Senator Charles Grassley (R) believes a $3.5 trillion spending package currently being pushed by the Biden Administration will “feed the fires of inflation.”

The economic proposal to be spent over 10 years would invest in free community college, child care, and green energy, funded by tax increases on corporations. Democrats seek to pass the bill on party lines using budget reconciliation. Grassley tells KCII that Congress is spending too much money, “You’re going to find Republicans opposing it and enough Democrats have expressed some opposition or question about it that I think they may have a hard time passing it even if they want to do it along a party-line vote. But I believe that inflation is a real problem and we shouldn’t be doing anything to bring that yet higher.”

The bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the tax changes would raise $2.07 trillion over 10 years, leaving more than a $1 trillion funding gap unless some of the bill’s investments are cut. The initial language for the plan includes adding dental, vision, and hearing benefits to Medicare and lowering the eligibility age, lowering the price of prescription drugs, and implementations to meet President Biden’s goals of reducing economy-wide carbon emissions by 50% and for the U.S. power grid to get 80% of its power from emissions-free sources before 2030.