Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) issued a statement today after Washington Democrats approved Senator Bernie Sanders’ $68 trillion budget—triggering a partisan reconciliation process to allow for $3.5 trillion in a new socialist spending spree and tax increase on all Americans, without holding an actual up and down vote on the budget:

“Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats used a shady scheme to pass over $3.5 trillion in their spending agenda that will hurt the economy, kill jobs, and enact liberal wish-list policies without actually passing the budget on its own merits. Democrat leadership is doing nothing but driving our country into crisis after crisis, and this budget is no exception, as it puts us on course towards sky-high inflation and catastrophic debt levels. I am vehemently opposed to the misguided policies in the budget that provide amnesty for illegal migrants, expand the welfare state, and enact socialist Green New Deal policies that will devastate the oil and gas industry.”

Background – The Democrats’ budget calls for:

• $68 trillion in spending over ten years – a $4.2 trillion increase over the current spending trajectory and the highest sustained spending level in American history. When combined with what House Democrats have already spent since gaining the majority in 2019, the total adds up to more than the total taxes paid by all Americans in U.S. history.

• $17 trillion in new debt – more than the value of every economy in the world, except the United States. Under this budget, in ten years, America will spend $1 trillion per year to pay the interest on the national debt – more than what the federal government will spend on Medicare this year and more than the national defense budget in 2031.

 • Trillions in new spending and taxes that will exacerbate inflation, drive the cost of goods and services even higher and undermine wages. In July, consumer prices rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier, putting them on pace to rise for the year at their fastest rate since 1981.