In Opposition to Democrats' Reconciliation Package

Floor Speech

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, tonight we are going to hear the truth about a truly bad bill.

Biden's failed leadership has created an America where grocery stores' shelves are empty, gas stations are running out of gas, and crime is skyrocketing, our schools are failing, and our borders are wide open so that cartels can have complete control of what is going on at our southern border.

This isn't the America any of us want. Whether we succeed or fail, we do it as one. Republican or Democrat, our future is the same. That is why it is so important to point out the truth of what is in this reconciliation package.

The Biden administration has ignored crisis after crisis, putting all their eggs into this build back broke basket. So how come no one actually knows what is in it?

We spent over 40 hours in Ways and Means marking up the build back broke plan last month and several other committees did the same, but we already know that the policies have changed since then.

Democrats are adding radical unnecessary provisions while the American people aren't looking. For example, they are trying to make the IRS spy on American families' bank accounts. That is right, they want banks to give information to the IRS on any transaction over $600. This is a giant step towards living in a surveillance state.

My constituents are horrified at what has happened to our country in just 9 months of Democratic control. They are worried that the freedoms we have held dear for the last 245 years will be stripped away right before their eyes.

Tonight, we will hear from my colleagues about the dangerous provisions included in the build back broke plan, the honest truth about what our Democratic colleagues are trying to hide from the American people.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger), my dear friend, a freshman, a fellow businessperson, and a person that I coauthored an op-ed with yesterday about our failing supply chain.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), my dear friend and a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and a fellow classmate.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds), a freshman, who is certainly not shy about getting out there and getting his feet wet and speaking out here, so we appreciate that.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington), my dear friend from the food, fuel, and fiber district of West Texas, Texas' 19th District.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the food, fuel, and fiber capital of the world. I appreciate it very much.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Burchett), congressman from Tennessee's Second District, also spent time in the Tennessee State House, the Tennessee State Senate, and the mayor of Knox County, my dear friend who I served on the Committee on Small Business with, and a fighter for real America.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. I appreciate him so much, as always.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), my dear friend, who spent 2 years on the Committee on Small Business, a fellow colleague from Pennsylvania's Ninth District, a gentleman that has been in business his entire life; his family has been in business their entire lives; have been on the receiving end of these failed past policies when you go after small business, so I think he is what I consider to be an expert in this area to talk to this.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), my dear friend, a man that has a tremendous passion in this area, whose family has spent a lifetime in business, a member on the Committee on Ways and Means, and a gentleman who also played football at Notre Dame.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his passion on this subject.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah's First Congressional District (Mr. Moore), a fellow baseball player who had the distinction of hitting an in-the-park home run at our big win 2 weeks ago. I really appreciate that.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin's Sixth District (Mr. Grothman), who serves on the Budget Committee and is an advocate for workforce development and welfare reform.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Wisconsin.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama's First Congressional District (Mr. Carl), a new freshman and a fellow small business owner.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the 21st District of Texas (Mr. Roy). My dear friend, Chip Roy, has extraordinary passion about constitutional accountability and fiscal responsibility.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Fourth District of Indiana (Mr. Baird).

Mr. Baird is a decorated Vietnam veteran who was recognized with two Purple Hearts for the wounds he received while protecting our freedoms.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Eighth District of Florida (Mr. Posey).

I would also like to say he serves on the Financial Services Committee which has a big part in the jurisdiction of this bill that we are discussing.

I would also like to point out the distinction he had in working and serving in the Florida Senate when we had the election laws. Much was spoken about that today in some of the 1-minute speeches. He worked in the Florida Senate and helped work on the reform laws regarding what happened with the 2000 Presidential race.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, may I ask how much time I have remaining.

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I would like to give one last shout-out to Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks. He has been fighting this ridiculous spending from the get-go. It is largely due to Jim's leadership that so many Americans know just how bad this reconciliation bill really is.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in tonight's Special Order. We heard really compelling stories from our colleagues about the dangers of Biden's out-of-control socialist spending. Our Nation is still recovering from forced lockdowns that killed small businesses across this country and wreaked havoc on the intellectual development of an entire generation of students.

Our number one priority should be empowering job creators to grow and succeed and growing their local economies with them. Biden's build back broke plan kills small businesses and increases our reliance on cradle- to-grave welfare systems. I am living proof that never-ending handouts simply do not work. They only increase the dependence on the system that will never help individuals become self-sufficient.

To quote my favorite President, Ronald Reagan, the greatest social program in the world is a job.

We need more people in jobs, not less. All that the Biden administration has to show for 9 months in power is an abysmal unemployment rate and record high inflation. It is simply not working. It is time to give fiscal responsibility a serious try.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).

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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his recognition of such heroism.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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