Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Chief Danny Whiteley who will soon retire after proudly serving as Poplar Bluff's Police Chief for 22 years.

Chief Whiteley is the proud husband to Gale Whiteley of 53 years and father to Jason Whiteley and Erika Boucher. Chief Whiteley also has 3 wonderful grandchildren. He has served the community as Mayor Pro Tem and as a member of the Poplar Bluff City Council. Additionally, he has served on the Poplar Bluff School Board, the Public Water District Board, and the Poplar Bluff Municipal Airport Board. Chief Whiteley is currently serving as project director for the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and is on the Board of Directors for the Missouri Police Chiefs' Association. Prior to his career serving the community, he was a professional rodeo athlete and toured the country competing in many events, including bull riding and steer wrestling.

As the longest-serving police chief in Poplar Bluff history, it is obvious to the Poplar Bluff community that Chief Whiteley loved and took great pride in his job. He has never wavered in his commitment to serving and protecting the town in which he grew up and has always been there for the community during challenging times. He did not limit himself to only working with local law enforcement, but reached out to other law enforcement agencies at the state and federal level to share his

knowledge and offer his assistance to help make a positive difference in communities far beyond Poplar Bluff. Thanks to his innovative approach and strong leadership, he transformed the Poplar Bluff Police Department into a 21st century law enforcement agency, an achievement that will benefit the city for years to come.

Chief Whiteley is retiring after successfully moving the police department into their new facility. The residents of Poplar Bluff are sad to see Chief Whiteley go, but also hope he enjoys his well-deserved retirement. We thank him for over two decades of outstanding service and for selflessly protecting Missouri. I thank Chief Whiteley.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I will take a moment to recognize our colleague, Jackie Walorski. We come back to the Capitol with very heavy hearts. Just over a week ago, we lost Jackie and two of her staffers, Emma Thomson and Zachery Potts, while they were in their public service.

I was lucky enough to serve with Jackie on the Ways and Means Committee and worked with her numerous hours. I know that the Ways and Means Committee will miss her dearly. The people of this body will miss her dearly. I know that the people of Indiana will miss her very dearly.

Mr. Speaker, I will say that Jackie was one of the hardest working public servants that I have ever met, and when she gave you her word, it was written and carved in stone. For that, she will always be in our hearts.

Mr. Speaker, as we turn to the legislation before us today, this week, we found out inflation remains at a 40-year high, having risen 13.7 percent since Biden became President. Real wages have decreased by 4.5 percent.

Americans are suffering. Are we here debating how to alleviate that suffering? No. We are debating what Democrats call the Inflation Reduction Act, which everyone from the Congressional Budget Office to 230 different economists--even Senator Bernie Sanders--says will not actually reduce inflation.

When you strip away the fake sunset policies, this bill spends $745 billion and adds $146 billion to our debt. It adds $54 billion worth of debt just in the first 5 years, and 80 percent of their ``budget deficits'' don't even begin until after the year 2029.

So lots of spending up front, lots of debt up front, and then maybe savings 8 years from now. How is that going to put out the fire of inflation when the price of groceries is up 13.1 percent over the past year?

Senators Manchin and Schumer, Secretary Yellen, and former President Obama are all on record saying you don't raise taxes during a recession. But that is exactly what this bill does. It includes $599 billion in new taxes and budget gimmicks. Half of the tax burden falls on taxpayers making less than $400,000 a year.

The choice this bill puts in front of families making less than $200,000 is clear. Put the government at the center of your healthcare decisions or face a $10 billion tax burden. But it gets worse. This bill doubles the size of the IRS. It doubles the size of the IRS, so it can target and audit more middle-class families and snoop into their bank accounts. I am not sure how subjecting Americans to more audits solves the inflation crisis.

Mr. Speaker, in my home State of Missouri, this bill would quadruple the number of audits, 18,000 more audits on hardworking Americans who make less than $200,000 a year. Of course, that is not the only point of this bill. This is about Democrats' Green New Deal agenda.

My colleagues on the other side will come down here today not to talk

about inflation, not to talk about gas prices but to instead talk about the hundreds of billions of dollars that is being spent on radical environmental projects. And you know what, they will be exactly right.

Half of the spending--over $400 billion--goes to things like:

$3.4 billion for tree equity. Tree equity, that surely is going to bring down gas prices;

$7.5 billion for new luxury electric vehicles in tax credits for families who make up to $300,000 a year. That should definitely curtail inflation;

$27 billion for a national climate bank slush fund at the EPA. That should definitely help our supply chain crisis;

A $362 million handout to corporate America to make their office buildings much greener. That will definitely help secure our southern border.

Mr. Speaker, Democrats believe they can spend their way out of inflation and tax their way out of a recession. It will only make the suffering Americans face today that much worse.

This bill is simple. It is welfare for the wealthy environmentalists and big corporations, paid for by increased taxes and audits on middle- and low-income taxpayers. These hardworking Americans are the ones that have been forgotten under the one-party Democrat rule in Washington. The Washington and wealthy elites win again.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the great State of Iowa (Mrs. Hinson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record notice from the Congressional Budget Office that we received just this morning, as a matter of fact. Yes, the bill in front of us and the numbers it claims does include additional audits on individuals making less than $400,000 a year.

CBO has received a number of questions regarding our

estimate of an amendment offered by Senator Crapo during the

floor debate on H.R. 5376 last weekend. That amendment,

#5404, would limit the use of additional funds for the

Internal Revenue Service. If the amendment had been adopted

none of the additional funds could have been used to audit

taxpayers with taxable incomes below $400,000.

CBO did not complete a formal cost estimate in advance of

consideration of the amendment but the agency did provide the

following information to the Senate Budget Committee:

CBO estimates that the amendment 5404 would have the

following effects:

No effect on outlays in the one or ten year budget windows;

would reduce outlays in the five year budget window.

No effect on revenues in the one year budget window; would

reduce the ``non-scorable'' revenues resulting from the

provisions of section 10301 in the five and ten year budget

windows.

No effect on outlays after 2031 but would decrease the

``non-scorable'' revenue resulting from the provisions of

section 10301 after 2031.

CBO has not completed a point estimate of this amendment

but the preliminary assessment indicates that amendment 5404

would reduce the ``non-scorable'' revenues resulting from the

provisions of section 10301 by at least $20 billion over the

FY2022-FY2031 period.

Thanks,

Leigh Angres,

Director of Legislative Affairs

Congressional Budget Office.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which confirmed that this bill will raise the cost of new prescription drugs for all Americans.

U.S. Congress,

Congressional Budget Office,

Washington, DC, August 4, 2022.

Re Additional Information About Prescription Drug

Legislation.

Hon. Jason Smith,

Ranking Member, Committee on the Budget,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Congressman: This letter provides additional

information that you and your colleagues requested about

subtitle I of the reconciliation recommendations of the

Senate Committee on Finance regarding prescription drug

legislation. You asked about how provisions involving

inflation rebates and the negotiation of drug prices would

affect launch prices for new drugs and the introduction of

new generic drugs. You also asked how a provision to

stabilize premiums as a part of the redesign of Medicare's

benefits would affect the federal budget and premiums.

Effect of the Inflation-Rebate and Negotiation Provisions on Launch

Prices

The Congressional Budget Office projects that the

inflation-rebate and negotiation provisions would increase

the launch prices for drugs that are not yet on the market

relative to what such prices would be otherwise. That effect

would primarily be driven by the inflation-rebate provisions

(sections 129101 and 129102), which would begin to apply to

prices within 12 months of a given drug's entering the

market. Under those provisions, manufacturers would have an

incentive to launch new drugs at a higher price to offset

slower growth in prices over time. The negotiation provision

(section 129001) would have less of an impact on launch

prices, CBO expects: Although the ceiling for a drug's

negotiated price is based on its price from a prior year,

negotiation could not occur until drugs were on the market

for a number of years--at least 7 for small-molecule drugs

and 11 for biologics.

Higher launch prices would primarily affect spending for

drugs in the Medicaid program, CBO projects, because an

increase in that program's basic rebate brought about by the

higher launch prices would only partly offset those prices.

Higher launch prices would also tend to affect spending for

drugs covered by Part B of the Medicare program because that

program's payments for those drugs are based on the average

sales prices. Over time, slower price growth would attenuate

the effect of higher launch prices.

In the commercial and Medicare Part D segments of the

market, spending would be less affected by higher launch

prices, CBO estimates, because manufacturers would have more

flexibility to manage rebates to maximize their revenues in

those sectors.

Effect of the Negotiation Provision on the Introduction of New Generic

Drugs

CBO has not analyzed the effects of the negotiation

provision on the introduction of new generic drugs. In

projecting the effects of the negotiation provision, CBO

estimated the share of spending that would be subject to

negotiation each year and the average reduction in prices

that would stem from the negotiations. But the agency did not

analyze how the provision would affect prices or spending on

specific drugs, nor did it quantify any impact on the

introduction of new generic drugs.

Effects of the Premium-Stabilization Provision

Under the premium-stabilization provision (section 129201),

the federal government would subsidize any growth in

beneficiaries' base premiums for Medicare Part D exceeding 6

percent from one year to the next over the 2024-2029 period.

The provision subsequently would lower the base premium

percentage (the percentage of the average cost of standard

Part D coverage that is used to calculate beneficiaries'

premiums) to ensure that premiums did not grow by more than 6

percent between 2029 and 2030. That subsidy and subsequent

reduction in premiums would increase federal spending by

roughly $40 billion over the 2024-2031 period, CBO estimates.

Beneficiaries' spending on premiums would be lower under the

premium-stabilization provision than it would be without it.

That estimate is an average effect among the possible paths

of premiums that CBO considered when modeling the uncertainty

of future outcomes. Under some of those paths, premiums would

grow by less than 6 percent a year, and the provision would

have no cost; under others, premiums would grow faster, and

the provision would generate costs.

I hope this information is useful to you and your

colleagues. Please contact me if you have further questions.

Sincerely,

Phillip L. Swagel,

Director.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from Washington State, and I would just like to point out that by doubling the size of the IRS and adding 87,000 new IRS agents, that will result in more than 20,000 of her families in Washington State who make less than $20,000 a year that will be receiving audits.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record notice from over 230 economists that this bill before us today would only increase inflation.

[From FOX Business, Aug. 4, 2022]

Over 230 Economists Warn Manchin's Spending Bill Will Perpetuate

Inflation

(By Kelly Laco)

A letter sent to House and Senate leadership from 230

economists argues that the Inflation Reduction Act is

expected to contribute to skyrocketing inflation and will

burden the U.S. economy, contrary to President Biden and

Democrats' claims.

The economists wrote in the letter first obtained by Fox

News Digital that the U.S. economy is at a ``dangerous

crossroads'' and the ``inaptly named `Inflation Reduction Act

of 2022' would do nothing of the sort and instead would

perpetuate the same fiscal policy errors that have helped

precipitate the current troubling economic climate.''

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, announced last week he reached an

agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, on

the $739 billion reconciliation Package after more than a

year of negotiations among Democrats.

The economic experts point to the $433 billion in proposed

government spending, which they argue ``would create

immediate inflationary pressures by boosting demand, while

the supply-side tax hikes would constrain supply by

discouraging investment and draining the private sector of

much-needed resources.''

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced last week that he

reached an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck

Schumer, D-NY, on the $739 billion reconciliation package

after more that a year of negotiations among Democrats. (F.

Carter Smith/Bloomberg via/Getty Images)

They also write that of ``particular concern'' is the

corporate minimum tax that they say will undercut efforts to

restore functioning supply chains.

In addition, the bill's prescription drug provisions

``would impose price controls that

threaten healthcare innovation, creating a human health toll

that would add to the financial woes that Americans are

already experiencing.''

A few of the notable signers include Nobel laureate Vernon

Smith, former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin

Hassett, former Director of the Office of Management and

Budget Jim Miller and Robert Heller, former president of the

Federal Reserve Board 1986-1989.

In addition, professors from the University of Chicago,

Princeton University, Duke University, the University of

Virginia, Columbia University and the University of Notre

Dame, among others, were listed on the letter dated Aug. 3.

The experts conclude that although they agree with an

``urgent'' need to address inflation, Manchin's bill is a

``misleading label'' applied to legislation that would

achieve the ``opposite effect''

President Biden urged Congress to pass the bill during a

virtual roundtable Thursday. ``My message to Congress is

this: Listen to the American people,'' he said. (Jonathan

Ernst/File Photo/ Reuters)

The letter was sent to Schumer, Senate Minority Leader

Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,

and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Schumer has touted the Inflation Reduction Act as an

immediate solution to inflation, which reached a new 40-year

high last month.

``The Inflation Reduction Act will lower inflation, lower

the costs of prescription drugs, close loopholes long

exploited by big business who pay no or little taxes,''

Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor.

In addition, Biden urged Congress to pass the bill during a

virtual roundtable Thursday. ``My message to Congress is

this: Listen to the American people,'' he said.

``This is the strongest bill you can pass to lower

inflation, continue to cut the deficit, reduce health care

costs, tackle a climate crisis and promote America's energy

security and reduce the burdens facing working-class and

middle-class families,'' Biden continued.

However, Republicans are less enthusiastic about the more

than $700 billion spending and tax package.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News that

the bill raises taxes and ``calling it an inflation reduction

bill is rather laughable.'' (J. Scott Applewhite) (AP Images)

McCarthy told Fox News on Wednesday that ``Democrats have

no plans to solve all the problems they created'' and

Manchin's bill is not the solution.

In the Senate, McConnell stated this week that most of his

colleagues were ``somewhat shocked'' about Manchin's reversal

of previous positions He continued, telling Fox News that the

bill raises taxes and ``calling it an inflation reduction

bill is rather laughable.''

``Democrats are catastrophically out of touch with what

American families actually care about. Their approval ratings

show it. And their reckless taxing and spending spree proves

it, as well,'' said McConnell in a statement this week.

The Senate is set to convene on Saturday to vote on a

procedural motion to move the bill forward. It is still

unclear if Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., will support the

legislation, and her vote is necessary for final passage of

the bill under reconciliation rules that would allow a

majority to pass.

Democrats previously touted a letter from 126 economists

supporting Manchin's bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds).

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that by doubling the size of the IRS, working people in America, 85,000 more families in the State of Texas, will face additional audits--these are families who make less than $200,000--because of doubling of the IRS.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker), who is a great leader on the Budget Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Pennsylvania an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out to the chairman of the Budget Committee that--maybe his staff has not presented it to him--the Congressional Budget Office this morning--this morning--confirmed that people making less than $400,000 a year will face more audits.

You keep saying: Let the facts be real, no scare tactics.

The facts from the Congressional Budget Office are that, in fact, your legislation is increasing more audits on people who make less than $400,000 a year. I put it in the Record. You can read it there.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the great gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the great gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record analysis from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which confirms that the bill increases taxes by $10.6 billion on individuals making under $200,000 in 2023 and increases taxes by $32.6 billion across all incomes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the good gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the gentleman from Nevada that since Joe Biden has taken the oath of office, his reckless spending has led to an inflation crisis that has cost his families in Nevada $9,700 per family.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the great gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Carey).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde), who definitely has experience with the IRS.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).

Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The solution to the inflation crisis that the Democrats have set forward is to spend hundreds of billions of more dollars and to tax all hardworking Americans once again.

You cannot spend your way out of inflation, and you cannot tax your way out of recession. But that is the recipe that the one-party, Democrat rule in Washington, D.C., has suggested for the hardworking Americans who are barely surviving to put food on their table, clothes on their backs, and gasoline in their cars.

I will point out to the chairman that his President's budget outlined an additional $80 billion for the IRS. Highlighted in that budget he wanted 87,000 IRS agents. That is where the number is coming from, from your President, who provided a budget.

I know in the Budget Committee, we have never had a hearing on budget for the last 3\1/2\ years. That is probably why you didn't know 87,000 auditors were in the President's budget.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, the new GDP numbers announced this morning confirm that Washington Democrats' reckless spending has sent our Nation into a recession. On top of paying an extra $5,200 this year because of the President's inflation crisis, Americans are now having to live in fear that they will see their paychecks cut or they will lose their jobs.

This incredibly troubling news comes just 1 day after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, which means more Americans won't be able to afford to buy a car or a new home.

Forty-year high inflation, skyrocketing interest rates, and now a recession--these are the disastrous consequences of one-party Democrat rule in Congress and in the White House.

What is their predictable reaction?

Yesterday, they announced a bill to increase taxes and to spend hundreds of billions of more dollars. It is shameful. I will fight tooth and nail to protect Americans from the left's out-of-control spending.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation is at a crossroads.

After 1\1/2\ years of one-party Democrat rule, America is on the brink of a recession, violent crime is on the rise, and our freedoms are under attack like never before.

Homicide rates across the Nation are up nearly 50 percent compared to 2020. There have been at least 80 incidents of pro-abortion vandalism, intimidation, and violence since May.

At a time when 85 percent of Americans are concerned about rising crime rates, the left is pushing to ban one of the most popular firearms in America. Not only is this reckless, it is a violation of America's Second Amendment rights.

Our country needs leadership. When the left is in charge, the only thing Americans get is an attack on our freedoms.

I will never stop fighting for Missourians and our conservative values.

Madam Speaker, President Biden's reckless agenda is sending our Nation hurdling towards a recession.

The President wants people to believe 40-year high inflation is someone else's fault. But his solution to this crisis highlights his complicity in driving up the cost of everything, from gas to groceries.

One of President Biden's solutions to rising energy costs is begging foreign countries to pump more oil. This is the same President who is waging a regulatory assault on U.S. energy production. His administration has sold nearly 1 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Chinese energy company.

It is unbelievable. I am coauthoring an amendment to block the administration from ever doing this again.

As a fighter for working families, I will keep doing everything I can to hold the administration accountable for driving inflation to the highest level in 40 years.

Mr. Speaker, as families are forced to make tough financial decisions every day because of sky-high inflation, Washington Democrats are fueling the economic crisis by spending hundreds of billions of dollars to advance their radical agenda.

But that is just the spending they are trying to pass through Congress. President Biden is using executive actions to secretly put his radical agenda in place, footing taxpayers with a $532 billion bill without any input of Congress.

He spent $85 billion to continue a pandemic-era student loan payment moratorium benefiting higher-income earners. He put $11 billion down the drain by eliminating strengthened work requirements to SNAP for able-bodied adults without dependents.

Instead of spending half a trillion dollars on things like reducing work incentives and giving handouts to the wealthy, President Biden needs to get serious about solving the significant challenges facing our Nation.

Madam Speaker, as a strong advocate and fighter for the Second Amendment, I cannot support the Senate's gun control bill.

The legislation is simply another attempt to blame law-abiding gun owners instead of holding accountable the disturbed criminals who are carrying out despicable acts of violence.

The gun control bill would strengthen red flag laws, which take away individuals' due process rights, while allowing law enforcement to remove guns from individuals at the request of an expansive list of acquaintances.

In America, a person is innocent until proven guilty. But liberal Democrats, they don't see it quite that way. The presumption of innocence--the foundation of our criminal justice system--apparently does not apply to law-abiding gun owners in the world of the Democrats' vision.

I will fight tooth and nail to protect families from Washington Democrats' relentless attacks on our freedom and way of life.

Madam Speaker, families everywhere are feeling the pain of Washington Democrats' radical climate agenda.

President Biden launched the war on American energy when he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. He has also banned new lease sales for oil and gas, and his regulatory onslaught is limiting U.S. energy production.

As a result, Americans are paying the price for the far left's costly energy agenda every time they flip a light switch, buy groceries, or drive to work.

But that is the goal of Washington Democrats' climate agenda: Drive up the cost of traditional energy sources to force our Nation's transition to alternatives that are less reliable, widely unavailable, and even more expensive.

America cannot afford the left's war on affordable energy. What America needs right now is the all-of-the-above energy agenda put in place by President Trump and Republicans in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, the biggest challenge facing Missouri families right now is sky-high inflation. They know that President Biden and Washington Democrats have only themselves to blame for driving inflation to the highest level in 40 years.

Last month alone, inflation cost Missouri families an extra $663. That is about the same as a monthly payment on a brand-new pickup truck.

Gas prices are the highest they have been, at over $5 a gallon. The cost to fill up an F-150 is over $150.

Families are paying more to put food on their tables, clothes on their backs, and gasoline in their cars. Milk is up 15 percent. Bread is up 14 percent. Bacon is up 18 percent.

Just yesterday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the third time since March. This is yet another price increase for families, farmers, and small businesses.

The American people cannot afford to keep paying for President Biden's mistakes.

Madam Speaker, today's rule is an all-too- familiar pattern of the legislative laziness from my Democrat colleagues.

Once again, Washington Democrats are hiding their spending from the American people. They are smuggling their spending levels for the upcoming appropriations process into a rule for a totally unrelated bill so they don't have to debate or defend their out-of-control spending habits.

Last year, Democrats did the exact same thing. The chairman of the Budget Committee drafts a spending resolution; he skips over his committee; and then they toss it into a rule, hoping no one notices.

At no point in the last 4 years of the majority have House Democrats actually marked up a budget in the Budget Committee. Time and again, House Democrats have acted with as little sunlight as possible because they don't want to be held accountable for their record.

Americans know that Washington spending is driving inflation, and now Democrats are calling for even more. Last year alone, House Democrats voted for $7.5 trillion in new spending, including the $2 trillion so- called rescue plan that ignited the highest inflation in four decades.

Since President Biden took office and one-party Democrat control of Congress took over in Washington, inflation is up 11 percent. Gas prices are up 110 percent on their watch. President Biden's 2021 deficit was the second highest in history, $517 billion more than the CBO said it should have been.

Democrats don't want to debate budgets. They certainly don't want to debate the President's budget, which would spend $73 trillion over the next decade, a 66 percent increase over the past decade. It would add $16 trillion in new debt with well over $1 trillion annual deficits every year.

Democrats don't want to talk about budgets because they are spending like they simply don't exist. If Democrats won't show their cards, allow me. The resolution that is tucked away in this rule has over $1.6 trillion in discretionary spending next year, a $132 billion, or 9 percent, increase over the most recent fiscal year 2022 omnibus. It is $21 billion more in spending than even Biden's budget proposal.

Instead of hiding, I urge my colleagues to be crystal clear with the American people about exactly what they have in store for them: tax increases, high inflation, open borders, energy dependence, and an ever-growing mountain of debt.

Mr. Speaker, as the Republican leader of the House Budget Committee, I led a group of 12 Members of Congress last week to the Rio Grande Valley to see firsthand the real cost of President Biden's disastrous immigration agenda.

There were major gaps in border wall and open areas that make it easier for the Mexican cartels to make millions of dollars trafficking humans and illegal drugs over the border. And yet, we saw $350 million worth of rusted border wall materials sitting unused because of President Biden's illegal decision to freeze border wall funding.

Border Patrol agents told me they are seeing 10,000 encounters each week in the Rio Grande Valley sector alone, including 174 different nationalities who have been apprehended on the southern border. The rest of the world has figured out that our border is not secure, whether the Biden administration realizes it or not.

I will continue fighting to secure the border and protect families from President Biden's disastrous agenda.

Mr. Speaker, for the millions of Americans struggling under skyrocketing prices, President Biden's attention to this issue is a day late and many dollars short.

For the first year in office, he denied inflation existed and then dismissed it as transitory. Now, he is blaming Putin, even though inflation was already at 7\1/2\ percent before Putin's army invaded Ukraine.

It took President Biden almost a year to speak up because he doesn't see inflation as a threat to families. He sees it as a threat to his political problems and his political party's problems.

Since Joe Biden became President, inflation has risen 11 percent; gas prices are at an all-time high; real wages have gone down 2.6 percent; and our economy is shrinking. This is the result of the President's policies: high prices for food and energy, lower wages, and now a baby formula shortage.

Americans are hurting, and the President's policies are making it worse.

Mr. Speaker, Americans are facing the worst inflation crisis in 40 years because of the Democrats' reckless spending agenda, including President Biden's $2 trillion bailout bill.

President Biden's new budget deliberately doubles down on that agenda. It spends $73 trillion over the next 10 years, a 66 percent increase. The President's budget assumes inflation will average 4.7 percent this year. Right now, inflation is 7.9 percent. To hit their target, inflation would have to be 2 percent, starting today, every month for the next 10 years.

Despite ample warning that the President's agenda would fuel the inflation fire, inflation has now risen 8.9 percent since President Biden took office. Hardworking families have already paid a $3,500 inflation tax last year and are expected to pay a $5,200 inflation tax this year. The American people can't afford that.

Mr. Speaker, the administration is removing healthcare workers, Federal employees, and members of the Armed Forces

from their jobs if they refuse to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, over 160,000 unvaccinated and untested illegal aliens crossed our border last February, the most on record in two decades.

Now, Joe Biden and his Washington Democrat allies want to make a bad problem worse. Last week, President Biden eliminated President Trump's title 42, which allows DHS to deport illegal aliens if they pose a public health danger to our citizens. In other words, according to Washington Democrats, they believe American healthcare workers, Federal employees, and servicemembers deserve harsher treatment than those crossing our border illegally.

This is unacceptable. Title 42 must be reinstated immediately and kept in place until this administration comes up with a plan to deal with the border crisis created by the administration's policies.

Mr. Speaker, Democrat policies have created multiple crises: the highest spike in prices in 40 years, gas prices over $4 a gallon, a violent crime crisis, school closures that have drastically harmed our children, and so many other items.

President Biden's budget, which was released this week, deliberately makes every crisis American families are facing that much worse.

With $73 trillion in spending, Biden doubles down on his delusion that spending more will cause inflation to go down when Americans are facing a $5,200 inflation tax this year.

Biden's budget charges Americans another $2.5 trillion in taxes, upward of $4 trillion if you count the build back broke agenda, which he tries to put in the budget as being free.

American families can't afford what this budget is costing.