It makes "no sense" to pass the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, a $740 billion tax and spending package, while "here we sit with the highest inflation we've seen in our lifetime," Rep. Yvette Herrell told Newsmax Saturday.
"People are worried," the New Mexico Republican said on Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda." "They're feeling it in their pocketbooks, and to think that the Senate would pass this bill and try to push it onto the American people as some sort of rescue package makes no sense at all when we see the tax increases and the subsidies."
The measure will also hurt the nation's energy industry and manufacturers, as well as the "businesses we rely on," said Herrell. "It makes no sense."
Nearly half of the bill, which is expected to pass after Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said they'd vote for it, will go toward climate and energy initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
However, Republicans say the bill will not do anything to lower inflation and will raise taxes. Further, Democrat proponents of the bill have said that it would reduce the nation's deficit by $300 billion over the next 10 years when the Congressional Budget Office reports the deficit reduction will come in at about $100 billion.
Herrell said she's also surprised that Manchin and Sinema have agreed to vote for the bill considering the reports from CBO and elsewhere about its effects.
"This is not going to save the American people money," she said. "The parliamentarian looked at it and the fact that we will now see more increases and [that it will] push our inflation even higher, I am very disappointed that we thought we had a couple of friends on the Senate side that would be watching out for the American people."
Herrell also pointed out that nobody wants to see the enforcement the bill calls for from the Internal Revenue Service.
"No one wants to see 80,000 more IRS agents going after them to make sure they're paying their taxes and then to go after them for penalties and interest at a time when there are so many uncertainties," said Herrell. "This makes no sense whatsoever to have a bill like this when we're trying to create opportunities for businesses…this is Build Back Better and the Green New Deal all wrapped into one little neat package, but the American people are smarter than that. And they're understanding that this is going to be hurtful."
Herrell said that rural communities like the one she represents, are "not there yet in terms of green energy and zero carbon by 2030."
"It is just putting the cart before the horse, in my opinion, and the American people are going to pay for it, and I think that they are not going to like this bill getting through," said Herrell.
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