The RSC laid out 42 items from the progressive shopping list that would forever change the nation.

By James Fite

Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN) accused Democrats of playing “hide the ball” with the text of the Build Back Better Act in a memo to the Republican Study Committee, which he chairs. The leviathan legislation comes in at a whopping 2,468 pages at the moment (changes aren’t just possible; they’re likely), but Rep. Banks managed to find the ball – 42 of them, actually. The debate thus far has focused primarily on the overall price of the bill – but a closer look at this progressive shopping list would be a shock to many. In Rep. Banks’ words: “Each of these 42 bullets is enough to vote against the bill. Taken together – it’s mind-blowingly corrupt.”
Mean Green Spending Machine

Very little of the bill is devoted to what most people would consider actual infrastructure – hard infrastructure like roads, bridges, and utilities, or even soft infrastructure like the education system, law enforcement, and other governmental systems.

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Free Stuff for Everyone!

These freebies include clauses like this:

“No individual shall be determined to be ineligible to receive benefits provided under this subpart […] on the basis of citizenship, alienage, or immigration status.”

So anyone who managed to enter the country illegally qualifies for the taxpayer-funded free college, health care, and other welfare benefits regardless of whether they’ve ever worked a day at a legitimate, tax-paying job in this country.

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Other Progressive Goodies

There are a plethora of other progressive and statist goodies, of course – some of which didn’t make Banks’ list. The big bill would increase the “sin tax” on many tobacco products and impose a new one on nicotine itself. For example, the tax for smokeless tobacco in 5701(e) is changed from $1.51 to $26.84.

Tax-funded abortions also made the list – though this is one of those places they “hid the ball,” as the text doesn’t include the word “abortion.” Instead, readers must follow the trail to Section 10214 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to see what the expanded funding covers.

Nearly $4 billion would allow “racist” roads and bridges to be “fixed,” and $200 million for the Presidio Trust in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) district. The bill would enforce consequences against red states that refuse to adopt Green New Deal provisions and add about $4 billion in “Community Climate Incentive Grants” to reward the states that do cooperate.