Congressman Smith Capitol Report
Bernie’s Budget
August 27th, 2021
Biden’s Inflation Crisis. Biden’s Border Crisis. Biden’s Energy Crisis. Biden’s Afghanistan Crisis. Since President Biden came to office, his administration’s policies have led to serious challenges for our country. This week, Washington Democrats jammed through a budget that will only make each of these crises worse and in doing so provided the most stark example yet that Nancy Pelosi treats the People’s House like it’s her personal palace. Unfortunately for the American people, her deceit means new policies that harm the working class through skyrocketing inflation, higher energy costs, increasing taxes, and more command and control for Washington bureaucrats over their lives.
In July, the House Budget Committee was supposed to consider and advance a Democrat budget resolution – but the reality was, Democrats couldn’t find the votes to pass their radical tax and spend vision for America in our Committee. As a result, they decided to skip our Committee and put the Budget directly on the Floor of the U.S. House for a vote, but they once again found what they found in our Committee – they didn’t have the votes. On August 23, we were called back to Washington specifically so they could now try and pass Senate Budget Chair, Bernie Sanders, Budget, but once again they didn’t have the votes. But that didn’t stop them – in the dead of night, Washington Democrats compromised amongst themselves to sell out hardworking Americans for non-binding promises that enable them to spend and tax even more. If it weren’t so serious, their maneuvering would be comical.
Bernie’s Budget spends $68 trillion over the next 10 years and enacts the largest tax increase in American history. In fact, under this budget American small businesses will pay more in taxes in the U.S. than they would if they opened up shop in communist China. Instead of protecting the working class, this budget allows tax increases to go into effect. And the result of their policies is the worst tax increase of all: higher inflation that leaves seniors on a fixed income with a harder choice of whether to fill up the tank in their car, buy groceries to eat, or fill their prescriptions. Inflation makes Americans’ paychecks worth less, and it’s the direct result of runaway government spending.
Bernie Sanders may not be president, but his policies have won control of the Democrat Party and are now being implemented by Joe Biden and the Washington Democrats. Bernie’s Budget calls for granting amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants putting them in direct competition with American workers. His budget expands government-controlled healthcare, subsidizes blue state taxes for the wealthy, banishes affordable electricity, and provides handouts and tax breaks for wealthy environmentalists.
This whole effort is designed to unlock the door to an immediate at least $3.5 trillion in new spending and taxes. The spending in this budget combined with what has already been spent since the House became Pelosi’s Palace in 2019 equals more than the total taxes paid by every American in U.S. history. There is $17 trillion in new debt – more than the value of every economy on Earth except the United States. In ten years, under Bernie’s Budget, it will cost us $1 trillion just to cover the interest on our debt – more than what we will spend on Medicare this year, and more than our entire national defense budget at the end of this decade.
Budgeting means coming up with a plan before you start spending. Of course, Bernie’s Budget is not about strengthening the fiscal integrity of our nation. Nor is it about getting government spending and inflation under control. Bernie’s Budget is all about inserting the Federal Government into the daily lives of all Americans and spending as much money as possible while doing so. But more government spending won’t solve anything. We cannot inflate our way out of inflation, or power an economy on empty promises. The way we move forward together as one country is to use the budget to keep Congress honest about its spending and our debt under control and preventing tax increases on working families and job creators, to keep America strong.
The American people cannot afford Bernie’s Budget.
