BY ISABEL VAN BRUGEN AND PAUL GREANEY
The Epoch Times
"Absolute socialism” is just around the corner in the United States if the proposed infrastructure bill passed Congress, according to Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).
The Democrat-led Senate is working on a major infrastructure bill that Democratic lawmakers hope will be signed by President Joe Biden by the end of September. Biden first floated the $2 trillion infrastructure bill while campaigning.
“Socialism probably is right around the corner—absolute socialism,” the Republican lawmaker and real estate developer told NTD News, expressing concern over the nation’s debt as the White House mulls how to pay for the wide-ranging bill.
The starting point for infrastructure costs stands at $320 billion from a transportation bill previously passed in the House. However, the White House has so far declined to specify an overall price tag since proposing its $2 trillion plan amid concerns of how to pay for it. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that Biden will be discussing the proposal with his policy team “in days ahead.”
Democrats have said the package would include roughly $1 trillion for roads, bridges, rail lines, electrical vehicle charging stations, and the cellular network, among other items. The goal would be to facilitate the shift to supported “green” energy while improving economic competitiveness.
A second component would propose benefits for workers, including free community college, universal pre-kindergarten, and paid family leave.
Democrats have proposed a wealth tax as a potential funding mechanism for the bill.
“The problem we’ve got is so many… from Biden on down to who he has put in control, are career bureaucrats. They’ve … never had a job, they’ve never worked in a factory, they’ve never had to produce income,” Norman said.
“I was on the budget committee last year, to have the $1.9 trillion [COVID-19 relief package], they’re talking about another $2 trillion plus for infrastructure, no budget offsets—you just would not do this, the country’s $30 trillion in debt.”
“Every individual agency or every individual grouping from Medicare, social security, the items that we by law have to fund now are about bankrupt,” he added. “So this would pretty much do us, and combined with the tax hikes, it makes absolutely no sense,” he said.
Norman’s remarks echoed a Monday Senate floor speech by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said that he expects the proposal will be a “Trojan horse” that includes other Democratic priorities such as tax hikes, and “other job-killing left-wing policies.”
Tax hikes imposed by the Biden administration to fund the package would “hurt the whole country,” Norman said, noting that a recession followed when former President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 created a temporary 10 percent income tax surcharge on both individuals and corporations.
Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.
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Although the goal is a bipartisan infrastructure package, Democrats in Congress have signaled a willingness to go it alone if they are blocked by Republicans, given their current majorities in both houses.
“We need to get it done,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) ahead of a virtual meeting with the president at the senators’ annual retreat on Monday evening.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said last week that he plans to attempt passing the infrastructure bill by using a budget process to cut out Republicans, even though several Democrat senators have said they won’t support utilizing the method.
The COVID-19 relief package was passed with zero Republican votes after Congressional Democrats used the reconciliation budget process to bypass the filibuster, which lowered the threshold required in the upper chamber from 60 to 50.
“Businesses are the backbone of this country, small businesses particularly, are the ones that produce the taxes that pay the first responders, the police, fire. And that’s what we’ve got to get back to, to remind the American people,” Norman added.
Or was she and Fang Fangs boy toy too busy Russia! Russia! Russia'ing! it?
Shill.
Sad!!
The first six are consensual. Write-in for Kamela's two saggy tits to complete the sixsome for his slurp slurp shilling TDS nourishment.
All I’ll say is the difference between Trump’s corruption and dem corruption is mostly just optics.
List it alongside his fascist actions.
Fight the wall tooth and nail for four years then talk smack about the wall not being done
Edit to add call Trump a fascist and a dictator then talk smack because he wasn't
I do think HOW we spend all that money is something that needs to be debated more
And then track to see if any of it did anything
Like LA announcing rent money to struggling families. How many families actually got any money and how much or did it go to non profit donors type stuff. Same with infrastructure. What gets built and what goes into donor pockets
Both sides really do loot the treasury which was one of the appeals of the outsider and why he fucked up the game
Known political outsider.