Just two weeks after his House floor speech on financial fraud in Congress went viral, Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ-05) delivered another epic speech, this time focusing on COVID-19 and President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. Schweikert said the country is about at the point to declare the pandemic over, and he slammed Biden’s “social spending plan” for “economic violence” against the working poor and “laced with budget gimmicks.”
Schweikert explained how the combination of several factors now means the pandemic is about over. Pfizer’s new antiviral medication, which is about to be approved by the FDA, is 89% effective and will be available to millions by January. There are at-home COVID-19 tests and multiple vaccines. He will be putting forth legislation shortly to address this developing situation.
Next, he explained how Build Back Better is the worst of Keynesian economics and will “make the poor poorer.” He referenced how Medicare and Social Security are gradually bankrupting the country, something he covered in his previous speech. He asked, “Why isn’t this something we work on every day instead of discussions about how we can spend a whole bunch more money, take over a whole bunch more of the economy, slow the economy down and make this nation poorer?”
“The Democrats’ spending bill actually crushes poor people,” he said. “What are the two things you do to crush the working poor?” He said one is “inflation” which is “economic cruelty.” The second thing is opening borders, “adding millions of individuals with similar skill sets.” It “makes the working poor poorer.” The bill finances $100 billion for amnesty, giving them a five-year visa.
“The problem is the working poor aren’t our contributors,” he explained. “Promising things gets you reelected.” The working poor “aren’t the ones showing up lobbying us.” But the truth is, we have a “moral obligation to do good things for” them.
He explained one of the Democrats’ budget gimmicks in Build Back Better, which involved former President Donald Trump’s proposed drug rebate. Trump’s plan would have given consumers a rebate, passing the $150 billion cost along to the government. Democrats refused to pass it. But then they turned around and said since it was prevented from going into effect, it’s considered extra money coming in.
This is in part why the Congressional Budget Office estimated that new taxes from the Biden administration will only bring in $120 billion, not the $400 billion the Biden administration claims. Schweikert called the $400 billion “absolutely fraudulent numbers.”
He recollected how just a few years ago when working on tax reform, the Democrats would work hard to make sure Republicans justified dynamic scoring to make it honest. But “today they would never hold themselves to the same standard.”
Schweikert said “this is the scam that is now Democratic leadership.” He warned, “The left’s social spending bill is like a house of cards. When the left says it’s paid for, no, it’s not. And they know that, they’re not dumb. They’re manipulative but they’re not dumb.”
He explained how taxing the rich doesn’t bring in more money because it slows down the economy. A “great model of supply-side economics” took place in 2018-19, when “expensing” shrunk income inequality and poverty, far exceeded revenue projections, and the economy grew vastly. The Democrats’ proposed alternative minimum tax at the corporate level would eliminate that by shutting down investments in capital.
He said part of the reason for the mistaken focus is the Democrats are calling for new “armies of public employees,” including 80,000 new IRS employees in one of their models, so they need busy work for them.
The U.S. will have the highest rates on taxed income among industrialized countries, he said, “confiscatory levels of tax on income.” This will lead to people investing their money in safe government bonds instead of research and development.
Under Build Back Better, two-thirds of millionaires get a tax cut. Almost $1.4 trillion goes to the wealthiest income earners. Under the Democrats’ State And Local Tax deductions plan (SALT), he said the richest get the biggest benefits. Those making under $150,000 get nothing.
Instead of ranting that “the rich should pay their fair share,” Schweikert said “we should just stop subsidizing them.” He asked if he was living in a parallel universe since the Democrats say they are the party that opposes giving money to the rich.
He warned that under the Democrats’ Keynesian economics, inflation is going to continue to get worse. The left will next have to give additional subsidies to the poor “because we stuck it to them.”
During the Clinton administration, Americans learned that you can’t just hand out money without requiring learning job skills, it’s “cruelty,” so why are we returning to that, he asked. The Democrats say they are going to spend money on various entitlement programs for a few years and then cut it off, but they never end up shutting down the programs.
Schweikert explained how to fix the problem. He said it involves “lots of levers” and it’s “hard.” Immigration must be fixed, finance, spending and tax policy adjusted, and everything done to maximize economic expansion. And most importantly, “crash the price of health care — not shift around who pays for it.” He said if we don’t change this path, eventually 100% of revenues will go solely to pay for interest on the debt. Yet “the debate here is how to spend more money!”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Schweikert” by Forbes.
