Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today voted against Senate Democrats’ more than $1 trillion tax and spending bill:
“Democrats under Joe Biden have spent trillions, creating the worst inflation in over four decades, and now their answer to this disaster of their own making is to tax us into a recession. Yet again, their response to current spiraling inflation caused by their out-of-control spending spree is to raise taxes on small businesses and middle-class Americans, spend more money on their ‘Green New Deal’ agenda and impose government-run price controls on prescription drugs that will thwart future medical innovation – a dangerous recipe for worsening inflation and sending us into an economic downturn. I had to vote against this radical proposal today.
“Leftists are cheering this reckless and irresponsible bill which is quite clearly the most far-left legislation in American history. This proposal could put more than 100,000 American jobs at risk and inflict a severely disproportionate economic impact on natural gas producing states, like Oklahoma. Raising taxes on job creators in the oil and gas sector, wasting more taxpayer money on subsidizing the liberal coastal elite’s electric vehicle purchases and hiring over 80,000 new IRS agents to target America’s middle-class will not provide relief to American families at the gas pump, the grocery store or when paying their mortgage. This legislation will undoubtedly contribute to higher bills for every American. Period.”
Early this morning, the Senate voted on an amendment filed by Sens. Inhofe and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) to the reckless tax and spending bill that would have enacted strong permitting reforms aimed at reducing burdensome regulations currently delaying key energy and infrastructure projects across the country. This amendment incorporated legislation authored by Sen. Inhofe that gives states the right to develop all of their energy resources on federal lands within that state’s border and empowers states to be the sole authorized entity to set fracking laws within their borders. All 50 Senate Democrats voted against this commonsense amendment. Read more about the amendment here.
Inhofe also offered five motions or amendments that would have forced Democrats to modify their bill with provisions that would support American energy independence, ensure vital medical student education funding, empower parents with resources to choose life for their unborn child with Down Syndrome, force countries like China, India and Russia to adhere to President Biden’s Paris Climate Agreement emission reduction targets he set for America, and permanently extend accelerated depreciation tax status for business property on Indian reservations. These efforts closely mirror legislation Inhofe has introduced this Congress.