GOVERNMENT FUNDING (Executive Calendar)
Congressional Record Vol. 169, No. 48
(Senate - March 15, 2023) PDF
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to also express my
disappointment in the fiscal year 2024 budget submitted to Congress by
President Biden. As a fiscal conservative, I have serious concerns
about the direction this budget proposes to take our country. It fails
to address the real needs of our Nation and instead doubles down on
failed policies.
Americans continue to suffer from the worst inflation since the
Carter administration--inflation set off by President Biden's reckless
tax-and-spend agenda. Consumer prices have risen 15 percent since Biden
took office. These are real numbers. People in my home State of
Mississippi and across this country continue to see their hard-earned
savings dwindle and their paychecks stretched thin by higher prices for
everything from groceries to gasoline and basic utilities.
After 2 years of trudging through this economy, Americans truly need
help. However, President Biden's budget will do anything but help. The
President's $7 trillion budget for 2024 will result in massive spending
increases that will further exacerbate our already significant debt and
deficit problems. Remember, reckless spending is the major reason
prices took off in the first place.
We simply cannot afford to spend at this level and continue passing
on the burden of our current and growing debt to future generations.
What is more, this proposal includes $4.7 trillion in new or
increased taxes--the largest tax hike since the 1960s. These tax hikes
would stifle economic growth, discourage investment, and ultimately
harm the very people the President's budget is supposed to help.
The President is asking Congress to hike the individual Federal
income tax rate up from 37 percent to 39.6 percent, not including the
surtaxes with that. This proposal would push tax increases on even more
hard-working Americans. Make no mistake, this proposal does not ``tax
the rich,'' as my colleagues across the aisle love to say; it raises
taxes on middle-class Americans.
The President's proposed tax increases may raise revenue in the short
term to support his big spending, Big Government schemes, but they
amount to distraction and to only gimmicks.
There is little chance these massive tax increases will see the light
of day, but even if they did, the Biden tax hikes would not address the
underlying issues of our ballooning national debt.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the Federal
Government will spend over $10 trillion on interest alone in the next
10 years. Think about that for a moment--$10 trillion on interest
payments alone. Unbelievable. As we pay more and more on debt interest
payments, there will be less available to use on critical and important
priorities like Senator Hoeven mentioned: national defense,
infrastructure, healthcare, or education.
I recently reintroduced a constitutional balanced-budget amendment
because I am very concerned about the future of this great Nation. In
contrast, President Biden's 2024 budget plan sends a clear signal that
he and his administration are not serious about controlling the
national debt or even reducing annual deficit spending. He may talk
about it, but this budget says otherwise.
It is our responsibility as elected officials of the American people
to strengthen our Nation, not to leave it saddled with unsustainable
debt that puts everything at risk, including entitlement programs that
hard-working Americans have paid into their entire lives.
President Biden's budget is a disappointment and falls short in
addressing serious challenges, such as getting our fiscal house in
order, securing the border, unleashing American energy, and so much
more.
We all know the President's budget was received dead on arrival, but
it signals the starting point to the annual budget process. It is my
hope that wiser minds on both sides of the aisle will prevail as
Congress embarks on the 2024 budget and appropriations process.
Americans are already pinching pennies, taking on debt, and
struggling to pay their bills, and they deserve much, much more. They
deserve relief, and our Nation needs relief in the form of tried-and-
true just pure fiscal responsibility.
I yield the floor.