[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 126 (Monday, July 19, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4940-S4941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, I am starting to feel a little bit 
like a broken record. I am here on the floor again to echo the concerns 
of my constituents and so many folks across our great country. People 
across the country are cautiously checking their bank accounts, and 
they are looking at the price of milk, bread, and things that they have 
to buy every day. They are driving out of their way to see which gas 
stations even have gas, and when they do find that, they are looking 
for the lowest price.
  Just as we are starting to come out of the pandemic, prices are 
starting to rise, and our dollar isn't going as far. Why? Because the 
Democrats want to spend their way out of a pandemic, and it really 
makes no sense. They are throwing trillions around like it is Monopoly 
money. It is not targeted to those who need it the most. It is on 
policy items that only appease their base--the far left--not even a 
majority of their party. They are flooding the zone with borrowed money 
like a credit card with no limit. They did it with their stimulus 
package earlier in the year, and it was disguised as a COVID relief 
package. Now they are getting ready to try the same thing again.
  Last week, Leader Schumer announced that the Democrats had reached an 
agreement on a budget reconciliation resolution, which is like the 
pregame warm-up to the next reconciliation package. The pricetag for 
that agreement has been set at $3.5 trillion. Let me take a minute to 
highlight what I think is wrong with the bill.
  First of all, I am not sure how anyone can call this an agreement. 
One Democratic Senator, who doesn't appear to have been consulted on 
the so-called agreement in the first place, said the package needs to 
be fully paid for. Let me translate that to you. That means we need tax 
increases. Last week, we talked about the 30 new tax increases that 
will probably be in this bill. On the other hand, we have Democratic 
Senators saying it is OK if this package adds to the deficit--$3.5 
trillion added to the $30 trillion that we are already in debt. We 
already know at least one Senator wants the top-line number to be as 
much as $6 trillion while others are calling for $2 to $3 trillion, 
which, by the way, is still too much spending.
  It doesn't seem like everyone has fully committed to this so-called 
agreement. It appears the Democrats are in disarray when it comes to 
agreeing to this. Announcing there is an agreement when they still have 
Members of their own party arguing over the final top-line number and 
how it will be paid for is a pretty interesting strategy. The only 
thing I can guess is that the strategy is really to pull the wool over 
all of our eyes. Trying to sell the agreement of a top-line number as a 
win is like saying that you have won the game after the first snap.
  Folks, you have to play the game. You can't go by the first quarter's 
results. You have to play the entire game.
  Second, I can't understand why some of my colleagues across the aisle 
are still trying to sell this tax and spending bill as human and soft 
infrastructure. Most people have never heard of that. I haven't been up 
here long, but I know enough to know there is really no such thing as 
human and soft infrastructure. For some reason, we keep adding 
definitions to Webster's Dictionary. It appears that our Democratic 
colleagues have, once again, duped a few members of the media, as they 
can't stop parroting this ``human infrastructure'' phrase.
  Let's just call the package what it is: a spending plan on 
progressive social justice policies that will be paid for by the 
American taxpayers by 30 tax increases. It has nothing to do with 
infrastructure, even if they could define what infrastructure of the 
human and soft variety is. I know reckless tax and spending spree is 
not as catchy as soft infrastructure, but at least it is accurate.
  Lastly--and this is the most important part--there are costs 
associated with the level of spending that the Democrats are laying 
out, real costs that hurt American families. Whether it is fully paid 
for by tax increases or whether it adds to the deficit, it all boils 
down to the same thing: the cost to American families across our 
country, the small business owner, the operator, the manufacturing 
worker, the farmer, the moms and dads. Hard-working Americans across 
the country will be impacted at the absolute worst time, when they are 
trying to recover from a pandemic.
  Take the cost of tax increases on small businesses, for example. 
According to the Job Creators Network, 1 million--that is 1 million--
small businesses will feel the financial strain of tax increases 
through this bill--1 million. Many of these small businesses are still 
struggling after having been shuttered in place for a year and having 
battled against government-induced workforce shortages. With only 8 
percent of small businesses on a solid economic footing after this past 
year--only 8 percent of our small businesses are really, actually, 
getting back on their feet--we should be working to help every small 
business see the light at the end of the tunnel, not increasing the 
heavy hand of government and keeping them in the dark. It makes no 
sense.

  Then there is the ``let's just keep spending and add to the deficit 
approach.'' The cost of spending so much and adding to the deficit 
means more inflation. More inflation means your dollar doesn't go near 
as far as it has in the past.
  In the June jobs report, we saw inflation up 4.5 percent, and the 
consumer price index increased by 5.4 percent, the biggest monthly jump 
in over a decade.
  The rising cost of inflation means that Americans are making tough 
choices on what is most important to them, like filling up your car 
with gas or buying food for your family. There is no reason why we 
should have to be making these choices.
  In a nation as great as ours, hard-working Americans shouldn't have 
to choose. American families are caught in the middle of rising prices 
and the Democrats' never-ending need to appease the far left.
  And then there is the Democrats' view of America, one where Big 
Government reigns supreme. Well, let me tell you, the Big Government 
approach does not work, and it never has.
  Alabamians want Big Government to get out of the way because they 
know that Big Government programs only tie their hands and stifle 
innovation and growth.
  We need to give folks an opportunity, not a handout, and right now, 
Democrats are on the wrong track with that. A government-subsidized 
economic recovery is not an economic recovery. It is an entitlement 
state. We need to get back to work.
  Prosperity is not purchased through the expansion of Big Government. 
How many times have we heard that? The expansion of Big Government 
safety net programs does not make people prosperous. Prosperity is 
found within the ideas of the American people. It always has been, and 
it always will.
  Democrats are signaling that they are OK with the cost of American 
families if it means that they can pay for a whole grab bag of far-left 
policies, like the expansion of Medicare, free college, and amnesty for 
illegal immigrants.
  If all this wasn't bad enough, here is the worst of it: Our 
Democratic colleagues have taken their priorities that are too radical 
to pass the Senate and creating an if-then scenario with true 
infrastructure negotiations.
  Forced by far-left voices in their party, Senator Schumer and Speaker 
Pelosi have decided a massive spending bill that has nothing to do with 
the pandemic or infrastructure should hold actual infrastructure 
legislation hostage. In their world, if we pass a partisan spending 
bill, then we can pass infrastructure.

[[Page S4941]]

  Well, that doesn't sit right with a lot of folks. By linking a 
bipartisan proposal to a partisan reconciliation package, our Democrat 
colleagues are showing their cards. The cards show that they really 
want this reckless tax-and-spend spree to pass, and they are 
fundamentally unserious about a true infrastructure package that would 
make needed improvements to roads, bridges, and broadband possible, and 
that is a shame. By tying budget reconciliation to infrastructure, the 
American people are the ones who will be left out to dry.
  I have always said that I would be in favor of infrastructure. We all 
would be--a great infrastructure deal, where every penny of every 
dollar goes toward roads, bridges, broadband, and waterways.
  But the American taxpayers know they have to pay for it. They know 
eventually they will have to pay for it, but they need something that 
they are putting their money into that they can get something back. But 
we cannot let a partisan tax-and-spend spree bog us down and hold back 
the American taxpayers.
  This summer, so many Americans are traveling across the country. This 
includes most of us who travel across our States, me across Alabama. As 
I have been on the road, I am reminded once again that we need 
improvements to our infrastructure.
  It is more than just fixing potholes on a city street. We rely on 
infrastructure every day, during our drive to work, trucks moving our 
goods up and down the highways, when a ship leaves a port with cargo, 
or when we just get on the internet. All those are infrastructure.
  Good infrastructure allows people to move freely, keeps our products 
flowing, and maintains America's competitiveness in the global economy.
  In Alabama, we have got 100,000 miles of public roads, and we need 
them to be in good shape. Driving on poor roads costs Alabama drivers a 
total of $4.2 billion every year. Because of things like vehicle 
operating costs, traffic congestion, and car crashes, we can tell our 
roads need work.
  We have got 1,000 condemned bridges--1,000--just in the State of 
Alabama. Out of 16,000 bridges, we have 1,000 that have been condemned 
that need to be repaired in the worst way.
  In an increasingly online world, getting our rural areas access to 
reliable internet is more important than ever. Whether it is for work, 
healthcare, or going to school, we need broadband across our entire 
State. Investing in our infrastructure is investing in our future 
success. It is way past time to step up and act on this. The American 
people need help with infrastructure, and that is what we should be 
concentrating on.
  But despite that, our colleagues on the left still can't resist 
playing politics here. Before the actual bill text of the bipartisan 
infrastructure framework could be written and before the pay-fors were 
negotiated, Leader Schumer has called a vote on the framework.
  Now, I know it is pretty hard to get a majority of skeptical Senators 
to vote on anything, much less something that has not even been written 
yet. We don't even have the bill written, but we are going to vote on 
it.
  But these are serious times that call for serious actions. So we 
should be very careful considering this framework, not rushing toward 
arbitrary deadlines.
  As our country's economy is trying to recover from the pandemic, 
anything and everything we do has to be thoughtfully considered, 
especially when it comes to passing legislation that costs money in the 
long run. And this is going to cost a lot of money.
  Because this is the taxpayers' money, after all--your money--we owe 
it to the taxpayers to spend their money in the most efficient and 
effective way possible.
  Personally, I don't think it is ever a good time to raise taxes, but 
I can tell you the absolute worst time is when we are still coming out 
of an absolute global pandemic.
  There are commonsense ways to pay for some of this new infrastructure 
spending. Chief among them is redirecting all that unused COVID money 
that the Democrats insisted on spending earlier this year, and there is 
a lot of it left.
  Let me be clear. Raising taxes on the American people should be a 
nonstarter for any potential bill. It certainly is for a lot of people.
  Folks, simply put, a dollar spent on traditional infrastructure is a 
dollar well spent. But it has got to be done in a smart and targeted 
way, and we can't allow Democrats to hurt Americans by creating an if-
then scenario.
  Let's spend some time on the infrastructure bill and do it the right 
way. Then we can turn to debating all the spending that our colleagues 
on the left have their sights set on. But we have to do the 
infrastructure bill first.
  Hopefully, Congress can deliver the targeted results our country 
deserves, results that don't increase the tax burden on the American 
people.
  Throughout this debate, you can count on a lot of us to be a strong 
voice for making infrastructure work for three or four things: Alabama, 
our neighbors, our country's rural areas, and the American taxpayer.
  We can get this done. Let's just do it the right way.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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