By U.S Congressman Jason Smith
Washington Democrats have lost their minds.
If there is one thing Washington Democrats have shown this year, it’s that they are willing to embrace a disturbing appetite for spending. It turns out that last month, when they decided to spend nearly $2 trillion on bailouts and political rewards for their allies, they were just getting warmed up. President Biden is now proposing cutting a check for another $2 trillion to spend on a massive grab bag of liberal wish-list policies held together by misleading talking points. All the while, the President reportedly has yet another $2 trillion of spending proposals in his back pocket awaiting its own news cycle.
If Washington Democrats get their way, Congress will have enacted almost $10 trillion – not Billion, TRILLION – in spending in just one year. That’s more than the total combined wages paid to all American workers in a single year. This means more borrowing from the Chinese Communist Party while taking trillions out of our economy and out of the pockets of hardworking Americans for Washington Democrats to spend as they see fit.
The president alleges this plan is about repairing roads, and bridges, but that is simply not true. The goal of this “infrastructure” package is to spend trillions to enact the Green New Deal and other progressive wish-list items. In fact, less than 6% of the proposal goes towards roads, and bridges. This round of spending the President is proposing equates to four times what our country spent to build the interstate highway system. Biden’s boondoggle also establishes a framework for a Green New Deal takeover of American energy by handing out over $170 billion in electric vehicle subsidies for the wealthy.
This spending agenda is about giving Washington more power and influence over the lives of hardworking Americans. Washington Democrats are demanding their agenda be passed as quickly as possible – likely through another purely partisan exercise – precisely so they can get everything done before Americans have time to notice what’s really going on.
In order to keep their spending addiction afloat, Joe Biden’s plan will implement the largest tax increase in American history. At a time when so many small businesses are struggling to recover from the pandemic, President Biden’s plan will increase their tax rate by 33 percent. These policies will cripple the ability for Main Street businesses owned by our friends and neighbors to grow and expand, increasing unemployment, and forcing American companies to flee overseas.
Think about this: if this plan were to pass, a business would pay a lower tax rate if they closed their U.S. facility and moved their operations overseas to China. After four years of finally getting tough on China, why would we gift them such a huge competitive advantage over working-class Americans?
In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which I proudly helped to write, ushered in the strongest economy our nation has ever seen. It put money back into the pockets of the working class and gave Main Street businesses relief from the heavy-handed tax burdens of the Big Government policies of the past. But President Biden wants to turn back the clock and forfeit those gains.
As if the wealthy aren’t getting enough, some Democrats are digging in their heels and saying they won’t support the bill without $80 billion per year in special giveaways to coastal elites in high-tax states. This is ironic considering Democrats are attempting to prevent states from lowering taxes.
It’s clear that President Biden’s, “Build Back Better,” agenda is more about building back everywhere but here.
