As prepared for delivery:
Good afternoon. Under President Biden’s direction, we’ve watched life get hard for Americans. A once booming economy is now ailing. Stronger wages have been replaced by emptier wallets. And the optimism families and small businesses felt for the future has diminished under the crushing weight of inflation.
This reality is no accident. It’s the result of Democrat policies that have radically expanded government and skyrocketed deficits. There are three consistent factors that have been core to their agenda, each of which we must confront.
First, excessive spending. Just last Congress, President Biden and Congressional Democrats spent trillions of dollars through entirely partisan bills. And Americans are paying a steep price for it. This out-of-control spending has burdened people with sky-high inflation and saddled taxpayers with even more staggering debt.
Second, a relentless expansion of government power at the expense of everyday Americans. Last year’s grossly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act included tens of billions of dollars for the IRS to create a new army of tax agents, empowered to harass and intrude upon the lives of hardworking families.
And third, abuse of the regulatory process. President Biden’s administration has issued countless excessive rules and regulatory actions that insert the heavy hand of government into places where it does not belong. From the Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate disclosure rule to prohibitions against gas stoves, this White House is trying to intrude itself into directing every aspect of the American way of life.
House Republicans have committed to changing this state of affairs. Today’s measure, H.R. 4664, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2024, takes steps to change our trajectory and ensure we have a government that works for the American people.
H.R. 4664 is a fiscally responsible measure. It cuts spending by nearly 20% from the previous fiscal year and rejects billions of dollars in requests from the White House. The bill right-sizes federal agencies and eliminates spending and bureaucracy bloat. It rescinds $14 billion obligated to supercharge the IRS and repurposes it towards priorities that support Americans.
The legislation includes measures to strengthen entrepreneurship and financial markets, fight opioid abuse, bolster anti-terror defenses, counter China, and safeguard First Amendment rights. It also ensures the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be subject to congressional oversight, bringing much-needed accountability and transparency to the organization.
Finally, H.R. 4664 terminates overregulation efforts issued by the Biden Administration. It ends rules that would kill jobs, limit consumer choice on everyday items like gas stoves, and implement radical climate activism. It also retains longstanding bipartisan pro-life protections.
The bill is good for the nation, and I look forward to considering it both in our hearing today and on the floor this week.
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