08.02.21

Bipartisan Senate Work Highlights the Absurdity of Democrats’ Reckless Tax-and-Spend Spree

'This 50-50 Senate, a very narrowly divided House, and a President who promised unity and togetherness have decided they want to respond to an environment of uncertainty and inflation with a sprawling $3.5 trillion socialist shopping list and a huge set of painful tax hikes.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the Democrats’ reckless tax and spending spree:

“This bipartisan work on infrastructure just reinforces the recklessness of the purely partisan taxing-and-spending spree that Democrats want to ram through next.

“Even before we get to this week, there’s ample evidence the Senate is fully capable of passing policies that are actually smart… that actually make things better for American families… with bipartisan majorities.

“A year and a half ago, the Senate turned a blank sheet of paper into the CARES Act that saved our healthcare system, saved our economy, and poured money into Operation Warp Speed to help unlock vaccines in record time.

“A year ago, we passed the Great American Outdoors Act, a historic investment in our nation’s national parks and natural treasures. Another big bipartisan vote.

“Last December, there was yet another bipartisan COVID rescue package.

“And just a few months ago, Senators once again compromised and passed a big bipartisan bill addressing American competitiveness vis-à-vis China.

“There is nothing stopping policies from earning bipartisan support in the Senate — when they deserve it. Bills that deserve to pass this chamber are not having a hard time passing it.

“So the fact that our Democratic colleagues will immediately pivot to a staggering, reckless tax-and-spend spree that will not earn a single Republican vote… well, that tells Americans everything they need to know.

“This 50-50 Senate, a very narrowly divided House, and a President who promised unity and togetherness have decided they want to respond to an environment of uncertainty and inflation with a sprawling $3.5 trillion socialist shopping list and a huge set of painful tax hikes.

“That’s their plan. Our friend and colleague the junior Senator for Vermont may not have won the Democrats’ presidential nomination, but his ideology sure has won the war.

“So, in the next few days, the Democratic Leader says they’ll start the process of ramming through this awful package.

“They want to respond to a border crisis… with amnesty!

“They want to respond to runaway inflation and soaring costs for families… with even more reckless spending, printing, and borrowing!

“They want to respond to a growing worker shortage… by turning a tax credit for working parents into permanent welfare with no work requirement!

“They want to respond to an uneasy economic recovery... with massive tax hikes and a whole catalog of Green New Deal mandates and regulations so Washington bureaucrats can run the country.

“If what Senate Democrats are planning to do next was a good idea, it would read like one. It would smell like one.

“And it wouldn’t require a hyper-partisan high-wire act from Senate Democrats to pull it off.”

Related Issues: Senate Democrats, Green New Deal, Immigration, Taxes, COVID-19