Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., says funding for a Democrat-favored $1.75 trillion social spending and climate bill falls right on the shoulders of the middle class.
In an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis’ on Sunday’s “The Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. Johnson derided the Build Back Better package as “their giveaway programs.”
Lawmakers approved the legislation 220-213 on Friday as every Democrat but one backed it, overcoming unanimous Republican opposition. The measure now heads to the Senate, where changes are certain and disputes between Democratic moderates and progressives are expected.
“The only place Democrats can get the money to fund all of their giveaway programs is from the middle class, because that's where the money is,” Johnson told Catsimatidis, The Hill reported, which posted remarks ahead of the show’s airing.
Corporations, he said, “don't really bear the brunt of the tax increase.”
"They just pass it along to consumers and to their employees in lower wages and benefits,” Johnson said. “So yeah, it's the middle class that always pays."
Among the proposals in the bill to offset its steep price tag is a minimum 15% tax rate for corporations that report over $1 billion in profits to their shareholders.
A report released by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., showed companies — including Amazon and Facebook — would be paying hundreds of millions of dollars in added taxes if the proposal passes.
That tax proposal has garnered the key support of moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., The Hill reported.
In the interview Johnson also lamented spiking inflation and its hit to workers’ wages and social security benefits.
“I think [Democrats are] trying to explain away ... trying to tell Americans that ‘Oh, no, inflation’s good for you. No, it's not,” Johnson said. “Just as your wages are increasing — we've got a record, or at least a more recent record, of an increase of social security benefits — it maybe sounds good, but those increases are going to be wiped out by inflation."
Data released earlier this month by the Labor Department showed that annual inflation had hit a 30-year high in the twelve-month period ending in October.
Several Democratic lawmakers, including moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have also expressed concern about the rise.
"From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day," Manchin tweeted following the release of the data.
In his interview, Johnson suggested the solution to the country's economic concerns would be voting Democrats out of office, The Hill reported.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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