Build Back Better

Floor Speech

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Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Build Back Better Act.

President Biden, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Chairman Bernie Sanders have made it clear they want to transform America. In fact, those are their words. They want to transform America using reconciliation, the so-called Build Back Better Act. They are trying to do it with a 50-50 Senate, a 3-seat majority in the House out of 435 Members, and a President that won by just two States.

Last November, the country did not vote for transformation, but for middle-of-the-road centrist policies and steady leadership. That is not what they got, and voters are mad.

Just look at the polling. The President sits at a 38 percent favorable rating. The generic ballot for the House favors Republicans by 11 points--the biggest margin seen in the history of this polling.

If there is any doubt, just review the recent results of Virginia where a Republican was elected; in New Jersey where a Democrat squeaked by in his reelection. A 12-point swing in Virginia and a 14-point swing in New Jersey in just one year.

Our Nation does not desire to be a giant welfare State with cradle- to-grave government oversight controlling their lives. Last year, the country didn't vote to give amnesty and government payouts for adults who illegally crossed our borders and jumped to the front of the line of those trying to come here through legal channels. The country did not vote to hire 87,000 more IRS agents for auditing every-day Americans to raise $400 billion to pay for their reckless spending spree.

We need IRS agents to provide customer service to those still waiting for their tax refunds, sometimes a year late, but not for more audits. Americans didn't vote to raise taxes on a third of the middle class, which is what the left-leaning Tax Policy Center stated is the case, while it also found that two-thirds of millionaires will now get a tax break at the same time because of the changes made to the SALT deductions in this bad bill.

Americans didn't vote to remove the Hyde amendment that prevented our tax dollars from paying for abortions, and they did not vote to remove work requirements for able-bodied adults to receive welfare benefits. Americans did not vote to impede and ban domestic energy and mineral production, or to increase our reliance on China and OPEC. Our citizens did not vote to raise taxes on natural gas that Americans use to heat their homes, and we did not vote to undermine our research and discovery of new drugs that can save people's lives.

Finally, Americans did not vote to give people earning up to $500,000 tax breaks for buying electric vehicles. The authors of this legislation have either misjudged or ignored where the country is at on these issues. This legislation is a total transformation, is what the President is saying, but it is a giant, welfare-State transformation. For these reasons, and many more, I will be voting ``no'' on the Build Back Better Act, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I pray that moderate Democrats will say no, and like many Americans, I am grateful that Senators Manchin and Sinema have been voices of reason and commonsense. We need more of their voices.

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