Reckless and Shortsighted Reconciliation Package
Floor Speech
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Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I rise to discuss this reckless and shortsighted reconciliation package and what I believe to be its worst effects on the American people.
The budget reconciliation process exists to reduce the national deficit with a majority vote, not to let the majority party jam partisan legislation through this Congress. Since January, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have not used reconciliation for its intended purpose but rather to pass the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan on party lines and now the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint. Here, we see the opposite of the intended use for the reconciliation process and the opposite of the word ``reconciliation'' itself. This is division.
Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said that under this budget, no middle-income family would pay more in taxes. That is not true. The reconciliation bill includes damaging tax increases, falling largely on the shoulders of middle-income families, small business owners, and family farms. This bill would be the largest tax-and-spend measure in America's history and would increase the national debt to $45 trillion by 2031. In addition to the devastating spending and tax hikes, it would allow the Federal Government to intervene even more in our daily lives and kill countless jobs.
Unfortunately, the Senate version of this package could be even worse. Right now, the House version of the bill keeps stepped up basis intact, which protects family farms from being taxed out of existence, and it does not include the requirement that banks report to the IRS all transactions over $600, which is patently ludicrous. I am prepared to offer an amendment on the final bill if either of these two provisions, amongst others, are changed.
This is the largest tax-and-spend bill in the history of the country. Only 1 percent has even been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. It would result in a whopping $10,600 per American in new spending. We are spending money we don't have on things that we don't need, and I urge this Congress to join me in opposing this horrible legislation which will weaken our great Nation and reduce our freedom. A Path to Healing and Reconciliation
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Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss what I see as the path to healing and reconciliation in our country.
We have a promise from God about how to heal our Nation. It is very simple, and it is from II Chronicles. The Lord says: ``If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.''
It is almost as though God crafted this message for our present moment. I am proud to be part of the crew of people on this Earth who strive to live by God's promises: those who follow Jesus. You can find us throughout Kansas and from Austin, Texas, to Hamilton, Montana, to Simmons, Kentucky, to Thompson, Connecticut.
In this country, so many people advance against one another in jealousy and pride, they rush to judgment and they rob each other of the dignity and respect we owe our fellow citizens when we should be carrying each other's burdens. If we don't stop this behavior, we will incur the punishment it deserves: enmity, discord, and separation.
I think of my daughter when I tuck her in at night and my son when we go fishing. I don't want them to live in a country that is playing the dangerous game of division and hatred for the next 99 years, but a world of hope, peace, and love. If our country keeps rejecting God, we will only make it harder for ourselves to accomplish this. Commemorating the Life of Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh
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Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the life of a truly great Kansan, Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, who died last year at the age of 78.
Dr. Flinchbaugh taught my ag policy class at Kansas State University, which is the best class I took at college. He had a larger-than-life demeanor; was committed to production agriculture; was involved, at some level, in every farm bill going back over 50 years; and was sharp, witty, and hilarious. Dr. Flinchbaugh did more for Kansas farmers than possibly anyone else during his lifetime.
His expertise in ag policy led him to meet every President from Harry Truman to George W. Bush. But he wasn't interested in notoriety. He was passionate about his family, his field of study, and his students, who were his legacy and his pride and joy. I was one of the 5,000 students Dr. Flinchbaugh taught over the span of 49 years, and I can picture him now, cigar in hand, holding court in his classroom or in his office, surrounded by transfixed young people, many of whom would later go on to become leaders in the very field they learned from him.
I would like to close with one of his quotes that I think we all need to hear, especially in this deliberative body at the present time. He said: ``There are two ways to make public decisions: compromise or dictatorship. There's nothing in between.''
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