I strongly oppose and voted “no” on the insultingly-named “Inflation Reduction Act.”
At a time when Americans are suffering the effects of a decades-high, crushing inflation—and as economic data show that the US has entered a recession—the timing and substance of the Democrats’ bill is an unmitigated economic disaster. Experts who have reviewed the legislation—including those at the Penn Wharton Budget Model and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office—have widely agreed that this gimmick-laden tax and spending spree will do nothing to reduce inflation. Most of us know it could make it worse.
A product of a backroom deal, this seriously flawed legislation will raise taxes—which will be felt by Americans at all income levels according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
The egregiously misguided tax-and-spend legislation also supercharges the IRS with $80 billion and 87,000 new agents to audit hardworking Americans and grants the agency more power to target critics of the Administration, as occurred under Obama and Clinton. Especially disappointing for my constituents is the Democrats’ refusal to honor their promise of a SALT-cap repeal, which could have provided much-needed relief for overtaxed New Jersey families.
The bill worsens Biden’s ongoing energy crisis by adding new restrictions on oil and gas, and spends taxpayer money on untested “Green New Deal” programs—including subsidies for electric cars, which, as was revealed at a hearing I chaired last month, requires cobalt often sourced from Chinese Communist Party-controlled mines in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This mining frequently involves the labor trafficking of thousands of children—more than 40,000 trafficked children in the DRC alone—all in the name of the “Green Economy.”
It also includes a poorly-thought-out drug price negotiation scheme that will stifle innovation and prevent the development of important cures for diseases like cancer.
Equally baffling, this irresponsible monster spending bill is being pushed through Congress at a time when the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates $750 billion in pandemic-relief funding remains unspent.
I urge Congress to take immediate action on meaningful measures to mitigate inflation and thwart the recession brought on by Biden’s disastrous economic policies. Unfortunately, this legislation does just the opposite, and will only worsen these crises.
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CHRIS SMITH serves New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
