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Roughly 100 days ago, I attended President Biden’s Inauguration at the United States Capitol. That day, President Biden pledged that his administration would govern with unity and bipartisanship. In the time since, the Biden administration and Democrat leadership have done the opposite. They’ve chosen a partisan go-it-alone approach on everything from a so-called “Rescue Plan” (which received not one Republican vote) that had very little to do with rescue or recovery, to the crisis at our southern border, to their recent multi-trillion-dollar transportation and infrastructure proposal, which has little to do with transportation or infrastructure.
Since their first day in office, the Biden Administration has issued dozens of job-killing executive orders, more than any Administration since FDR’s, that have increased government overreach and regulation at the expense of American workers. Among these orders was the halting of construction on Keystone XL Pipeline, a decision that directly cut thousands of good-paying jobs and rattled energy prices. These unilateral executive orders placed progressive priorities above the livelihoods of everyday Americans.
No less destructive were the Biden Administration’s decisions to repeal effective immigration policies of the previous administration, leading to a catastrophe at our Mexican border. I visited the border last month and witnessed the humanitarian crisis caused by the Biden Administration’s policy changes. This situation was entirely avoidable and must be corrected immediately.
Speaker Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have demonstrated no inclination toward bipartisanship. In 2020, Congress, in a very bipartisan manner, allocated $3.7 trillion dollars in targeted Covid relief that supported struggling families and businesses, developed vaccines, and reinforced our hospitals as we combatted Covid-19. In their first days in office, Democrat Leadership pushed through a completely partisan bill totaling nearly $2 trillion, of which less than 10% went towards defeating the virus. This unprecedented level of spending is dangerously excessive, causing inflation, and has made bringing people back to work the #1 problem small businesses have faced as they strive to recover.
If a $2 trillion new spending bill was not enough to add to our astronomical deficit, the Biden Administration is now pushing an additional $4 trillion in liberal wish list spending disguised as “human infrastructure”. Far less than 10% of this “human infrastructure” plan goes towards rebuilding our roads, bridges, highways, broadband, ports, airports, and waterways. Instead, this bill provides $600 billion for the expansion of Medicaid & Obamacare subsidies, $175 billion for electric vehicles and charging ports, and over $500 billion to implement Green New Deal mandates, including a new 10,000-member “Civilian Climate Corps”.
The Biden Administration plans to pay for these extreme left proposals by raising taxes on millions of American families and businesses, large and small. Everyone will be affected by these tax increases, despite what the administration says. By raising the corporate tax rate, goods made in America will be far less competitive with those manufactured in other countries. Washington Democrats like to talk about making more products in the United States, but these policies will push manufacturing overseas. Additionally, raising taxes on pass-through small businesses is a business killer and a job killer. The left loves having the golden eggs, but their policies will certainly kill the goose.
At a time when our nation and economy are in recovery, the idea of significant tax increases to pay for these left-wing proposals is an upside-down policy that will certainly not repatriate businesses, but only export American jobs.
We should unite to revitalize our communities, expand broadband, modernize our roads, bridges, highways, airports, and other gateways to growth and innovation, not exploit this opportunity to pass a $4 trillion one party wish list that will raise taxes, impose unrealistic Green New Deal mandates, and add trillions to our national debt. I will do my best to work with my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to implement policies that will accelerate our recovery and create a private sector driven economic boom that will strengthen America and benefit all Americans.
Dan Meuser serves as U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional District.
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