Democrats claim they are leading the charge against the wealthy and powerful special interests. Joe Biden says his massive tax increases would only hit the biggest corporations and the rich. In contrast, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously criticized the GOP's 2017 tax cuts as a "Frankenstein monster of loophole and special interest giveaways."

The tax bill passed by the House of Representatives is the real monster. Now before the Senate, the bill is loaded with billions of dollars of special interest tax giveaways, paid for by tax increases on small businesses and middle-income taxpayers.

The House bill includes a massive tax cut for millions of upper-income taxpayers, and tax increases for millions of middle-income households. The bill includes $400 billion in small business tax increases. And while they are raising taxes on average taxpayers, Democrats are giving away billions of dollars to special interest groups.

Tucked inside the House bill is a long list of tax breaks and new loopholes for politically favored groups and urban elites. Here are just a few of the tax boondoggles costing billions of tax dollars.

— A new tax break for contingency fee expenses for trial lawyers, costing $2.5 billion

— A tax deduction for union dues on top of the regular standard deduction, at a cost of $1.7 billion

— A new tax credit for media companies to help them pay journalists' salaries, costing $1.67 billion

— A $12,500 tax credit for people earning up to $500,000 a year to buy electric cars, at a cost of $9 billion

— A $900 tax credit to buy an electric bicycle, costing $4.2 billion. And a tax break for commuting to work on a bicycle or a scooter, at a cost of $200 million

These new tax loopholes would provide a windfall to special interests and political friends, and they would be paid for by working people and businesses struggling to cope with higher inflation and the tax increases in the bill.

The Senate should scrap this legislation and its loopholes for the rich and special interests.

Bruce Thompson was a U.S. Senate aide, an assistant secretary of treasury for legislative affairs, and the director of government relations for Merrill Lynch for 22 years.