Tuberville: Democrats’ Reckless Tax & Spend Spree Isn’t Just Unaffordable, It’s Un-American

‘…what everyone in this body should be focused on doing, opening doors for opportunity for the people of this country.

President Biden seems determined to close those doors of opportunity by creating, it looks like, a future massive entitlement state’

‘Real success is measured by how many people no longer need the help in the first place. Our efforts need to empower people to be free to live and work to build a better life for themselves and their families.’

‘The most successful anti-poverty program should eventually put itself out of business.’

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) today on the Senate floor spoke about the costs of the Democrats’ big government approach to pandemic recovery and how their reckless spending is hurting American families at the worst possible time.  

Excerpts from Sen. Tuberville’s remarks can be found below, and the full speech can be viewed here.

Click here or the image above to view Senator Tuberville’s Floor Speech.

“If we work hard and challenge ourselves to improve, we reap the benefits for much longer. That is the American way. I’d tell this to my players over the years that I coached, but lessons learned that are applied to the football field also apply in life. You know, this country owes you one thing, an opportunity. Sometimes people just need to be shown where that opportunity’s at and encouraged to take it. And that’s what everyone in this body should be focused on doing, opening doors for opportunity for the people of this country. President Biden seems determined to close those doors of opportunity by creating, it looks like, a future massive entitlement state.”

“My Republican colleagues and I have talked a lot about the reckless tax and spend plan and the cost of that plan on American families. We’re seeing rising inflation, which means dollars from your paycheck are not going as far. We’re seeing costs rise on every day goods that families need, food, gas, diapers – you name it, it’s going up. This is a direct result of untargeted spending this year as we’re trying to recover from a pandemic.”

“And now our Democratic colleagues look like they want to spend $3.5 trillion more after spending $1.9 trillion back in February. And what gets talked about less than costs of this spending is the social and societal cost of all these new and expanded programs.”

“It started with President Biden’s announcing two plans, great names. First was the American Family Plan and then there was American Jobs Plan. Despite their confusing similar names on the face they don’t sound that bad. I’m for American families and I’m for American jobs. These plans are not for American families or American jobs. They are full of progressive items that can only pass the Senate through a reconciliation process.”

“Here we are with our colleagues stuffing the worst parts of President Biden’s agenda, I’m talking about the most aggressive items, that appease the base or far left into the package and all of President Biden’s programs costs money — lots and lots of money and they are going to pay for them with your taxpayer dollars. Not the government’s dollars, taxpayer dollars.”

“Folks back home have started to take notice and there’s a lot more collective wisdom among the folks back home than there has been lately here in Washington, D.C. so I brought a couple of letters with me here today. Here’s what James Merrell from Huntsville, Alabama wrote to me, ‘I have been studying this atrocious Biden America Family Plan. It is clear that not only is the costs staggering, the implications of all the rules that will go with it will terribly impact all family life and our freedoms to manage our lives. It blatantly makes the middle-class dependent on the government, cradle to grave, a clear path to socialism.’ James, you are exactly right. And Rosa Hill in Birmingham, Alabama, had this to say, ‘I just listened to President Biden and the ideas are ridiculous. We should be helping each other, not the government getting involved.’ Ms. Hill makes an important point. Much of this work can and should be done by our neighbors and churches and people in the communities.”

“Half a century ago, President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty. He and leading liberals at the time thought the answer to poverty was to dramatically increase the benefits the federal government would give out to the poor. Well, the War on Poverty didn’t work like its backers thought it would. The following decade was filled with economic stagnation, high inflation, gas lines, spikes in drug addiction, and horrifying rise in crimes across our country.” 

“Folks, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. We’ve already tried this. President Biden is determined to try the same worn-out policies today, throwing trillions and trillions of taxpayer money at the problem and hoping the problem goes away. According to one analysis by the Hoover Institution, President Biden’s American Family Plan would add $21 million Americans to the federal government’s list of beneficiaries.”

“My Republican colleagues and I have spoken about how these misguided benefits essentially pay people not to work, destroying small businesses all over the country and our economy’s progress has gone down as we try to recover from this pandemic. Republican governors across the country recognize the problem and decided to cut out the overly generous benefits months ago. Folks who need help, would get it. But they wouldn’t be paid to sit at home and they wouldn’t be sitting at home when they could have been working at jobs that would help their families.”

“According to the monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, states that cut their federal expanded benefit are closer to returning to pre-pandemic employment levels than the states that kept it. 13 of the top 15 states with the best unemployment numbers have all ended their federal expanded unemployment insurance.”

“The reckless tax and spend spree to advance President Biden’s progressive agenda isn’t just unaffordable, it’s un-American. The United States was founded on the ideas of personal liberty and self-reliance. Since our founding people have flocked to the United States because of the opportunity it gives citizens to succeed, not because of cushy government handouts. Because our society valued and values hard work, grit, and determination more than the countries most of these folks have left behind.”

“Republicans believe in self-reliance, that you have within you God-given skills and potential to work hard and succeed. You have that. That’s what this country gives you, which is why President Biden’s reckless spending spree and expansion of government programs is so, so disappointing.”

“The Democrats and President think success is measured by how much taxpayer money the government can spend. But real success is measured by how many people no longer need the help in the first place. Our efforts need to empower people to be free to live and work to build a better life for themselves and their families. The most successful anti-poverty program should eventually put itself out of business.”

“I say we work together to encourage people to seize the many opportunities in our country and have them wait around hoping the government will fix every problem life throws their way. That’s a culture of the United States of America, the best country on the face of the earth.”

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.

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