[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 157 (Monday, September 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on another matter, the international 
stage isn't the only area where the Biden administration's policies 
have caused damage that was both foreseeable and foreseen.
  Back in the springtime, Washington Democrats dumped trillions of 
dollars in liberal borrowing and spending onto the American people. 
They pretended it was a COVID relief bill. What it was, was a recipe 
for rampant inflation, a silent tax hike on American families.
  It was clear what would happen. Even liberal economists warned this 
was a bad idea that would cause inflation. But just like in 
Afghanistan, Democrats had made up their minds long ago and were 
certainly not going to be deterred.
  Now working Americans are paying the price. Annual inflation is up 
5.4 percent, tied for the worst inflation in over a decade. It has more 
than swamped American workers' wage gains over the last year. The 
Democrats' inflation is turning American workers' pay raises into 
effective pay cuts, essentially pick-pocketing American families.
  You might think this would give our Democratic friends some pause and 
encourage them to deal in reality; but, alas, that is not what is 
happening. Instead, they are eager to jam through yet another massive 
multitrillion-dollar reckless taxing-and-spending spree in an effort to 
move our country to the left, literally, forever.
  Massive new government intrusion into Americans' childcare 
arrangements, into Americans' medical prescriptions, into the power 
grid; new welfare spending that hands out cash with zero--zero--work 
requirements; socialist price setting that would leave our medical 
system with fewer new cures; and a thousand more awful, far-left 
policies just like these, all accompanied by a suite of staggering--
literally staggering--tax hikes that would kill jobs, hurt families, 
and crush our competitiveness with the Chinese.
  Details are already emerging about the seismic tax hikes that 
Democrats are cooking up: more higher taxes on employers and job 
creators, targeted tax hikes to hit small businesses and family farms, 
pulling more Americans into the death tax.
  This tax-hiking wish list would add up to one of the biggest tax 
hikes in American history at exactly the time their liberal policies 
already have our economy sputtering. So it is the very last thing 
American workers need. It is the last thing American families can 
afford, and Republicans are going to fight these terrible, painful 
policies tooth and nail.

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