{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/video-young-outlines-opposition-to-democrats-tax-and-spend-proposal/", "VIDEO: Young Outlines Opposition to Democrats\u2019 Tax-and-Spend Proposal", "2021-09-21", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "Senate", "IN", "Todd Young", "Y000064", "www.young.senate.gov", "toddyoung", "https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) joined Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee to express opposition to Democrats\u2019 $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend proposal.\n\nCongressional Democrats are attempting to fast-track their legislative priorities through a partisan and divisive reconciliation process \u2013 without Republican input or support.\n\nRead the Senator\u2019s Remarks:\n\nIn 2017, my colleague, Senator Sanders said:\n\n\u201cThe function of reconciliation is to adjust federal spending and revenue, not to enact major changes in social policy.\u201d\n\nNow fast forward to 2021, Senator Sanders and many of my Democratic colleagues have changed their tune.\n\nDemocrats in Congress are doubling down on their efforts to steer America toward the democratic socialist policies laid out in Senator Sanders\u2019 budget, with a $3.5 trillion spending plan that would be the most significant expansion of our social safety net programs since the 1960s.\n\nDemocrats are seeking to enact these sweeping changes through reconciliation, a partisan process which Senator Sanders himself said is not meant to be a vehicle for major policy changes.\n\nFrom job-killing corporate tax hikes, to small business money grabs, and hidden tax increases on the middle class, the Democrats\u2019 plan will punish job creators and workers and make us less competitive on the global stage.\n\nNow, perhaps that is part of their plan, to remake the United States in the image of Western Europe.\n\nIt\u2019s as if they want to punish businesses while rewarding unemployment and dependence on the government.\n\nRepublicans want to empower Americans to be self-sufficient, to unleash their God-given potential. That after all, is the promise of at the heart of the Declaration of Independence.\n\nIt\u2019s that promise that has lead generation after generation of people to our shores so that they too could realize the individual liberty, the promise of the heart of America\u2019s Declaration of Independence.\n\nRepublicans want to provide employment opportunities and a strong economy. We don\u2019t want to make people beholden to the government for their livelihood. That\u2019s not healthy. That\u2019s not freedom. That isn\u2019t American.\n\nI visited the Soviet Union in its dying days as part of a junior high soccer exchange trip. I still remember what I saw there. Food was scarce. Water was too.\n\nThere were public water stations, where Russians drank from a communal cup. They were desperate for everyday items Americans take for granted. Blue jeans, for example. And chewing gum, too. For decades, Russians were denied this because it was a symbol of American culture.\n\nNow think about that. A government that gives you everything, can also take anything away. Even chewing gum.\n\nProfligate collectivism, some people call it socialism, creates an environment where citizens progressively give up the right to decide how they spend their earnings, how they educate their children, how they get better when they are sick, a system where they are all frozen on the lower rungs of the ladder of life\u2019s opportunity, where upward mobility is unknown.\n\nThat\u2019s why the Democrats\u2019 reckless tax-and-spend proposal goes against everything we believe in this nation.\n\nAmong its many defects, their proposal picks winners and losers, increases our dependence on foreign oil, and allows blatant double dipping.\n\nAll of this is of course, incredibly misguided.\n\nAnd simply makes no sense when gas prices have jumped 40 percent since January, directly harming middle income Americans who can\u2019t afford a cent more.\n\nPunishing oil and natural gas producers while propping up renewables, many of which have materials directly sourced from Communist China, will have disastrous, wide-reaching effects.\n\nA 100 percent renewable energy-supported grid will result in blackouts and will make power delivery less reliable for millions of families. Not to mention the job losses for the 10 million Americans employed by these industries.\n\nDemocrats are also proposing sweeping changes to Medicare, this is a program which is incredibly popular among our senior citizens, is already on shaky financial ground. It is projected to reach insolvency within the next four years, prior to any changes by the Democrats that will undermine it.\n\nDemocrats are determined to add benefits that private plans already cover more efficiently.\n\nAdding hearing, vision, and dental under traditional Medicare is duplicative of the coverage provided through Medicare Advantage.\n\nSeniors enjoy their high-performing Medicare Advantage plans, which come at little to no additional cost.\n\nExpanding Medicare is unnecessary, duplicative, and will come with higher costs, less access, and harm the quality of care providers are able to provide.\n\nThese are just two examples \u2013 but the Democrats\u2019 reckless tax-and-spend proposal would have harmful consequences across the board for our country and the freedoms we enjoy.\n\nAmericans should be outraged, I know Hoosiers are.\n\nNot only by this radical expansion of government, but by the process Democrats are using to ram through their liberal agenda. Possibly ramming it through a 50-50 Republican and Democrat equally divided United States Senate\n\nRepublicans have stood up to socialism again and again. And we must continue to do so by opposing this reckless tax-and-spending boondoggle. We must protect the American promise and ensure that this remains the land of the free.\n\nTo view Senator Young\u2019s full remarks, click here.\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.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/video-young-outlines-opposition-to-democrats-tax-and-spend-proposal/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4548308681696653, "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"}