Senate Democrats passed a framework for President Joe Biden’s agenda early Wednesday. It is nothing short of a blueprint for a far-left, radical remaking of the United States.
Weighing in at a supposed $3.5 trillion, the Democratic spending plan pushes mothers into full-time jobs with a childcare plan that ignores mothers who want to work at home or part-time.
It punishes married couples with an extended child tax credit that is worth more to single parents. It creates a universal prekindergarten program, despite convincing evidence from Canada that such programs are harmful to children. It pumps up a failing higher education system instead of investing in trade schools. And it raises taxes on working people through a new carbon tax while cutting taxes for rich Democrats in wealthy coastal states.
This legislation is designed to punish those who want to live a traditional way of life and reward those who live a progressive lifestyle. Worse, it tries to change the very definition of who is American by giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S.
The legislation does not even try to pair this massive amnesty program with any effort to deter further illegal immigration. Instead, it contains billions of tax dollars for “border management investments” designed to process new illegal immigrants into the country faster.
One might think such radical changes to our nation’s laws would merit some committee hearings or even a supermajority in either chamber of Congress. Nope. Democrats did not wait for either. They passed the bill in the dead of night (4 a.m. to be exact), with the barest of a 50-49 majority.
Supposedly, this $3.5 trillion spending plan is to be fully paid for with new tax hikes and cuts to other programs. But as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes, the legislation also calls for $1.75 trillion in new borrowing over the next 10 years, which means even Democrats doubt all those tax hikes and spending cuts will ever materialize. That $1.75 trillion would then be added to the more than $6 trillion the federal government has already borrowed over the last two years fighting COVID.
No wonder inflation is the highest it has been in over a decade.
But Biden’s new $3.5 trillion spending plan is far worse than the COVID relief bills. At least that spending was temporary. Biden is seeking permanent changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and Pell Grant spending as well as brand new permanent programs for universal pre-K, universal college, and paid family leave.
And the true cost of all these permanent programs is intentionally obfuscated by Democrats. Instead of extending the child tax credit for 10 years at a cost of $1.5 trillion, Biden’s bill only extends it for five years. Democrats have deliberately low-balled the true costs of all their other spending programs as well, apparently hoping the public will become addicted to all of Biden’s new big government programs.
Both Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have voiced objections to the size and scope of their party’s spending priorities. Democrats need both of them to stay in line to pass their radical agenda. Hopefully one, or both, will break with the party and save the nation from this expensive mistake.
