{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=24E87D49-86CB-4BF8-9811-896E42E49D38", "Democrats\u2019 Massive Government Expansion Jeopardizes Individual Liberties", "2021-09-28", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today called out Democrats for pursuing an irresponsible and reckless tax-and-spending spree that would significantly increase already high inflation and raise taxes on South Dakota families. Thune emphasized that Democrats\u2019 massive government expansion would stifle economic growth and jeopardize individual liberty.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, last night\u2019s vote was an exercise in futility, as Democrats knew would be the case.\n\n\u201cFor months now, Republicans have made it clear that we will not help Democrats raise our nation\u2019s debt limit to finance Democrats\u2019 partisan tax-and-spending spree.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats want to pass a massive partisan tax-and-spending bill without any Republican input, they can raise the debt limit without any Republican input.\n\n\u201cDemocrats, of course, have complained that they can\u2019t raise the debt ceiling by themselves.\n\n\u201cThe truth is that they don\u2019t want to do it by themselves.\n\n\u201cDemocrats want the credit for their social policies and the government handouts they\u2019re planning, but they don\u2019t want to own the price tag.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats are talking about engaging in a wild, reckless spending spree that will worsen our inflation problem, threaten economic growth, and substantially increase the government\u2019s control over Americans\u2019 lives.\n\n\u201cRepublicans can\u2019t support that kind of legislation.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to help Democrats increase the credit card limit to pay for it.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats want to raise the debt limit, they\u2019re going to have to do it by themselves.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I have come down to the floor more than once to talk about the reckless spending and the massive tax hikes that Democrats are planning.\n\n\u201cAnd I could spend the rest of my time here on the floor today talking about the irresponsible amount of money Democrats want to spend and the tax hikes they\u2019re proposing.\n\n\u201cBut today I want to look at things a little differently.\n\n\u201cMr. President, last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had this to say in reference to Democrats\u2019 $3.5 trillion spending bill: \u2018It\u2019s not about a price tag, it\u2019s about values.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018It\u2019s not about a price tag, it\u2019s about values.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, she\u2019s partially right.\n\n\u201cBecause while the price tag does matter, this is about more than just the price tag.\n\n\u201cThis is about values \u2013 and visions.\n\n\u201cSpecifically, Republicans\u2019 and Democrats\u2019 different visions of government.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 bill isn\u2019t just about spending money \u2013 even though it does spend money: a lot of it.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about a specific vision of government: one where the government is intimately involved in nearly every aspect of your life, from \u2013 to quote the New York Times\u2019 article on Democrats\u2019 bill \u2013 \u2018cradle to grave.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, someone once said to me that the difference between Democrats and Republicans is that \u2018Republicans believe in less government and more freedom. Democrats believe in less freedom and more government.\u2019\n\n\u201cI think that\u2019s a pretty accurate description of what we\u2019re seeing here.\n\n\u201cRepublicans oppose Democrats\u2019 tax-and-spending spree because it spends an irresponsible amount of money, but more than that, we oppose it because it moves us further and further away from the American idea of limited government.\n\n\u201cOur Founders established a limited government for a reason \u2013 because they respected individual liberty.\n\n\u201cAnd they knew that the heavier the hand of government, the less liberty Americans would enjoy.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why our Constitution is as much about what government cannot do as what government can do.\n\n\u201cNow, Democrats might protest that they\u2019re not restricting individual liberty.\n\n\u201cThat they\u2019re just providing a helping hand or redistributing wealth.\n\n\u201cBut when you expand the reach of government, the diminishment of liberty is inevitable.\n\n\u201cWhen government gets involved in a new area of life, it rarely, if ever, just comes in with benefits.\n\n\u201cIt comes in with rules. And regulations. And mandates.\n\n\u201cTake Democrats\u2019 child care benefit.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are preparing to offer child care subsidies to parents around the country.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not as simple as just taking some money from the government and going out and purchasing child care.\n\n\u201cBecause it turns out that Democrats are changing decades-old child care funding programs to favor secular child care providers who provide care at day care centers.\n\n\u201cIf you prefer to choose a faith-based provider for your child, you may be out of luck.\n\n\u201cMr. President, a 2020 Bipartisan Policy Center survey found that among parents who used center-based child care, 53 percent used a faith-based center.\n\n\u201c53 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd they reported that they chose these providers for a variety of reasons \u2013 from the quality of the caregivers to the cleanliness of the facility to the values of the provider.\n\n\u201cThat number may change if Democrats\u2019 tax-and-spending plan goes into effect \u2013 not because parents are changing their child care preferences, but simply because Democrats have set up their benefit to favor secular, center-based child care providers.\n\n\u201cWith government benefits comes government control.\n\n\u201cAnd government picking the winners and losers.\n\n\u201cSecular child-care providers win under Democrats\u2019 massive government expansion.\n\n\u201cFaith-based providers and parental choice, not so much.\n\n\u201cElectric vehicle manufacturers win.\n\n\u201cThe natural gas and biofuels industries, not so much \u2013 despite the fact that both have been key to producing cleaner American energy.\n\n\u201cUnions win under this bill.\n\n\u201cAmericans making charitable donations \u2026 not so much.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are allowing the charitable deduction to expire \u2013 but adding a new tax break to pay for union dues.\n\n\u201cWhen government is in charge, government dictates your choices \u2026 and picks winners and losers.\n\n\u201cGovernment also gets a lot more involved with overseeing the details of your personal life.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are planning to add a provision that would force banks and credit unions to report the details of your financial activity to the IRS, including certain deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are apparently still discussing the amount that would trigger the new reporting requirement, which has been proposed at $600 or $10,000, but whichever number they settle on, a lot of ordinary Americans are going to end up having their bank or credit union forced to report their private information to the IRS.\n\n\u201cTalk about Big Brother.\n\n\u201cMr. President, probably the biggest reason that Republicans believe in limited government is because we believe in individual liberty, and we know that the more government expands into your life, the more your choices and liberties are curtailed.\n\n\u201cBut there are other reasons that we believe in limited government.\n\n\u201cOne big reason is that we know that the federal government simply isn\u2019t the best way of delivering many services.\n\n\u201cThere are some things that the federal government is well-suited to do.\n\n\u201cHandling our national defense, for example.\n\n\u201cIf our country is invaded or attacked, it\u2019s a lot more effective for a national military to respond rather than for each state to respond on its own.\n\n\u201cBut there are a lot of other things that are better handled at a state level.\n\n\u201cOr at a local level.\n\n\u201cOr, in some cases, not by government at all.\n\n\u201cOur state government in South Dakota is a lot more familiar with the needs of South Dakotans than the bureaucrats at Washington agencies.\n\n\u201cAnd the city government in Sioux Falls \u2013 or Rapid City, or Pierre, or Box Elder \u2013 is even more familiar with, and more able to respond to, the needs of its individual residents.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why a lot of things are better handled at the state or local level \u2013 or, as I said, at times not by government at all.\n\n\u201cBig government is impersonal and inflexible.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not familiar with, and can\u2019t take into account, the particular and sometimes opposing needs of each state or each community.\n\n\u201cBig government is one-size-fits-all.\n\n\u201cBig government is also inefficient.\n\n\u201cAnyone who thinks the federal government would do a good job running Americans\u2019 health care hasn\u2019t dealt with a federal agency very recently.\n\n\u201cAnd big government is unaccountable.\n\n\u201cThink about it.\n\n\u201cIf you have a company that offers a bad product, what\u2019s going to happen?\n\n\u201cPeople are not going to buy your product, and you\u2019re going to go out of business.\n\n\u201cQuickly.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t work that way with the federal government.\n\n\u201cThe federal government is not going to go out of business because it isn\u2019t doing a good job delivering the services it\u2019s promised.\n\n\u201cIf the government is in charge of your health care and it isn\u2019t delivering quality health care, you have very little recourse.\n\n\u201cSure, you can try to vote in new members of Congress to reform things.\n\n\u201cBut even then, change can take a while.\n\n\u201cReal reform of an existing government program is rare.\n\n\u201cAnd elimination of a bad government program is even rarer.\n\n\u201cAs Ronald Reagan used to say, \u2018The nearest thing to eternal life that we'll ever see on this earth is a government program.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, I could go on.\n\n\u201cI could talk about how big government tends to stifle the innovation that leads to economic growth.\n\n\u201cOr ask why Democrats think that a group of bureaucrats in Washington are the best decision-makers for American families.\n\n\u201cBut I want to touch on one other point before I close.\n\n\u201cAnd that is that Democrats believe in government dependence as the goal.\n\n\u201cThey might dispute that characterization.\n\n\u201cBut you only have to look at the tax-and-spending package they\u2019re putting together to know that that is their vision.\n\n\u201cThey envision a future where Americans rely on the government for everything from child care to education to health care \u2026 and on and on.\n\n\u201cAnd that is a vision with which Republicans fundamentally disagree.\n\n\u201cOur vision is not a future of government dependence.\n\n\u201cBecause government doesn\u2019t bring prosperity.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t bring the American dream.\n\n\u201cAt best government is going to help you survive.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not going to help you thrive.\n\n\u201cYes, government can be an important backstop in difficult situations or national emergencies \u2013 like the COVID crisis.\n\n\u201cBut the goal should always be to get people to a place where they don\u2019t have to rely on government.\n\n\u201cPermanent government dependence robs people of the purpose and pride that comes with work and personal achievement.\n\n\u201cAnd, as I said, it denies them the opportunity for prosperity.\n\n\u201cNo one ever became prosperous on government benefits.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if you asked most Americans what the American dream means to them, I\u2019m pretty sure you would hear things like \u2018a good job,\u2019 \u2018a rewarding career,\u2019 \u2018the chance to pursue my ambitions,\u2019 or \u2018the chance to improve my circumstances and make life better for my children.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what Americans envision \u2013 not a future of government dependence and government subsidies.\n\n\u201cPeople are looking to achieve the kind of prosperity where they don\u2019t need government involvement in every aspect of their life \u2013 and can choose their path for themselves instead of having to follow the rules and regulations that come with government benefits.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a vision that Republicans share.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s what we\u2019re committed to fighting for on behalf of the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd that, Mr. President, is another reason we\u2019re committed to maintaining limited government.\n\n\u201cBecause the bigger the government grows, the more that vision of opportunity and prosperity shrinks.\n\n\u201cAnd so, Mr. President, Speaker Pelosi is partially right.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s wrong to dismiss the bill\u2019s price tag \u2013 because it is profoundly irresponsible to mortgage our children\u2019s and grandchildren\u2019s future with a massive government spending increase.\n\n\u201cBut she\u2019s right that it is about values.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans aren\u2019t opposing Democrats\u2019 tax-and-spending spree simply because it spends a lot of money, but because it advances a vision of government with which we profoundly disagree.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t believe that the American dream is government dependence.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t believe in an ever-expanding role for the federal government.\n\n\u201cAnd we don\u2019t believe that bureaucrats in Washington are a good substitute for the judgment of the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd that, Mr. President, that is why every Republican in the Senate will be voting against Democrats\u2019 reckless spending legislation \u2013 not just because it spends too much money, but because it fundamentally undermines the American tradition of liberty and limited government.\n\n\u201cIt is about values, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s about visions.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans do not share Democrats\u2019 vision of a future of big government and Big Brother.", 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": 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