Build Back Better Agenda
Floor Speech
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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, less than a month ago, President Biden made a surprising statement--or maybe I should say, another surprising statement. He said: My Build Back Better agenda costs zero dollars-- zero dollars. That is a big, you might even say unbelievable claim.
For starters, half of his agenda is a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that will increase the deficit by more than $250 billion over 10 years. The other part is a multitrillion-dollar tax-and-spending spree, which leans on damaging tax hikes to cover a long list of social welfare programs to make the United States of America look more like, say, a European social welfare state. Now, how could that possibly cost zero dollars? Well, the answer is pretty simple: It can't. Even the Washington Post fact checkers gave this claim two Pinocchios.
This strategy of misleading, misstating, and--I hate to say it, but there is no other word for it--downright lying to the American people is a tried-and-true strategy of the Biden administration. Whether it is advancing legislation or dodging a crisis, there is no promise that is too big to make, even if it is patently false.
Another example. Dating back to the campaign trail, President Biden has repeatedly promised the American people: If you make over $400,000 a year--excuse me--if you make under $400,000 a year, you will not pay more income tax. Well, we have heard the same talking points from the Treasury Secretary, Secretary Yellen, and the White House Press Secretary dutifully comes out and parrots the same position again and again and again. It is almost as if, if you say something often enough, people will begin to believe it even if it is not true.
Considering the enormous amounts of spending that the Biden administration has promised, I understand why they are a little worried about the truth. All of us like free stuff, whether it is a free T- shirt at a football game or free samples at a grocery store. What folks don't like, though, is learning that they are being played and that they are still paying but maybe by different means. So when it comes to free college, free childcare, and other free programs under President Biden's agenda, most people realize there is no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody somewhere is going to have to pay for it, even if it is borrowed money. The next generation, like our pages here, when they enter the workforce, they are going to be the ones who have to pay that money back. Somebody is going to have to pay it back. There is no such thing as free.
Contrary to the promises made by President Biden and his administration, the middle class will help to foot the bill for this spending bonanza. An analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that many families will see their taxes increase under President Biden's Build Back Better agenda.
In 2023, 2 years from now, 18 percent of those earning between $75,000 and $100,000 will pay more in taxes, not $400,000 or more. More than a third of the folks earning between $100,000 and $200,000 a year will see a tax increase, not people making $400,000 or more. If this trend continues into 2027, well over half of taxpayers earning between $75,000 and $100,000 will pay more in taxes. And a whopping 86 percent of folks earning between $100,000 and $200,000 will see a tax increase.
Now, you might wonder, how can the President have it so wrong? This is not news to President Biden. He knows better. He is surrounded by world-class economic advisers, analysts, and tax experts who scrutinize and scrub every single policy before it comes to see the light of day. Yet, you might wonder, why does the President persist in claiming that his tax hikes won't impact the middle class even as he is trying to slip them a massive tax bill? I hate to state the obvious, but it is just dishonest.
Of course, all of this comes at a time when many family budgets are already underwater, struggling to recover from the fiscal impact of COVID-19. Now, from gas stations, to grocery stores, to electricity bills and restaurant checks, the American people are being pummeled by inflation, paying more for the things they used to pay less for.
What is the Biden administration's response? Well, the President's Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, dismissed inflation as something he called a high-class problem, which I guess means that only rich people are suffering or experience that inflation. Again, this is clearly not true. My constituents in Texas don't see it that way. They see inflation outpacing their wage increases and essentially giving them a pay cut. They are paying 10 percent more at the butcher counter than they were a year ago and 42 percent more on gasoline. If you are a senior operating on a fixed income, you have to spend more of that fixed income to end up with less.
So, no, this isn't just a problem for the high class. Unfortunately, it is not going away soon either. You remember when concerns were raised with the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jay Powell, about inflation, and he said: Well, it is probably only transitory--meaning it is a passing moment. Well, now we see that economists expect inflation rates to remain steady through the end of next year, which would mark the longest period of inflation above 5 percent in three decades. So if inflation is at 5 percent, that means you are having to pay $1.05 to get what you used to pay $1 for, and it is compounded each year.
While inflation is expected to ease some--or at least we are hoping and praying that is the effect--by the middle of next year, rates are still likely to be higher than they were before the pandemic.
Folks who can't afford to fill up their gas tanks to get back and forth to work or buy what they need at the grocery store don't need to be told that things are just fine when they know they are not. The American people need to see real leadership here that addresses the root causes of inflation, not pouring gas on that inflation as the $3\1/2\ trillion reckless tax-and-spending spree would do. It would just create more money chasing the same goods and services, driving prices up. And the American people certainly deserve better than false statements that ignore the magnitude of their pain.
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