Grassley, chairman of the Federal Senate Finance Committee.
On Friday, January 22, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) issued a statement warning President Biden not to use the Epidemic to promote leftist, big government economic policies and not to use the new bailout package to advance liberal causes. He pointed out that Biden’s executive order is really an order for “big government to take over the U.S. economy.
When Biden became president this week, Congress had already approved $4 trillion in pandemic-related aid, including the $900 billion approved just last month. But Biden has proposed another $1.9 trillion economic package. Republicans are increasingly skeptical of this. Conservatives see the new package as an expensive, unworkable liberal wish list.
On Saturday, Jan. 23, Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen defended Biden’s spending plan during her confirmation hearing, arguing that the economic benefits of the plan outweigh the risks of an increased debt burden.
In a statement, Grassley responded to Yellen by saying, “By advocating for a so-called rescue package, she (Yellen) revealed what the Biden Administration has in mind for the next four years: a big government takeover of the U.S. economy – from repealing Trump‘s tax cuts to imposing mandates on small businesses and restructuring the nation’s health care and energy infrastructure.”
Grassley acknowledged that Americans need more relief, but argued that Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal is “reckless” and that some of the line items are “the political Dreams of progressives.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has pointed out that a $15 minimum wage plan would cost the U.S. 1.3 million jobs. Grassley also said in a statement that the plan would freeze hiring and expansion of small businesses. In the worst-case scenario, it would “eliminate small businesses that are hanging by a thread. He said, “Closing businesses in major neighborhoods reduces economic vitality and means no jobs, no paychecks and no tax revenue.”
Grassley also pushed back against Biden’s proposed tax increases, arguing that they “would not grease the wheels of an economy that is starting to gain traction. Rather, they would put the brakes on an economic rebound, with unbridled spending leaving taxpayers behind.”
Grassley warned that “go big or go Home” could turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Implementing a big liberal checklist without building consensus and winning bipartisanship is more likely to be a one-way ticket to a one-term presidency.”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) also took issue with the increased deficit noted. He said at Yellen’s hearing, “When is this thing going to reach the point where it starts to fall apart? That’s what I’m really concerned about, and no one from either party is really talking about that.”
Some economists worry that the U.S. will fall into a “debt trap,” and that high debt will stifle economic growth, lead to more debt, and possibly divert investment from important areas such as infrastructure.
“We should be very worried,” Atif Mian, an economics professor at Princeton University, told the Washington Post in August that the U.S. was in a “debt trap” and that “we’re talking about We’re talking about a level of debt that is certainly unprecedented in modern history or in history. We’re definitely at a tipping point.”
Republicans expressed hope that economic aid would ease the epidemic, but argued that much of the $190 million package was on Democrats’ wish list. Republican Sen. Rick Scott said Biden’s proposal would “take $1.9 trillion of taxpayer money and spend it on liberal priorities that have nothing to do with the Communist virus.”
On Jan. 24, White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese will reportedly meet privately with a bipartisan group of 16 senators in an effort to hammer out a compromise economic assistance package.
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