The federal government should have a limited role in Americans' lives, but the Build Back Better Act finances programs that expand that role, Rep. Ken Buck said on Newsmax Tuesday.
"This bill is just a Green New Deal on steroids," the Colorado Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "It is harmful for Americans and harmful for our energy production here at home. It's also harmful to the idea that we have a federalist system, a system where the states run certain areas of our government, and the federal government should stay out of those areas."
Buck also defended an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that determined the bill, without adding sunsets that would end programs funded in the measure, would increase the national deficit by $3 trillion between 2022 to 2031.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted that the score is "a fake score about a bill that doesn't exist, and we should focus on the actual bill that everybody's going to vote on," but Buck said the score isn't fake.
"In my view, it's too small," he said. "The number doesn't accurately reflect where this bill is going to go. This is just the first step that the socialists want to take down this path, and it's going to be much more expensive. But they try to do to minimize the cost of this bill, to reduce the number of years but once a federal program is in place, it's very difficult to repeal that program."
Obamacare, he added, is a "perfect example."
"Many Republicans ran against Obamacare, and they got here and next thing you know, the budget was held up," Buck said. "The appropriations bills were held up. There was a threat of shutting down the government if Republicans repealed Obamacare, and so nothing happened in that. The same thing is going to happen with all these programs once they are in place. It's easier not to put them into place first and not to have to deal with it later."
Meanwhile, Buck is sponsoring legislation, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act in hopes of alleviating the supply chain issues in the country.
"I hope it passes in the Senate," he said. "Many senators are concerned with the same things we're concerned with … the supply chain issues revolve around the fact that ships are bringing products in the United States and then because of the delay in loading ships, it's more cost-effective for them to just leave and go back to Asia, load up again and bring more products in. Our balance of trade is in serious trouble."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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