The Economy

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, every day, American families are feeling real pain because of the reckless and inflationary policies that Democrats have already rammed through. The American people are facing the highest inflation in more than 10 years. They are paying an extra dollar a gallon at the pump and soaring prices at the grocery store. Real wages are down. Rising prices are wiping out raises and bonuses. Last month's jobs report was another huge disappointment, showing less than half the hiring that had been expected.

But, amazingly, the Biden administration and many of our colleagues seem to think the cure for this inflation hangover is the hair of the dog. They are trying to exploit the economic anxiety they have created by pitching yet another multitrillion-dollar socialist spending spree. They want to try to inflate their way out of inflation.

Oh, and get this: The Biden administration is simultaneously saying that their latest spending spree will cost zero dollars.

Let me say that again. The Biden administration is simultaneously saying their latest spending spree will cost zero dollars--it will be totally free--and it will come with massive, historic tax hikes in order to pay for it.

All this socialism is going to be totally free of charge--but it also needs the biggest IRS cash grab in decades in order to pay for it. Go figure. The Democrats' plan contains more than 40 separate tax hikes on the American people--40 separate tax hikes on the American people. These increases would impact taxpayers at every income level. Small business owners and family farmers would feel yet another pinch. Even the tax hikes that are ostensibly aimed at Washington Democrats' favorite punching bag, American industry, would find their way back down to working families.

Democrats' war on affordable American energy would hit pocketbooks just in time to spike winter heating bills and the prices of made-in- America goods. Their corporate tax hikes would leave American businesses paying a higher tax rate than businesses--listen to this--in communist China. As the Joint Committee on Taxation has shown, two- thirds of the burden of Democrats' proposed new taxes on businesses would fall on lower and middle-income Americans--two-thirds.

But Washington Democrats aren't just laying out massive new tax hikes in the light of day; they also want to hand the IRS new snooping powers to start digging through individual Americans' bank accounts. They want to pay for their reckless taxing-and-spending spree by treating normal American households like everybody is under audit. They want to treat normal American households like everybody is under audit.

So, to review, this has been the story of Democrats' unified control of government in 2021. Here is what they have done: First, they knee- capped our economic recovery with stifling spending, including to pay Americans more to stay on the sidelines than to rejoin the workforce. Then, as working families feel the pinch of runaway prices, they are putting forward even more spending and also massive tax hikes. As icing on the cake, they have schemed for even greater access to Americans' personal finances so Washington bureaucrats can spy--can spy--on citizens' routine transactions.

This is not what American voters signed up for, and it won't earn a shred of support from this side of the aisle.

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