Build Back Better Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCARTHY. Madam Speaker, today feels like a little deja vu.
It feels like we are sitting back--was it February of last year?
America is on a brink. The world is warning the majority party if they follow through with more of their spending they could create inflation in America.
It wasn't just on our side of the aisle that warned you. No. The former Secretary of the Treasury warned you that if you went through with that $2 trillion that inflation would rise and America would be harmed. But nobody listened on the other side.
They were proud. They were going to cheer. They were going to get elected. They were going to win based upon this. They went ahead and they passed that bill with one-party control in the House and in the Senate, and the President signed it.
If you listened to Steve Rattner, a Democratic adviser to Obama, he called it the original sin of inflation.
Listen to the American public.
Madam Speaker, I hope every single Member asks their constituents: Could they give 1 month's salary up?
Could they afford to give a month's salary up?
I would love it, Madam Speaker, if the Members would come back and tell me anyone who says ``yes'' to that.
But the sad part about it, Madam Speaker, is everybody in America who is paid on a salary just lost more than 1 month because it was deja vu all over again. It was exactly that vote that took more than 1 month's salary from every American that is paid monthly.
We have got a President, Madam Speaker, who thinks that inflation is zero. I guess that is why we are back to where we are again.
Today the people's House should be working to answer our country's call to address the rising prices of gas, groceries, and just about anything else that Americans buy. I haven't heard one debate on this floor today about how we are going to lower the gasoline price. I am not sure, but I guess, Madam Speaker, on the Democratic side they think if they raise taxes then somehow that will make the price go down and not up. They have been proven to be wrong.
Instead, Madam Speaker, moments from now we will take up this misguided, tone-deaf bill. I believe it is the largest tone-deaf bill I have ever seen in this Chamber in 232 years.
Democrats more than any other majority in history are addicted to spending other people's money regardless of what we as a country can afford.
Madam Speaker, I almost see glee in their eyes. I know there are not a lot of them here because they can vote by proxy. It is the only Chamber in the history of America that has ever allowed that--not even on the Senate side, not even during war, and not even during plague, but this body has, and this body continued it. They just extended it. This bill wasn't debated here. It wasn't talked about. But a lot of people are going to phone it in.
They started this Congress with trillions in wasteful spending that caused runaway inflation.
Their answer was to blame everybody else.
Now, their answer is just to deny there is inflation and just say it is zero. But today, now they are choosing to end the session by spending half a trillion dollars more of your money, raising taxes on the middle class, and giving hand-outs to their liberal allies.
Madam Speaker, unlike most of the Democrats, I have read this bill past the title. The facts about this bill are just astonishing. It sends $27 billion to a fraudulent national climate bank. Put that in perspective: that is triple the size of the EPA's current annual budget.
Madam Speaker, as I go across the country I look to the gas stations and see people cry about how much it is costing them.
You chose to raise it higher but not to give relief to the American public by lowering the gas price.
Along with that slush fund, it hands out tax credits like candy with no accountability. But when it comes to natural gas, which heats our homes and cooks our food, it raises taxes to fund their Socialist scams.
Madam Speaker, your energy prices will now go through the roof.
Madam Speaker, I look forward to hearing how every Democrat who votes for this bill--be it in person or how they phone it in by proxy-- explain it to their constituents this winter when they are making a choice about whether they pay the energy to heat their homes or they cut back on the gas to fill their tank or they no longer even buy the food at the grocery store because it just comes too high, they have to change.
Madam Speaker, as they continue to raise trillions after trillions, when everybody warns them what they do is wrong, they don't care. They just want to double down on the mistakes they have already made.
Don't expect drug prices to come down either. This bill would cut treatments and hinder new cures by giving bureaucrats the power to decide what drugs seniors can access. It reduces your options and raises your costs.
That is okay because that is their philosophy. They know best. Just like they knew best when they thought $2 trillion would help. They called it the American Rescue Plan.
You now have time to see what you have done.
Explain to me in the American Rescue Plan when it raised inflation and that took 1 month's salary from the American public, what did it rescue?
Who did it help?
Answer me this question: Is America better off today than they were 2 years ago? Is the price of gasoline lower? It is?
The price of gasoline is lower today than it was 2 years ago? I guess you believe inflation is zero, too. I am not quite sure about your math.
Is grocery lower than it was 2 years ago? Are the car prices lower than it was 2 years ago? Are your food prices?
I would love a natural debate right here. Why don't we have that? Because the American people are having a challenge.
You know, one of the most successful businesses in America is Walmart. When Walmart wants to look at where the economy is in America, they don't go hire economists. You know what they do? They just check the data of Americans and what they buy. And for those who answered yes, you ought to study it, too.
You know what? They just look at four products. They look at hamburger buns, hotdog buns, whole wheat, and white bread. And you know what? If the hamburger buns sales go down and the hot dog buns sales go down and the whole wheat sales go down, but the white bread sales go up, you are in an economic crisis. You know why? Because people no longer can make the decision to have hamburgers with hamburger buns. They have to put the white bread there.
For all of you who said yes, why don't you get out of Washington for a moment and go ask your constituents if they are better off today than they were 2 years ago; because no, gas is not lower. Gas is higher. And no, the car prices are higher, and their food prices are higher, and they are going up each and every day.
I can't believe you would say yes. You probably believe the American Rescue Plan was a good bill. You probably believe it is Putin's fault, too.
Passing this bill today means more expensive bills for Americans tomorrow, and everyone who says otherwise isn't telling the truth.
But of all the bad parts of this 700-page bill, the massive expansion of the IRS is the most chilling.
Madam Speaker, I wonder if we could ask the same question and, oh, boy, I imagine America will ask that in just roughly 87 more days. They won't just ask it, they will answer the question, even if it is not asked; if they are better off than they were 2 years ago.
But they will probably ask the question: Is America better off with 87,000 more IRS agents?
Currently, the IRS has almost 80,000 employees. So you are going to smile; you are going to vote for it. A lot of you are going to mail it in because you are just going to vote by proxy. You are going to pass a bill you never debated by people voting by proxy.
You are going to double the size of the IRS. They have 80,000 employees. You know what the IRS also has? 4,600 guns, 5 million rounds of ammunition. Why?
Democrats want to double its already massive size. You are going to spend $80 billion of hard-earned American taxpayer money to hire an army of 87,000 new IRS agents.
Why would you even propose that? Because you say, oh, it pays for the bill.
Madam Speaker, I have got plenty of time.
I think I will. I appreciate the encouragement because I think America needs the encouragement, because you know what? America actually needs a plan that works.
Why, if you passed an American Rescue Plan that caused inflation that we haven't seen in 41 years--why, if you went after the fossil fuel of America that raised the price of gasoline that Americans haven't seen before--why do you keep harming the American public? And you think doing the exact same thing is your answer to save it?
But while this bill doubles the number of IRS personnel, it does not expand due process protections for the American people. Worse, it includes no income floor for who can be audited.
Some of the same people on the other side of the aisle, Madam Speaker, who say we are better off than we were 2 years ago, that somehow--I don't know where they get their gas, but they said their gas price is lower. Let me know, because I need to fill my tank up.
So when you say that you are not going to go after every American to audit, you are not being honest, just like you are not being honest about what you did to cause the pain to this country. And you have no plan to solve it. You simply double down to the exact same thing you did before.
Based upon the past numbers, we know this would mean 710,000 new audits for people who make under $75,000. So someone who makes under $75,000, you think they need to pay for this. So what you are going to do is not trust them.
Madam Speaker, you say you don't trust the American public, but you are not going to hire all these people for the IRS so they could be there to help people fill out their tax returns. No, these people are going to audit them. We are going to double the size, and they are going to go after you.
You see, there is a philosophy here, Madam Speaker. One side of this aisle believes in the American people. One side thinks they know best. Even when the gas prices have risen, you think it is lower.
I am sorry to tell you, Madam Speaker, the President even admitted the gas price is higher, but he thought it was a good thing. It was a good thing. Because you think everybody can go out and buy a new car.
Well, we are going to audit you because we need to go after you because we think you are not fair, you are not honest, and we are going to make you pay for something else. Just pay for the things we care most about.
It costs individuals thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees and compliance costs just to be audited by the IRS.
Imagine what you would do with an extra $10,000 a year. Imagine how much better you could have used it than the Federal Government.
And somehow you think it is best. You think it is best.
That is how Democrats pay for their pet projects. Your pocketbook is their plan to fund more inflationary spending.
This is just a train wreck just waiting to happen. And with this new power, the IRS will snoop around in your bank account, in your Venmo, your small business, and then the government will shake you down for every last cent.
You know, in light of this week's events, let me ask: Do you really trust this administration, the IRS, to be fair, to not abuse their power?
I hope that I am wrong, but history doesn't lie.
Madam Speaker, as I travel the country, a lot of people know different names of people who work at the IRS, Lois Lerner, and others. And even when it comes to light, government is powerful, government is big, government can take, as you have proven. You have taken so much from the American public. But now you want to intimidate them.
I have watched Democrats weaponize the government before, and I don't trust them now.
Madam Speaker, mark my words. Long after the headlines of this week fade, we will look back on this very day and on this bill as the one that broke the camel's back.
I am sure, Madam Speaker, as the months progress, there will be new blame, there will be new problems. It will be those who own the gas station. You will probably blame the small families that had to buy the natural gas for their price going higher.
Somehow you will blame Putin again, and somehow you will tell the American public, no, your price isn't higher; you are actually better off, there is zero inflation, even though you take home less and everything costs more.
Let me tell you about the future the Democrats want for America, the future that we can expect if this bill passes, much like the one before.
When wealthy Americans are getting tax breaks to buy luxury cars but you can't afford to even fill up your tank, blame this bill, blame the Democrats.
When store shelves are empty because more American manufacturers have gone under, blame this bill, blame the Democrats.
When government agents are knocking at your door and threatening your business, blame this bill, blame the Democrats.
And when your loved ones are left without the cures they need to fight a rare disease, blame this bill, and blame the Democrats.
My friends, that is the exact choice for us today. Now, I know a few Democrats showed up. And, hopefully, all those who are voting by proxy are watching on TV, because they must be home sick, because that is what they said. I hope they spent the time to read it.
I don't know if they read the American Rescue Plan, but they know the damage they have done. America feels it each and every day.
Madam Speaker, I guess the next question would be--it will be interesting to hear the answer from the other side. If you think gas is cheaper than it was 2 years ago, if you think the prices at the grocery store are lower than it was 2 years ago, do you think the border is more secure than it was 2 years ago?
Someone said yes.
Madam Speaker, I am going to introduce a bill to rename this place fantasyland. I hope when you go home, I hope you take the smirks off, and I hope you actually read your obituaries because fentanyl has now become the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. It is not something to smirk about.
I am sure you got power; you are in the majority. But you abuse the power, Madam Speaker. When you abuse power like that, people die. Every walk of life, we are seeing it day in and day out.
I remember the headline of six college kids down in Florida this summer. They weren't in a fraternity. They weren't in a sorority. They were in the military academy. Six of them OD'd. Four of them took the drug; two did not. Two simply gave them mouth to mouth.
You think it is important to double the size of the IRS, but you are not going to do one thing for the border?
I remember right after you took the power, you took over the House, the Senate, and the White House, and you decided to change the policies. We watched what has come across the border. I took a trip down there.
I remember going, talking to the agents. They were telling me they have never seen anything like this before. I said: What do you mean?
They said: We are catching people on the terrorist watch list. I said: What? On the terrorist watch list? Really? I didn't know there was that many people on the terrorist watch list just from the triangle of Central America.
No, no, no, no, no. We are catching them from Yemen. People come from 160 different countries across this border now. They bring their fentanyl from China.
I went and did a press conference, and I talked about that.
Madam Speaker, I thought people from both sides of the aisle would be very concerned about hearing people on the terrorist watch list are coming into America, knowing what has happened in this country before, and we would want to keep it safe.
I was shocked. They didn't ask me for more information. They just simply called me a liar.
We provided the proof. Nobody apologized. That is okay. You don't need to apologize, but I wish you would do something about it. They continued to stay silent. Then they fought to even get more information.
But I fear to tell you that that is happening each and every day. There is not one new piece of money in here to secure that any more. That will stop as colleges open back up and as college students on the weekend go to their Snapchat, think they are buying a Xanax, and they don't wake up the next morning. But that is okay because you just gave a break to one of your big donors who makes a lot of money and is going to buy an electric car. It is okay because you feel good about what you are going to do. I guess that is why you don't show up to vote; you just vote by proxy.
A vote for this bill is a vote to help the well-connected get further and further ahead while leaving needs of hard-working American families behind. Yet, you could be forgiven for not understanding the gravity of today's vote. For such a supposedly historic occasion, few Democrats even bothered to show up.
Look around this Chamber, Madam Speaker. The floor is nearly empty.
If Democrats really, truthfully want to raise taxes on Americans during a recession, that is their choice. That is the power they have. They have proven it time and again, and they will do it.
The very least you can do, Madam Speaker, is show up in person if you are going to vote ``yes.'' Show up in person to the American public. For those who chant: ``Yes, gasoline is lower than it was 2 years ago; yes, the border is safer than it was 2 years ago,'' don't say it when the cameras are off. Don't say it when people can't see who is saying it. Go to the mikes. If you believe it, go to the mikes and say it.
Better yet, tell your district about it because they know differently. America knows differently.
But if you want to vote ``yes,'' you should have the courage and the decency to show up and do that in person. Yet, Madam Speaker, Speaker Pelosi extended proxy voting again on Wednesday, allowing Democrats to hide their faces and vote to take your money from the comfort of their summer vacations.
``Absolute power corrupts absolutely,'' Madam Speaker. That is a famous quote.
There are lots of lessons people learn. Normally, the lesson you learn the most is when you cause the most pain. I guess creating inflation you haven't had in 41 years, creating shortages where there is no baby formula, gas prices that we haven't seen since Jimmy Carter was in office, a border that is wide open, a government, Madam Speaker, that had an Attorney General call parents terrorists because--what did they do?
They went to a school board meeting.
Why would they go?
Why would parents go to a school board meeting?
Because they wanted to know what was happening in their kids' education, the lost learning of the years of the pandemic.
If you question authority, you are going to be called a terrorist.
How far would we go to be able to have the rights to do that?
We are going to find an organization, a union, that will send us a letter so we can do it. But when the public finds out why, the union pulls their letter back. But the AG doesn't pull back their power because they have power, they should use it.
Is that why you want to double the size of the IRS?
Is that why you want to double the size of the IRS, to go after Americans, to use it?
Earlier today, we had 80 Democrats use a proxy vote. As we approach this final vote on this bill, depending on how long I speak, I expect that number might increase.
If you think about it, that is the story of this Democrat majority. They will destroy our economy and mortgage your future but can't be personally bothered to show up, to make the trip to D.C. to do their jobs.
What a disgrace. What a disgrace.
I will promise the American public that that will all change. If you run for office, if you are going to ask them to lend their vote and to lend their voice to go to Washington for 2 years to represent them, you are going to show up.
And do you know what? The bills are going to be in committee. The bills are going to be read. They are going to be debated on the floor, and you are not going to hide in your vacation home and raise taxes on the American public.
I will even go further. We will lower your gas prices. We will make America energy independent. We won't punish natural gas. If you care about the environment, American natural gas is 41 percent cleaner than Russian natural gas. We will make an abundance of it.
So those people who are living on a $75,000 income who have watched it get dwindled under your leadership, under your American Rescue Plan that simply took a whole month's salary away from them, and where they had no say, you celebrated it, you cheered it, and then you blamed everybody else for what you created. We will tell you it will cost less.
For the parent that wakes up that morning--maybe it is a phone call or maybe their kid is home, who doesn't wake up because they went out and purchased something that wasn't fentanyl but it was laced with fentanyl, we will make sure that stops.
It is August. Right now is normally the time people have barbecues, but now the price is high. Now people question whether to even get the hotdog buns.
They are going to turn on the TV, they are going to watch an empty Chamber, and they are going to read online that 80 Democrats took that vacation and voted to raise more taxes, voted to spend more of their money, and looked into the camera and smiled and said:
We know best. We want to take more of your money because we have got to hire and double the size of the IRS because we want them to knock on your door because we think you are not honest and because we think you can pay more.
And if you don't, we have got an AG that will come after you. If you go to that school board meeting, we will look in your eyes, we will take your name down, and we will wonder why you care about your kids' education.
Madam Speaker, that will end, too, because we are going to provide the American public with a parents' bill of rights. We think that parents should have a say in their kids' education. We think that parents should know what is being taught at their children's schools.
Madam Speaker, I even watched, under this leadership, a Democrat who voted by proxy who wasn't even in America.
So I wondered: Were they in another country to get healthcare? Were they sick?
No, no, no. They were in France at a wedding when they phoned that vote in. I wasn't quite sure.
Do you think at the wedding the Member was reading the bill on the phone so that Member knew how to vote?
I am not sure it came through committee. I don't know how much debate they had on this because the Senate did this bill. What a disgrace.
Madam Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to reject this out-of-touch bill, reject the crushing new taxes, reject the ballooning of government, and reject the spending on things that we don't need with money we don't have.
Madam Speaker, I can wait, if you need to continue.
But most of all, I urge my colleagues to remember this day. Remember this day because it will be the last time the House will operate so recklessly and irresponsibly.
A new day is coming with a new plan to put America back on the right track. It will be a commitment to America that there will be fiscal responsibility and there will be energy independence where your gasoline price will be lower and plentiful, that your home heating costs will lower and not rise; and that we won't pick one energy over the other. It will be all of the above so America can be stronger. Your border will be secure because fentanyl and terrorists will not be coming across. This border is a national security issue.
We will focus on bringing the supply chain from China back to America, which is not what this bill does. This bill takes American taxpayer money and sends it to China. You triple the size of the EPA. I imagine China is cheering, because they see their economy is going to rise. Their government doesn't have to vote for a stimulus, because that is exactly what you are doing here.
What is even greater, China will look and say: Well, can we make sure America can send all that money here?
Don't worry, the Democrats doubled the size of the IRS. They will get that money and make sure it comes.
In the commitment to America, we believe people show up to go to work and that you earn your paycheck. You don't phone it in.
Madam Speaker, when I handed the gavel to Speaker Pelosi last year, I said that a House distracted could not govern. Today, as this majority jams through yet another partisan spending spree, it is clear to me that an absent House cannot lead.
I trust the American people. I know it is the people who will render the ultimate verdict on today's actions. When they do 87 days from now, my Democratic colleagues will have only themselves to blame.
Madam Speaker, I am not sure what is happening on your side of the aisle that Members actually believe gasoline is less than it was 2 years ago.
Madam Speaker, I am not sure what is happening on your side of the aisle that your colleagues believe the border is more secure than it was 2 years ago.
Madam Speaker, I am not sure what is happening on your side of the aisle that your colleagues believe the price of groceries is less than it was 2 years ago.
Madam Speaker, I am not sure what is happening on the other side of the aisle that your colleagues believe doubling the size of the IRS is a positive thing.
Yes, I come from a different party, and yes, I have a different philosophy, but we are all Americans. Madam Speaker, you are going inflict this pain on every single American.
Madam Speaker, I am not sure if your side of the aisle thinks this is going to do anything to lower the price of inflation. I do know, Madam Speaker, one person on the other side of the aisle in the other Chamber, Bernie Sanders, spoke the truth and said it won't.
I know on your side of the aisle, Madam Speaker, not everybody believes the same. The former Secretary of the Treasury warned you before you did the American Rescue Plan that it would bring inflation, and he was right. Even the current Secretary of the Treasury finally apologized and said they were wrong.
The President said it was going to be transitory. He said it had peaked. He said it was everybody else's fault, but now he says it is zero.
Madam Speaker, I guess I do understand why your side of the aisle now believes all that. I just know America doesn't. Because every day America goes to the grocery store, the price has increased. Every week when they fill up their gas tank, the price is higher. Every month when they cash their check, it doesn't go as far.
Madam Speaker, if the border was really more secure than it was 2 years ago, why is the D.C. mayor now asking for the National Guard when she wouldn't even ask for it when there were riots in the streets?
Madam Speaker, my colleagues on the other side can lie to me, but they can't lie to America. Eighty-seven days from now it doesn't matter how you try to answer those questions. The American people will.
I remember when we were at this stage once before. We had somebody in the White House that put a sweater on and told us to turn the heater down, that the best days were behind us as Americans.
I watched another person walk to the podium and say no pastels, fly the bold colors, and go to that shining city on the hill.
We know what America is. And we are more than a country. We are an idea, an idea so powerful that we can overcome all the pain that you have caused.
It won't be easy. And I will offer this invitation. For all the bad votes you have taken, when the change comes, we will welcome you to correct the mistakes you have made. Because you will be in committee. Maybe you will learn that gas prices are higher. Maybe you will learn that groceries cost more. You will be here to vote so you will hear the debate. Maybe I can't blame you for thinking that if you don't have to show up.
Madam Speaker, there are a lot of days on this floor that change the course of history. In the last 2 years, that history has not been bright. Inflation, a 41-year-history high. Do you understand what that does to the American public? Do you understand the pain that it causes? Do you understand the choices that people have to make?
I heard the story of a young family, their daughter has cancer. For her treatment they have to drive a long way. She was crying one day because she heard her parents talking about making the decision to take out loans they cannot afford to pay for the gasoline that your side of the aisle thinks costs them less but costs them more, the choices they had to make because you titled a bill ``American Rescue Plan'' that only inflicts pain, and you just doubled down.
Madam Speaker, I would respect the other side of the aisle much greater if they would at least do exactly what Secretary Yellen did, apologize for your mistake and change course.
Don't double down. Don't make the same mistake three, four times like you are going to do today. At the very least--at the very least, if you are going to vote ``yes,'' do it in person. Do it in person. Read the bill. Put it through committee.
Madam Speaker, I have watched this body take on big issues. We have got some of the biggest issues before us today. You continue to make it just a partisan action, one that even your side of the aisle has warned you against. But somehow you want to celebrate it.
Madam Speaker, in my office in a conference room, I have this painting of Washington crossing the Delaware. You all know the famous painting. It sits 8 feet by 16 feet. If you study history, you will know that it happened Christmas 1776. The artist who painted that famous painting wasn't even American. He wasn't there. He had no iPhone that day to take a photo. The person who painted the painting is a German immigrant who lived in America but went back to Germany. His name is Emanuel Leutze.
Do you know why he painted that painting? Because he understood America was more than a country, that America was an idea. He wanted Germany to have a revolution based upon the values of America, of freedom, of individual rights, of a stand against tyranny, that government would be of the people, by the people, for the people.
His talent was art, so he thought he would paint this painting to inspire the Germans to have this revolution. Now, historians will tell you he gets it incorrect. He puts 13 people in a rowboat. Why would he pick the number 13? Thirteen colonies. But he only shows you 12 faces.
If you look at the painting, he puts Washington in a rowboat, but historians will tell you Washington probably crossed in a Durham boat. If you look at the Delaware, it kind of looks like the Rhine. But he is German. We will give him a break for that. He puts Washington in a ceremonial uniform with his hand on his chest standing up in a rowboat crossing the Delaware in the middle of winter. He looks so stoic.
If you look at Washington in that painting, you would almost say you would follow this man anywhere. You would think he had never lost a battle or a fight. But for the students of history, they understand at that moment in time, Washington had never won a battle. We had never won one fight as a country. But that was our first victory, as we surprised the Hessians.
But what I would like you to see next time is who is in the boat. The second person is wearing a beret. He is Scottish. The person directly across from him in the green jacket, he is African American. You come down the boat, and in the middle of the boat, the person who almost looks the strongest, rowing in the red, is a woman. In the very back, the very last person, is a Native American.
I cannot tell you from a historical point of view if they were in the boat that night. But to this young immigrant who had lived in America, that is who he believed would be in the boat.
Now, the second to last person in the boat, he has a hand across his face. It is the hand of the 13th person nobody sees. What this artist was saying--Emanuel, I believe--Here we are, not a country but an idea, having lost every battle before but willing to create a Nation. Why? To go against the tyranny of a government that will tax you with no say, a government that became so big it can inflict pain upon you, tell you what to do, that we would risk it on our holiest of night.
Here is a hand. Would you get in and join us?
That is as true today as it was then. The challenge that we face right now is you are making that government big. You are doubling the size of the IRS. You are going against every single reason people were in that boat willing to risk their lives for a government of the people, by the people, for the people, a government that was created in a country that was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that we are all equal, because you think you know what is best.
I can only imagine what those individuals would think today, that you would put a bill on the floor that didn't go through committee. You put a bill on the floor that would double the size of the IRS, that could go after the American public, that has no set on an income, that 710,000 people under the income of $75,000 are now going to be audited because you want them to pay for what you think is best, that you're going to tax, with no limit on income, some family that already lost a month's salary based upon your past actions because of inflation.
You are going to make them choose how cold. You are going back to Jimmy Carter. You are simply telling the American public to put that sweater on, turn that heater down. But to your elite donors, you are going to give them the tax credit from those IRS agents so they can go buy a new Tesla. That is what you are doing in this bill.
But 4 to 6 months from now, you will blame somebody else for it. The good news is, there will be a new Congress with a new ability to change all that, that will provide the American public a commitment to America, a new plan to put this country back in the right direction.
Madam Speaker, with whatever happens today--and I can only guess, if you have all the votes in your pocket that people don't have to show up, one or two people can determine the outcome. But, Madam Speaker, I implore upon you--I don't know what happens in your conference--please allow the American public to come in to simply tell you and explain to you that, no, gas is not lower, groceries do not cost less, and the money does not go as far as it did before.
Maybe that is why I can only understand, if you truly believe that, that you would vote ``yes.'' For everybody else that is living in the real America, they will vote ``no.'' And 87 days from now, I believe most of America will have the answer to that question, too, with a new Congress and a new plan.
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