Washington, D.C.–U.S.
Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee,
today voted against the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reckless tax and spending
spree, a filibuster-proof budget proposal that will do long-term damage to our
economy. The proposal inched forward in
the Senate by a party-line vote of 50-49.
“Just days ago, we passed a bipartisan bill that makes
investments in hard infrastructure, focused on the type of long-term
productivity that counteracts inflationary spending,” said Crapo. “The budget
resolution Democrats passed today is a blueprint to recklessly tax and spend
our country into fiscal ruin. Unlike the
infrastructure bill, this social spending proposal is far from bipartisan, far
from traditional infrastructure and far from non-inflationary spending. Remarkably, possessing the tools needed to
raise the debt limit to match their runaway spending spree, Democrats punted on
responsibility to set up political fights instead.
“The Democrats’ budget blueprint couples an estimated $3.5
trillion in runaway spending with job-and-growth-killing tax hikes. It includes provisions that will cause
immediate and long-term damage to our economy, fuel inflation, and send abroad many
of our most successful businesses and the jobs they provide abroad. The measure increases taxes on businesses small
and large; on farmers and ranchers; on retirees; and certainly on those making
less than $400,000 per year. And, it
turns your checking account over to the IRS.
“Before the pandemic, we were experiencing one of the
strongest economies in a lifetime. We
would do the American people a disservice if we mortgaged their future while
undermining the foundations of their past success. As Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee,
I will be fighting to build on time-proven, pro-growth policies, and against
reversing them to fund a reckless spending spree.”
As Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator
Crapo spoke on the Senate Floor against the Democrats’ reckless
tax-and-spending spree, outlining concerns with proposals to increase taxes on
Americans across all incomes. Read those
remarks here.
Senate Republicans filed hundreds of amendments to blunt the
worst provisions in the legislation. As
the lead Republican of the Senate Finance Committee, Crapo offered several
commonsense amendments to the Democrats’ social spending spree, none of which
were adopted. Crapo’s amendments
included:
Protecting Americans’
Private Financial Information: The Democrats’ bill provides increased
funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as a new financial institution reporting requirement that essentially turns banks
into agents of the IRS. This
time-draining burden disregards banking privacy in order to squeeze more
resources out of responsible Americans and entrepreneurs. Crapo’s amendment would have prevented the
monitoring and reporting of sensitive American taxpayer information to the IRS
by financial institutions. Democrats,
hungry for revenue, chose expanding government’s reach into your finances over
taxpayers’ privacy rights.
Allowing States to
Implement Their Own Fiscal Policies: The federal government should not be dictating fiscal policies of tribal, state, or local governments if those governments
believe tax relief would be useful for their economies. This amendment would have preserved rights of
tribal, state, and local governments to exercise their own fiscal policies.
Putting Personnel
above Politics: The Biden Administration recently chose politics over people and removed the Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner
based on political differences. Policy
differences or differences in opinion do not rise to the level of “neglect of
duty or malfeasance in office,” and therefore SSA Commissioners should be
entitled to serve out their term. This
amendment would have reinforced the rule of law and limited use of
administrative funding for Social Security if the Social Security Act is not
followed with respect to the position of Commissioner of the Social Security
Administration.
Ensuring the
Continued Success of Medicare Advantage: Democrats are pushing to expand
the benefits provided under traditional Medicare coverage, a move that would
harm the program’s already fragile finances.
Instead, they should look for strategies to improve health insurance
coverage, modeled on the successes of programs like the cost-effective,
high-performing Medicare Advantage Program.
This amendment would have affirmed the value Medicare Advantage plans
provide to beneficiaries, and commits to strengthening the program in the
future.
Preserving the
Integrity of the Budget: President Biden and Democrats have used changes in
mandatory programs to spend more money without finding other revenue. This amendment would have banned these
changes, preserving the integrity of financial programs and forcing leadership
to account for every dollar spent.
Advocating for Rural
Interests: Advocated for the Secure Rural Schools and Payment in Lieu of
Taxes programs–two programs compensating rural counties with a large
proportion of federal, tax-exempt land.