This piece was originally published on TheHill.com
Democrats are working to remake America, and they’re using our tax dollars to do it.
From cradle to grave, the Democrats’ $3,500,000,000,000 reconciliation bill will control how Americans live their lives and advance government control more than any bill since LBJ. Worse, the bill will subsidize the lives of coastal elites while forcing working- and middle-class Americans to foot the bill.
The top priority of big government socialists is attacking the American way of life, and this bill is their vehicle to do it. Just for starters, it would force Americans to pay $450 billion for government-run preschool, enact Medicaid funding for abortion on demand in every state, threaten access to life-saving drugs, expand ObamaCare, create an army of IRS tax enforcers, assemble an army of government-funded climate activists with the Civilian Climate Corps, and potentially grant amnesty to 8 million illegal immigrants.
Many of the policy priorities will not only change your tax bill, but they will change how you live your life. At a time when energy prices have risen 25% for the average consumer over the last year, senators are considering assessing a methane tax, which could increase emissions while making it pricier for families to keep the lights on. The bill would also double the tobacco tax and raise prices for cigarette alternatives to match the highest rate — that’s a 2000% increase for some alternatives. The provision would take in $119 billion, almost entirely on the backs of low- and middle-income consumers. The corporate tax hike in the bill would raise our business tax rate higher than China’s, and it will be paid for almost entirely by workers and consumers. The bill would create a “pilot plan” to explore taxing every mile Americans drive — that would fall harder on rural Americans, who drive more and drive farther than nearly anyone in New York or Washington.
The list goes beyond taxes: this monstrosity of a bill would pay off cities to “reform zoning,” which is a backdoor way to destroy American suburbs. The bill would also enact Medicaid funding for abortion on demand in every state, including Planned Parenthood. Funds would even be granted to nursing schools that develop training on “bias, racism, and discrimination” — that’s Critical Race Theory for the doctor’s office, paid for out of your paycheck.
While the bill increases the hand of government in the lives and bank accounts of working American families, it contains a grab bag of goodies that would reward the left’s donor base for their support of Biden. Wealthy coastal consumers would get an electric vehicle tax credit of $12,000 per car. The state and local tax (SALT) deduction would be expanded, which only rewards taxpayers who earn high incomes and live in high-tax states — who overwhelmingly vote and donate to Democrats. In addition, the proposed climate package would fund “Green” corporations and nonprofits run by left-wing millionaires like the Sierra Club. And states won’t be able to restrict the new abortion-on-demand funding — that means a bailout for Planned Parenthood.
Americans shouldn’t accept the spin from the White House. Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer are working overtime to take from Americans’ wallets to remake society in the image of the left, supercharge the welfare state, and give tax breaks to their affluent, “woke” voting and donor base. The winners from this bill are Tesla drivers, Planned Parenthood executives, and “diversity” consultants. Everyone else will have to foot the bill — the price tag comes out to a staggering $27,000 for every household in America.
This bill should be an obvious no-go for any Republicans, and to their credit, none have come out to support it. But some Republicans are supporting it indirectly: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have closely tied the $1 trillion infrastructure bill to the larger reconciliation package — one can’t be passed without the other. That means that a vote for infrastructure is a vote for the biggest government expansion since the ’60s. No Republican should vote for it.
If Democrats prevail here, this would be the final nail in the coffin for all that Donald Trump was able to accomplish. The success from Trump’s tax cuts, pro-life policies, and overall America First agenda will all be erased.
Jessica Anderson is the executive director of Heritage Action for America.