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 that budget on its own merits. It is a clear acknowledgement that their agenda would only make worse the many crises now facing the American people – including the inflation crisis brought on by the Democrats’ reckless spending agenda that is causing pain for working class families every time they visit the gas pump or the checkout line.
“A budget is supposed to put Washington on a sustainable fiscal path and help the American people keep Congress honest about its spending. Unfortunately, Washington Democrats are using the budget as a political tool to unleash trillions in new spending and taxes and enact misguided policies such as amnesty for illegal immigrants, expanding government-controlled health care, subsidizing tax breaks for the wealthy, banishing low-cost electricity while subsidizing green technologies, and doubling the size of the IRS. Passing this budget all but guarantees that working class families will see higher inflation and crippling debt because of the Washington Democrats’ agenda.”
Background – The Democrats’ budget calls for:
- $68 trillion in spending over ten years – a $4.2 trillion increase over the current spending trajectory and the highest sustained spending level in American history. When combined with what House Democrats have already spent since gaining the majority in 2019, the total adds up to more than the total taxes paid by all Americans in U.S. history.
- $17 trillion in new debt – more than the value of every economy in the world, except the United States. Under this budget, in ten years, America will spend $1 trillion per year to pay the interest on the national debt – more than what the federal government will spend on Medicare this year and more than the national defense budget in 2031.
- Trillions in new spending and taxes that will exacerbate inflation, drive the cost of goods and services even higher and undermine wages. In July, consumer prices rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier, putting them on pace to rise for the year at their fastest rate since 1981.
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