The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Inflation Reduction Act (Executive Calendar)” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S3842-S3843 on Aug. 2.
The Department is primarily focused on food nutrition, with assistance programs making up 80 percent of its budget. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department implements too many regulations and restrictions and impedes the economy.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Inflation Reduction Act
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, Democrats dropped the latest version of their tax-and-spending spree last week. And like every previous version, this bill is a bad deal for the American people.
So where should I start? Well, maybe with the bill's title. In true Orwellian style, Democrats are calling the bill the Inflation Reduction Act, even though the bill would do nothing to reduce inflation. And you don't have to take my word for it.
The nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model analyzed the bill and found that the bill would not reduce inflation. In fact, the analysis found that the Democrats' bill would contribute to inflation through 2024 and have no material impact on inflation in the long term.
Inflation has hit working Americans hard. Their grocery bills have ballooned. Rents have skyrocketed. Filling up their cars costs 75 percent more per gallon than it did when the President took office. Their utility bills have increased. And the list goes on.
Families are having to cut back on purchases and dig into their savings or pull out their credit cards--or in some cases, visit a food bank--to make ends meet.
And what does Democrats' tax-and-spending spree do to help? Nothing. Americans are dealing with the worst inflation in more than 40 years, and Democrats' bill does nothing to help end our current crisis.
So what does the bill do? Well, for one thing, it raises taxes. That is right. Our economy has shrunk for each of the past two quarters--in fact, by any common definition we are now in a recession--and the Democrats' bill raises taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Here is what the Democratic leader previously had to say about raising taxes in a recession.
If we're in a recession and we're in a difficult economic time, I don't think Sen. Obama or anyone else is going to raise any taxes. You don't want to take money out of the economy when the economy is shrinking.
That is something the Democratic leader has previously said.
President Obama himself expressed a similar sentiment when he said:
[T]he last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession.
``The last thing.'' Apparently, that doesn't apply when Democrats have Green New Deal projects they want to pay for.
The Democrats' bill attempts to offset the cost of the Green New Deal spending spree by raising taxes on American businesses, particularly--
particularly--manufacturers. The proposed book minimum tax would be a
$313 billion tax hike, with roughly half of that increase falling on American manufacturers.
I don't think I need to tell anyone the likely outcome of raising taxes on businesses, particularly when the economy is contracting. The likely outcome is less growth, lower wages, and fewer jobs.
According to an analysis from the National Association of Manufacturers, in 2023 alone, the bill would reduce real gross domestic product by more than $68 billion and result in 218,108 fewer workers in the overall economy--218,000 fewer workers in 2023 alone. That is according to the National Association of Manufacturers if the Democrats' bill passes.
The Democrats' bill also raises taxes on the energy sector--
specifically, on domestic oil and gas production. It is another face-
palm move from Democrats.
Currently, gas prices are 75 percent higher than they were when President Biden took office. Electricity prices are up. The cost of utility gas service is way up. And yet Democrats think it is a good idea to raise taxes on domestic oil and gas production. Apparently, Democrats want our current high energy prices to stick around for the long term.
So what are Democrats going to use all that tax-hike money for? Well, for one thing, they are going to use it to fund Green New Deal projects; critical priorities like monitoring gaps in tree canopy coverage and road equity and funding--funding--for the post office's purchase of electric delivery vehicles.
And then there are the multiple slush funds for Green New Deal projects and the tax credit for the purchase of a new electric car or truck. Of course, you will only be able to use the credit if you can afford to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $60,000, which is the average price for a new electric vehicle, while we are in the middle of a recession.
So it would almost undoubtedly be mostly Americans with higher salaries--and according to the bill, up to $300,000 per household--who would be able to make use of this credit. So it is a tax credit to buy electric vehicles for rich people.
But I guess Democrats think electric vehicle tax credits for wealthier Americans are a good use of taxpayer dollars.
What else is in here? I mentioned the bill's tax hikes, but the Democrats' bill also attempts to raise revenue by increasing IRS audits and enforcement. That is right. The Democrats' bill would more than double the current number of IRS employees, making the Agency nearly three times larger than the U.S. Customs and Border Protection--the Agency, I might add, that is charged with security at all of our Nation's borders--and more than 50 percent larger--this is the IRS on the Democrats' plan--more than 50 percent larger than the entire U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Democrats give the IRS a whopping $80 billion in additional funding over the next 10 years. Of that $80 billion, 57 percent goes to enforcement; 4 percent goes to taxpayer services. That is right: 4 percent. This is an Agency that only succeeded in answering about 1 out of every 50 phone calls during the 2021 tax season, and yet 4 percent of the $80 billion is going to taxpayer services. Fifty-seven percent goes to enforcement so that the IRS can spend more time harassing taxpayers around this country. Democrats are focused not on improving the IRS's responsiveness to taxpayers, but on boosting the number of IRS audits.
I still haven't mentioned the bill's socialist-style price controls for prescription drugs--price controls that would result in fewer new drugs and treatments. A study from last November found that Democrats' price control plans would result in 135 fewer new drugs through 2039. That is a lot of potentially life-changing and lifesaving treatments to lose.
Then, of course, there is Democrats' plan to expand Obamacare subsidies to higher earning Americans, a move which would drive up the cost of health insurance.
I could go on.
Most Americans remember the lead-up to Democrats' American Rescue Plan spending spree last March. We were promised--they were promised--
at the time that passing that bill would have big benefits for our economy and for American families. Well, we know what actually happened. Democrats' reckless spending spree helped trigger the worst inflation for decades, and American families have suffered as a result.
Now we are being asked to swallow a similar story about the Democrats' latest spending legislation. This bill will help our economy, we are told, even though we know it would make life harder for American businesses and workers at a time when the economy is already contracting. Make no mistake about that. This is the second consecutive quarter where we have had negative economic growth, negative GDP growth, in our economy.
It will help inflation, Democrats claim, even though a nonpartisan analysis said it would do nothing--nothing to help alleviate our current crisis.
It will reduce our deficit, Democrats say, relying on some very shady accounting measures to reach their supposed deficit reduction number.
It will help lower energy prices, the President claims, even though new energy taxes would further inflate near-term energy bills during a season of already historic prices.
You would think Democrats might have been chastened by their disastrous American Rescue Plan spending spree, but you would be wrong. Apparently, Democrats are determined to get in another disastrous spending bill. And, once again, it will be the American people that will be left to suffer the consequences.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
