Compounding the Problem

This month I had plans to spend the August district work period connecting with folks in the Third District to hear their concerns and discuss the challenges Nebraskans face. Being called back to Washington for a vote on an ill-conceived, dead-end tax-and-spend package was not on my agenda.

From dysfunction at the IRS, to the high cost of health care and record inflation which remains at 8.5 percent, American families need a serious course adjustment to help them address these challenges, not make them worse. And the bill forced through the House by Democrats this week fails to address these issues. 

Anyone serious about reducing inflation by reining in government spending knows you can’t achieve this by spending hundreds of billions upfront and allowing deficit reduction to trickle in over the next decade. The fact is this bill doubles down on decades of failed Democrat economic policies. It creates a new minimum book tax – which undermines incentives for companies to broadly reinvest in creating jobs and rebuilding our supply chains – and restores policies that were driving jobs and corporations overseas during the Obama administration.

American job creators have been unanimous in their concerns the January 1, 2023, effective date for the minimum tax is unworkable, but Democrats refused to take up my amendment addressing that. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act demonstrated a competitive corporate tax rate and non-punitive measures to prevent base erosion and offshoring can create jobs and raise wages while also increasing revenue. Rather than build on those proven successes, Democrat-led policies in this bill will lead our country deeper into a recession. 

Proponents of the legislation claim it will lower health care costs, but it will crush innovative cures and treatments and result in worse care for America’s seniors. Rather than look for reforms which increase insurance competition and decrease costs in our health care system, this bill puts costly new mandates on the prescription drug marketplace and throws taxpayer dollars at buying down Obamacare premiums – despite the fact the average premium in the individual health insurance market has doubled since Democrats enacted the Affordable Care Act.

Americans, especially seniors, need real solutions to lower their out-of-pocket health care costs, but Democrats’ legislation will result in higher premiums and fewer treatments and cures. In addition to the numerous studies which show drug price controls crush innovation, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has also projected this legislation will lead to higher costs for drugs that have yet to be brought to market. Medicare Part D has successfully helped keep premiums low and make medicines accessible – all while empowering patients with options by encouraging companies to compete and negotiate. Government mandates like the ones in this legislation won’t improve care and will hamper the development of hope-giving treatments and cures.

On top of it all, this bill creates 87,000 new IRS agent positions, provides them billions of dollars to vastly expand the audit dragnet, and specifically cites electronic monitoring – which could very well include instituting bank account reporting requirements via regulation – as an acceptable use of these funds.

Families are already suffering under the Biden economy. We should reject this bill before Democrats make the problem even worse.