“There’s not much that hasn’t already been said about this absolute train wreck of a bill,” said Rep. Kevin Hern of Tulsa. “I’ve made my position crystal clear: this bill is not only bad policy, it’s dangerous.”
A businessman chosen to represent northeast Oklahoma, Hern called the bill the largest expansion of the federal government in history, adding, “It amounts to a giant, unprecedented leap towards socialism.”
Congressman Markwayne Mullin, another conservative Republican who has attacked the Biden administration’s energy policies charged that each provision in the act is an item from the far-Left’s socialist wish list.
” Our country is already suffering from record high inflation—spending trillions more is the last thing we should be doing,” he added in a statement following the Friday morning vote.
Fourth District Rep. Tom Cole called it “radical legislation cooked up by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and passed solely by Democrats” in the House.
Cole, a recognized Republican member of the House Appropriations Committee pointed to the Congressional Budget Office’s nonpartisan cost estimate that said the Act will increase the nation’s deficit by nearly $400 billion over the next 10 years.
“—if every program contained in the bill were made permanent, the actual cost would be at least $4 trillion.”
Rep. Stephanie Bice of Edmond voted against the measure but did not offer a statement following the approval by Democrats.
Build Back Better won’t have the support of Oklahoma U.S. Sens Jim Inhofe and James Lankford when it comes before them.
Both have condemned the measure with Lankford as recently as early November warning that if the act becomes law, it will trigger increased inflation when items and services have already increased this year.