Senator Scott Slams Democrats’ Tax-and-Spend Policies in Floor Speech, Senate Banking Hearing

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) questioned Chairman Powell and Secretary Yellen on the Biden administration’s harmful economic plans, and he took to the Senate floor to discuss how the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend bill would harm the American Dream and stifle economic opportunity.

Click to watch Sen. Scott’s floor speech

On defending the American Dream … “What we’re talking about today is not about simply a $3.5 trillion spending bill. We’re talking about something more fundamental to what it means to be an American. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to live in a country where upward mobility is a reality — that we can, by hard work and a strong education, change our fortunes in this country, and not only change it for ourselves, but change it for the generations that follow us. … 

“As a kid who struggled in high school … who did not believe always that there was a way that a poor kid in South Carolina could ever escape poverty … I am thankful to live in a country where the American, free-enterprise system provided a pathway forward, and if I could just see it and believe in it and work towards it, it was possible for me to achieve the outcomes that we’re sitting here trying to defend. … The challenge, of course, is that we look at the $3.5 trillion package, [and] it makes it harder for a kid trapped in poverty, as I was, to find a path forward.”

On destructive contents in the Democrats’ proposal … “The content of this legislation is more dangerous than the amount of the legislation, and I’ve got to tell you, $3.5 trillion is pretty dangerous. But more dangerous than the $3.5 trillion is having the IRS empowered to take a look at every single transaction. Not only the $600, but imagine doubling the number of IRS agents with the $80 billion in this package — doubling the number of agents to come take a look at your family businesses, your family accounts. Destructive. Go beyond that. … Restoring the tax credits for the state and local taxes for millionaires and billionaires across this country and putting that burden back on the backs of working people — middle-class working people. …

“I will say this: If the Democrats’ plan succeeds … I fear that kids stuck in poverty today will be stuck in a caste system of socialism tomorrow.”

Click to watch Sen. Scott’s questions 

On the Democrats’ spending plans …  “Democrats control the White House, the Senate, the House, they have the votes to raise the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, they also have the votes to fundamentally weaken the greatest economic engine in world history. What they do not have the votes to do is to force Republicans to be complicit with their reckless spending spree.

“Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs isn’t just bad for the goose; it’s bad for everyone who depends on the eggs as well. There is nothing compassionate about spending money we don’t have on new benefits we can’t afford, all the while discouraging work and increasing the likelihood of a future default when the yet-to-be-born American receives the bill for benefits she didn’t experience and are no longer available.”

On labor force participation and inflation … “It’s also important to note that our labor force participation rate is down, not up.  Even with the new programs and the payouts that I heard this morning during this hearing that somehow is supposedly increasing our labor force participation, when in fact it’s apparent and clear to Americans that’s not the case. Chair Powell, you know as well as I do — and certainly maybe neither one of us know as well as the folks working paycheck to paycheck around this nation or the seniors depending on their social security checks to make their ends meet — that inflation is having a devastating impact on people on fixed income, people working paycheck-to-paycheck. I think about the fact that gas prices are over 40% as a nation and frankly over the last few days, we’ve seen signs that it’s going to only get worse, not better.”

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