If debt and spending were Olympic sports, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi would easily take home the gold medals.

Now after a year of unprecedented and reckless spending, there is no relief in sight for hard-working taxpayers. Pelosi and Washington Democrats passed yet another massive $600 billion spending package — a 21% increase in spending from the previous year.

Even worse, this budget was the first in decades to scrap the Hyde Amendment and allow taxpayer dollars to go towards abortions. The only thing they didn’t fund was the Defense Department and Homeland Security.

This out-of-control spending is coming with a cost for you and your family in the form of higher prices at the grocery store and gas station. Inflation is a tax increase on all Americans and only getting worse.

Just last month the inflation marker rose 3.5%, its biggest jump since 1991. This, along with the highest consumer prices in 13 years, is the latest sign that reckless spending by Washington Democrats is driving inflation. For the sake of generations to come, we cannot afford to spend like this.

While Washington Democrats were busy spending your tax dollars, last week I focused on defending our veterans and the Second Amendment. I hosted a group of wounded combat veterans in Washington to discuss a new regulation on pistol stabilizing braces proposed by the Biden administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives.

Under the regulation, an individual could become a felon unless you turn in or destroy your firearm, destroy your brace, or pay a tax. This regulation is a massive attack on our Second Amendment. But worse is that these devices were designed and are needed by wounded veterans to continue exercising their rights.

Joining me last week was former police officer and U.S. Army veteran Rick Cicero, who was injured in Afghanistan in 2010 by an IED. After losing his right leg and right arm, Cicero helped develop the original stabilizing brace. He now travels the country teaching disabled veterans how to shoot again and said stabilizing braces “are the foundation” for everything he does. Rick talked about the impact on self-esteem and the mental health improvements he sees in these veterans due to this training.

I led 140 members of Congress opposing this regulation. Forty-eight Senators also joined this effort. Now I am encouraging everyone to submit a public comment against this rule to the ATF before Sept. 8. Folks can visit my website at https://hudson.house.gov/ or go directly to the ATF’s comment portal.

Veterans and others who rely on these braces deserve an equal opportunity to exercise the Second Amendment. I will not back down until we tell the ATF to defend them and our rights.

Finally, last week, mask mandates returned to the halls of Congress and many communities across the country.

Cases have risen, mainly among in those without vaccines. Yet last week, I asked for data from the CDC on why they reversed mask guidance for those who have been vaccinated. Vaccines work and I encourage everyone to consult with their doctor about getting one. But sweeping political mandates not based on science undermine our confidence in public health.

Furthermore, updated guidance from the Biden administration comes as they continue to allow thousands of migrants to cross our southern border without COVID tests or vaccines. Solving this crisis should be step one to address any rise in cases.

I am determined to keep our businesses and schools open this fall. Vaccines are helping us do this and we should not allow political agendas to revert us back to mask mandates and lockdowns that aren’t based on science.

In addition to defending our veterans and Second Amendment, I will always continue to fight for commonsense solutions to protect you and your family.