Schumer: Democratic Spending Plan Will Lower Costs for Americans, Cut Taxes, Create Jobs while Tackling Climate Crisis
While most Americans will see tax cut, budget will be paid for with tax hike on the wealthiest, majority leader says
Finally nearing the finish line on the bipartisan infrastructure plan senators of both parties put together with the White House, Senate Democrats Tuesday will pivot to moving forward with a sprawling $3.5 trillion spending package.
That budget plan — assembled largely by Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and other members of the Senate Budget Committee — will have a number of objectives aimed at making life easier for working- and middle-class Americans, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“The Democratic budget will lower costs for Americans; cut taxes for American families; create millions of jobs while tackling the climate crisis; and be paid for by the wealthy paying their fair share,” Schumer said. “These are four goals. The American people support every one of them overwhelmingly.
“And in all phases, we will concentrate on communities that have too often been neglected, including communities of color and Native Americans,” he added.
Many of the policies Democrats are proposing were in President Biden’s American Jobs and Families Plan, but some go beyond, like expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing benefits—”something that was left out of Medicare at the beginning and it never should’ve been, and we can rectify it now,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. “By cutting taxes for tens of millions of American families, we can expand opportunity and make it easier for parents to pass on a better life to their children and their grandchildren.
“By making further investments in infrastructure, we can create tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs,” he added. “And by finally tackling climate change, we can spare our country and our planet the most devastating effects of global warming. Just this morning, a major new report from climate scientists at the United Nations concluded that the nations of the world have only a small window to ‘prevent the most harrowing future,’ in the words of The New York Times.”
Fending off Republican attacks against the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint, Schumer said that only the very wealthy would see any increase in their taxes.
“And while my Republican colleagues regurgitate the same tired talking points about a ‘Democratic spending spree’ – let me remind America that we plan to pay for this package by making the wealthy pay their fair share,” he said. “When our Republican friends held the majority in this chamber, they chose to use the same process Democrats are using now—budget reconciliation—to give corporations and the wealthy a massive tax break. At a time of egregious income inequality, the former Republican majority rammed through a bill where 83 percent of the benefits went to the top 1 percent. Eighty-three percentof the benefits.
“I have nothing against the wealthy. God bless ‘em. They’re doing fine already. But it’s time to cut taxes for American families, middle class families, not multinational corporations. To make our tax code more progressive and more fair,” he added. “That’s what Democrats are going to do. Under this plan, there will be no tax increases on small businesses or American families making under $400,000.”
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