Biden Spending Proposals Will Harm Economy, Raise Costs for Consumers
President Joe Biden will deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress tonight, where he is expected to detail legislation to spend trillions of dollars on ideological priorities. Ahead of the speech, CEI experts assess the administration’s reported proposals – and offer a more targeted reform to help people during economic crises.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray said:
“Unless the president unveils some serious proposals that will allow American infrastructure proposals to be built as quickly as European projects are, we will know that the real foundation of his proposal is hot air.” > Biden’s ‘Infrastructure’ Plan: If You Build It, You Will Pay
ENERGY
Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell said:
“President Biden has a lot to take credit for in his first speech to Congress. In less than one hundred days, the Biden-Harris administration has laid the groundwork for policies that will devastate the economy by lowering coal, oil, and gas production and raising electric rates and gasoline prices. The regulatory rampage President Biden launched in his first week in office will undo the tremendous progress made by President Trump to unleash America’s energy producers and the electric utilities and manufacturers that use energy. Trump’s deregulatory actions helped make America the world’s largest energy producer. President Biden’s half-a-Green New Deal agenda will raise gas and electricity prices for all Americans, which will most hurt Americans who can least afford it.”
LABOR
Research Fellow Sean Higgins said:
“President Biden contends that millions of American workers want to join unions, yet his administration is supporting the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would eliminate right to work laws in 27 states. Nothing about right to work laws prevents workers from joining unions if that is what they want. Instead, the laws give individual workers the right to say ‘no’ to joining one. Biden wants to strip workers of that right, something that wouldn’t be necessary if workers were as eager to unionize as the president claims.” > Is Biden Planning New Payroll Taxes?
FINANCE
Senior Fellow John Berlau said:
“President Biden’s massive proposed tax on carried interest in business partnerships would do grave harm to many businesses, including venture capital, angel investing, family farms, and several types of small business partnerships.”
REFORMS
CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews said:
“Nothing in the Biden Administration’s new ‘infrastructure’ proposal, the purported COVID relief bill, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, or the CARES Act reflect lessons learned, establish resilience or avoid a repeat of crisis-response excesses.
“The Biden administration and its allies excel at leveraging crises to expand government. There are numerous examples of progressives regarding the pandemic as an ‘opportunity for a reset’ and rallying point for a separate agenda, complete with a ‘new social contract.’ The victims of this irresponsibility are our descendants, in that today’s hyper-borrowing prevents future generations from managing their own crises, obligated as they are to one day pay for the cost of ours.
“To prevent this type of ‘flash policy’ from happening again, Congress should pass an ‘Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act.’ This law should require reforms to emergency declarations, allow for the inter-generational set-aside of large amounts of income for personal retirement rather than collected as revenue to fund more ineffective programs, and enact sweeping changes to hundreds of billions of dollars in annual block grants to states, among other reforms.
“Pulling back the reach and ambitions of government will allow space for households to become more resilient and businesses to lead an economic recovery. It will also allow our children and their children the ability to face the challenges of their time rather than simply settle the check left by our generation.” > Laws Have Mercy! Here Is How Biden Is Restricting Access To Regulatory Guidance Documents
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