Senator Blackburn Warns Build Back Better Is “Intentional, Reckless Activism,” Rep. Tlaib Complains of $200K Student Debt on $174K Salary

On 12/1/2021, Senator Marsha Blackburn delivered a Senate floor speech warning that the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda amounted to “intentional, reckless activism” and “a full-blown power grab,” not merely bad economic policy. In the same video, Rep. Rashida Tlaib complained about her nearly $200,000 in student loan debt during oral arguments on the House floor — while earning $174,000 per year as a member of Congress.

Blackburn: Fed Chair Powell Retires “Transitory”

Blackburn opened by seizing on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s admission before the Senate Banking Committee that “transitory” was no longer the right word for inflation. “The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell finally confirmed what we’ve all known for a very long time, that the threat of persistently higher inflation has grown and that the risk of more persistent inflation has risen,” Blackburn said.

“He acknowledged to the committee that use of the word ‘transitory’ in the media has caused confusion and that it’s probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what is actually happening with the economy,” Blackburn continued.

“Now, that is bad news for the spin doctors over in the Biden administration who have spent months trying to convince Tennesseans and the American people that we’ll be out of the woods any day now, that this is all coming to a fast end,” Blackburn said. “It’s back to the drawing board for the White House comms shop. They cannot split hairs over vocabulary words pertaining to inflation. The inflation that we are seeing is real. It is felt. And the consequences of ignoring this are very real."

"Not About the Price of Turkey”

Blackburn argued that inflation was forcing families into impossible choices. “This isn’t about the price of turkey. This is about an out-of-control administration pursuing an agenda that is forced families to choose between food and fuel,” she said.

“This is beyond out of touch. It is intentional, reckless activism that started the very moment that President Biden walked into the Oval Office, sat down at the desk, pulled out a pen and started to sign executive orders, beginning with killing the Keystone Pipeline,” Blackburn said.

”A Full-Blown Power Grab”

Blackburn accused Democrats of using the Build Back Better bill to pursue a long-held goal of “radically transforming the country.” “If we forgot everything we know about the modern Democratic Party, it would be easy to write off the administration’s pursuit of big spending packages as politics as usual,” she said. “But we know and have known for a long time that the Democrats in power view the next few years as an opportunity to tear down what we have and rebuild this country in their own socialist image.”

“This is not just bad economic policy. It’s a full-blown power grab,” Blackburn said. “How else could you possibly explain the administration’s commitment to the idea that we can spend our way out of this current crisis in spite of the mountains of evidence to the contrary?”

A Tennessee Voter’s Warning

Blackburn shared a message from a constituent that crystallized her argument. “As a Tennessean told me yesterday, ‘I supported President Biden. I thought he was going to be a moderate, and I feel like he became something else immediately,’” Blackburn recounted.

“The people know with absolute certainty that their president and his allies in Congress are taking advantage to force us down a path that the people have consistently rejected,” Blackburn said. “They feel like they’ve lost control of the country and they have no faith that the leaders of the Democratic Party here in Washington, D.C. have their best interests at heart.”

She concluded with a direct appeal: “The White House and Congressional Democrats must abandon this disastrous Build Back Broke agenda before the possibility of true recovery slips away from us. And before the American people lose all faith in those who asked for and then squandered the privilege of leading this country.”

Tlaib: $200,000 in Student Debt

Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan took to the House floor to argue for federal student loan bailouts, citing her own experience. “I worked full-time, Monday through Friday, and took weekend classes to get my law degree, and still close to $200,000 in debt,” Tlaib said. “And I still owe about $70,000 and most of it was interest. Most of it was our own government making money and profit off of me.”

“I didn’t go to the for-profit entities. I went to legal aid. I went and worked on immigrant rights and so much more,” Tlaib continued. “We have to stop treating as if folks that are paying for education, as if they bought some bougie car or some big, you know, something beyond that. No. They were seeking an education.”

Critics pointed out that Tlaib’s complaints about student debt undercut the case for federal bailouts — she earns $174,000 per year as a member of Congress, well above the median household income, and her personal debt situation illustrated that loan forgiveness would disproportionately benefit higher-income professionals.

Key Takeaways

Senator Blackburn said Fed Chair Powell’s retirement of the word “transitory” was “bad news for the spin doctors” in the Biden administration who had insisted inflation would fade quickly.
Blackburn accused the administration of “intentional, reckless activism” and “a full-blown power grab,” not merely bad economic policy.
A Tennessee voter told Blackburn: “I supported President Biden. I thought he was going to be a moderate, and I feel like he became something else immediately.”
Rep. Tlaib complained of nearly $200,000 in student debt while earning $174,000 per year as a member of Congress, reinforcing critics’ argument that loan forgiveness would benefit higher earners.
Blackburn said Democrats were using the Build Back Better bill to “tear down what we have and rebuild this country in their own socialist image.”

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell finally confirmed what we’ve all known for a very long time, that the threat of persistently higher inflation has grown.
It’s back to the drawing board for the White House comms shop. They cannot split hairs over vocabulary words pertaining to inflation.
This is not just bad economic policy. It’s a full-blown power grab.
I supported President Biden. I thought he was going to be a moderate, and I feel like he became something else immediately.
I worked full-time, Monday through Friday, and took weekend classes to get my law degree, and still close to $200,000 in debt.
The White House and Congressional Democrats must abandon this disastrous Build Back Broke agenda before the possibility of true recovery slips away from us.

Full transcript: 871 words transcribed via Whisper AI.