{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5A5F5821-6D53-4122-B464-37F24D93A854", "Thune: Democrats\u2019 Tax-and-Spending Spree Would Have South Dakotans Footing the Bill", "2021-09-21", "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 warned that the cost of the Democrats\u2019 proposed $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending spree would ultimately fall on the backs of hard-working, middle-income families. Thune noted that Democrats continue to be unfazed by their reckless spending proposals and job-killing tax hikes.\n\nExcerpt of Thune\u2019s remarks below:\n\n\u201cMr. President, inflation is rapidly becoming a serious problem.\n\n\u201cCurrently inflation is near a 13-year high, and has outstripped wage growth for many Americans, including the lowest-earning workers.\n\n\u201cIn other words, the rise in the price of everything from goods to groceries has resulted in a de facto pay cut for American workers.\n\n\u201cSo why are we experiencing this level of inflation?\n\n\u201cWell, one big reason is Democrats\u2019 decision in March to flood the economy with unnecessary government spending.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden and congressional Democrats took office mere weeks after Congress had approved a fifth bipartisan COVID relief bill.\n\n\u201cAnd it was abundantly clear that we were not in immediate need of trillions more in government spending.\n\n\u201cBut that didn\u2019t matter to Democrats.\n\n\u201cNow that they were in control of Congress and the White House, they wanted to take advantage of the COVID crisis.\n\n\u201cAnd so in the name of \u201cCOVID relief,\u201d they pushed through a massive, partisan piece of legislation filled with unnecessary spending and handouts to Democrat interest groups.\n\n\u201cSchools \u2013 which had barely touched the tens of billions they\u2019d already been given \u2013 got billions more.\n\n\u201cState governments \u2013 the majority of which did not need more government assistance \u2013 got access to a staggering $350 billion slush fund.\n\n\u201cLabor unions were made eligible for loans designed to rescue Main Street small businesses.\n\n\u201cI could go on.\n\n\u201cMr. President, at the time, Republicans warned about the bill\u2019s level of spending.\n\n\u201cAnd we weren\u2019t alone.\n\n\u201cMore than one liberal economist warned that pouring that much money into the economy at that time could result in inflation.\n\n\u201cAnd six months later, here we are.\n\n\u201cInflation is near a 13-year high.\n\n\u201cAnd Americans are worrying about whether their paychecks will stretch to cover the higher prices they\u2019re facing.\n\n\u201cMr. President, in the face of that fact \u2013 and considering the substantial amounts of money we had to borrow to meet the COVID crisis \u2013 you might think that Democrats would be taking a moment to reflect, and maybe think about ways to rein in excessive spending.\n\n\u201cBut you\u2019d be wrong.\n\n\u201cIn fact, Democrats have decided to double down on their failed strategy and pass another massive government spending bill \u2013 even bigger than the last one.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cRight now, Democrats are putting together a $3.5 trillion spending bill to follow up on their $1.9 trillion spending bill from this March.\n\n\u201cTo put those numbers in perspective, the entire federal budget for 2019 was less than $4.5 trillion.\n\n\u201cMr. President, dumping that much money into the economy is pretty much guaranteed to continue to fuel the kind of inflation Americans are currently experiencing.\n\n\u201cIn fact, there\u2019s a good chance it could make things much worse.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s not the only way Americans are likely to suffer as a result of Democrats\u2019 proposed tax-and-spending spree.\n\n\u201cAmericans are also going to feel the pain of the $2 trillion in tax hikes that Democrats are contemplating.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it always fascinates me how Democrats think that you can just tax without consequences.\n\n\u201cTo hear Democrats talk, you\u2019d think that you can impose $2 trillion in tax hikes and everything will just keep going along unchanged.\n\n\u201cBut of course, that\u2019s not the way it works.\n\n\u201cThere is no such thing as consequence-free taxation.\n\n\u201cRaise taxes by any meaningful amount, and people are most likely going to change their behavior.\n\n\u201cA small business, for example, may think twice about hiring an additional worker if it\u2019s facing a tax hike.\n\n\u201cA larger business may decide not to open that new plant it\u2019s been planning, or it may institute a hiring freeze, or it may decide that it needs to encourage some early retirements.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats\u2019 $2 trillion tax hike would be the largest tax hike in decades.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are proposing to raise taxes on large businesses.\n\n\u201cOn small businesses.\n\n\u201cOn investment.\n\n\u201cOn retirement savings.\n\n\u201cThe list goes on.\n\n\u201cAnd every one of those taxes will have consequences for ordinary Americans.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are proposing a corporate tax rate higher than that imposed by communist China.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s going to put American businesses at a disadvantage on the global stage.\n\n\u201cAnd when American businesses suffer, American workers suffer.\n\n\u201cDemocrats always seem to forget that most Americans are employed by businesses.\n\n\u201cAnd that as a result, when you raise taxes on businesses, ordinary Americans tend to feel the consequences.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats succeed in passing their $2 trillion tax hike, it\u2019s going to have serious economic consequences for regular Americans.\n\n\u201cConsequences like fewer jobs and opportunities.\n\n\u201cSlower \u2013 or nonexistent \u2013 wage growth, especially with higher inflation eroding household spending power.\n\n\u201cAnd fewer benefits.\n\n\u201cAmericans can also expect to see higher utility bills, thanks to Democrats\u2019 proposed tax hikes on large businesses and on energy development.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve been talking for a while now and I haven\u2019t even gotten to the spending side of Democrats\u2019 tax-and-spending spree.\n\n\u201cFrankly, it\u2019s difficult to know where to even start.\n\n\u201cThis proposal reads more like a spending encyclopedia.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s spending on pretty much every topic from A to Z.\n\n\u201cThere are the big-ticket items, of course \u2013 the supposedly free stuff that Democrats are emphasizing, such as free community college and free pre-K.\n\n\u201cThen there are the items Democrats aren\u2019t advertising as much.\n\n\u201cLike the $200 million \u2013 yes, $200 million \u2013 for a park in House Speaker Pelosi\u2019s district that features luxury accommodation and a golf course.\n\n\u201cGiven that, I\u2019m not sure why this park needs $200 million from the federal government, but I guess being speaker hath its privileges.\n\n\u201cIn fact, one Democrat representative admitted as much, noting that it seems \u201cSpeaker Pelosi gets maybe a little bit more \u2026 on some of these bills,\u201d but then went on to argue that she deserves it for being speaker.\n\n\u201cBut moving on \u2026\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a nearly $80 billion increase in funding for the IRS.\n\n\u201cYes, I said $80 billion.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s enough to nearly double the agency\u2019s size.\n\n\u201cBut I guess you\u2019ve got to have a lot of new agents to collect all those new tax hikes.\n\n\u201cThen there are new and expanded subsidies for electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cUnder Democrats\u2019 proposal, a couple could be making well over half a million dollars yet still claim more than $12,000 from the federal government to purchase an electric car.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s the \u201cCivilian Climate Corps\u201d \u2013 several of them in fact \u2013 at various government agencies.\n\n\u201c$20 billion for a \u201cNational Climate Bank\u201d to subsidize Democrats\u2019 pet environmental projects.\n\n\u201cAnd \u2013 and I am not making this up \u2013 a new tax break to subsidize membership dues to unions.\n\n\u201cPlus much, much more.\n\n\u201cAnd, of course, with all that government spending comes new government regulations.\n\n\u201cA long, long, long list of them.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the consequences of Democrats\u2019 tax-and-spending spree could be devastating \u2013 for our economy and for American families.\n\n\u201cAnd unfortunately Democrats have the ability to force this legislation through on a solely partisan basis.\n\n\u201cI know that there are at least some members of the Democrat Party here in Congress who are uncomfortable with the stratospheric levels of spending Democrats are proposing.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope that their cooler heads will prevail.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile, I, and every Republican, will do everything we can to protect Americans from Democrats\u2019 reckless tax-and-spending legislation.", 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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