{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/senator-scott-slams-democrats-tax-and-spend-policies-in-floor-speech-senate-banking-hearing/", "Senator Scott Slams Democrats\u2019 Tax-and-Spend Policies in Floor Speech, Senate Banking Hearing", "2021-09-28", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SC", "Tim Scott", "S001184", "www.scott.senate.gov", "timscott", "https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/jsf/jet-engine:press-list", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) questioned Chairman Powell and Secretary Yellen on the Biden administration\u2019s harmful economic plans, and he took to the Senate floor to discuss how the Democrats\u2019 $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend bill would harm the American Dream and stifle economic opportunity.\n\nClick to watch Sen. Scott\u2019s floor speech\n\nOn defending the American Dream \u2026 \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about today is not about simply a $3.5 trillion spending bill. We\u2019re talking about something more fundamental to what it means to be an American. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to live in a country where upward mobility is a reality \u2014 that we can, by hard work and a strong education, change our fortunes in this country, and not only change it for ourselves, but change it for the generations that follow us. \u2026\n\n\u201cAs a kid who struggled in high school \u2026 who did not believe always that there was a way that a poor kid in South Carolina could ever escape poverty \u2026 I am thankful to live in a country where the American, free-enterprise system provided a pathway forward, and if I could just see it and believe in it and work towards it, it was possible for me to achieve the outcomes that we\u2019re sitting here trying to defend. \u2026 The challenge, of course, is that we look at the $3.5 trillion package, [and] it makes it harder for a kid trapped in poverty, as I was, to find a path forward.\u201d\n\nOn destructive contents in the Democrats\u2019 proposal \u2026 \u201cThe content of this legislation is more dangerous than the amount of the legislation, and I\u2019ve got to tell you, $3.5 trillion is pretty dangerous. But more dangerous than the $3.5 trillion is having the IRS empowered to take a look at every single transaction. Not only the $600, but imagine doubling the number of IRS agents with the $80 billion in this package \u2014 doubling the number of agents to come take a look at your family businesses, your family accounts. Destructive. Go beyond that. \u2026 Restoring the tax credits for the state and local taxes for millionaires and billionaires across this country and putting that burden back on the backs of working people \u2014 middle-class working people. \u2026\n\n\u201cI will say this: If the Democrats\u2019 plan succeeds \u2026 I fear that kids stuck in poverty today will be stuck in a caste system of socialism tomorrow.\u201d\n\nClick to watch Sen. Scott\u2019s questions\n\nOn the Democrats\u2019 spending plans \u2026 \u201cDemocrats control the White House, the Senate, the House, they have the votes to raise the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, they also have the votes to fundamentally weaken the greatest economic engine in world history. What they do not have the votes to do is to force Republicans to be complicit with their reckless spending spree.\n\n\u201cKilling the goose that lays the golden eggs isn\u2019t just bad for the goose; it\u2019s bad for everyone who depends on the eggs as well. There is nothing compassionate about spending money we don\u2019t have on new benefits we can\u2019t afford, all the while discouraging work and increasing the likelihood of a future default when the yet-to-be-born American receives the bill for benefits she didn\u2019t experience and are no longer available.\u201d\n\nOn labor force participation and inflation \u2026 \u201cIt\u2019s also important to note that our labor force participation rate is down, not up. Even with the new programs and the payouts that I heard this morning during this hearing that somehow is supposedly increasing our labor force participation, when in fact it\u2019s apparent and clear to Americans that\u2019s not the case. Chair Powell, you know as well as I do \u2014 and certainly maybe neither one of us know as well as the folks working paycheck to paycheck around this nation or the seniors depending on their social security checks to make their ends meet \u2014 that inflation is having a devastating impact on people on fixed income, people working paycheck-to-paycheck. I think about the fact that gas prices are over 40% as a nation and frankly over the last few days, we\u2019ve seen signs that it\u2019s going to only get worse, not better.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:17:01Z"]], "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.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/senator-scott-slams-democrats-tax-and-spend-policies-in-floor-speech-senate-banking-hearing/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2307348661124706, "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"}