NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Fox News Live to discuss Democrats’ inflation-fueling spending sprees, and the latest on President Joe Biden’s efforts to pass his big-government socialism package.
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Partial Transcript
Hagerty on Biden Administration spying on Americans’ bank accounts to pay for “BBB”: “I think America has had enough of the government invading their lives. You know, the Biden Administration wants to have access to every American’s bank account. First it was $600, now I’ve heard it’s up to $10,000, but still they’re going to get access to every bank account. Then they’re going to seek the IRS on us. They’re going to increase the IRS’s budget eight-fold and attack Americans. We’re going to be under constant audit. That’s the Democrat way to pay for this. You see this is right on the back of the so-called infrastructure bill that was over a quarter of a trillion dollars short. You had the shortfall that just came up yesterday on this Build Back Better plan. That’s over $600 billion short that’s falling right on the shoulders of our children and our grandchildren. This is not acceptable under any circumstance.”
Hagerty on Democrats’ inflation-fueling spending: “My reaction is that’s complete bunk. This plan is designed to increase government dependency here in America, to take away our liberties, and put people in the hands of the government from cradle to grave. It’s going to force more jobs overseas. It’s going to shrink the economy. Certainly we’ve seen the impact on inflation. Right here in Tennessee, a turkey costs 24 percent more today than it did last year. That’s the most pernicious tax of all on Americans. What we’ve seen is real wages go down for Americans. We’re in a lot of pain right now, and the last thing we need to do is federalize more. In fact, I had a nominee in front of me in the Banking Committee just this week. She’s up to be the Comptroller of the Currency—that’s the person responsible for the whole payment system of the banking system in America. What does she want to do? She wants the federal government to take over our checking accounts, our savings accounts. My wife laughed and said, this is going to be like going to the DMV when you try to go to get your local banking taken care of. Everyone knows when the government takes control of something the costs go up, and the efficiency goes down. This is not what we need, and certainly not at a time when we’ve got inflation spiraling through the roof.”
Hagerty on stopping Democrats’ big-government socialism: “There is not a chance that a Republican would step up and agree to something like this. America doesn’t need socialism. We certainly don’t need this big-government socialism. And I think what we hear when we go home to our states is a lot of pain right now in America. People are suffering with inflation. People are embarrassed with what’s happening in Afghanistan. There’s a massive national security crisis at our Southern border. The American public does not want to hand over the economy to the government. And I hope that some of my colleagues on the Democrat side will see and hear that same message.”
Hagerty on if Sinema or Manchin will vote against “BBB”: “I think there’s a very good chance that could happen. I mean, they’re from states that are just like mine, where people are hurting. You know, I can’t imagine that in Senator [Joe] Manchin’s state, he likes the aspects of this program that would absolutely kill the fossil fuel industry. I mean, we’ve seen what’s happened with gas prices here in America. People commute in Tennessee, they do in West Virginia and Arizona as well. This is painful to Americans. And I don’t think they’re going to see or hear anything different than I’m hearing right now. I hope that one or more of them will step up and say, ‘no more.’”