Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said Democrats' agenda under President Joe Biden is far more extreme than it was under former President Barack Obama, the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday.
Brady, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told the Examiner that the current progressive agenda "is much more dangerous and extreme than under President Obama."
Since Biden took office in January, Democrats have called for such things as ending the Senate filibuster, packing the Supreme Court, and defunding law enforcement.
"[Those are a] dramatic destruction of entities and institutions that frankly have created a balance of power and checks and balances for our entire history," Brady said.
The Texas lawmaker, who helped direct passage of the 2017 Republican tax cuts, also cited Biden's proposal of sweeping changes to tax policy that includes raising the corporate income tax.
Although many of the progressive goals likely will not be achieved as long as the filibuster remains in a Senate split evenly along party lines, Brady told the Examiner that the stakes for the country are "dramatically higher" than when Republicans fought the Obama administration over proposals such as Obamacare.
Brady also told the Examiner that the Democratic Party is pushing to expand the "welfare state" to "hook more people into another generation of dependency."
That can be seen with unemployment benefits. The federal government offered $300-per-week expanded unemployment payments as part of the COVID-19 stimulus on top of whatever the state provided.
With $387 weekly being the national average of statewide unemployment insurance, some unemployed people receive $687 on average — equal to a $17.17 hourly wage, more than double the federal minimum wage.
That has resulted in about half the states opting out of the federal program early for fear that it's holding back the labor market, and employers in low-wage industries struggling to find workers.
Democrats also increased and expanded the child tax credit to allow non-working parents to receive the entire amount of $3,600 for children under 6 years old and $3,000 for older children.
"These initiatives weren't seen anywhere to this degree during the Obama administration," said Brady, who added that some Democrats have said making them permanent is a "priority."
The lawmaker told the Examiner the Democrats' initiatives threaten "the freedoms and the future of the country."
Brady, a member of Congress since 1997, plans to retire after his current term.
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