This was an unusual week in Washington, D.C. As you have likely seen in the news, my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate have been at odds over how much money they want to spend in their partisan reconciliation package.
Over the past few weeks, House committees have been working on turning the reconciliation framework that passed the Senate into legislation that the House can vote on. As a member of the House Budget Committee, I participated in a markup of the legislation last Saturday. Instead of the original $3.5 trillion agreed to in the Senate, the House inflated the bill to a whopping $4.3 trillion.
Listed below are some of the most outlandish provisions included in the partisan bill: - Funds abortions by removing bipartisan Hyde Amendment protections.
- Props up the Green New Deal with $630 billion at the expense of small businesses.
- Imposes $2.1 trillion in tax increases on American families and job creators.
- Gives tax breaks and handouts to the wealthy.
- Creates a new surveillance program that allows the IRS to monitor and track every single bank transaction made without a warrant, permission, or limit.
- Includes provisions that promote amnesty for more than 8 million illegal immigrants.
Historically, there have been big increases in the role of the federal government with Obamacare in 2010, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society in the 1960s, and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s. This bill will create a similar rapid change that we cannot afford and will cause the average American to rely too heavily on the government to solve their problems.
Aside from blatant overreach broadening the size and scope of the federal government, the most direct repercussion of overblown spending is inflation. Printing too much money is not the path to prosperity, it’s a recipe for disaster. Last year was the first time since World War II that our country recorded owing more than our entire economy produced throughout the whole year.
Consumer prices are up over 5 percent over the last four months compared to 2020. It comes as no shock that inflation is now is the top concern among retirees, according to a survey
All Wisconsinites should be aware that another huge increase in the role of the federal government in our society could soon take place, despite no agreement being reached by Congressional Democrats this week. The result of spending so much money on a partisan reconciliation package will weaken our middle-class, create a disastrous future for the next generation of Americans, and further enrich wealthy coastal elites with tax breaks. That is why we need pro-growth policies to empower working Americans instead of out-of-control spending that skyrockets inflation. | 
