicles. More than 80 percent of the 
Federal subsidies for electric vehicles go to people making more than 
$100,000 a year, and, unlike the rest of the people on the roads, these 
drivers use the roads for free. Yet Democrats make sure to include 
electric vehicle owners on their shopping list this year.
  This bill would give $12,500--$12,500--to couples making up to half a 
million dollars a year if they buy a luxury electric vehicle. This 
includes vans, SUVs, and trucks costing up to $80,000. The bill also 
includes $900 payouts to people who buy electric bicycles.
  It has already been a long December for the American people, and we 
are only at December 7. Yet it must be an exciting time for the 
Democrats' favorite groups. Democrats have always liked to play Santa 
Claus, and this year, they have a list of who they consider America's 
good little boys and girls. Who is on the list? Well, as I said a few 
minutes ago, it is illegal immigrants, union bosses, professional 
activists, and the millionaires who live in the penthouses of New York 
and the mansions of San Francisco and Hollywood. Working-class, Middle 
America, those families--they are the ones who are going to get stuck 
with the bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I able to 
complete my remarks prior to the scheduled votes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.