By VICTORIA SPARTZ
5th District Representative
While families around Indiana are forced to fork over more of their paycheck to buy gas and groceries, Washington has no problem spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on socialist policies in their “Build Back Better” bill.
My perspective: Plain and simple, the spending that House Democrats approved in November will benefit the rich and D.C.’s big government machine, while hurting seniors, employers, workers, small businesses, and young people. I grew up in the Soviet Union and know socialism and totalitarianism when I see it, which is why I emphatically voted NO on this bad bill.
Recently, the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that this bill would cost taxpayers $5 TRILLION and add $3 TRILLION to our $29 TRILLION debt.
Here are some examples:
- Overbearing fines on employers: While Biden’s vaccine mandate on businesses was tied up in the court system, that didn’t stop Speaker Pelosi from pushing through the fine increases. This legislation authorizes OSHA to fine businesses up to $700,000 per violation and gives the Administration $707 million to enforce the policies. While the legislation passed the House on a party-line vote, I went a step further by introducing legislation to nullify the federal vaccine mandate.
- Padding the IRS: The Democrats also set aside $80 BILLION for the IRS to enforce tax collections and add a new reporting requirement for transactions over $600. The IRS doesn’t need to be snooping around in the pocketbooks of American families. So many are simply trying to get by with a paycheck that’s dwindling in power thanks to increased inflation from Democratic policies.
- Handouts to millionaires and billionaires: Buried deep in the bill is a tax cut for the rich, better known as SALT. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the five-year provision would cost roughly $285 BILLION and overwhelmingly benefit very high earners.
So, what happens now? The House bill is sitting in Chuck Schumer’s Senate where it faces a very uncertain future after Senator Joe Manchin announced he could no longer even consider voting for this “mammoth” bill. No matter how the Democrats try to spin it though, this is a bad bill.
‘No’ on debt limit
If the $1.7 TRILLION social spending plan wasn’t enough, Democrats also pushed through a vote to raise the debt ceiling by roughly $2.5 TRILLION into 2023.
I voted NO on this measure because our federal spending is completely out of control.
Furthermore, taking out a second credit card simply is not the solution. We must get spending under control, reform welfare to empower – not suppress – low-income individuals, and balance the budget. The debt can be tackled not by raising taxes on U.S. citizens, but by taking a critical look at the unnecessary spending of the federal government.