Press Releases
CBO Confirms Health Care Policies in Democrats’ Tax & Spending Bill Reduce Private Health Coverage, Push Americans onto Government-Controlled Care, and Cost Hundreds of Billions.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed that the health care policies in the House Democrats’ reckless $4.3 trillion tax and spending reconciliation bill will push Americans off the health plans they have and like and onto government-controlled coverage, at a steep expense to American taxpayers. On October 5th, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (R-MO), House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), … Continue Reading
October 18, 2021
Smith Calls Out Biden Administration’s Continued Failure to Account for Impending Cuts to Medicare, Other Government Programs as a Result of Democrats’ Reckless Spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08), in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), slammed the Biden Administration over its continued failure to follow the law by transparently accounting for impending cuts to critical government programs that will result from Congressional Democrats’ reckless spending. The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) requires that new mandatory spending be offset with mandatory spending cuts to … Continue Reading
October 14, 2021
Smith Op-Ed: The Democrats’ Sales Pitch Should Come With an Honest Price Tag
By Rep. Jason Smith Newsmax While today’s spending by Congress may not suggest as much, our nation does indeed have a debt limit - that is, a cap on how much the federal government can borrow in order to spend. If you turned on the news or read the paper lately, there is a good chance you have seen Democrats in Congress turning the issue into their latest self-created crisis. They have insisted that they cannot deal with it by themselves, despite controlling all of Congress and the White … Continue Reading
October 13, 2021
Smith: Republicans Will Not Co-Sign a Loan for the Democrats’ Radical Agenda
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed a short-term increase to the debt limit: “Washington Democrats already enacted nearly $2 trillion in spending this year. They now want another $4.3 trillion and counting, and they see raising the debt limit as a way to empower that radical agenda. Some Democrats have even suggested abolishing the debt limit so it no longer gets in the way … Continue Reading
October 07, 2021
Smith: Raising the Debt Limit Enables the Democrats’ Radical Tax & Spending Agenda
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement on the Senate's vote this evening to pass a short-term increase to the debt limit: “The history of the debt limit in Congress shows that it is not a tool used to enact more spending, but rather, a way to control Congress's appetite for deficit spending. Unfortunately, tonight's vote to increase the debt limit does nothing to get Washington's spending problem under control. The … Continue Reading
October 05, 2021
Smith Op-Ed: Democrats' Build Back Agenda is a Payback to Wealthy Allies
By Rep. Jason Smith Washington Examiner Inflation has reached its highest level in nearly forty years, eating away at paychecks and straining family budgets. The border crisis continues to rage, with the highest number of crossings in over two decades. Americans are still trapped in Afghanistan, living under Taliban rulers who are armed with billions of dollars’ worth of American-bought military equipment. But what concerns Washington Democrats these days is not how to address these … Continue Reading
September 28, 2021
Smith Floor Remarks on Infrastructure Bill: "The math simply does not add up"
As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Madam Speaker. Republicans and Democrats agree: we need to invest in infrastructure. But today when our nation is running historically high deficits, when Democrats want to add trillions of dollars to our debt, and inflation is nearly the highest it has been in 40 years, we need to ensure these investments are paid for. When it comes to this bill, the math simply does not add up. We are told this bill has $589 billion in offsets. In reality, the CBO score … Continue Reading
September 25, 2021
Democrats Ignore Concerns of Working Families, Delay Action on Debt Limit, Push Trillions in Taxes & Spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement at the conclusion of today’s mark-up in the House Budget Committee on the Washington Democrats’ socialist, multi-trillion-dollar tax and spending spree: “Despite bipartisan opposition to advancing this bill out of the committee, the majority of Budget Committee Democrats adopted a reconciliation bill today that spends $4.3 trillion, increases taxes by over $2 trillion, and will add … Continue Reading
September 25, 2021
Budget Democrats Vote for Greater Washington Control, Against Protecting Life, Liberty, and Property
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today in the House Budget Committee, Democrats are fighting to defend trillions in taxes and spending as well as the wealthy who will benefit from their socialist policies. When given the opportunity to stand up for federalism, transparency, communities in need, American taxpayers, the sanctity of life, and working families in general, Democrats voted NO on: Prioritizing funding for combatting wildfires and hurricane relief instead of earmarks for Speaker Pelosi and … Continue Reading
September 25, 2021
Budget Democrats Vote with the Wealthy, Against Protecting Working Families, Farmers, and Seniors
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today in the House Budget Committee, Democrats are fighting to defend trillions in taxes and spending as well as the wealthy who will benefit from their socialist policies. When given the opportunity to stand up for working families, farmers, American citizens, and seniors, Democrats voted NO on: Canceling handouts and tax cuts for the wealthy. Repealing a tax on cows. Stopping amnesty for illegal immigrants. Putting American students first. Protecting … Continue Reading
September 25, 2021
Smith Opening Remarks at House Budget Committee FY22 Reconciliation Markup
As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are here today to mark up a massive tax and spending plan, over 2,400 pages, that was written entirely on a partisan basis by Democrats. It was thrown before this committee, in the past 48 hours, to meet an arbitrary, artificial, and purely political deadline - dictated by Democrat leadership. And why? Because the majority needs to reconcile infighting within its own party. We are not here marking up a budget or reconciliation bill … Continue Reading
September 25, 2021
Democrats Refuse to Shift Focus to Debt Limit, Push Ahead with Socialist Tax & Spending Spree
During today’s mark-up of the Democrats’ multi-trillion-dollar tax and spending spree, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) offered Committee Democrats an opportunity to temporarily postpone the markup until Monday, September 27th so that the majority would have time to draft an amendment to their Fiscal Year 2022 budget resolution to allow for Democrats to raise the debt limit through reconciliation. This follows a letter sent yesterday by Smith to House Budget … Continue Reading
September 25, 2021
House Budget Committee To Consider Democrats’ Plan For Trillions In Taxes & Spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House Budget Committee will hold a markup of the Washington Democrats’ socialist tax and spending spree - a bill which currently spends $4.3 trillion with several committees having violated their reconciliation instructions. It is the most expensive piece of legislation in the history of the United States, includes over $2 trillion in taxes, and will add over $2 trillion in debt. To date, the House Budget Committee has had zero opportunity to participate in the … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
Ranking Member Smith to Chairman Yarmuth: Use Your Markup to Amend the Budget, Address Debt Limit
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) sent a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (KY-03) calling on Democrats to use tomorrow’s already scheduled mark-up in the House Budget Committee to amend their Fiscal Year 2022 budget resolution to allow for a debt limit increase through reconciliation. “Congressional Democrats - including the Chairman of the House Budget Committee - have admitted they can amend the budget to take care … Continue Reading
September 22, 2021
Democrats Push Tax Hikes and Higher Prices on Working Families to Reward the Wealthy
WASHINGTON, D.C. - As more is learned about the House Democrats latest 2,500+ page tax and spending spree reconciliation bill, more information is coming to light about the contents and the consequences of what is included in their plans. Specifically, the legislation would raise taxes on working families and small businesses while fueling higher prices on goods and services in order to give tax breaks and handouts to the Democrats’ wealthy friends. House Budget Committee Republican Leader … Continue Reading
September 21, 2021
Smith Floor Remarks on Democrats’ Debt Limit Increase
As Prepared for Delivery Madame Speaker, For months, Democrats have been pursuing a radical partisan agenda that will pile on trillions more in debt - and they want Republicans to basically help them get the loan. They are pushing the most expensive piece of legislation in our nation’s history alongside historic tax increases. And yet Democrats are demanding we hold the door for them as they ram through that partisan agenda which is all about giving Washington more power. The debt … Continue Reading
September 15, 2021
As Reckless Spending by Democrats Threatens Medicare, Smith Calls on Biden Administration to Be Transparent and Follow the Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) highlighted the Biden Administration’s failure to follow the law and transparently account for pending cuts to government programs and services as a result of legislation enacted and proposed by Washington Democrats so far this year. Specifically, Smith called out the fact that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President Biden has failed thus far to transparently account for all their … Continue Reading
September 14, 2021
THE WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS’ RECKLESS TAX AND SPENDING SPREE
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING… Washington Democrats in the House and Senate "passed" a budget resolution authored by self-described socialist Senator Bernie Sanders to unlock a $3.5 trillion package of new spending and taxes, the most expensive piece of legislation in the history of the United States. The reconciliation bill Democrats are working on is their vehicle to impose a socialist agenda that raises taxes and spending levels to historic highs. Meanwhile, runaway inflation … Continue Reading
September 01, 2021
CBO Confirms: Higher Inflation Harms Wages, Increases Tax Burden, & Decreases Investment in America’s Future
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On July 29, 2021, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) sent a letter to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) requesting an analysis of how today’s high rate of inflation - fueled by unprecedented levels of government spending - is driving up prices, negatively impacting the real incomes of working Americans, increasing effective tax rates on the earnings of Americans, and driving down investment and long-term economic growth. Under the Biden … Continue Reading
August 24, 2021
Democrats Smuggle Budget Past House to Enact Partisan Agenda, Spend Trillions, & Raise Taxes on Working Class Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith issued the following statement today after Washington Democrats approved a $68 trillion budget authored by socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, triggering a partisan reconciliation process to allow for $3.5 trillion in new spending and taxes on Americans — all without an actual vote on the budget: “Today, House Democrats used a scheme to avoid a direct vote on the Bernie budget, because they do not have the votes to pass … Continue Reading