Debt Ceiling
Floor Speech
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Ms. ERNST. Madam President, we have all experienced a bit of buyer's remorse this past year. The uncertainty caused by the pandemic had folks stockpiling too much or just doing a little online retail therapy for things they may never use. But when it comes to impulse buying, no one can compete with Democrats in Washington. If running up the taxpayers' tab was an Olympic sport, Democrats would easily take home the gold.
Over the past 6 months, the Democrats have run up trillions of dollars in new spending. And as we are just days away from hitting the Nation's debt limit, these same Democrats are preparing to charge trillions more to the Nation's credit card, paid for by taxpayers, of course, to purchase more of their pricey, partisan pet projects and other items on their progressive wish list.
Their reckless spending spree started in March with their strictly partisan $2.1 trillion, a so-called COVID bill. The Democrats assured us the $1,400 stimulus checks and $300-a-week enhanced unemployment benefits included in the bill would get America back on its feet. Well, folks, this July 28, we have 10 million unfilled jobs. Last week, jobless claims increased. And hard-working Americans are feeling the pinch and paying more for almost everything, from gas to groceries. The Democrats' poisonous progressive policies are failing us, and Iowans and the rest of Americans know it. Yet Democrats--they just keep on spending.
Right now, the majority leader is plotting to fast-track an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink tax-and-spending bill that could cost more than $3\1/2\ trillion. So what is in this latest bill? More poisonous progressive policies.
One of the most harmful provisions to families everywhere and especially farm families in Iowa is what I like to call the farm-to- table tax hike. The Democrats want to pay for part of their radical agenda by increasing the tax on family farms being passed from one generation to the next. But that tax won't only hit farmers and ranchers; it will increase the cost of producing and purchasing food for all of our families.
Americans recognize President Biden's budget-busting bills are a key factor in the skyrocketing costs; yet the Democrats keep packing their bills with progressive pet policies and projects they know won't make your life better but that will appease their political base. And their answer when things don't get better is always: Wait, we didn't spend enough.
Folks, it is laughable to argue that Washington hasn't spent enough when our national debt now exceeds $28 trillion. The shopaholics who control the purse strings in Congress are addicted to spending other people's money on things we don't need or that we can't afford.
Let's review the receipt for Bidenomics: $2.1 trillion for Biden's so-called American Rescue Plan, which includes $200 billion for enhanced unemployment payments, $1.7 billion for Amtrak, $135 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $50 million for environmental justice grants, plus $3.5 trillion for the proposed reckless tax-and- spending spree.
We still don't even know what goodies are included in this grab bag, but it is likely to include parts of the socialist Green New Deal and doubling the size of the IRS by hiring an army of new auditors. Add on nearly $10 billion for swampy earmarks to pay for pork projects.
The list goes on and on and on, like the world's longest CVS receipt; except you don't expect any savings here, folks.
And when you add it all up, the grand total: $6.8 trillion.
As these bills come due, President Biden's reckless spending spree will leave us with buyer's remorse for years to come. It is time to cut up Washington's credit card and make DC start living within its means, just like every hard-working family across Iowa and America do.
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