'A Recipe For Recession': John Hickenlooper Tears Into Republican Budget, Warns It Will Add To Debt

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) spoke about the Republican reconciliation bill and the effect that it would have on the national debt.

Transcript

00:00Mr. President. The Senator from Colorado. Mr. President, this month, my fellow

00:10colleagues in the Senate, the Republican Senate members, are working to pass a

00:15budget proposal that I feel can best be described as dangerous. Their plan is

00:23going to dramatically reduce even gut surfaces like Medicaid and SNAP, getting

00:29food to hungry, low-income workers. It'll strip health care away from most likely

00:38more than 16 million Americans and threaten millions of seniors living in

00:44nursing homes. All this is focused really on just trying to get larger tax rates

00:51to very wealthy people who don't really, in most cases, don't really want them or

00:56the largest corporations. This lavish, and I think lavish is the only word that

01:01describes it fairly, this lavish tax bill gives more to the top earners while

01:07taking away from the Americans with the least. But it really doesn't have to be

01:12that way. If the Republicans could focus on extending tax cuts for working

01:17families, rather than the wealthiest, they could, in and of that self, that one

01:23effort, that one initiative, they could avoid ripping away health care from more

01:28than 15 or 16 million Americans and gutting our much-needed investments in

01:34climate change and fighting climate change and to make sure we have lower

01:37energy prices. Instead, they're going full steam ahead with really what is a

01:44god-awful bill. I want to focus today on another dangerous part of this plan, how

01:50it explodes our national debt and really risks our economic future. Many

01:57proponents of the bill love to hem and haw about being financially responsible, but

02:01like a few people in here, I've managed budgets before. Back when I started

02:08Colorado's first brew pub and then as mayor and as governor of Colorado, mayor of Denver,

02:13governor of Colorado. So I know something about fiscal responsibility and it's not

02:18partisan. At its best, fiscal responsibility should be bipartisan. I can

02:25definitely say this bill that we're looking at is the opposite of fiscal

02:28responsibility. It's it's fiscal madness. This is a massive spending bill that's

02:34going to create the largest national debt in American history and you don't have

02:39to take words for it. You can look at the numbers. The nonpartisan Congressional

02:46Budget Office estimates that the the House Republican plan, so this is a plan

02:50coming over from the House, would add 2.7 trillion dollars. That's trillion with a

02:56a T, 2.7 trillion dollars to the deficit over the next decade. The Penn Wharton

03:03model, which includes something like north of 500 billion dollars in the the

03:10additional interest payments from that accumulated debt over year after year

03:14after year over those 10 years, suggests it would add up to not just 2.7 trillion, but more like 3.2 or 3.3 trillion dollars.

03:22The bill our Senate colleagues are putting together makes many of the same mistakes and

03:29I think by most measures that a small business person would look at, it's

03:35reckless. The bottom line is more American tax dollars would go towards tax cuts

03:40for again, at least in Colorado, the very wealthy people I've talked to aren't

03:46asking for, aren't seeking these tax cuts. And they, you know, under this tax plan that

03:52came over, is coming over to us right now, those tax cuts for the very wealthy are

03:59coming instead of expanding access to health care or building roads or improving

04:04our schools. And more tax dollars would go to paying off the massive debt, paying the

04:12interest on the massive debt, then all our defense spending combined. It will become

04:18more than 25 percent of our federal budget just to pay the interest on the debt. Now,

04:25if that sounds like a bad idea to you, it's because it is. And the markets agree, Moody's, the

04:35last major credit rating agency to maintain U.S. as highest level of rating, its highest, you know,

04:44designated a safe place to invest your money, just downgraded our credit rating. It's the

04:50first time that's happened and it shook investors that Moody would downgrade our

04:56credit rating. Investors aren't confident that the U.S. will be able to pay its debts. And

05:04that's, at least in terms of Moody's, has never happened before and is, it's really

05:11just going to lead to more trouble. Those investors who buy those 10-year bonds and

05:18help pay for our national debt are demanding higher returns because they view it as a

05:22riskier investment. They need a higher return if they're going to hold U.S. debt, which

05:28forces, since there's, you've got to get, attract that investment, it means you've got to offer

05:34higher interest rates, which means you've got higher borrowing costs. And that means

05:40that Coloradans and Americans are going to pay higher interest rates when they want to

05:45buy a house or expand their business or if they want to pay off their credit cards. They're

05:52going to have to pay more because the interest rates are going to be higher. Now, Americans are

05:57already plenty concerned about rising prices for good reason. This whole system could lead to the

06:05dreaded stagflation. This could all become a one-two punch to working families. All the while,

06:15the wealthiest families end up being better off. Now, we don't need to do this.

06:20We can certainly grow our economy, we can help working families, and we can cut the deficit.

06:29We were able to balance the budget all eight years I was mayor of Denver, all eight years I was

06:35governor, and still grow our investments in our roads, in our education system, in our health care

06:41system. We also did this with the Inflation Reduction Act, which would reduce the deficit by

06:48over $175 billion over the next 10 years, and has already dramatically lowered a number of

06:56prescription drug costs. It's expanded health care access, and in the process, created hundreds of

07:05thousands of good jobs. The Republican budget, I think, does the opposite. We also can't forget

07:13that this budget comes in the midst of the Trump administration's efforts around tariffs,

07:21what our good friend, the senator from Washington, was just talking about when she described the

07:27consequences of Smoot-Hawley, and how those tariffs, just at 20%, led to a global slowdown

07:35recession in the overall economy. We all know that these tariff taxes are really not so hidden, but

07:45they're taxes on the American people. They raise prices on everything from groceries to kitchen

07:53appliances. Now, none of this is a growth strategy. It really is a recipe for recession at the best,

08:03stagflation at the worst. We can't borrow millions. We can't borrow billions. We can't borrow trillions

08:11just to hand out tax cuts to the top when working families are struggling to be able to afford

08:20everyday goods. It doesn't add up. It never has. It never will. Now, there are many issues that may be

08:29partisan, but being financially responsible doesn't need to be one of them. Neither should good,

08:35strong economies. Neither should economic fairness. Neither should protecting working families.

08:45They really don't have to do it this way. Now, I'm always game to roll up my sleeves and dig into the

08:54balance sheet. But we haven't seen from the other side that they're willing to negotiate or really

09:03invest in the long-term economic growth. I'd suggest that we write a budget that reflects our values

09:11and puts tax cuts toward working families first, a budget that strengthens the middle class, one that

09:22keeps our economy strong, and will keep it growing for generations to come. This bill is not any of that.

09:31I urge my Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate not to temporarily put a pass on their values

09:44and to support this, again, I think truly reckless fiscal bill. I hope that we can come together and

09:55negotiate a better bill that does more economic growth and puts a far, far lesser penalty on the working

10:05people of America. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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