WASHINGTON, DC – Tonight, Congressman Dave Joyce (OH-14) released the following statement on the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3684, which he voted against:

“Speaker Pelosi chose to tie this bill to her party’s $1.85 trillion tax-and-spend spree after it was negotiated in good faith. As the past several months of crazed deliberations have shown, she did so over the objection of both Republicans and many of her fellow Democrats.

“I cannot support a bill that paves the way for nearly two trillion dollars in deficit spending on social programs and one of the largest tax increases in American history. This 2,145-page legislation is estimated to result in over $4 trillion in spending over the next decade at a time when we are on track to have the highest level of inflation in nearly 40 years.

“We can meet our nation’s infrastructure needs without burdening families or small businesses with inflationary spending and unprecedented taxation. Americans are tired of the legislative hostage-taking that’s been coming out of Congress recently. We must find a way to get back to the business of constructive and effective governing.”

The $1.85 trillion reconciliation bill equates to the federal government spending $1,000 per second, or $86.4 million per day, for more than 58 years straight. Overall, it would:

• impose a $1.2 trillion tax increase on American families and job creators, including $400 million in new taxes on small businesses;
• perpetuate labor shortages by eliminating work requirements to receive welfare benefits for able bodied adults – at a time when there are over 10.4 million job openings;
• provide federal funding for abortions by ignoring bipartisan Hyde Amendment protections;
• provide nearly $80 billion to the IRS, which could allow the agency to hire 87,000 new agents and double in size; and
• impede and ban domestic energy and mineral production, increasing our dependencies on resources supplied by Russia and China.

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