McConnell calls Build Back Better ‘a gigantic slush fund’

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion social welfare and green energy legislation will serve as “a gigantic slush fund” for renewable energy initiatives and new government programs.

McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, warned that the Build Back Better plan would implement crushing taxes, make inflation worse, and disincentivize work, all while rewarding America’s richest with a tax cut.

“There’d be massive government giveaways to supposedly green initiatives, giving rise to a whole new generation of waste and abuse,” McConnell said, referencing the Obama-era solar company failure Solyndra, which was heavily subsidized by the U.S. government.

McConnell launched the criticism the day lawmakers returned from a weeklong Thanksgiving recess and at the start of a mad dash by Democrats to pass a string of spending and policy legislation ahead of Christmas.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Monday that he intends to bring up the Build Back Better measure “before the end of the year,” adding that Democrats are meeting this week with the Senate parliamentarian, who must approve of the House-passed version in order for it to meet Senate rules that will allow Democrats to take up the legislation without subjecting it to a GOP filibuster.

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Schumer touted provisions in the bill that will provide free preschool, healthcare subsidies, and new energy policies that Democrats say will mitigate global warming.

“Cutting costs, saving parents money, fighting climate change, and creating the jobs of tomorrow,” Schumer said. “These are the things the American people want. These are the things the American people need. And these are the things that Build Back Better will deliver on once we pass it through this chamber.”

But McConnell warned the new preschool program would be run by Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, whom he called a “culture warrior,” who sued on behalf of California to force religious groups to provide contraceptives in their health coverage.

“If you ask any working-class or middle-class American family for their top concerns, you aren’t going to hear many people pining for massive tax hikes, electric car charging stations, and woke bureaucrats getting control of their kids’ early childhood,” McConnell said.

No Republican is expected to support the spending bill.

It passed the House earlier this month without a single GOP vote and faces hurdles in the Senate, where moderates Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have not pledged their support for the bill due to concerns over taxes, the legislation’s cost, and certain provisions, including a new methane fee that will raise heating costs.

In addition to the Build Back Better measure, Democrats must negotiate with the GOP to pass an extension of federal government funding by Dec. 3 and an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit by Dec. 15.

Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, blamed Democrats for failing to work with the GOP on a bipartisan agreement to pass government funding bills. None have passed the Senate so far.

Democratic inaction, Cornyn said, has left the Senate “with a whole lot to do and not enough time to do it.”

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