Joint Session of Congress
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, as I begin my remarks today, I first want to express my appreciation to Senator Tim Scott for the address that he gave last night following the joint address to Congress by the President.
I so appreciated the remarks that he made, how he reminded us of the importance of common sense and using that common sense to find common ground as we look to address the issues that affect our Nation, the issues that affect Tennesseans. That is such a timely reminder. I likewise appreciated his comments about the importance of reconciliation, one to another, and the importance of redemption as we, each and every one, go about our work each day, as we seek to help our Nation become a more perfect Union. Timely reminders--well done and greatly appreciated by many Tennesseans and individuals who have reached out to say: I was so touched by listening to Tim Scott and his remarks.
Many of our Tennesseans have also expressed their concern with some of the provisions that were there in President Biden's address.
They felt as if this was something that kind of doubled down on decades of failed policies that were seeking to prioritize dependence on a welfare State overlooking at families and communities but pushing that dependence on a welfare state.
There really wasn't anything groundbreaking that was there in the remarks, apart from the pricetag, which is eye-popping, and really will take your breath away when you stop and think about it. And for a long time, my Democratic colleagues have championed programs that treat people like individual clients instead of families and communities.
So, here we are, and we are staring down the Biden doctrine, and it is a commitment to spending trillions and trillions of dollars-- trillions of dollars. We are talking about $6 trillion since January 20. This is astounding. And those dollars are being spent to incentivize dependence on the Federal Government to supplant the nuclear family with the Federal Government and to centralize control here in Washington, DC.
If you don't believe me, just take a little peek at what the Biden administration has done during their first 100 days. They started with a $1.9 trillion blue-State payday that bailed Democrat-run cities out of the fiscal holes that they had made for themselves.
Earlier this month, they introduced a $2.3 trillion--yes, trillion with a ``t''--trillion-dollar infrastructure boondoggle that would force families and businesses to rely on a government handout to comply with the mandates pulled directly from the Green New Deal.
They even rolled out a total election overhaul that blatantly violates the Constitution by removing all control from the States and placing it right here in Washington, DC--removing from your local election commission, removing from your State legislature, and sending the authority to handle these elections to Washington, DC.
And last night, during his address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden offered a few details on his American Families Plan, which, by all estimates--you got it, another big pricetag--$1.8 trillion.
The numbers really are staggering. Not counting the cost of S. 1, these efforts will cost the American people a combined $6 trillion. And we haven't even factored in annual appropriations, which will add over $1 trillion to that grand total.
Let's put these numbers in context. We saw the national debt jump from $10.6 trillion. Now, that is the number where it was when President George Bush left office, $10.6 trillion. That is all the debt--every penny of Federal debt--that had accumulated from George Washington to George Bush.
So $10.6 trillion, that is the debt total when President Obama took office. And then with the Obama-Biden administration, that debt nearly doubled. When President Obama left office--that is right, you are looking over that 8-year period of time of right at doubling that debt
In his first 2 years in office, deficits increased so much that Admiral Mullen--then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2010-- declared the national debt to be the Nation's top national security threat, our Nation's debt. President Biden is on track to smash those records.
Bear in mind these numbers: George Washington to George Bush, $10.6 trillion. It nearly doubles as you have the Obama-Biden administration, and now since January 20, we are talking about $6 trillion.
If your local city commission were spending money at this rate, you would be at city hall banging down the doors. But my Democratic colleagues are all on board, even though what they have actually put on paper is nothing but a series of wish lists they have wanted to start checking off since 2010.
But those lists have a very important purpose. They curated them with so-called free programs and big promises that will serve two purposes: first, to persuade people to cede authority over their lives, families, businesses; and, second, to totally centralize power here in Washington, DC.
It is truly stunning, truly stunning what my Democratic colleagues have allowed themselves to propose. Last night, the President of the United States directly addressed the American people and said: Don't think, just give us control.
When he unveiled the American Families Plan, he spent a great deal of time on all of the wish list programs he hopes will eventually be sent to his desk for his signature but not a lot of time on how he plans to pay for these programs.
I think it is important to state for the record that every program President Biden asked us to endorse has a cost. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the American Families Plan alone--this one program--will result in a deficit impact of $300 billion over a decade--massive costs.
President Biden claimed he can pay for all of this with taxes. He said:
It's time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% to pay their fair share.
And then he said that 55 of the Nation's biggest corporations made $40 billion in profits that can and should be taxed.
But here is the problem: Even if they were taxed 100 percent of their $40 billion in profits, that would pay for less than 1 percent of this administration's proposed $7 trillion in total spending. And yet how did the President describe these programs? Universal pre-K, universal, free community college--free.
Look at this pricetag. Families won't have to spend a dime, won't have to spend a dime on childcare. The American Families Plan will put money in your pocket.
Now, as I said, universal, free--you won't have to spend a dime; it is going to put money in your pocket. It is taken care of. Don't think. Just take the deal. Do your part.
Where does this money come from? Every single penny that comes into the Federal Treasury comes from the pocket of a U.S. taxpayer. That is where this money comes from. And the debt, that is going to be there for our children and our grandchildren that have to sort it out long after these programs have outlived their usefulness, long after many of us are gone.
We used to talk about spending millions and billions, and now it is trillions. And, to me, I think about my grandkids, and I think about the fact that they haven't earned a paycheck yet. But you know what? With all of this spending this year, they now have $80,000 of U.S. Federal debt that is their responsibility.
And I think it is instructive for us to look at who is it that actually holds this debt. The biggest holder of our debt--someone goes to market and buys our debt, China. You also have OPEC, the cartel, in the top holders of our debt.
My colleagues, this is an issue--not millions, not billions. This is something--this needs our best efforts and our best attention.
Since his inauguration, President Biden spent a lot of time talking about unity. At the same time, he talks about eliminating the filibuster and passing legislation to entrench Democratic incumbents at the expense of voters. It is a power grab.
He supported using the budget reconciliation process to ram his $1.9 billion spending package through, and it appears he may do so again to pass the rest of the multitrillion-dollar agenda.
Last night's speech could have been an opportunity for him to seek common ground with congressional Republicans. Much of the success of our country has had with the COVID vaccination is due, in large part, to Operation Warp Speed and previous administrations, as well as bipartisan efforts in Congress. There was no mention of that.
When the country was thrown into the COVID pandemic, Congress and President Trump passed the CARES Act, bipartisan, and four other major bipartisan COVID relief bills--no mention of that.
If we are going to heal, the Biden administration must recognize the achievements of administrations past and the serious contributions that congressional Republicans are ready and willing to make.
For months now, I have come to the floor to ask my Democratic colleagues to take a breath, to take away the wish lists, and to focus on what the American people need--focus on their needs.
The American people--when I am talking to Tennesseans, you know what they would like? They would like a little bit more money left at the end of their month and not too much month left at the end of their money.
They want the hope that comes from opportunity, not the tangles of an eternal safety net. They are independent. They are independent. They want a system that will, indeed, help them build their lives back better, as our President would like to say, but all that the White House has to offer is a plan that will flatten and rebuild the country and the broken image of failed policies that people have tried, and they just didn't work.
What they did do: destroyed our healthcare system, pushed tuition at public colleges and universities out of reach for low-income students, and they currently levy massive tax penalties against working-class families who depend on each other and not the Federal Government.
The Biden administration has set some lofty goals for itself. And I have to admit, the end results look pretty tempting on paper; that is, if you don't look too close.
There is a reason why the President has offered so few details about how his ideas would work in practice, and it is because he knows, without a doubt, that if this shows the true cost of signing on the dotted line that the people would not be with him in this effort.
Throughout the pandemic, the American people kept each other safe and took care of their friends and neighbors. When I talk to Tennesseans about church, I can tell what they really have as their values: faith, family, freedom, hope, opportunity. They understand that defending one of those virtues means defending them all for everybody. But they also understand the danger in allowing the government to step in and replace family and community with a bloated welfare state. They know it is dangerous to replace potential with sameness and to supplant community with collectivism.
That is exactly what the Biden administration put on the table last night in very vague, poll-tested language that really said nothing but threatened unprecedented levels of government control. But I suppose from their perspective, you don't need details when all you are really asking your fellow countrymen to do is to submit; just take the deal.
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