OPINION: Democrats’ reckless taxing and spending spree stuffed with absurd waste and political payoffs

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding Democrats’ reckless tax and spending spree:

Two thirds of Americans are worried about inflation.

About half of the middle class and 70 percent of low-income families just told Gallup that rising prices have been a personal hardship for their households.

That’s why 67% of the American people say that Washington needs to ‘cut back on spending and printing money.’

But here in Washington D.C., Democrats are bound and determined to do just the opposite. They want to try the crazy strategy of inflating their way out of inflation. Another massive, reckless taxing and spending spree.

Even the most generous estimates, when the CBO has to swallow all of Democrats’ accounting gimmicks at face value, still say their proposal would entail $800 billion in new deficit spending over the next five years alone.

Outside experts who are allowed to reject Democrats’ obvious budget gimmicks find the real cost of their bill would actually be close to $5 trillion dollars, and after a decade, it would increase deficits by $2.8 trillion dollars.

But the reckless price tag isn’t the only problem. What is remarkable is that the Democrats want to spend all these trillions but not leave citizens with any impressive, enduring new national project in return.

There’s no Hoover Dam, Interstate Highway System, or moon landing on the other side of their mountains of borrowed money. Nothing like that.

Just a giant catalog of socialist mediocrity – new entitlements here, new transfer programs there, new ways to let bureaucrats run families’ lives, and shameless goodies for specific interest groups who support the political left.

A giant muddled mess that would leave families with fewer childcare choices and higher costs… with fewer new prescription drugs and cures… with higher prices for less reliable energy…

There are a lot of big, sweeping, radical changes in their proposal that would change families’ lives dramatically and for the worse.

But in between the sweeping wish-fulfillment for people who call themselves ‘democratic socialists,’ there is also a remarkable amount of pure waste, absurd little giveaways, and interest group goodies.

A billion here, a billion there, and hope the American people won’t notice if it’s buried in enough bureaucratic gibberish.

Here are just a few examples:

This bill would supply billions of dollars to help colleges and universities indoctrinate college students with even more left-wing propaganda.

And billions more to give them made-up Potemkin jobs in a make-work program they’re calling a ‘Civilian Climate Corps.’ This at a time when industries already cannot find workers.

Their bill would set aside multiple billions of dollars to put federal government employees like IRS agents and postal carriers into brand-new electric vehicles.

Earlier this year, the Biden Administration made sure that luxury Teslas with a sticker price of up to $97,000 were on the list for government procurement.

So working families might be having to choose between heating costs and new shoes for the kids, but don’t worry, Democrats will make sure IRS auditors can cruise around in Silicon Valley’s finest.

Their proposal would create a huge $29 billion slush fund that activists are applauding as the foundation for something called ‘a national green bank.’ Can you say Solyndra on steroids?

An entire government bank to finance pipe dreams that can’t earn support in the real economy.

Perhaps to make sure these reckless policies get good press, Democrats have included a $1.6 billion bailout for the news media. I’m not making this up. We are essentially talking about government welfare for newsrooms.

It goes on and on.

There’s a new special tax break for rich universities’ massive endowments…

Hundreds of millions of dollars to overhaul kids’ school lunch menus, including making sure they are, ‘culturally appropriate.’ I guess they want to make sure that children’s cafeteria trays are sufficiently woke.

There is even what appears to be a $33 million kickback that is largely for one Democratic congressman whose vote Speaker Pelosi had to lock down. Out of nowhere, one mostly dormant government commission that is important to this Democrat’s district gets a funding increase of 13,000%.

So take a step back. Our colleagues’ proposal isn’t some big national leap into the 21st century. It is an endless hodge-podge of this nonsense.

Partisan back-scratching, interest group giveaways, and shameless waste.

And through tax hikes and inflation, working American families will foot the bill.

Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is the U.S. Senate Republican Leader.