December 21, 2022

Smith: Bloated Spending Bill Is Everything Americans Can't Stand About Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement on the FY 2023 omnibus spending package to be voted on this week in Congress:
“This massive $2 trillion year-end spending bill represents everything the American people can’t stand about Washington: more spending, more debt, more inflationary pressures spread across 4,155 pages. It will help extend President Biden’s record of increasing spending and debt more than any other president in U.S. history in his first 23 months in office.

“Reckless Democrat spending is what sparked and fueled inflation, yet this bill increases base spending by another 9 percent, on top of the 7 percent increase Washington Democrats rammed through last year. It ignores the Democrats’ own PAYGO law to add an additional $260 billion to our already mountainous national debt. This spending bill is dooming America to repeat the same vicious cycle that already has working families bracing for a blue Christmas. Americans have lost nearly two months’ worth of pay to Biden’s inflation crisis, which has forced the Fed to raise interest rates at the fastest pace in 40 years and larger than the last 15 years combined. As a result, millions of families can no longer afford to purchase a home or pay off their credit card.

“In the 117th Congress, Democrats set a new record by increasing spending by $10 trillion, and this spending package before Congress ignores the will of the American people who just chose a Republican-led House to deal with America’s fiscal crisis and the various consequences that have befallen American families because of reckless Washington spending. It has been over 80 days since the end of the fiscal year, funding the government should have been done months ago. But instead Democrats spent their time ramming through trillions in new spending on their radical agenda to upend American energy, push handouts to the wealthy, and expand their command and control over the lives of American families. Given Democrats ignored their most basic responsibility, the best route forward would have been to pass a continuing resolution into early next year, allowing a new House Republican majority the opportunity to curb wasteful spending and combat inflation.”

- House Budget Committee Republican Leader Smith
Key Points on End-of-Year Spending Spree
  • $1.82 trillion in total discretionary spending authority.
  • 9 percent ($131 billion) increase in base discretionary spending over FY 2022 – on top of the 7 percent increase in spending Democrats enacted last year.
    • $20 billion above President Biden’s FY23 Budget request.
    • Adds $1.5 trillion to the spending baseline over the next decade.
  • Adds an additional $260 billion to the nation’s debt by waiving the Democrats’ own Pay-As-You-Go law to punt responsibility for the past two years of reckless spending down the road.
  • Total bill cost will exceed $2 trillion.
Democrats' Spending Agenda In his first 20 months in office, President Biden spent more than any other president in U.S. history. Under one-party Democrat rule, spending has increased by over $10 trillion, including:
  • $2.5 trillion increase in interest payments on the growing federal debt
  • $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act
  • $745 billion Inflation Reduction Act
  • $1+ trillion on Biden’s Executive Actions
  • $625 billion Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act
Consequences of Democrat Spending The highest spike in prices coupled with the fastest increase in interest rates in 40 years.
  • Inflation is at a forty-year high of 7.1 percent.
  • Inflation has increased 14.3 percent since President Biden took office.
  • Real wages have decreased 3.8 percent since President Biden took office.
  • To combat the President’s inflation crisis, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates this month, the seventh rate increase since March.
  • In total, the federal funds rate has risen by 4.25 percent, the fastest rate hike in 40 years and larger than the last 15 years combined.
    • When President Biden took office, the Congressional Budget Office predicted interest rates would not increase until 2024.
    • Interest payments on the federal debt reached $103 billion over the months of October and November – an 87 percent increase over the same period last year.

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