[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 164 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ECONOMIC RECOVERY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, over the past 
several months, American families have had to contend with a historic 
amount of painful, painful inflation. This summer, we saw the prices 
for core personal consumption soar at the fastest pace in nearly 30 
years. Last month, the Producer Price Index notched its steepest year-
on-year jump in more than a decade. All across the country, across the 
economy, families and businesses are being hit hard.
  One measure of construction materials is reporting that homebuilders 
are facing materials costs that are 22 percent higher than just last 
year--22 percent higher than just last year. Homeowners and renters are 
approaching a fall and winter in which heating costs are projected to 
reach a 13-year high. Eighty-six percent of respondents told one recent 
poll they were either ``extremely'' or ``very worried'' about 
inflation.
  Now, this is exactly what Republicans, independent experts, and even 
liberal economists warned would happen if Democrats started ramming 
through massive, massive inflationary spending. Back in the springtime, 
Larry Summers, the top economic adviser to both President Clinton and 
President Obama, warned at the time that runaway spending could ``set 
off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a 
generation.'' And, of course, that is exactly what has happened.
  Well, just ask any working family in this country about their last 
trip to the gas station, the grocery store, or the car dealership. 
Inflation has gotten so bad on Democrats' watch that it has wiped out 
every ounce of the average American worker's pay growth during this 
economic recovery and then some. Annual real wage growth is negative 
even though employers have been handing out raises because--because--of 
inflation.
  Remember, at the start of the year, working Americans had an economy 
that was teed up for a roaring recovery. So when Washington Democrats 
rolled out their first springtime spending spree, even the Washington 
Post cautioned that ``the improving picture is raising questions about 
whether the stimulus bill is mismatched to the needs of the current 
moment.'' That was the Washington Post on the so-called rescue package 
that passed back in March.
  You might think that the disastrous consequences of Democrats' last 
spending binge for working Americans might give our colleagues some 
pause about the next one, but, alas, no such luck. Behind closed doors, 
they are putting together another, even more reckless taxing-and-
spending spree. They want to take the last bill, which Democrats called 
the most leftwing law in American history, and actually dwarf even 
that.
  Massive tax hikes on Americans that will hurt families and help 
China. Let me say that again. Massive tax hikes on Americans that will 
hurt families and help China. A socialist transformation that nobody 
voted for last year. Another invitation for even more painful inflation 
that will hit working Americans right where it hurts. The American 
people don't want it, and Senate Republicans won't support it.

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