WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representative Austin Scott (GA-08) issued the below statement upon the House of Representatives passing the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376). Rep. Scott voted against the massive tax and spending bill which he contends would exacerbate rising inflation and raise taxes on Americans. The bill is expected to face substantial roadblocks in the U.S. Senate.

“The so-called ‘Build Back Better Act' is nothing more than a tax and spending spree to fund liberal policies. At a time when many American families are feeling a financial pinch, this bill would dramatically exacerbate inflation, raise taxes on families and small businesses, and expand the size and power of the federal government,” said Rep. Scott. “We are just days away from a potential government shutdown and debt limit default, and all Democrats care about is passing another piece of their socialist agenda. It’s baffling and disgraceful just how out-of-touch President Biden and Congressional Democrats are with issues impacting American families.

If passed by the Senate in its current form, the legislation would:

• Provide the IRS nearly $80 billion for tax enforcement purposes. It is estimated this will allow the IRS to more than double in size and hire 87,000 new agents.
• Grant amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants while the border crisis continues to surge.
• Perpetuate labor shortages by eliminating work requirements to receive welfare benefits for able-bodied adults – at a time when there are over 10.4 million job openings.
• Create a Civilian Climate Corps that would employ thousands of young people to work on climate change mitigation projects
• Impede and ban domestic energy and mineral production, increasing our dependencies on resources supplied by OPEC, Russia, and China.
• Raise taxes on natural gas, increasing the costs of nearly everything.
• Implement socialist price control schemes for prescription drugs that will negatively impact seniors, patients, those with rare diseases, and their families.
• Create over 150 new government programs.
• Give families making more than $500,000 a year up to $12,500 to buy an electric vehicle.
• Implement nearly $1.5 trillion in tax hikes, hitting American businesses big and small who compete both here and around the world hardest as they try to rebound after the pandemic.
• Force the 90% of Americans who don’t join a union to subsidize the few who do.
• Apply arbitrary price controls on drugs making it difficult for generics to successfully come to market.
• Provide $2.5B for “Community-based Violence Intervention Initiatives,” which could be used to deny Americans their 2nd Amendment rights without due process.

Additionally, the bill excludes Hyde Amendment protections which have ensured that Americans are not forced to pay for abortion on demand with their tax dollars for more than forty years.

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