“Make no mistake: The debt ceiling is not merely about past spending. It’s about making room for new wasteful spending,” said Republican Leader on the Ways and Means Committee Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) during floor debate on the Democrats’ partisan push to raise the debt ceiling to pay for their $5 trillion tax-and-spend bill.
CLICK HERE to watch Rep. Brady’s opening remarks.
CLICK HERE to watch Rep. Brady’s closing remarks.
READ: CBO: Permanent Dem Tax & Spend Bill Costs About $5 TRILLION, Adds $3 Trillion to Deficit
WATCH: Americans Lose Three Years of Real Wage Growth to Bidenflation
READ: Brady: Biden Delivers Another Paycut for Workers, Families
Rep. Brady’s full opening remarks appear below.
Madam Speaker,
In 2018, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Whip Clyburn and 116 other House Democrats voted to default on the debt, shut down the government and refuse disaster relief to devastated communities across America like mine.
One even said, “Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. The responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders.”
Well, right now, the Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House. The responsibility rests squarely on their shoulders. And make no mistake, Democrats have known this day was coming for two years and did absolutely nothing.
They passed no budget.
They passed no appropriations bills.
And they didn’t spend a moment in bipartisan outreach to address the debt ceiling.
I agree Congress should not play political games with the debt ceiling. But neither should it ignore the future financial crisis at risk of accelerating if President Biden and congressional Democrats pass their nearly $5 trillion Socialist Welfare Plan.
Despite a desperate bid to shift blame for this debt ceiling crisis Democrats themselves created, increasing America’s national debt is necessary to make room in the so-called Build Back Better bill for trillions of wasteful spending and special interest handouts for the wealthy and big business.
Make no mistake: The debt ceiling is not merely about past spending. It’s about making room for new wasteful spending.
Trillions that will pour more fuel on the inflation fire that marks Joe Biden’s presidency – the highest rate in decades that’s robbed families of their real wage gains from the past three years.
Although the President and Democrats in Congress continue to deny that inflation is real, this is now a crisis for families and especially seniors on fixed incomes.
Their claims that this “costs zero” have been debunked by the independent Congressional Budget Office and multiple organizations – and fact-checked as “false and misleading” by the Washington Post.
And Democrats’ insistence that future permanence will be “paid for” begs the question they refuse to answer: How?
Everyone knows there’s only two ways to raise trillions of dollars more: tax middle class families or rob from entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
The truth is that Democrats need this debt ceiling to fund special interests, give tax subsidies for luxury electric vehicles, and tax windfalls to millionaires – while the middle class get nothing…or even a tax hike.
They need this debt ceiling to give tax breaks to trial lawyers, local media corporations, and pay 1.5 million workers more to stay home than go back to work.
Democrats need a quarter of a trillion dollars to lift the SALT cap so that two out of three millionaires will get a huge tax break.
Meanwhile for working families, inflation grows worse, Main Street businesses continue to struggle hard to find workers, and many parents will pay over $1,000 a month more for child care, under Build Back Better.
These are President Biden’s priorities, congressional Democrats—these are their priorities. The question, America, is: Are these your priorities?
The answer is no, which is why many Americans overwhelmingly question the competence of President Biden and Democrats to lead this country.
I urge a strong no vote on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.