The folks at the Republican Study Committee — led by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) — often read the hellish hundreds of pages that constitute Democrats' legislative agenda and summarize the worst of the worst provisions, and they just released an updated review of Senate Democrats' so-called "Inflation Reduction Act" (which, spoiler alert, won't reduce inflation) as it was passed following an overnight session this weekend.
RSC's memo on the legislation — supposedly crafted to help Americans — found more than 50 insane and inane policies. In no particular order, here are some of the ridiculous things that are part of the bill sold as helping Americans struggling under Biden and his party's flawed policies.
$369 billion worth of taxpayer dollars to fund "green" energy projects — passed without any significant restrictions to keep the funds from enriching the Chinese Communist Party (China owns 80 percent of the natural resources needed to make "green" products) while they continue their Uyghur genocide.
$60 billion in corporate welfare to "green" companies — a Solyndra scandal on steroids in the making. As Townhall often highlights, the pain created by the Biden administration's war on energy is the point. Rather than helping Americans by investing in safe and reliable energy that's cheap and proven, Democrats are giving tax credits to "green" companies while forcing Americans to join Biden's quixotic "transition" to alternative energy and paying higher taxes on top of the higher costs just to be "green.
$3 billion for the Department of Transportation to look into racist infrastructure. There are just...no words.
Tax breaks for wealthy liberals to install "green" energy solutions — paid for by the rest of American taxpayers. The programs that will incentivize the purchase and use of more energy efficient appliances and the installation of solar panels or wind turbines. There are also provisions for taxpayers to subsidize electric vehicles for wealthy Americans — making up to $300,000 per year — for a program that's seen 78 percent of such subsidies end up claimed by those with an income greater than $100,000 per year. These programs are a boon for wealthy Americans and again, the "transition" is paid for at the expense of painful tax increases for families with smaller incomes. Is that the "environmental justice" the left keeps talking about?
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Increased energy costs for Americans — because again, the pain is the point. By raising excise taxes on oil and petroleum, Democrats just tacked another $12 billion tax increase on fossil fuels and the permanent extension of coal taxes — two more costs that will end up being passed on to consumers in another violation of President Biden's promise that Americans making less than $400,000 annually wouldn't pay "a penny more" in taxes.
Funding for the Agriculture Department to prioritize grants for cattle feed that will "reduce enteric methane emissions from ruminant" or, in common terms, money to subsidize food for cows that won't make them fart as much, again all paid for by taxpayers.
$1.5 billion for trees in cities. Because liberal dystopias don't already have enough tree-huggers running around building community gardens with their own money, now Democrats are forcing taxpayers everywhere to make sure the Democrat hellholes have nice trees for criminals to do drugs behind or use for cover when shootings take place.
$87 million to "educate" Americans on the importance of reducing emissions — all while Biden's climate czar John Kerry jets around the globe to attend climate conferences and the president and first lady fly to one of their multiple homes or vacation spots amid a recession and 40-year inflation.
$500 million for the Department of Homeland Security — not to secure the U.S.-Mexico border or do a better at stopping individuals on terrorist watch lists from being released into the United States, but to fund “sustainability and environmental programs."
$3 billion for new "green" USPS mail trucks — which will definitely not do anything to improve the timeliness or quality of the dumpster fire / money pit that has become the United States Postal Service.
The above are just a handful of the nonsensical provisions Senate Democrats signed off on over the weekend in a piece of legislation that was named about as inaccurately as humanly possible. Amid soaring inflation, a recession, increasing debt held by Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and living paycheck to paycheck, these are Democrats' priorities as laid out less than 99 days before the midterms.
The poor timing of the radical legislation is seemingly not lost on some Democrats in the House of Representatives. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) said "there are still some concerning provisions" in the falsely named legislation, while his fellow Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar said his "priority is ensuring this bill would not raise energy prices or hinder American energy jobs at such a critical time" — suggesting the bill doesn't pass his litmus test. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bring the bill to her chamber for a vote as early as Friday, at which point a lot of vulnerable Democrats are going to be in the hot seat when it comes to deciding how to vote on the legislation.
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