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CONCORD - Building America’s Future — a dark money group linked to former Mike Pence staffers and Mitch McConnell allies — is once again spending dark money on false ads attacking Senator Hassan and the work she’s doing to cut taxes for small businesses.
In the ad, the group lies about Senator Hassan’s record of lowering costs for New Hampshire families and supporting small businesses. Senator Hassan led bipartisan efforts to help New Hampshire’s small businesses stay open amid the pandemic, and lowered small business taxes so they can grow and hire again. And she is pushing to double the R&D tax credit for startups and small businesses in the economic package being considered by the Senate — a bipartisan measure that would help New Hampshire small businesses grow.
The new ad doesn’t just lie about Senator Hassan’s record — it also repeats the previously debunked claim that the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are responsible for inflation. That claim has been repeatedly proved false by leading economists — including the San Francisco Federal Reserve, the New York Federal Reserve, and Moody’s.
The truth is that Senator Hassan has a strong record of working across the aisle to keep small businesses open and cut their taxes, lower costs for Granite State families, and put New Hampshire’s economy back on track.
Get the facts below:
FALSE CLAIM: “Now Biden wants Maggie Hassan to rubber stamp another massive spending bill… The Biden plan raises taxes on main street businesses.” [Building America’s Future Ad]
THE TRUTH: Maggie Hassan Has Successfully Pushed to Cut Taxes for Small Businesses and Worked to Help Small Businesses Stay Open During the Pandemic.
Senator Hassan Proposed A Bipartisan Amendment To Expand The Research And Development Tax Credit That Was Included In The Budget Resolution By Voice Vote. Senator Hassan proposed S.Amdt. 3278 to S.Con.Res. 14. This amendment stated, “The Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the Senate may revise the allocations of a committee or committees, aggregates, and other appropriate levels in this resolution, and make adjustments to the pay-as-you-go ledger, for one or more bills, joint resolutions, amendments, amendments between the Houses, motions, or conference reports relating to supporting United States economic competitiveness and innovation, which may include expanding the research and development tax credit for small businesses and preserving full expensing for research and development investments, by the amounts provided in such legislation for those purposes, provided that such legislation would not increase the deficit over either the period of the total of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 or the period of the total of fiscal years 2022 through 2031.” The amendment was co-sponsored by Republican Senators Todd Young and Ben Sasse and passed by Voice Vote. [S.Amdt. 3278 to S.Con.Res. 14, Proposed 8/10/21; Congressional Record, 8/10/21]
Senator Hassan Voted In Favor Of An Amendment To The Democratic Economic Package To Prohibit Raising Taxes On People Making Less Than $400,000 Annually. In August 2021, Senator Hassan voted for: “Young, R-Ind., amendment no. 3444 that would modify a provision that would create a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow for budget reconciliation legislation in line with reconciliation instructions, to prohibit any adjustment to budget allocations and levels that would raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 annually.” The amendment passed 98-1. [CQ, Amdt no. 3444 to S. Con. Res. 14, Vote 335, 8/10/21]
The Senate Budget Reconciliation Framework Senator Hassan Voted For Would Prohibit New Taxes On Small Businesses. “On July 13th, 2021, the Senate Budget Committee, with the support of Leader Schumer and President Biden, announced a framework agreement of $3.5 trillion in FY2022 Budget Reconciliation instructions to enact the Build Back Better agenda. The agreement calls for the $3.5 trillion in long-term investments to be fully offset by a combination of new tax revenues, health care savings, and long-term economic growth. In addition, the agreement would prohibit new taxes on families making less than $400,000 per year, and on small businesses and family farms.” [Senate Budget Committee, Memorandum RE: FY2022 Budget Resolution Agreement Framework, 8/9/21]
Tax Increases For Smaller Companies Were “Off The Table” In the Economic Package Negotiations. “Smaller companies may be cheered by the fact that tax increases, in a traditional sense, seem to be off the table. Biden has long called for overturning much of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the sweeping $1.9 trillion tax reform law passed under then-President Donald Trump that cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 28 percent, among other things. Although that plan has largely failed to increase business investment levels, Senate lawmakers, including Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), are digging in their heels against raising taxes at all.” [Inc., 10/29/21]
FALSE CLAIM: “The wasteful spending in Washington has sent inflation through the roof.” [Building America’s Future Ad]
THE TRUTH: Leading Economists: The American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Do Not Add Inflation Pressures in the U.S.
San Francisco Fed Analysis: The American Rescue Plan Did Not Significantly Increase Inflation Through 2022. According to a San Francisco Fed paper, “In this Economic Letter, we assess the risk of sustained inflationary overheating using the ratio of job vacancies to unemployment. This measure of slack accounts for both the demand for and supply of labor and thus has been shown to predict future inflation more accurately than the unemployment rate alone. Our estimates show that the ARP could raise the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio close to its historical peak in 1968. However, this large increase translates into only a temporary increase in core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation of about 0.3 percentage point per year through 2022. This minor impact is attributable to the small effect of slack on inflation and the strong historical stability of longer-run inflation expectations.” [Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Regis Barnichon et al., 10/18/21]
Moody’s: Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Will Not Add to Inflation. According to economists and analysts in leading rating agencies, President Joe Biden's infrastructure and social spending legislation will not add to inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy […] William Foster, vice president and senior credit officer (Sovereign Risk) at Moody's Investors Service said that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill “should not have any real material impact on inflation." Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics said that the legislation does “not add to inflation pressures, as the policies help to lift long-term economic growth via stronger productivity and labor force growth, and thus take the edge off of inflation.” [Reuters, 11/17/21]
New York Fed’s Andrew Haugh: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Would Not Boost Inflation, Because Its Funds Would Be Spent Over A Long Period. “The bipartisan infrastructure legislation that's under consideration in Washington may not boost inflation despite roughly $1 trillion in new spending. That's the view of Andrew Haughwout, senior vice president and policy leader for household and regional in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Research and Statistics Group. Haughwout made the comments Thursday during a special briefing on the Biden infrastructure plan presented by the Volcker Alliance and Penn Institute for Urban Research. The panel was moderated by William Glasgall, head of the Volcker Alliance. ‘It's a lot of money but it's also the case that it will most likely be spent out over many years,’ Haughwout said, noting that the funds would likely be spent over 10 years. ‘That starts to mitigate the impact it will have - both on short-term economic growth but also on inflationary pressures.’” [The Bond Buyer, 10/22/21]