Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I am pleased to join my colleagues in talking about the tax-and-spend bill that is being put forward by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

I rise today to discuss the harmful economic consequences that this tax-and-spend bill will have on American families.

Americans are facing soaring inflation that we haven't seen in generations. In June, the Consumer Price Index was up 9.1 percent from a year earlier. The price increases families are seeing at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and for basic housing needs have far outpaced wage gains and left Americans struggling to make ends meet.

The news last week that our GDP shrank for a second consecutive quarter is only further evidence of this administration's failed economic policies.

Now, my colleagues across the aisle are doubling down on their failed approach, proposing to increase taxes on nearly every single hard- working American by $750 billion and spending nearly $370 billion on a Green New Deal policy.

And, again, don't just take my word for it. Analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation shows this bill will increase taxes on millions of Americans across every income bracket, with more than half of the tax increase impacting Americans making less than $400,000 a year.

Next year alone, the bill will increase taxes by $16.7 billion on American taxpayers earning less than $200,000--a clear violation of President Biden's promise to not increase taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 a year.

Further, the Joint Tax analysis also shows that the corporate tax increases in this bill would overwhelmingly hurt U.S. manufacturers-- U.S. manufacturers--with nearly 50 percent of the corporate tax increase hitting the manufacturing industry.

Manufacturers are already struggling with inflation, supply chain disruptions, and an impending recession. This tax increase would undermine U.S. manufacturing investment in critical research and development and in emerging technologies. And it will also result in higher costs for American families.

Think about that young couple starting out. They have to buy a refrigerator, a couch, furniture--all of these different things. They are going to pay higher prices. I mean, that tax is going to impact them on the manufactured goods they need, regardless of their income or their ability to pay. That is increasing inflation in this country. And inflation is the cruelest tax because it hits low-income people the hardest.

Not only that, the bill, as I say, will actually increase inflation. Analysis by economists at Penn Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, the Federal Reserve, Moody's Analytics, and the CBO all show that it will not reduce inflation.

When you look at things like the tax on, not just manufacturing but other companies that produce oil and gas, here we are fighting with the highest prices we have seen at the pump in years that people pay every time they pull up to fill up their car. And now with increased taxes, that is going to exacerbate the cost of fuel at the pump. It is going to impact the price of groceries at the grocery store at a time when we are not only fighting inflation but we are fighting economic stagnation--stagflation, something we haven't had in this country since the late seventies and the early eighties.

Economists at the nonprofit Tax Foundation projected this bill will reduce long-term economic output, reduce average wages, and eliminate 30,000 full-time jobs. Let me repeat that. Economists at the nonprofit Tax Foundation have projected that this legislation will reduce long- run economic output, reduce average wages, and eliminate 30,000 full- time jobs in this country.

Rather than tightening our fiscal belt and reducing spending, Democrats are continuing down the same old path that has led to record- high inflation and our economy on the verge of recession.

Increasing taxes and more Federal spending will not reduce inflation. It will not create jobs. It will not lower gas prices, which are still about 60 percent higher than they were just a year ago.

Instead, we should be empowering our domestic energy producers, restoring our energy independence, reducing our reliance on foreign oil imports, and creating more jobs here at home--not eliminating 30,000 jobs, creating more jobs. Less spending, less taxation, less regulation gets this economy growing. This bill does just the opposite.

Democrats are proposing new energy taxes and Green New Deal-style subsidies that will only worsen our current energy crisis and weaken our Nation's economic and our energy security. And energy security is national security.

As part of the $370 billion in spending on Green New Deal subsidies, this bill includes: $51 billion to extend and modify the production tax credit to subsidize the already profitable wind, solar, and geothermal industries; $27 billion to establish a greenhouse gas reduction fund to deploy low-carbon technologies in disadvantaged communities; $3 billion for a neighborhood equity, safety, and affordable transportation program; $3 billion for environmental and climate justice block grants.

Further, the bill includes new taxes on natural gas and increased fees and royalty rates for oil and gas produced on Federal lands, which will only result in higher costs for American families at the pump, at the gas station, or their utility bills, and higher prices for goods across the board because all of those goods have to be transported to the grocery store. And now you are going to pay higher transportation costs, and that is going to be reflected in the food prices. So you don't just see it at the pump at the gas station when you are filling your car, you see it at the grocery store.

And with this tax on manufacturers, you are going to see it on all the manufactured goods as well. Low-income people are going to be paying those higher prices, more inflation. That means the tax gets them.

Gas prices are already $2.25 higher a gallon than when President Biden took office. Diesel prices are even higher--nearly $2.81 per gallon more than in January of 2021.

In short, look, we need to unleash our domestic energy production, not ask for help from OPEC or Venezuela. We need to unleash our oil and gas resources in States like my home State or the Presiding Officer's home State. We can produce a lot more oil and gas in this country, and we have the best environmental standards.

That is how you bring the price down at the pump: more supply, not higher taxes; more supply, not taxes that will drive prices up and reduce supply when we still have increased demand. That is why we have the inflation in the first place.

The Biden administration policies are creating the inflation and now the stagflation, and this legislation will make it worse. It is going down the same path.

We need to unleash our domestic energy production. We need to get our debt and deficit under control. We need to work on behalf of farmers, ranchers, the ag supply chain to continue to produce the highest quality and the lowest cost food supply in the world. We need to unleash our energy resources.

Those are the things that will increase supply, reduce inflation, and get our economy going so we don't have a recession or stagnation. Those are the things that benefit all American consumers, all American workers, regardless of their income level. This bill does none of those things. This bill makes the problem worse, and it should be rejected.

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