Press Releases

  Today, Congressman Ben Cline (VA-06) issued the following statement slamming the House Democrats’ partisan passage of the “Inflation Acceleration Act” that spends billions to supersize the IRS, raises taxes on American families, manufacturers, and energy producers, and will do nothing to reduce the record-high inflation hurting Americans.

“Today, House Democrats approved a $740 billion spending bill at a time of 40-year high inflation, an ongoing recession, and over $30 trillion in national debt. The bill includes $16.7 billion in increased taxes for those making less than $200,000 a year; $38 billion in new taxes on American oil and gas producers; $480 billion in tax hikes that will hit workers through increased prices and slashed wages; and $369 billion — half of the spending — in government handouts to socialist ‘Green New Deal’ priorities, making us more dependent on China for minerals. Further, the package provides $80 billion to double the size of the IRS, adding an army of 87,000 new enforcement agents to spy into Americans’ private financial accounts and harass taxpayers and small businesses. This will make the IRS workforce larger than the Pentagon, FBI, State Department, and Customs and Border Patrol, combined.

Hard-working Americans in Virginia and across the Nation are desperate for relief from Democrats’ mismanagement of our economy. Unfortunately, this bill’s passage is a loss for all those whose paychecks and savings are being eaten up by 40-year high inflation. I will keep fighting every day against Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spend agenda that is destroying the American dream.”

Congressman Ben Cline represents the Sixth Congressional District of Virginia. He previously was an attorney in private practice and served both as an assistant prosecutor and Member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Cline and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Botetourt County with their two children.

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