WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees and Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, today joined Fox News Live on Fox News to discuss the damaging repercussions of Democrats’ reckless spending and President Biden’s weakness in confronting Communist China.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on the repercussions Democrats’ reckless taxing and spending has on the American people: “The Penn Wharton modeling team [has] dug into this deep. This has zero positive impact on inflation. In fact, it’s more likely than not to increase inflation. I call it the Income Reduction Act—that’s exactly what’s going to happen because they’re talking about massive tax increases. When you increase taxes on American corporations, where do you think those costs get passed on? It comes through in prices on the American public. They continue to wage war on the oil and gas industry here in America, making us less competitive as a nation, making it harder and harder for the average person to make ends meet. You think about the pain we’re feeling at the pump, there’s been minor relief, but still, we are [at] record high gas prices since [President] Joe Biden took office. You look at people in my home state of Tennessee, we drive to work. We are feeling the pain every day. This will not address inflation, but it’s going to add a lot more pain. And when you think about this $80 billion that they’re adding to IRS enforcement, Griff, come on, the people over $400,000 a year have an army of accountants and lawyers already working for them. They’re [Democrats] coming after the middle class here in America, that’s exactly what they’ve got to do. They’ve got a spending problem, and where are they going to get their revenue? They’re coming after the middle class in America for it.”
Hagerty on how the middle class will bear the burden of Democrats’ reckless spending: “All [of] the analysis shows that taxes will go up, prices will go up, and everyone is going to be impacted throughout the chain. And I think the burden of the pain, the vast majority of the pain, is going be felt on the middle class here.”
Hagerty on Republicans’ plan to fight against Democrats’ Income Reduction Act: “As the evening goes on here into the weekend, you’re going to see Republicans fighting tooth and nail with the Democrats because every policy embedded in this reconciliation process is going to weaken America, drive inflation up, and make opportunity less for our children and grandchildren.”
Hagerty on strengthening America’s posture toward Communist China: “With respect to our position regarding China, we need to be strong. That’s what China understands. It’s not words, it’s not press releases, it’s actual strength and presence in the region. But I’ll tell you what’s going on there, Griff. What you’ve got going on in China is a domestic problem. Their economy is weak. What Xi Jinping is trying to do is divert the attention of domestic voters. He’s got the Chinese Communist Party Congress coming up this fall. He’s got to get reelected, so he’s trying to burnish his image as a strong man right now. His audience is domestic. He’s doing this to make himself appear strong. He’s using [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s visit as an excuse. But make no mistake, this is really aimed at a domestic audience there so that Xi Jinping can stay in power. What we need to be doing as Americans is continuing to posture ourselves in the right direction there, strengthening our position in that region and make sure that we are building our defense capabilities, not weakening them. If you look at the Biden Administration’s proposed budget, the Senate had to step in and step it up because the Biden Administration wanted to actually defund the military in the face of this.”
Hagerty on the need for American strength: “We hear talk coming out of the Biden Administration that they want to release the tariffs now to remove pressure on China. For what? For nothing. I was U.S. Ambassador to Japan when we imposed the tariffs. That did not cause inflation—inflation was at 1.4 percent. When Biden came into office, it’s taken off since then because of domestic policies, not because of our tariff policies. We need to keep the pressure on China at every turn. And again, I’d say this, we’ve got to continue to build our strength, build our posture, and our momentum. It’s not just words and press releases, it’s deeds that matter to the Chinese.”
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