Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, Hoosiers have heard me talk about the size of the Democrats' reckless tax-and-spend bill--$3.5 trillion, and possibly growing in the House of Representatives. They have heard me talk about how this reckless proposal will raise tax on the American people.

When I am talking about this legislation back home, I don't have to go much past the $3.5-trillion figure. People are against it. All told, Democrats have proposed $7 trillion in spending this year alone--$7 trillion.

Let me try to put that in perspective. Seven trillion dollars is roughly the mathematical equivalent of putting $1 million of credit card debt on every man, woman, and child in the State of Indiana.

Now, Hoosiers know this is something we simply cannot afford. Beyond the massive multitrillion-dollar pricetag, we should examine exactly what the Democrats are proposing, because this bill isn't just a number on one side of a ledger sheet. This spending package--the largest in American history--represents a massive leftward shift in the way our country operates. And Hoosiers and, I think, all Americans need to know what is in it.

Well, thankfully, I sit on the Senate Finance Committee, and in the Senate Finance Committee we are charged with overseeing matters related to taxation and entitlement programs. So if anyone has insight into the particulars of this legislation, it would be a member of the Senate Committee on Finance.

If any legislation this large and this consequential were to pass, it would surely go through the Senate Finance Committee. But the full Finance Committee hasn't held a policy hearing in months.

Tomorrow, we will hold our first full committee hearing since July. That hearing will be on a topic only remotely connected to the Democrats' reckless tax-and-spend proposal. And to my knowledge, no Senate committee has held any hearing whatsoever on this bill at all.

You see, this reckless tax-and-spend bill has all been done, largely, in secret, behind closed doors. I read about it in the newspapers. I will hear rumors about it from my colleagues.

So it is worth asking: What is the other side trying to hide? What have Democrats put in this mother of all bills?

Well, let's start with what the Wall Street Journal recently called ``Entitlements for the Affluent.'' This is the Wall Street Journal's way of saying ``handouts for the rich,'' which is accurate because so few of the new and expanding government giveaways in this bill are targeted in ways that I might support to actually help Americans of modest needs.

Now, for reference, the U.S. median income for a family of four in this country is about $90,000. But, under this bill, a family can make $400,000 a year and get an $8,000 child tax credit from Washington.

How about ObamaCare subsidies?

The original eligibility limit for ObamaCare subsidies is 400 percent of the Federal poverty level--or about $106,000 for a household of four. Their bill completely removes the eligibility limit. This means much wealthier Americans would be eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.

If Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets her way, wealthy elites on the coast will get a massive tax write-off for their mansions in high tax cities, like San Francisco; or high tax States, like New York.

Now, what else is in the bill? How about $80 billion more for the IRS?

Yes, Democrats want to add a mandate that banks turn over to the IRS personal, confidential bank information from rank and file Americans.

You see, if you make or spend more than $600 in a year, they want your private information. They want to know what you are spending money on, how you earned your money. I have called on Leader Schumer to abandon this unprecedented proposal. If you thought the IRS was a political weapon before, you ain't seen nothing yet.

What else is in this bill? How about $3 billion for tree equity--tree equity--whatever that means. You can't make this stuff up. Some of the provisions that are supposed to be about climate change are really handouts to Democratic constituencies.

The spending bill raises the electric vehicle tax credit by up to $5,000, among other expansions, with the pricetag of $42 billion. Did you know you only get part of this credit, this electric vehicle tax credit of up to $5,000, if your electric vehicle comes from a unionized plant? I represent a lot of quality union members, great Americans. They are patriots. But under this proposal, plants like the Toyota or Honda or Subaru factories in my State of Indiana are told to take a hike because they are located in largely red States with nonunion employees--by choice.

I haven't even talked about the tax increases supported by the other side that will raise taxes on lower and middle-income households. Some of these households make under $30,000 a year. This is a clear violation of President Biden's tax pledge--a pledge that 49 out of 50 of my Democratic colleagues formally voted to uphold just 2 months ago when we considered the budget.

Ladies and gentlemen, this reckless tax-and-spending spree is full of giveaways to the wealthy and handouts to Democratic constituencies. I stand for the working men and women of this country. The Republican Party stands for the working men and women of this country. We will stand united against these giveaways to the rich. It is offensive. It is too much money, and it must be stopped.

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