GOP lawmakers criticize Dems tax and spending policies

August 11, 2021 carleyshaffer1 US 0

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 08: (L-R) U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rick Scott (R-FL) head to the floor of the Senate for a round of votes on August 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. Later tonight the Senate will vote on amendments for the legislative text of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill ahead of August recess. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 08: (L-R) U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) head to the floor of the Senate for a round of votes on August 8, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

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UPDATED 12:21 PM PT – Wednesday, August 11, 2021

As the Senate passes the long-debated infrastructure bill, Republicans have grown more concerned with Democrats’ careless spending. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) slammed Democrats’ reckless tax and spending policies just before the upper chamber passed the infrastructure bill.

Speaking on Capitol Hill on Monday, Scott criticized the left saying it appeared Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was now in control of the Democrat Party. He pointed to the Democrats’ new budget outlook, claiming the federal government isn’t living within its means and the left isn’t even trying to balance their spending.

Scott is among several GOP lawmakers who are for improving U.S. infrastructure, but in a way he said is fiscally responsible. He said Congress needs to be honest with the American people.

Democrat control of the federal government is crippling America with $45,000,000,000,000 in debt.

⁰With @SenSanders at the helm, the Democrats’ agenda of systemic socialism is putting American families on the hook with higher taxes, skyrocketing debt & raging inflation. 👀⬇️ pic.twitter.com/00WR13yPRw

— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) August 9, 2021

Additionally, the GOP has drawn attention to Democrat-led efforts to make changes to the death tax, which is one of several changes to the tax code the left has proposed in order to fund their massive spending. In an op-ed published on Monday, South Dakota Sen. John Thune (R) asserted Americans could be forced into selling their family-owned farms just to pay for Joe Biden’s proposed double death tax.

He argued the U.S. tax code allows family-run businesses to be passed down to the next generation without imposing capital gains taxes on the built-in gains from the prior generation. Thune said many of these gains are unrealized, including the price of the land which may have risen since being owned by previous generations. However, farmers aren’t seeing a penny of actual gain. He called it a step-up in basis and suggested it prevents families from paying a fortune when a loved one passes.

Thune warned this would crush the dream of farmers in his state, many of whom wish to pass their business onto a loved one in better condition. He said “the families who depend on these generationally-owned operations will be watching.”