LAFAYETTE, LA – Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) and the House Freedom Caucus announced their official positions opposing H.R. 5376, the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.”
Congressman Higgins issued the following statement:
“The leftists are selling pure lies. We are in the midst of the worst inflation crisis in over 40 years, and Democrats intend to make things much, much worse. Another $800 billion in deficit spending, a massive tax increase, and oppressive new government restrictions on our freedoms. Their bill raises taxes on American families, increases inflation, and wastes hundreds of billions of dollars on Green New Deal subsidies. Worse yet, they are weaponizing the IRS and hiring 87,000 new IRS ENFORCEMENT AGENTS to target working Americans with aggressive, targeted audits. I am 100% opposed to this monstrosity of a bill, and I will return to DC this week to try to stop it. We will use every mechanism at our disposal to reveal the truth about this bill. I’m clarifying now to my constituents that I will cast my vote in opposition.”
The House Freedom Caucus issued the following statement:
“The House Freedom Caucus opposes the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ and urges all Republicans to vote against it. Furthermore, if enacted, the Members of the House Freedom Caucus commit to fully repealing the many radical and toxic provisions of this massive 725-page partisan package, which contains more than $700 billion in tax increases and over $400 billion in radical spending priorities.
“The fact is that Democrats’ latest spending bonanza has far more to do with enacting their socialist ‘Green New Deal’ agenda than truly helping Americans suffering from staggering 9.1% inflation. A host of non-partisan experts all agree that this legislation will not decrease inflation, and many forecast that it will have the opposite impact. Worse still, not only does this bill direct $369 billion in handouts to climate change special interests, but it does so on the backs of the American taxpayer. To finance their socialist agenda, Democrats are supersizing the Internal Revenue Service with $80 billion (six times the agency’s annual budget) to create an army of 87,000 new enforcement agents to target Americans with as many as one million additional audits per year on taxpayers earning less than $200,000 – the same middle-class suffering the most from the skyrocketing inflation of Bidenomics. The misnamed ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ is a disaster from every perspective and it must be defeated.”
