[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 57 (Thursday, March 31, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRESIDENT BIDEN'S BUDGET DISREGARDS FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Arrington) for 5 minutes.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, President Biden's own words: Show me your
budget, and I will show you your priorities.
President Biden's budget is not only a reflection of his priorities;
it is a mirror into the soul of the Democrat Party. Biden's budget
exposes Democrat leadership's complete disregard for fiscal
responsibility, adding trillions of dollars in new spending and sending
us hurtling toward an incalculable national debt of $45 trillion by
2032.
The budget proposal includes a staggering $2.5 trillion in tax hikes
that would weaken our global competitiveness, stifle wage growth, and
send prices skyrocketing even higher than the current 40-year high
inflation. The result would be devastating for American investment,
innovation, and jobs.
The deficit spending in Biden's proposal will leave our children
steeped in debt and at risk of an economic crisis they cannot borrow
their way out of. His budget doubles down on the radical socialist
policies, including the Green New Deal and its extreme environmental
policies and a whole-of-government assault on oil and gas, which is
undermining our energy independence and making us weaker and more
vulnerable, like our friends in Europe. It also includes tax hikes that
will make America less competitive, raising taxes higher than Communist
China, and hiring tens of thousands of new IRS agents to harass
hardworking Americans.
This is his vision for a stronger and more prosperous America.
While the President's expansion of nondefense domestic spending is on
pace to double over the next several years, his budget effectively cuts
spending for the Defense Department by 4 percent. If our adversaries
weren't already emboldened by the disaster at the southern border, the
debacle in Afghanistan, the weak negotiations with Iran, or the slow
and feckless response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they certainly
will be now.
The President's budget is not only a failure in the area of
readiness; it is more advertisement of weakness in an increasingly
dangerous world.
Lastly, the President's budget uses an outrageous budget gimmick to
prevent his massive, multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better from
affecting the budget score.
Mr. Speaker, if the American people did that--that off-balance,
Enron-like accounting scheme--they would go to prison. This is not just
intellectually dishonest; it is downright deceitful.
From the top-line numbers to tax hikes, from partisan policies to
bureaucratic bloat, President Biden's budget highlights the Democratic
Party's real priorities: the largest expansion and most radical
reimagination of the Federal Government in the lives of its people.
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