House Republicans: Schumer-Manchin Tax Increases ‘Likely to Worsen Economy’

House Republicans with the Committee on Ways and Means slammed Democrats’ newly unveiled Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 on Friday, saying it is “likely to worsen the economy.”

Ways and Means Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) released a warning statement about the proposed legislation after the Bureau of Economic Analysis released data showing that a key measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, rose by 6.8 percent compared with 12 months earlier — the biggest year-over-year gain since January 1982.

“President Biden turned our recovery into a recession, and now family paychecks have decreased for the fifth straight month in his cruel economy with inflation hitting its highest in 40 years and accelerating,” Brady said, adding, “Who in their right mind would want tax increases on American manufacturing, energy, and medical innovators heading into a recession?”

He continued:

The Schumer-Manchin tax increases won’t even reduce drug prices, ease the worker shortage, or reduce raging Biden-Flation in the near term when consumers expect prices to be highest. Instead, they are likely to worsen our economy. We don’t need more denial from this White House, and we definitely don’t need more tax increases. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced Wednesday that they struck a deal on a reconciliation package that aims to reduce the deficit by $300 billion by increasing taxes and IRS enforcement while spending $433 billion on “climate change” and Obamacare. In their eyes, the package would “address record inflation by paying down our national debt, lowering energy costs and lowering healthcare costs.”

Manchin and Schumer said in a statement on Wednesday that “tax fairness is vital to our nation’s economic future.”

“It is wrong that some of America’s largest companies pay nothing in taxes while freely enjoying the benefits of our nation’s military security, infrastructure and rule of law. It is commonsense that a domestic corporate minimum tax of 15 percent be applied only to billion-dollar companies or larger ensuring that America’s largest businesses are no longer able to operate for free in our economy,” the Democrat lawmakers said in part.