Lloyd Smucker

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and service of Former Chief of Police Harry S. Hartman of the Columbia Borough Police Department. Chief Hartman's end of watch was April 4, 1923. Chief Hartman was killed while serving in the line of duty, as the Chief was attempting to serve a mental health commitment paper to an individual living on Union Street in Columbia. Chief Hartman was joined by the individual's father and upon approaching the home, the individual opened fire with a .25 caliber revolver on his father striking him, and later shooting Chief Hartman twice in the abdomen. Chief Hartman would pass away later that day, after being transported to Columbia Hospital. At the time of his passing at age 59, Chief Hartman had served with the Columbia Borough Police Department for three years. He entered law enforcement first as constable of Columbia's first ward. Chief Hartman was survived by his six children and had lived his entire life in Columbia, Pennsylvania. The Lancaster Intelligencer reported that he was ``affectionately known as Chiefty'' by the residents of Columbia and that he ``was in many aspects an exceptional law officer.'' The Intelligencer continued ``Like a good doctor, Chief Hartman believed in preventative measures. It will never be known how many crimes were averted and how many possible criminals were saved through the timely and kindly interference of `Chiefty.' It is known that on many occasions where incipient trouble was brought to his attention, he nipped it in the bud through kindly council and advice.'' Mr. Speaker, this year marked 100 years since the end of Chief Hartman's watch. May we give thanks for his service to our community and give thanks to all those individuals who put themselves in harm's way serving as law enforcement officers in our community and across the Nation.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Lancaster Lions Club, which is celebrating their 100th Anniversary this year. The Lancaster Lions Club received their charter on March 31, 1923. Over the past century, much has changed, but their mission of serving the community has remained the same. Since 2000, the club has raised and donated over $250,000 to more than fifty local organizations, including those that support the blind, those with childhood cancer, and organizations supporting the homeless. Every month, for the past 10 years, the Lancaster Lions Club has assembled to clean the Conestoga Greenway Trail, supporting our environment and ensuring those utilizing the trail are able to appreciate nature and the beauty of the Conestoga River. Mr. Speaker, we give thanks to service organizations like the Lancaster Lions Club, who truly make a difference in their community. We congratulate and thank the Lancaster Lions Club for 100 years of service to our community and wish them continued success in all their endeavors.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. It is not about taking away unemployment benefits for those who relied on them. It is quite the opposite. This bill goes after those who robbed unemployment benefits from those who need it. Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will recognize that this is commonsense legislation to right a wrong and to protect our constituents and our taxpayers.

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the premise of this bill is simple: Criminals and fraudsters should be held accountable for dollars that were illegally obtained, and we ought to ensure that this doesn't happen again. We can argue, we can talk about how we got here, who is responsible, but I can tell you, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Republicans spent the last 3 years pleading with the Biden administration and with Democrats for answers on the impact of unemployment fraud, for ways to stop it, and the steps that we need to recover as much of it as possible. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, and now we have some counts as high as $400 billion that were lost to fraud or improper payments under the program. That is money that should have been supporting our constituents that were struggling from job loss during the pandemic. Instead, it went to criminals and cheats. In my district, too many unemployed individuals could not access payments because those benefits had already been claimed by scam artists. Similarly, for the last two tax filing seasons, many of my constituents have only found out then that they were a victim of identity theft when they got a 1099 in the mail that says they owe taxes on unemployment benefits they never claimed. Now, they are stuck fighting the IRS to rectify their tax bill and hung out to dry trying to reclaim their identity. Finally, after 3 years, House Republicans are taking this important step today to right this wrong. This legislation gives States both the incentives and the tools needed to prosecute criminals and recover fraudulent payments. It takes the steps that we should have taken 3 years ago to prevent fraud in the first place. I do want to be clear: This bill is not about taking away employment benefits from those who relied on them, who needed them during the pandemic.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Columbia Water Company as they celebrate 200 years of service to Lancaster and York Counties. Over the past two centuries, water delivery systems have changed drastically--but as ground reservoirs have turned into elevated steel storage tanks, and wooden pipes into electronic control systems, one thing remained constant: the company ensuring that residents of Columbia and the surrounding communities had access to clean and safe water. Incorporated in 1823, Columbia Water has survived a Civil War, a Great Recession, Two World Wars, and countless droughts. Nevertheless, in a nation defined by its entrepreneurial spirit, this company has thrived in a way few others have, serving generations of Lancaster and York families, and playing a critical role in helping the community prosper. Today, it operates 160 miles of water mains, 9 finished water storage tanks, 6 pumping stations, 4 wells, and 11 pressure zones. That's a long way from operating just one log reservoir more than 200 years ago. Once again, it is my privilege to congratulate Columbia Water Company on the occasion of their bicentennial and thank them for their service to residents in my congressional district.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank Manheim Township Police Officers Kyle Carner and Anthony DiClemente, who went above-and- beyond the call of duty, rescuing a woman whose vehicle had become submerged in a pond. Though water rescue is not part of standard training for many police officers, these heroes acted with competence, speed, and bravery to save the life of another. Despite the cold, they immediately took action upon arriving at the scene, wading through the murky water and rescuing the victim moments before she found herself underwater. When moments mattered, they thought not of themselves, but of the life of a stranger who was in need. It is heroes like Officers Carner and DiClemente who help us to understand and appreciate the role of policing in our communities: to serve and protect. I thank Officers Carner and DiClemente for their services to our community on that December night, and everyday they have worn their uniforms before or since. Their actions exemplify a high degree of character and integrity which we should all strive to emulate.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my sincere congratulations to Mr. S. Dale High, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as he has been named the recipient of the Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth Award from the Pennsylvania Society. Dale High is the Chair Emeritus of the High Companies. In 1963, Dale joined his father and brother in the family business, becoming Chairman of the Board, President and CEO in 1977. Over the course of 60 years since he joined the business, Dale has transformed the company through expansion into new industries, employing nearly 2,000 individuals across 38 facilities in 8 states. In 1980, the High Foundation was formed. ft is a charitable organization which has given generously to support organizations and to eliminate the issues that contribute to the cycle of poverty. The High Foundation supports those working to solve problems with education, housing, transportation, healthcare, financial literacy, childcare, nutrition, and more. There is no question the positive impact that Dale High's actions and leadership have contributed to our Lancaster County community and beyond. He is certainly a Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I congratulate him on this well-deserved award and thank him for making a difference in our community.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, the last time the U.S. debt held by the public equaled our total economic output was just after World War II. After that, economic policies, fiscal policies that put our country on the right track resulted in decades of American prosperity and American leadership across the world. Today, the trajectory is far different, as shown on this chart. Our debt-to-GDP ratio, the best economic measure to show the health of our economy, is projected to go up from 98 percent today to 118 percent in the next 10 years and double our economy in just the next 30 years. All I hear from Democrats today is pass a clean debt ceiling. Does anyone on their side care about this trajectory which will end in disaster? The President certainly has no plan to reduce our debt. He refuses to even negotiate or to acknowledge our debt challenges. The Republican plan today, which I am proud to support, is the Limit, Save, Grow Act. This bill will rescind unspent COVID-19 funds, reverse Democrats' inflationary Green New Deal corporate welfare policies while allowing for responsible 1 percent annual increases in discretionary spending so America can continue to invest in core functions of government. All in all, the bill will reduce, as seen on this line, future debt growth by $5 trillion over the next 10 years and begin to decrease our projected debt-to-GDP ratio by 12 points over the next 10 years. Growing our GDP is the second part of the equation, to boost economic growth. The bill includes reforms to unleash domestic energy production and implements pro-growth work requirements that will strengthen our recovering labor force. This bill alone, as seen in this chart, is not enough to solve our Nation's fiscal issues, but it is a very important first step toward getting our debt-to-GDP ratio on a descending trajectory. It will begin to bend the curve. I call on the President to negotiate in good faith with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling and put forward policies to limit, save, and grow.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Chair, I thank my friend, Mr. Massie, for introducing this bill. I am listening to some of the arguments on the Democrat side here today, and I hear about vaccine conspiracies. I am not hearing that over here. In fact, I am vaccinated. I have the boosters. I think it was important to do that. I am proud of what we were able to get done through Operation Warp Speed. We protected many Americans. But I don't understand the argument that this has anything to do with vaccine conspiracies. I was contacted by a constituent, Hunter McBryde, who informed me that this particular mandate, that almost no one else in the world has in place, is keeping his family separated. This is keeping his kids from seeing their grandparents. He is from the district that I represent in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He happened to be studying in Australia for his Ph.D. when the pandemic started. His wife is an Australian citizen. They share three beautiful children. Because of this shortsighted policy, Hunter and his family have been unable to move back home to Lancaster County to be with the rest of their extended family here simply because of the family's vaccination and immigration status. I contacted the CDC on behalf of the family and was told that the agency still believes that COVID vaccines, not testing, not quarantining, are necessary to protect public safety, despite the fact that President Biden has said the pandemic is over. Mr. Chairman, 147 countries, including Canada, U.K., Italy, France, Australia, South Korea, and many others are totally open to tourists, regardless of their vaccination status. Another 57 nations allow tourists to take a COVID test or quarantine if they are unvaccinated. The worst of this pandemic is clearly over. There is no reason that the CDC should continue to discriminate against tourists or residents who, for health or religious reasons, do not wish to receive the COVID vaccine.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I am especially grateful to the ranking member for allowing me 2 minutes because he knows I am rising in support of this bill. I understand and completely agree with my friend, Mr. Westerman, who is a dear friend and who does a wonderful job as ranking member on this committee. I understand his frustration with this process because this did come up quickly. There are a lot of unanswered questions about what this will mean, depending on what the Puerto Rican people will choose. I agree with him when he said that America is a beacon of hope to the world, and it is a light to the world. I think that makes the case for why we should allow the Puerto Rican people to make their choice about their own future. I have heard concerns on our side about economic issues, taking on debt. I think this bill will specifically address that. Puerto Rico, if it chooses to be a State, would keep the debt. I would argue the opposite. Puerto Rico has been a territory since 1898, with 3.2 million American citizens. We have not provided them every tool we possibly can to ensure they can be prosperous. I have visited Puerto Rico. I have a large community in my district from Puerto Rico, who have family. I visited after the hurricane. I was grateful for the support that we were able to provide. But let's give every tool that we possibly can, including full citizenship in the United States of America, if that is what they choose, to be prosperous, to contribute to the American economy. I think we can look at this as a net positive. It will be a net positive if, indeed, Puerto Rico chooses to become the 51st State. Again, I am grateful for the work of the ranking member and the committee on this. It is not taken lightly to disagree with him on a particular issue. There will be other steps in this process.

Mr. SMUCKER. There will be other steps in this process during which I hope some of those real, legitimate questions can be answered. We should allow the Puerto Rican people to make their choice about their future. I know, certainly, the Puerto Rican population, who have families back in the community, this is what they are looking for. I am proud to stand with them and their family members if they have the opportunity to freely determine the future of their beloved island.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Dr. Brian Troop of Ephrata Area School District in Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District for being selected as the 2023 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. With over 500 districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dr. Troop's selection speaks to the excellence he brings to Ephrata Area School District. Dr. Troop was described as an exemplary, forward-thinking leader by PASA Executive Director Dr. Sherri Smith. I would certainly agree with those words. I have had the pleasure of visiting the school district as a Member of Congress, and I was able to see firsthand the work that they are doing to prepare students in STEM technologies as fifth-grade students were participating in a computer coding project. It was encouraging to see the district offer such an outstanding opportunity to their students. I thank Dr. Troop for all of his work to provide an excellent education to students in the Ephrata Area School District. I congratulate him on being named the 2023 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Charles Smithgall of Lancaster, who passed away in October at the age of 77. Charlie, as he was known to so many, will be greatly missed. He was a husband to Debbie, a father to Allison, a grandfather to two boys, and a friend to all that he met. Charlie graduated from J.P. McCaskey High School in 1963 and later the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, and then he spent the rest of his life working to improve the lives of those in his hometown of Lancaster as operator of his family's pharmacy, which continues to operate on West Lemon Street. Charlie also worked to improve the health of Lancaster city. He served as mayor from 1998 to 2006 and worked tirelessly to revitalize the city. Major developments such as the convention center there and Clipper Magazine Stadium would not have been possible without his leadership. Charlie was also a devoted collector of military equipment, including cannons. If you have watched historical movies such as ``Gettysburg'' or ``Lincoln,'' chances are that you have seen one of Charlie's cannons on the big screen. We will all miss Charlie. While we mourn the loss of our friend, we offer our prayers of comfort to Debbie, Allison, and his entire family.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 493.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 460. Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress Bacon (Hartzler) Beatty (Cicilline) Bilirakis (Fleischmann) Brooks (Fleischmann) Buchanan (Bucshon) Carter (TX) (Weber (TX)) Cherfilus-McCormick (Neguse) Chu (Beyer) Cleaver (Adams) Conway (LaMalfa) DeFazio (Pallone) Demings (Dean) Diaz-Balart (Reschenthaler) Dunn (Cammack) Evans (Beyer) Garcia (TX) (Escobar) Gimenez (Malliotakis) Gonzalez, Vicente (Correa) Gosar (Weber (TX)) Green (TX) (Cuellar) Herrera Beutler (Meijer) Horsford (Garamendi) Jackson Lee (Cicilline) Jacobs (NY) (Sempolinski) Jayapal (Cicilline) Johnson (TX) (Stevens) Kelly (IL) (Cicilline) Kinzinger (Meijer) Kirkpatrick (Pallone) Lawson (FL) (Stevens) Lynch (Trahan) Mace (Nehls) Mast (Waltz) McEachin (Beyer) Meng (Escobar) Murphy (FL) (Peters) Newman (Beyer) Ocasio-Cortez (Neguse) Palazzo (Fleischmann) Payne (Pallone) Pfluger (Ellzey) Porter (Neguse) Rice (NY) (Morelle) Rice (SC) (Meijer) Rush (Beyer) Ryan (OH) (Correa) Salazar (Waltz) Sewell (Cicilline) Sherman (Garamendi) Simpson (Fulcher) Soto (Escobar) Speier (Garamendi) Steel (Obernolte) Steube (Reschenthaler) Torres (NY) (Correa) Vargas (Garamendi) Wasserman Schultz (Schneider) Waters (Takano) Wilson (SC) (Norman)

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Arrington for leading this discussion tonight and for his kind comments. It is interesting, my friend talks about Pennsylvania's budget, and I was proud to serve there and be part of the process. I thought it was a difficult and a broken process there. We would pass a budget weeks beyond the deadline or sometimes months. There would be vigorous discussions with the Governor on what that budget should look like, but at the end of the day, we did it. My friend is exactly right. We passed a budget where expected revenues matched the appropriations that we put forward. So it was a little unbelievable to come here and see that we haven't done that in about, at least, 20 years here. We certainly haven't balanced the budget in almost our lifetime here. And so as broken as I thought the process was at the State level, at least at the end of the process we had a product that balanced the budget. So I want to just express my appreciation and thanks to Mr. Arrington for leading this discussion. I share--as he knows, we have had discussions about this--the deep concerns for the current state of our Nation's finances. We talk about this. We serve on the Ways and Means Committee together, and I think Ways and Means Committee members understand the problems we are faced with if we don't address this. I also serve on the Budget Committee, and there we talk about the problems that we are faced with. But this has to extend beyond just those two committees. It has to extend to our conference and also to this entire body and entire system of government. We need to be talking about how this impacts our constituents, how it impacts people at home, and why they should care about this. Some people maybe don't even understand that issues of Federal debt and deficits even matter. Sometimes I like to put it in simple terms. Think of our national debt, say, like a balance on a credit card. We all do budgets in our homes and in our businesses. But think about the national debt. We can't even imagine the $30 trillion number which, by the way, is about $245,000 per American. But let's just talk about it as a credit card. Every one of us will have to shoulder this debt at some point, and we are going to have to make sacrifices. If you have credit card debt in your home, then you have to make sacrifices to pay it down. The higher the balance, the higher the minimum payment, meaning less money at the end of each month for things that you would rather spend on than paying down and making that credit card payment, like healthcare or saving for retirement, whatever it may be. If you don't pay down the balance--we haven't done that in a long time here--it will affect your credit rating. You will become uncreditworthy. That will result in higher interest rates, and you will face more payments. It is a snowball effect. That credit rating will plummet. Not only will you pay more, but then no one will trust you with a new loan. As you know, Mr. Speaker, the longer you wait to pay down that credit card debt, the more it grows and grows and grows. We should all care that every dollar the government spends should be spent responsibly. It is the taxpayers' money. The taxpayers earned it. We should be responsible with their dollars. But we certainly haven't seen the Biden administration doing that. Biden's government has accrued $4.8 trillion in new debt since taking office. We now owe over $30 trillion in debt. That is $245,000 per taxpayer. The American Rescue Plan, the inflation act, the student loan forgiveness, and many other misguided policies each drastically increase the role of government in everyday American lives. Biden's policies over the past year have incentivized people not to work, rewarded those who have accrued college student loan debt on the backs of those who have worked hard to pay off their own debt or totally avoided debt and have weakened America's goal to be a symbol of freedom in the world. If we are going to defend the American Dream, then we must fix this problem. We must fix actually the broken budget process here in Congress as well, which the gentleman has talked about. This week we are, once again, going to fund the government on a massive, short-term, continuing resolution loaded with irresponsible spending. Over the past 4 years of Speaker Pelosi's leadership in the House, House Democrats didn't pass a budget resolution by regular order except to push partisan reconciliation bills that have spent trillions of dollars. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, as Republicans, we have made a commitment to Americans, our Commitment to America. And certainly all of us in this conference--certainly those of us in the Budget Committee--will ensure that we do the work, we pass a budget on time and through regular order, and we stick to it. Republicans will commit to reducing our spending in order to preserve that American Dream that we think is so important for future generations. I thank Mr. Arrington for leading this, and I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of it.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his wonderful comments. One of the things that is most frustrating about this is not only, as the gentleman just mentioned, the administration doesn't seem to understand the impact of their policies that have led to these rising prices and the pain that he is causing for people in our districts.

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Kentucky, who truly is an expert on fiscal policy and truly understands the situation that we are in, in our country. We just simply cannot afford to continue down this path and expect that there will not be consequences: consequences for us and, if not for us, certainly for future generations. At the least, we are mortgaging the future of our kids and our grandkids, and it is completely irresponsible. We just came back, all of us, to our districts. I can tell you, I spent most of the weekend out talking to people across the district, and they are very concerned about the impact of this President's policies and the policies of this Congress on their daily lives. I have constituents who are choosing each week whether they can buy groceries or whether they can buy gas for the car. I spoke just recently to one constituent who had been out of the workforce for about 10 years. This individual, by the way, had 13 kids, which I thought was amazing, but he had been out of the workforce for 13 years and just took a job because he can no longer make ends meet because of the policies of this President and the rising prices that have been created by the policies of this administration. They are angry that the President had a White House party to celebrate the passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. This celebration, of course, just recently was broadcast amid a backdrop of the plummeting stock market and upon the news just that morning of another month of record-high inflation. No matter how the President wants to talk about it, no matter how Democrats want to talk about it, Madam Speaker, he says that inflation has leveled off, but we are still at 8.5 percent above what prices were just 12 months ago. That is something we haven't seen in our country for about 40 years. This was after Democrats and the President were saying this would be transitory inflation. You would think if we are in a hole, at some point, we would stop digging. Instead, the President and congressional Democrats, while they are patting themselves on the back, continue to spend taxpayer dollars. Just last night, President Biden was on ``60 Minutes,'' arguing that he deserves some credit, again, for his fiscal policies while inflation is at another 40-year high. The President speaks fiscal responsibility, yet every action that he takes only balloons our debt and balloons our deficits. It is far past time for his wasteful inflationary spending agenda to come to an end. The American people, the constituents in my district, can no longer afford the policies of this administration. Tonight, for the next 45, 50 minutes or so, I am proud to welcome some of my Republican colleagues, including fellow members of the House Budget Committee and others who share the deep concerns that were just outlined by Congressman Barr. You will be hearing from others their concerns about the fiscal state of our Nation and the trajectory that we are on. Over the next hour, we are going to take stock of this administration's reckless budget agenda and some of the drastic consequences that we are hearing about from our constituents. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), who is a great member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. We won't argue tonight about which committee is the best committee. I serve on the Ways and Means Committee. But John is a dear friend of mine, a wonderful Member of Congress, and I am very, very proud to serve with him. I am proud to count him as a friend. He is doing a fabulous job as a member of that committee and Member of Congress. I look forward to his insights on how the Biden administration's policies have resulted in this record-high inflation. I would like to hear what his constituents are facing in the 13th District of Pennsylvania, which is directly adjacent to mine. I thank Dr. Joyce for joining us this evening.

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his words. It is clear that he is in touch regularly with his constituents and is hearing some of the same things that I have heard. The gentleman mentioned the real wage drop about $3,500 per family due to the policies of this administration. It is as if someone is taking a month's worth of salary, and families have to do without that month of salary. By the way, that comes on the heels of policies under the previous administration that led to--after decades of stagnation--a $6,000 average household increase in income. Which is more compassionate? The gentleman is exactly right. We know the impact of these policies. We must stop. We must implement policies that work for the American people. That is why I was so frustrated. By the way, I have a news flash: Naming a bill something doesn't mean it is so. Just recently, the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act. Studies now are saying it will not impact inflation, it will most likely increase inflation. Let's just dig in on some of the policies that are included. $745 billion in new spending, over half of which is for the Green New Deal agenda. That includes $3 billion for, ``environmental and climate justice warriors,'' and $245 billion in Department of Energy loans for other friends of the left. As gas prices increased 50 percent over the course of last year, President Biden's solution was to raise taxes on American oil and gas producers. So we know that this will continue to affect constituents. They will continue to pay the higher price of gasoline at the pump. At this time, President Biden and congressional Democrats thought it would be a good idea to combat inflation by offering tax credits for high-end electric vehicles. Now, interestingly enough, and maybe unsurprisingly, a lot of those electric vehicle manufacturers that were set to benefit from those new tax credits, immediately turned around and raised the prices of their vehicles, essentially wiping out the value of the credit. Another way they thought that apparently would help inflation was to raise taxes on the middle class, including $53 billion in new taxes on Main Street and $10 billion in taxes on those making less than $200,000 a year. Then, adding salt to the wound, the bill spends $80 billion for the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents. By the way, any of us in our congressional districts know that the IRS has a problem? I have talked to constituents in my district, who are still waiting for refunds from 2019. So, I get that the IRS may need some additional funding to help to serve the American people better, but do you know there is 14 times as much money in this bill spent on increasing audits on everyday Americans, rather than improving--than the money that is in it for improving customer service there at the IRS? There is a CBO analysis. The Congressional Budget Office that we all rely upon confirmed that those new agents will focus on extracting as many dollars as possible doing audits on the middle class, and despite the President's claims, half of those audits will be on those making less than $400,000 a year. We could go on about this bill, and if we have a little more time maybe we will, but I am very pleased to yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), who is a fellow member of the Budget Committee, passionate about fiscal issues here in our country. I always appreciate his fervor about these issues, and I am pleased to count him as a friend.

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his comments. He has identified the problem and has some real solutions on how we can address this and how we can save the future for our kids and our grandkids. One of the saddest things about this is that the idea of the American Dream is that every generation can do better than their parents and their parents before them, and we have seen that for centuries here in the United States. That is at risk because of the fiscal policies that are in place here today. I look forward to working with my friend, and we hope that the next Congress will be the Congress when we can begin to put this country on the right path. Madam Speaker, I welcome our next speaker tonight, the next participant is my friend and fellow Pennsylvanian, Fred Keller, from the 12th District in Pennsylvania. Mr. Keller plays an important role in oversight of the Biden administration as a member of the Education and Labor Committee as well as the Oversight and Reform Committee. I count him as a great friend and look forward to his thoughts tonight on what we are talking about, the administration's flawed understanding or lack of understanding of the impact of inflation on Pennsylvanians. We see it every day. He will discuss budget principles that can help us right our fiscal ship. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for being here. We talked about what they have referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act. I think a better title for it is the Expensive Attempt to Distract Voters Act. We know the bill will not cut the deficit, and we know CBO has said that the bill will have a tiny effect on inflation. Penn Wharton Institute in my State estimates that the bill would increase inflation this year and next. So how can you call a bill Inflation Reduction Act if it doesn't actually decrease inflation? Then shortly after that, in fact, just 8 days later, you would think at some point, Madam Speaker, the President would stop the spending spree and that at some point there would be a connection made with all of the spending, the rising deficits and debt, and the rising prices. But what did the President do just 8 days later? He unilaterally--we think unconstitutionally--but unilaterally spent more than half a trillion dollars on blanket student loan forgiveness, much of which went to high-income earners. Madam Speaker, $500 billion, that is half a trillion dollars. One constituent in my district went out and talked to some workers in a foundry, and you should have heard what they said about this bill, Madam Speaker. One of them said: Why should I or why should a plumber need to pay the tuition and the debt for a medical student, maybe a graduate medical student? They are angry that they are being asked. They are working hard every day trying to deal with the rising prices, trying to make ends meet, going back to work out of retirement, and then the President comes along and says: We are going to ask you to pay for the 16 percent of Americans who have student debt. It makes absolutely no sense to them and makes no sense when you are trying to implement fiscal policies that will tackle the rising prices and help the American people. Madam Speaker, I welcome my next friend and colleague who is a fellow member of the House Budget Committee, Mr. Jay Obernolte of California. Mr. Obernolte also serves on the Natural Resources and Science, Space, and Technology Committees. We spent some time earlier this year down at the border, which is another catastrophe I don't think we are going to be talking about tonight, but he has been a wonderful Member of Congress. It has been great getting to know my friend, and I appreciate his being here this evening. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte).

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his wonderful comments outlining the problem that we are faced with here. It sounds like we are up here criticizing the administration--and certainly we are--but it is far beyond that. I think to address a problem, whether it seems like an abstract problem or something that will happen in the future--to address the problem we must first understand it and recognize that the problem exists. The policies of this administration do not seem to understand that there is a real crisis up ahead if we don't take steps now to change the trajectory. Madam Speaker, I have a chart here beside me--and a few of the other speakers have mentioned this tonight--the amount of spending that this administration has incurred above the $4 to $5 trillion that we spend in the Federal Government every year--this is an outline of the major policies, starting with the American Rescue Plan and on and on. Student debt is the most recent. $4.8 trillion in less than 2 years in office-- $4.8 trillion. It seems like the response of this administration to every problem is just to throw money at it, and it is money we don't have. The response is to print money and to take money to spend the money of our future generations. He did this with the American Rescue Plan--$1.9 trillion. At that time, Democrat economist Larry Summers said that was the worst macroeconomic policy and a mistake that would end in double-digit inflation. He ended up being exactly right on that. His response to helping veterans recovering from burn pits, which was once a strong bipartisan policy that I was proud to support--but his response was to throw $667 billion in new mandatory spending at the problem, ignoring bipartisan alternatives that were responsibly paid for and doubling the fiscal impact of the VA in the process--$4.8 trillion in less than 2 years in office. So why are we talking about this tonight? Why are some--more and more--a growing number of Members in Congress concerned about this? Is there any hope? I would say that despite the current fiscal challenges that we face, hope is not lost. We can ensure that America's best days still lie ahead. I am optimistic that we can do that in Congress. Is there any hope? I would say that, despite the current fiscal challenges that we face, hope is not lost. We can ensure that America's best days still lie ahead. I am optimistic that we can do that in Congress. Wouldn't that be great if we look back 20 years from now and were able to say that that was the Congress that began to change America and that saved the future of America? We can do it if we decide that is what we will do. We simply cannot afford the continued spending policies of this administration. We can't afford to continue on this destructive, wasteful path. We can't afford to delay and to kick the can down the road. We need to begin to seriously recommit to fiscal responsibility by meaningfully reducing spending and reducing deficits while investing in policies that ensure growth. We need to reject any increases to mandatory spending. Several other speakers mentioned this tonight, but we have budget rules in Congress that have simply been ignored for decades. We need to enforce our own budget rules that this body set for itself and set for the Federal Government and not simply look the other way as we routinely pass bills increasing spending, increasing mandatory spending, by billions of dollars. There is a measure of our total debt that I think is worth looking at. Compare it to our total economic output as a Nation or the gross domestic product. Currently, we are at about 130 percent. Our debt is 130 percent of GDP. That is projected to increase, as far as we can project at this point, about a trillion--we are 30 trillion now--increase over a trillion per year under the policies of this administration and previous administrations. That debt will eclipse 185 percent of GDP by 2052 on the current path. We know how it ends. Every country in history that has spent more money than it had, that has overtaxed and overspent, has failed. It doesn't end well. While we may think this is a problem far in the future that future generations can take care of, at some point, we will see the devastating impact if we don't change the trajectory. If we don't reverse course, we risk the full faith and credit of the United States, which would put us under threat of a sovereign debt crisis and economic fallout that we have seen elsewhere in nations across the world. It will take discipline. It will take reducing our spending. It will take investing in progrowth policies similar to those that we implemented just a few years ago that created the booming economy that we had at that time. I appreciate the comments of a number of my colleagues here. I appreciate the interest in this crisis. It truly is a crisis. I look forward to working with my colleagues to put forward a sustainable, forward-thinking budget next Congress that reduces Federal spending, implements those progrowth policies, and puts our country back to a sustainable fiscal future. We can do it, and we must do it for future generations. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMUCKER

Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, what a time to raise taxes and to spend nearly $1 trillion more. The economy is in a recession, food inflation is up 12.9 percent over the past year, gas is up 49 percent, and shelter costs rose by 5.7 percent. What will families get instead of relief? They will get $10.6 billion in tax increases, and 50 percent more may get audited by the IRS. Now, the chairman on the other side has disputed these 87,000 new agents. I would ask him to read page 37 of the bill which provides for $45 billion in new funding to the IRS, specifically for enforcement activities, and ask if he will dispute that as well. Where does he think $45 billion is going to go? In fact, we all know the IRS needs a lot of help to provide constituent services. Fourteen times more dollars are going for enforcement than to helping them do their job.

Mr. SMUCKER. Our Democrat colleagues are also falsely insisting this bill will not raise taxes on small businesses or households with incomes below $400,000. Yet, during Rules Committee debate on the bill, a Ways and Means Democrat admitted that households making less than $400,000 per year will see a tax increase in this bill. He was citing the nonpartisan analysis from JCT. Don't be fooled. This bill is not a plan to address inflation.

Mr. SMUCKER. Madam Speaker, there are so many things wrong with the policies in this bill. It will certainly punish Americans' pocketbooks through record-high inflation, new taxes, and an army of IRS agents. It can get even worse. This drug price setting regime in the bill, which I want to speak about briefly, may very well put American lives at risk. The CBO agreed. Fewer drugs will be developed as a result of the policies in this bill. According to a study from the University of Chicago, government price controls in the bill will block 342 new cures from reaching market over the coming decades. That means that our constituents and family members who are battling diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's may well be left with no hope of finding a cure. The university estimates that blocking these cures will collectively take 330 million years off of Americans' lives. That is 1 year per American, which, by the way, is a toll 31 times worse than the COVID-19 pandemic. American innovation and ingenuity got this country out of the COVID- 19 pandemic. This bill abandons free enterprise in favor of socialism and will cost the taxpayer too many dollars and cancer patients too many years.