GOP blasts Dems after Senate passes energy and health care bill

Leading GOP figures eviscerated Senate Democrats for pushing through a $740 billion package that would spend on energy and health care while raising corporate taxes with the GOP chair warning midterms would be painful for President Biden’s party.

“Democrats will pay the price in November for raising taxes on families during a recession,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

Senate Democrats narrowly approved the Inflation Reduction Act Sunday, with Vice President Kamala Harris the deciding vote in the 51-50 passage. No Republican backed the bill and quickly slammed it as it moves its way to the House, which also holds a slim Democratic majority.

The bill would put close to $400 billion into environmental initiatives while also extending expiring subsidies for 13 million people seeking affordable health insurance. It will also cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare to $2,000 yearly.

Some of the $700 billion in new revenue would come from a minimum 15% corporate tax rate imposed on very wealthy corporations that have profits of more than $1 billion each year.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a statement, said that Democratic policies have led to an “economic assault on the American middle class.”

“Democrats have proven over and over they simply do not care about middle-class families’ priorities,” McConnell said (R-KY). “They have spent 18 months proving that. They just spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prove it again.”

Sen. Mitt Romney argued Democrats helped contribute to inflation when they passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan last year and “returned to their same tired playbook to raise taxes, spend more money, and expand the size of government.”

“Rather than listening to the American people who are suffering from inflation, Democrats have voted for a liberal wish list,” Romney (R-UT) said, stating higher taxes on companies will be passed on to customers.

“The American people, who are drowning in debt and inflation, needed a life preserver and Democrats gave them a bag of hammers.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) assailed the bill as a “give-away to the Democrats’ radical leftist base at the expense of middle-class Americans.” He added it would raise prices and raise taxes on Americans in most tax brackets, including those who make less than $400,000 annually.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was blunt in a video he posted on Twitter.

“It takes a special kind of stupid in my judgment to raise taxes during a recession and inflation,” he said. “That’s called stagflation, which is what we have right now as a result of President Biden’s policies.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she voted against the bill because it puts billions into new spending and taxes “when our economy can least afford it, along with the absolute lack of transparency that went into crafting and processing it.”

“Even floor debate – with amendment votes starting just before midnight on Saturday, and continuing through Sunday afternoon – was designed to avoid public awareness and scrutiny,” she said. “While I don’t oppose everything within the bill, there is no doubt in my mind, based on both substance and process, that the Senate should not have passed it.” 

Democrats praised the passage after a vote-a-rama of proposed amendments Saturday into Sunday with Biden saying in a statement Senate Democrats “sided with American families over special interests.”

“I ran for President promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does — period,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also lauded the bill.

“The Senate is making history,” he said. “I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century.”

With Post wires