Build Back Better Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, this is an absolute disgrace. It is beyond belief how terrible this moment is. It is embarrassing to the people of the United States what is going on.
We have seen three versions of this bill written behind closed doors in Speaker Pelosi's office. As we stand here this second--as we stand here, Madam Speaker, this second--they are rewriting a fourth version of the bill in Speaker Pelosi's office.
We will be recessing shortly, sometime during this debate, so the Rules Committee can present a fourth version of a 2,000-page bill. Once again, in this House, Speaker Pelosi is trying to pass a bill before anyone knows what is in it, so then the American people can read it after it has been passed.
Let me tell you, Madam Speaker, I will tell you what is in the version of the bill right now. It is the worst piece of legislation that I have seen in my entire life of public service. It is transformational. It will completely change America as we know it, all at the expense of working-class families.
They call it the Build Back Better bill. Let me tell you what those three b's stand for: bankrupts the economy; benefits the wealthy; and builds the Washington machine.
We are standing here because this is a budget bill. It originated in the Budget Committee. Speaker Pelosi said that a budget is a statement of your values. Well, let's see the Democratic Party's values by what is in their bill.
Of this 2,100-page bill, it bankrupts the economy. They will try to tell you that the bill is less than $2 trillion. They will try to tell you that a $4.5 trillion spending bill will cost zero. Well, the American people are not stupid. You don't spend $4.5 trillion and it costs zero. That is one of their talking points.
Even Senator Manchin, a Democrat Senator from West Virginia, says that this bill creates shell games.
We know there are all kinds of budget gimmicks to try to make it look like it only spends $1.5 trillion. In fact, it spends $4.5 trillion. Even The New York Times agrees that it spends a whole lot more money than what the Democrats are saying.
It is also not only the largest spending bill in the history of this United States; it is the largest tax increase in the history of the United States. It increases taxes on working-class families of all income levels, all at a time when we are facing record inflation.
Since Joe Biden has taken office, inflation is over 7 percent. In my home State, inflation is over 8 percent.
Madam Speaker, the folks on the other side of the aisle will say that inflation is just a high-class problem. They will say that it is only transitory. But I can tell you, the people of Missouri and the people across this country care about those increasing prices in the supermarket, not the prices in the stock market.
This bill only punishes Main Street while rewarding Wall Street, and you should be ashamed of what is going on in this bill, Madam Speaker. This bill benefits the wealthy beyond belief.
The Democrats always say that they are the party of the working class. Well, in fact, the 10 most wealthy congressional districts in this body are all held by liberal Democrats. In fact, Wall Street spent more than $70 million to defeat Donald Trump and to elect Joe Biden. Why are they doing this bill? They are doing this bill to reward their political friends, their constituents, their allies, their donors.
The second largest program in this bill is a tax cut for millionaires, $250 billion for a tax cut for millionaires. A millionaire family will get $25,900 in a tax break in this bill, but a middle-class family will get $20.
They are just rewarding their friends.
But, Madam Speaker, do you know what?
Those millionaires also get $12,500 to buy luxury electric cars.
Guess what, Madam Speaker?
Those millionaires also get government taxpayer-paid family leave. The list goes on and on about the benefits to the wealthy. This body should be ashamed of what is about to happen.
The third B, it builds the Washington bureaucracy. This bill creates more than 150 new Federal programs.
It is all about control. This bill is about controlling every aspect of Americans' lives whether it is their paychecks, whether it is their healthcare decisions, or whether it is their kids' education. I would think that the Democrats, after seeing what happened a few weeks ago in Virginia, New Jersey, and all across this country, would know that the American people are fed up with government control. In fact, over the weekend, a poll said 60 percent of Americans believe that Joe Biden and the Democrats are expanding government control beyond belief.
If we want to protect working-class families, if we want to protect our freedoms, and if we want to save America, we have to kill this bill.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the good gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I would like to read a quote of a Senator who happens to be the budget chair on the other side of the aisle. He is quoted, ``You can't be a political party that talks about demanding the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes and then end up with a bill that gives large tax breaks to many millionaires.
``You can't do that. The hypocrisy is too strong. It's bad policy, it's bad politics.''
Madam Speaker, I agree with Senator Bernie Sanders. In this bill the hypocrisy is way too strong.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the great gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, only in this Chamber will you hear people say that if you spend trillions more dollars it will only make inflation go down. The American people aren't that stupid.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the fine gentleman from New York (Mr. Garbarino).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, as the gentlewoman from Texas says, this helps a lot of people, especially if you are a millionaire. That is why it is the second largest provision in this bill. It is tax breaks for millionaires.
In fact, Senator Tester from Montana is quoted, he is ``not a big fan because I think it gives tax breaks to the wrong people: rich people.'' That is a Democrat Senator from Montana.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the fine gentleman from New York (Mr. Jacobs).
Mr. JACOBS of New York. Madam Speaker, Democrats claim their bill will cost $1.7 trillion. That number, by itself, should cause alarm. But this number is reached through budget gimmicks.
If Democrats succeed in making the provisions of this bill permanent, as they have publicly said they intend to do, then the cost will be much, much higher.
The Penn-Wharton Budget Model estimates total spending for this bill would be $4.6 trillion over 10 years if the provisions are made permanent. The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates the cost at $4.9 trillion.
If Democrats are going to spend this kind of money, they should at least be honest about the true cost to the American people. I urge my colleagues to reject this reckless spending.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the gentleman from New York, but I would just like to point out, in his home State, a family of four with two children under six, in just over a year, will face more than a $3,200 tax increase. But yet, a millionaire in his State, for the next 10 years, will receive a tax break of over $25,000 a year.
Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the fine gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the great State of North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert). She is someone who is a warrior, a fighter for conservatism and, apparently, even the Budget chairman is threatened by her.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, as the gentlewoman from California said, there is $150 billion in this program for housing assistance. What is unfortunate, which she didn't share, is that it also allows felons of domestic violence to get those grants, which is unacceptable.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to read a quote from the Democrat Congressman from Maine, talking about the huge tax break for the millionaires. He says: ``The fact that more people and organizations on the Democratic side aren't up in arms about this is wild.''
I am surprised with a lot of my colleagues on the other side who want to help working-class Americans, who instead are going to be supporting a bill that helps wealthy Americans.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a document from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that shows the true cost of the bill is over $4 trillion.
[From the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Nov. 5, 2021]
House Build Back Better Bills Are Built on Shaky Foundation
The House is slated to vote today on two parts of the President's Build Back Better agenda--the bipartisan infrastructure bill (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/ infrastructure-plan-will-add-400-billion-deficit-cbo-finds) and a reconciliation bill addressing climate change, child care, health care. and other priorities.
The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:
A fiscally responsible Build Back Better agenda should be fully paid for, gimmick-free, well-targeted based on the country's needs, and enacted in the context of a broader budget. While policymakers should be commended for their efforts to scale back costs and include real offsets, these bills still fall far short of those goals.
While President Biden and Members of Congress pledged their agenda would not add to the debt, it is likely that both bills would increase the deficit based on official estimates. The bipartisan infrastructure bill--negotiated by Democrats and Republicans--will add roughly $400 billion (https:// www.crfb.org/blogs/infrastructure-plan-will-add-400-billion- deficit-cbo-finds) to the debt over the next decade. While we still don't know the true fiscal impact of the reconciliation legislation, it is likely that it will add modestly to the deficit as well. No one should vote for this bill prior to seeing a CBO score.
The bills are also riddled with gimmicks. The bipartisan infrastructure bill claims it is fully paid for by taking credit for saving (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/whats- bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act) that had nothing to do with the bill itself. The reconciliation bill keeps its official cost down through arbitrary expirations-- the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit expansions after one year, Affordable Care Act expansions after 3 and 4 years, and child care and pre-K after six years. If these and other sunset policies are extended without offsets, it would cost an additional $2 to $2.5 trillion through the end of the decade.
And then there's the last-minute addition of a SALT cap increase, which will deliver a huge tax cut to very high earners (https://www.crfb.org/blogs/72500-salt-cap-costly- and-regressive) at a cost of nearly $300 billion over the first five years. The proposed SALT cap increase would cost more than the bill's Child Tax Credit, health coverage expansions, housing initiatives, or education funding, and roughly 98 percent of the benefit would go to those making six figures. This is egregious in light of the objectives of the bill. This tax cut would be offset on paper with a sleight of hand where policymakers extend the SALT cap beyond 2026 but leave other accompanying parts of the TCJA for future lawmakers to extend.
All of this is being considered in the context of near- record levels of debt, trust funds years away from insolvency, and an unsustainable fiscal situation that few in either party are even trying to address. Given the current budget outlook, we should ideally be pursuing long-term deficit reduction, rather than limiting deficit increases. And we should be doing it in the context of an actual detailed budget for the nation.
Washington's credibility is on the line, and we need to get this right. Rather than rush through irresponsible legislation before it has even been scored, the House should fix the flaws in the current bills to ensure the Build Back Better agenda--both reconciliation and infrastructure--is honestly accounted for and truly paid for.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from Illinois, and I remind her that government spending is already helping fuel an inflation fire that is on pace to raise prices at the fastest rate in 40 years. In her home State of Illinois, food prices currently are up 8 percent, clothing is up 9 percent, and gasoline prices are up 62 percent.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I will point out that since Joe Biden became President on January 20, the policies that he enacted by executive order in his first week in office have created an incredibly awful border crisis.
Unfortunately, 1.4 million people have illegally crossed the southern border since Joe Biden has taken office. And what does this legislation do?
This legislation will only make it worse by providing over $100 billion in this legislation for backdoor amnesty.
This bill also provides roughly $45,000 of benefits to illegals over U.S. citizens. That is unacceptable. The American people are opposed to that, and they are not liking it.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Malliotakis).
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I hear all the time in this Chamber people say it is for the children or it is for the kids. What hogwash from the other side to say that this bill helps the children with the child tax credit.
Your child tax credit is for 1 year, but your tax break for millionaires is for 10?
You are spending $250 billion in tax breaks for millionaires and $130 billion for 1 year for families.
Less than one-third of this budget bill is scored. Less than one- third. But what we do know is that it will not be fully paid for, and over the next 5 years it will add roughly $800 billion to debt. We do know that.
This bill only bankrupts the economy. It benefits your wealthy political friends, allies, and donors, and it only builds the Washington machine.
If working-class Americans are considered millionaires, then this bill is helping them because it is all about the millionaires.
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