Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I join my colleagues today in speaking out against the Democrats' very reckless $3.5 trillion--that is with a ``t''--tax-and-spending spree that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are rushing through Congress. They are going to make history if they get this passed. This will be the largest spending bill in our Nation's history. Let me say that again. This will be the largest spending bill in our Nation's history.

Through this bill, Congressional Democrats are trying to reshape the very foundation of our great Nation. They are trying to pass their far- left policies and push the United States of America down the path of socialism. I don't say that lightly. I don't like to use a lot of hyperbole, but that is what is going on.

This reckless tax-and-spending spree bill is packed full of tax increases and new spending programs that will kill hundreds of thousands of jobs; it will reduce economic growth; and it is throwing more fuel on the inflation fire that we see burning right now across this economy. In fact, according to the Tax Foundation, it would reduce take-home pay for low- and middle-income Americans.

It will expand and insert the Federal Government into every aspect of Montanans' and Americans' lives, and it is going to bankrupt our country. You know, I am not actually sure the congressional Democrats understand the impacts of their efforts and what a burden this tax and spending will put on Montana families, Montana small businesses, Montana farmers and ranchers, and the future generations of Montanans.

In fact, a few weeks ago, I heard one House Democrat actually say:

We can't go bankrupt because we have the power to create as much money as we need to spend.

These are the actual words of a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives who will soon be voting on this legislation.

It is baffling. Montanans and the American people know that money doesn't grow on trees, and I would hope the congressional Democrats know that as well.

Frankly, this mindset is terrifying as I think about the future of our country. The Democrats' reckless spending bill comes at a time when Montanans are already facing skyrocketing prices on everything from gas to groceries. Montanans are feeling the pain in their pocketbooks every day because of these record-high inflation numbers. That is a direct result of the Democrats' and President Biden's tax-and-spending problem. You see, the Democrats already flooded the economy with nearly $2 trillion in new spending earlier this year on a purely partisan basis, and now we see inflation at a 13-year high.

Think about it. Even if we experience no--in other words, zero additional rise in inflation for the rest of the year, Montanans would still be hit with an almost 5-percent increase in costs for the year.

It is interesting. A few months ago, we heard the words: Well, this is all transitory. It is all transitory. This is going to go away in a few months. Many of us were skeptical and didn't believe it. You are not hearing the word ``transitory'' anymore coming from the Democrats because if we take a look at the position the Federal Reserve has been talking about, they are telling us inflation is here to stay at north of 5 percent, certainly, this year and at numbers certainly greater than that ``2 percent threshold'' that was talked about--probably in the 4 percent to 5 percent in the outyears.

If you spend any time at all speaking to leaders in this country, where they are every day looking at the supply chain price of goods, they are telling you there are inflationary pressures in every part of this economy. The absolute last thing we should be doing is spending trillions more taxpayer dollars on top of that $2 trillion partisan spending package the Democrats embarked on just this past March.

We know that doing so will send inflation much, much higher. You see, inflation is a tax on all Montanans, on all Americans because as prices go up, paychecks shrink. And Democrats have many more tax hikes planned as they look to pay for this spending spree by asking Montana families, Montana small businesses, our farmers and ranchers to foot the bill.

Now, I have heard my Democratic colleagues suggest this bill must be ``paid for.'' But what does ``paid for'' mean? What does that mean? It is very simple. It means that Democrats' reckless taxing and spending spree will be paid for by massive tax increases.

Let's go over a few of these tax hikes that Montanans will face if Democrats continue down this reckless path. For starters, this bill is absolutely an assault on small businesses. By the way, small businesses create most of the jobs in this economy. It would gut the 20-percent small business tax deduction, placing small businesses at a disadvantage. This deduction benefited more than 21 million small businesses in 2019, and it generated $66 billion in tax savings that these businesses could then reinvest and grow their business, create more jobs, pay their employees more.

These savings help small businesses expand, allows them to compete in this global market, to offer raises as well as bonuses. Removing this tax benefit would make it harder--make it harder--for them to expand and succeed against larger competitors.

The Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending spree bill would also increase the top income tax rate to nearly 40 percent and drastically lower the income thresholds for the top tax bracket.

Some ask: What is fair? What is fair share? Paying 40 percent of your income to the Federal Government is where the Democrats want to take the top rate. Since most small businesses are structured in what is known as a passthrough, meaning business profits are taxed as income, this tax hike would devastate our small business owners. In fact, these two provisions alone would hurt Montana's small businesses drastically.

Over 99 percent--listen to this again. Over 99 percent of Montana businesses are small businesses. We can't let this happen. This would destroy livelihoods, harm local communities and local economies. In fact, the combined tax rate for passthrough businesses would rise above 50 percent in 40 out of 50 States, including the State of Montana.

This reckless spending bill will also supercharge marriage penalties in the Tax Code. You heard that right. You see, buried in the Democrats' massive tax-and-spending spree is also an attack on marriage. Married couples could be facing higher taxes simply because they are married.

Democrats have also proposed the elimination of what is known as stepped-up basis. This is a backdoor death tax that will hit Montana family farms and ranchers particularly hard. You see, in Montana, agriculture is our way of life. Our farmers and our ranchers work hard to put food on the table for their families, for our great State, for the country, and the entire world. The last thing that Montana farmers and ranchers need are more taxes, and that is what the Democrats are trying to do.

In fact, Senator Thune and I led a letter to President Biden, which was signed by every Member of the Republican conference, urging the President to reconsider this proposal. As of now, this is not currently in the House Democrats' bill. But, unfortunately, the President and many of my colleagues here in this Chamber, on the other side of the aisle, continue to insist that this be included in their bill.

This reckless proposal will also damage our international competitiveness. This is about a global economy. This is about winning the global race because they want to raise the corporate tax rate to 26.5 percent. If you combine that with State corporate tax rates, the average corporate tax burden would rise to about 31 percent. And there is a startling piece of information here. You take 31 percent and guess what. That rate would be higher than communist China. In fact, it would be one of the highest corporate tax rates in the entire world.

The Democrats don't understand why jobs leave our shores. I will tell you one reason why is because of tax policy. When you raise the rates higher than communist China, it is going to have a direct effect on jobs here in the United States.

Do you know who is cheering about this tax increase in this provision? I will tell you who is cheering about it. China is. They know the Democrats' tax increase will force American businesses to send American jobs overseas. That is the last thing we need because we need to be supporting American businesses, supporting the American worker, the American family, the American farmer, the American rancher and the hard work they do every day.

Sadly, the Democrats' reckless tax-and-spending spree does exactly the opposite. Sadly, it will put China and our global competitors first.

For all these reasons and many more, I am very concerned about what will happen if this dangerous proposal becomes law. I intend to fight vigorously, along with many of my colleagues here, against it every step of the way.

I yield back my time.

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