[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.