{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=5E6CC1F0-09DE-46CA-B0DF-BA2089C702B8", "Democrats\u2019 Reckless Tax Hikes Would Hurt Working Families, Help China, and Benefit the Ultra-Wealthy", "2021-11-18", "2021", "2021-11", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Democrats\u2019 reckless tax and spending spree:\n\n\u201cAmerican families are dealing with painful inflation every day. They have been fighting this daily battle for months now.\n\n\u201cA few months ago, a grandfather raising four grandkids in Missouri told reporters he had to cancel summer camp for his 8-year-old and his 6-year-old in order to keep affording diapers for their twin younger brothers.\n\n\u201cOne Maryland woman told the local news she\u2019d gone to the grocery store to buy meat for her family, but was turned away by the price tag and had to leave with a $2 loaf of bread instead.\n\n\u201cOne man in Massachusetts who cares for his elderly mother told reporters that his 94-year-old mom needs the house kept warm, so they are getting absolutely crushed by runaway heating costs. Here\u2019s what he said:\n\n\u201c\u2018Before, you'd go to the store, and if you had $100, you could buy four bags of groceries and be happy. Now, you're lucky to get a bag. Milk, orange juice, eggs. Plus the oil for the house, the water bills. It's just crazy. It's so much money. How is somebody supposed to survive?\u2019\n\n\u201cThis persistent and painful inflation has been directly fueled by the reckless spending spree that Democrats rammed through in March. Even if Washington Democrats didn\u2019t inflict more new damage, economists still say \u2018we\u2019re going to see inflation get worse before it gets better.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Democratic Leader said on March 12th, \u2018I do not think the dangers of inflation, at least in the near-term, are very real.\u2019 He was catastrophically wrong. And these same people want yet another multi-trillion-dollar bite at the apple.\n\n\u201cAmerican families know the spending part of Democrats\u2019 reckless taxing and spending spree would spell disaster. 67% just told a survey that Washington should cut back on printing and spending because of inflation and rising costs.\n\n\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the taxing part of their reckless taxing and spending spree.\n\n\u201cThe bill that Democrats are writing behind closed doors would hike taxes on the American people by an estimated $1.5 trillion. A trillion and a half dollars in tax increases.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have already turned a strong economy into a shaky economy. Now they want to add the biggest tax hikes in a generation.\n\n\u201cA huge chunk of that is hundreds of billions of dollars of tax hikes on American industries and employers. Because the Biden Administration has become enamored with a global scheme where countries around the world supposedly all agree to hike their taxes together.\n\n\u201cThis is an awful idea. Remember, in 2019, Republican policies had set up the best economy for working Americans in a generation. That was in large part because we\u2019d just cut taxes substantially. We made America a more attractive place to do business.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden wants to do just the opposite: thrust America into some kind of global non-compete agreement. We\u2019re supposed to promise Europe and Asia that we won\u2019t make America an especially attractive place to bring jobs and prosperity.\n\n\u201cIt gets worse. President Biden and Secretary Yellen want America to leap over this cliff first, and tax the heck out of American industries while we just wait and see if our competitors really follow suit.\n\n\u201cYou better believe China would be thrilled to see the Democrats\u2019 bill drain hundreds of billions of dollars out of our own private sector as a symbolic gesture to the rest of the world.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 tax policies are just like their energy policies. They won\u2019t build back better. They\u2019ll Build Back Beijing.\n\n\u201cThis is just one part of the $1.5 trillion in job-killing tax hikes. There all kinds of tax increases that would hit major employers, Main Street small businesses, and American families.\n\n\u201cNonpartisan experts have confirmed the Democrats\u2019 bill would completely break the President\u2019s promise not to raise \u2018a single penny more\u2019 in taxes on middle-class households.\n\n\u201cThey even want to send tens of billions in extra funding to the IRS so they can hire an army of new agents to snoop and audit their way across the country. But less than 3% of the huge IRS windfall would fund better customer service for taxpayers.\n\n\u201cFinally, in the midst of all these tax hikes, Democrats from New York, New Jersey, and California have managed to include a massive tax cut for wealthy people who choose to reside in high-tax blue states. This bonanza for blue-state millionaires and billionaires would cost almost $300 billion on its own.\n\n\u201cEven the Washington Post could only marvel at the audacity. Here\u2019s their headline: \u2018The second-biggest program in the Democrats\u2019 spending plan gives billions to the rich.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn fact, Madam President, even though Democrats want to hike taxes by $1.5 trillion, their bill still manages to give a net tax cut to 89% of people making between $500,000 and a million dollars, and 69% of households making over a million.\n\n\u201cA huge blow to American competitiveness. Job-killing tax hikes. But Democrats make sure to look out for the ultra-wealthy on the coasts. A supermajority of them get tax cuts. I\u2019m almost impressed our colleagues have found a way to be this out of touch.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:30:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=5E6CC1F0-09DE-46CA-B0DF-BA2089C702B8"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9199823252856731, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}