[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 128 (Monday, August 1, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Madam President, now on a completely different matter, when it comes 
to our economy, American families do not trust this Democratic Party 
government one bit. Nearly 90 percent of Americans are feeling anxious 
about inflation. Twenty-eight percent approve of how President Biden is 
handling it--just a 28 percent approval rating. Only 22 percent think 
things will get any better after another year on his watch.
  Americans' distrust of Democrats stands to reason. A year and a half 
ago, every single Senate Democrat provided the deciding vote for a $1.9 
trillion reckless spending spree that has caused the worst inflation in 
40 years.
  The Democratic leader, Senator Schumer, said back then ``I do not 
think the dangers of inflation, at least in the near term, are very 
real.'' He went on to lead every single Democrat to cast the deciding 
vote for the party-line spending spree that has destroyed families' 
purchasing power through inflation. Now, the very same people want to 
deal our economy another body blow on a party-line vote. The same 
Democrats who said that a $1.9 trillion spending spree would not cause 
inflation are now saying--listen to this--it is a good idea to raise 
taxes, kill jobs, attack American energy, and hammer American 
manufacturing, all--all--in the middle of the apparent recession, which 
they have already created.
  Everyone knows that raising taxes in a recession kills jobs, but that 
is precisely what Democrats are desperate to do. So here is what they 
are proposing: a huge new tax hike on American jobs, more than $300 
billion in new taxes. The Joint Committee on Taxation says a whopping 
50 percent of that burden would fall directly on our Nation's 
manufacturing sector.
  So in the middle of a supply chain crisis, Democrats want huge, job-
killing tax hikes that will disproportionately crush American 
manufacturing and manufacturing jobs. Oh, and Democrats also want a 
huge new tax hike on American natural gas.
  Natural gas is the single largest source of electricity generation in 
our entire country. A plurality of all the power in America comes 
from--you guessed it--natural gas. It is also how countless families 
heat their homes. And it is a linchpin of our domestic energy 
independence and our ability to export to our allies in Europe.
  But the Green New Deal Democrats are coming straight after American 
natural gas with huge new tax hikes. The result will be higher 
electricity bills, higher heating costs, less exporting to our European 
allies just as Putin is trying to cut them off, and 90,000 workers in 
the oil and gas industry--listen to this--out of work, eliminating 
90,000 workers in the oil and gas industry in the process.
  Democrats' tax hikes on American energy don't stop there. With gas 
prices still sky-high, our colleagues are also proposing to resurrect a 
defunct tax that would take direct aim at American oil refining, and 
they want it pegged to inflation so the tax hike will automatically 
climb up and up exactly when the country can least afford it.
  So on top of all this, the Democrats also want to pour new funding 
into the IRS so they can more easily come after small business. IRS 
agents get new cars and new computers; small businesses get more 
audits. Add it all up, these tax hikes and others, and Democrats want 
to drop an anvil--an anvil--on our economy at the worst possible time.
  The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has demonstrated the 
Democrats' plan would shatter--shatter--President Biden's promise not 
to raise taxes on households earning less than $400,000. Households 
making less than half that amount--less than $200,000--would see a 
$16.7 billion tax hike in year 2023 alone. This is people making under 
$200,000 would see a $16.7 billion tax hike next year alone. Amazingly, 
the very lowest earning Americans who make less than $10,000 per year 
would see the largest percentage tax hike of any group in the entire 
bill. So it hits people who make below $10,000, on a percentage basis, 
harder than any other group in the entire bill.
  So Democrats are labeling all these tax hikes the ``Inflation 
Reduction Act,'' but nonpartisan experts have already proven that is 
flat-out false. The budget experts at Penn Wharton show this bill would 
slightly--slightly--increase inflation in the near term and do nothing 
to meaningfully reduce it in the long term. So it is not about 
inflation.
  When you raise taxes on something, you get less of it. That is the 
way it works. In the middle of a recession, Democrats want to raise 
taxes on American jobs. In the middle of an energy crisis, Democrats 
want to raise taxes on American energy. In the middle of a middle-class 
inflation crisis, Democrats want to raise taxes on households way, way 
below the President's $400,000 threshold.
  All of this economic genius--all of this economic genius--is brought 
to you by the same people who called a $1.9 trillion inflation time 
bomb the ``American Rescue Plan'' and promised it wouldn't cause 
inflation right before it did.
  We know what it looks like when Democrats say they will help the 
economy, and American families can't take much more of it.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.