Here Is What Senate Dems Are Focused On In First Budget Hearing

For a number of years, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, has been the head of the committee and has vigilantly cautioned of an impending climate disaster. In addition, he has spoken out in the Senate numerous times with an image of the Earth that reads, "Time to Wake Up."

A Budget Committee hearing, led by Whitehouse, was held on Wednesday to discuss the "Climate-Related Economic Risks and Their Costs to the Federal Budget." Whitehouse pointed out that a large portion of the $31.4 trillion national debt was caused by events like the mortgage crisis and the COVID pandemic, and that a climate crisis has the potential to produce even more debt.

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Senator Whitehouse explained, "The reason we’re having this hearing and the reason that we’re going to continue to have hearings on this subject is that $10 trillion of our federal debt can be ascribed to exogenous shocks to our economy with which we had to cope." "It wasn’t cheap, but we had to do it. The biggest exogenous shock on the horizon out there is climate upheaval.”

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The GOP claimed that Whitehouse was attempting to advance his climate agenda in a Committee that was designed to create a budget plan, something that Senate Democrats didn't manage to do in the prior year. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and the leading Republican on the Committee remarked that the Democrats were disregarding the objective of the Committee and making it revolve around one of their favored topics.

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"Instead of focusing on the growing national debt, out-of-control deficits or the consequences of our spending addiction, Democrats selected climate change for the topic of their first hearing," said Chuck Grassley. The Senator noted that whilst climate change is a relevant matter to contemplate when looking at the federal budget, there are Committees such as Environment and Public Works and Energy and Natural Resources that are capable of handling climate-related issues.

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"Only the Budget Committee is tasked with developing a budget," said Grassley. "That ought to be our focus."

More members of the Republican Party shared a similar sentiment and accused Democrats of attempting to infuse "climate hysteria" into every topic.

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Roger Marshall of Kansas, a Republican, remarked, "The United States is more than $31 trillion in debt.” "This is the true threat to national security that the Budget Committee should prioritize, not the left’s climate hysteria."

At the hearing, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, warned, "Let’s not fool ourselves, and most importantly, let’s not fool those we represent, the American people." "Our ballooning deficits and burgeoning debt have been driven by and will continue to be driven by runaway profligate spending by the federal government, not because of any effects of climate change. That is a different thing."

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He claimed that the Democratic party uses "climate alarmism" as an excuse for their proposed federal control of the American economy.

"It’s my hope that this Committee will spend more of its time and effort this Congress deliberating ways to reduce our budget deficits so that we can stabilize our debt while putting our budget on a pathway to balance," he continued.

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Republicans considered the hearing evidence that the Democrats were not intent on controlling government expenditures, especially since excessive spending during the COVID pandemic increased customer demand and created inflation to levels not seen in a long time.

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Senator Grassley pointed out that, during the previous Congress with Democrats in power, the Budget Committee neglected to ratify a budget plan and the Senate never examined any of the 12 bills that are supposed to be used by Congress to oversee the federal government.

At the close of last year, Congress opted to pass an omnibus spending bill worth $1.7 trillion that further augmented federal spending, according to the speaker.

According to Grassley, both parties have been responsible for the ballooning national debt but highlighted that the Democrats were more involved with the elevation of spending during the COVID pandemic.

"For decades, Congress turned a blind eye as our nation walked toward a fiscal cliff. But Democrats turned that walk into a sprint," said Grassley.

"In March 2021, Democrats took advantage of an emergency situation to pass a $2 trillion partisan spending bill, even as our economy showed strong signs of recovery. Then as inflation soared to a 40-year high, they doubled down, spending trillions more on their liberal wish lists," he added.

It is predicted that the House, with its Republican majority, will pass a budget resolution this year and pass it on to the Senate. However, it is still not determined whether the Senate will attempt to create a budget of its own. Additionally, it is uncertain whether the House Budget Committee will wait for President Joe Biden's budget proposal, which is behind schedule and won't come until March, or if it will proceed without it.