On the recordNovember 14, 2023
in reserving the right to object--and I will be pretty quick here--I have rarely seen such a cynical piece of legislation on the Senate floor. I have rarely seen it. The point that Chris Van Hollen and Chris Murphy made, I think, is the first point, which is, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So whenever there is an opportunity to legislate-- even in the foreign policy space, even when we are in a global fight against fascism--the first thing that comes to the mind of many people on the other side of the aisle is, How can we make life easier for the wealthiest among us? Like it has literally got nothing to do with Israel aid or Ukraine aid or Indo Asia-Pacific security matters. Just, whenever you get a chance, throw in an opportunity to enrich the wealthiest among us who are already not paying their fair share of taxes. So that is the frame, right? This is where we start, which is, I have got an idea: We should cut taxes again. I have got an idea: Let's gut the IRS so that they don't have the ability to audit these billionaires, many of whom don't pay taxes in the first place. So that is how you should understand this from the jump. The second thing you should understand is, we really are in a global fight against fascism and authoritarianism. And if there is one thing that I think the last 2 or 3 years--frankly, the last 7 years--has taught us is: Believe what the authoritarians say they want to do.…
