Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) spoke at a press conference held by the Republican Study Committee (RSC) this afternoon on the $3.5 trillion reconciliation plan working through Congress. Rep. Hern serves as the Budget and Spending Task Force Chairman within RSC.

Watch video here or above.

Remarks as prepared: 

Thank you all for joining us today.

I spent the first five months of this year as the Republican Study Committee Budget and Spending Task Force chair working alongside many of these incredible men and women behind me on the RSC budget. 

As the Speaker has said on multiple occasions, “show me your budget, I’ll show you your values.” Her budget shows us she wants to bankrupt America, an atrocity for the American people. 

When I look at this so-called budget the Democrats are putting forward, it’s clear they have no respect for the taxpayer. Far too many Democrats here have forgotten this most basic fact: the US government has no money of our own. Every dollar comes from the American taxpayers. 

$3.5 trillion is an unimaginable sum, more than any of us can fathom. That money isn’t coming out of thin air – it’s going to come from you. 

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, families in my home state of Oklahoma received an average tax cut of $1,700. Pelosi’s budget would reverse that tax relief and place the burden of her unpopular agenda on American families. 

Let’s talk about debt for a minute. 

Every American family has to live within their means, or else accumulate debt. Your debts impact your credit and your budget. If you have debts, your family must adjust spending levels to accommodate paying off debt. 

Like every American family, the government has to factor in our debt to the decisions we make. Except Democrats like to act like our debts don’t exist. They think that it’s impossible for the United States to default on our debts, that we can spend as much as we want, when we want, with no consequences. 

When I first came to Congress at the beginning of 2019, our national debt was $19 trillion. By next year, we will hit $34 trillion. 

Congress has spent $13.3 trillion of your money on COVID relief programs, yet only 8.7 trillion of those dollars have actually been put to use. Where’s the other $4.6 trillion, why are we talking about spending even more?

This monstrous package is nothing more than a wish-list for the fringe left. I’ve spent the last several weeks back home in Oklahoma, talking with Republicans, Democrats, and people who couldn’t give a hoot about politics – none of them want what’s in this bill. They don’t want to see this kind of spending. 

Pelosi and Biden are catering to the few vocal members of the far left, and they’re leaving the vast majority of Americans behind in the process. A drastic expansion of the federal government is not what we need. The Green New Deal is not what the American people want. 

This is blatant contempt for the American taxpayer. It’s time for the taxpayers to speak out, stand up, and fight back. 

We do not accept Pelosi’s agenda. We will not be on the hook for Biden’s failures, and we sure as hell do not consent to this kind of reckless, wasteful, useless spending in our nation’s capital. 

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