Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) believes President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act, a nearly $2 trillion social spending package, cannot be changed to “improve” it.
During Sunday’s appearance on Fox News, Kennedy said the bill has “trillions of dollars of new spending, new taxes, new debt, new welfare programs.”
“The only way I know how to improve it is with a shredder. It’s going to fuel inflation. When a hot pocket costs you $10, remember we’re building back better,” he added.
Watch the video below:
Watch: Senator John Kennedy tells Fox News on Build Back Better: “The only way I know how to improve it is with a shredder.” pic.twitter.com/HbziMxQr2E
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) December 6, 2021
In November, the House passed the massive spending package with every Republican and one Democrat voting against it, as IJR reported.
The Build Back Better Act, a social spending and climate bill, includes provisions to fund universal preschool, access to “high quality” child care, provide affordable home-care for elderly Americans and individuals with disabilities, extend the Child Tax Credit for one year “with monthly payments for households earning up to $150,000 per year.”
It also provides roughly $550 billion for investments in clean energy and efforts to combat climate change.
Additionally, it extends the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits and creates a hearing benefit for Medicare.
The bill includes provisions to help offset the expenditures such as a 15% minimum tax on large corporations, a tax on stock buybacks, a “corporate international reform” designed to “stop rewarding companies that ship jobs and profits overseas,” and “IRS investments to close the tax gap.”
Democrats are planning to use the process known as budget reconciliation to pass the Build Back Better bill, which would let the advance legislation without any Republican votes.
For their plan to work, all 50 Democrats would have to vote for the legislation, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking voting.