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President Joe Biden is reportedly still haggling with Washington Democrats to revive some version of the legislative Frankenstein that is their $5-trillion Build Back Broke agenda. Having failed thus far to convince his own party to support his policies, Biden is finding new ways to rewrite America’s laws through executive actions, spending more than half a trillion worth of tax dollars in the process.
These executive actions have become so common place in the Biden administration — with 530 undertaken so far – and the implications for taxpayers so glaring, that I asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to determine the cost of Biden’s eight most expensive executive actions. The results are stunning: in just 16 months, Joe Biden has charged American taxpayers $532 billion — all with no input from the American people themselves or a vote by their elected representatives in Congress.
FILE – First lady Jill Biden listens as President Biden talks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
For example, after Senate Democrats refused to move forward with Biden’s budget reconciliation bill that would expand ObamaCare, Biden, with the quick stroke of a pen, did so via executive fiat, proposing $34 billion be added to the taxpayers’ tab.
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What is worse, many of these executive actions are exacerbating some of the very crises American families are now dealing with. Take for example his decision to stop President Trump’s public charge rule. At a time when America is facing the worst border crisis in at least two decades — perhaps ever — Biden’s decision to abandon the public charge rule means that more welfare dollars and benefits will flow to immigrants. How much? Well according to CBO that decision alone will cost American taxpayers $20 billion.
The June consumer price index on Wednesday is expected to show headline inflation, rising somewhere above May’s 8.6% level.
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Other executive actions have been aimed at benefiting the wealthy base of the Democratic Party. President Biden’s decision to extend the moratorium on student loan repayments overwhelmingly benefits the fewer than 40 percent of Americans who went to college and have higher lifetime earnings at the expense of the 60 percent who did not.
This pause on loan repayment has cost taxpayers nearly $100 billion so far and is a gross attack on working families who are being forced to bail out the wealthiest 20% of earners who hold nearly one-third of student loan debt. It will further add to America’s inflation crisis; and it is in addition to the $3 billion the president spent by outright and unilaterally canceling the student loan debts of 40,000 borrowers.
The president is even now considering spending roughly another $230 billion —by canceling $10,000 of student debt for households making up to $300,000. Not only does this fail to address the high prices American families are facing because of inflation, but it is a shameful political ploy and a clear overreach of the president’s executive authority in order to protect the Democrats’ wealthy base.
Biden’s actions are not only expensive, they are damaging to the American economy and American workers. The president talks about how few Americans are looking for jobs, touting low unemployment numbers. But rarely, if ever, does he talk about how many businesses are looking for workers.
There are currently 11.3 million job openings in our country. Much of this labor shortage is the result of the president’s reckless executive actions and economic policies that expanded welfare programs — in one instance at a cost of $300 billion in expanded benefits — while gutting work requirements, which kept able-bodied workers sidelined and forced businesses to shut down. Telling able-bodied workers they do not have to look for employment will cost the American taxpayer an estimated $14 billion.
While American families are projected to spend over $5,000 more this year because of the president’s inflation crisis, Biden is busy issuing executive orders that will add hundreds of billions to the taxpayer’s tab and enact sweeping policies that expand Washington command and control over Americans’ lives — without Congress ever authorizing those actions or appropriating that spending. All the while, the president is trying to perpetuate a myth that he is reducing the deficit.
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During a recent congressional hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified that fiscal restraint plays a vital role in reducing inflation. Biden has openly admitted that deficit reduction is necessary to curb the rise in prices. Yet, the president’s track record tells a different story. Biden has repeatedly used his executive authority to massively increase government spending and expand Washington’s regulatory footprint.
At the start of his administration, President Donald Trump implemented a “one-in, two-out” approach to regulations. Meaning that for every new regulation proposed by an agency, two had to be repealed. By the end of 2020, the Trump Administration had eliminated eight regulations for every new regulation adopted. These actions reduced the direct cost of regulatory compliance by $50 billion and were projected to reduce costs by an additional $50 billion in FY 2020 alone, providing the average American household with an extra $3,100 every year, according to some estimates.
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Biden’s decision to reject the executive roadmap handed to him by Trump shows that he is more interested in carving out a legacy for himself than slashing the government spending and red tape that led to his inflation crisis.
If Biden put down his pen long enough to pick up a newspaper, perhaps he would see that his approach of governing by executive fiat is failing American families.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REP. JASON SMITH