[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 176 (Wednesday, October 6, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6929-S6930]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
what people in Wyoming are seeing every day, and that is rising prices 
when they go to the gas station, when they go to the grocery store. 
They are paying more and more.
  Every month since Joe Biden took the oath of office, prices have been 
rising faster than wages. People are feeling the bite in their wallets 
of these higher prices. In effect, people all across the country and 
certainly in my home State of Wyoming have suffered a paycheck cut 
because the money just doesn't go as far. President Biden told us this 
wouldn't happen. He actually said inflation was transitory. Well, 
President Biden may still believe that. Yet, after 7 months in a row, 
it doesn't look transitory to most Americans.
  Now, economists have actually revised their expectations of 
inflation, and they have revised them in ways that we are going to be 
paying higher prices for longer periods of time. They have revised 
their expectations about economic growth as well, and they have revised 
those downward--inflation up; economic growth down.
  Well, on Friday, the Commerce Department said one measure of 
inflation has actually hit the highest that it has been in 30 years. 
The company Salesforce now estimates that costs for Christmas shopping 
will go up by 20 cents for every dollar you would spend on Christmas 
presents. The store Dollar Tree has announced that it will start 
selling items that cost more than a dollar. We have 10 Dollar Tree 
stores in Wyoming. They are a very important part of our communities. 
Many people in rural areas rely on dollar stores for their everyday 
needs. In Joe Biden's economy, these people are getting hurt the most.
  So why is it happening? Well, it is because the money supply hasn't 
increased this fast in 75 years.
  Last year, Congress spent trillions of dollars to respond to the 
worst pandemic in our Nation's history--actually, in a century. With a 
Republican majority in the Senate, we passed five relief bills, and 
they were all done in a bipartisan, overwhelmingly majority vote. Much 
of the money still hasn't been spent.
  Then, this January, Democrats took over the White House as well as 
the Senate. They got their hands on the Nation's credit card, and they 
started swiping it.
  In March, the President signed a $2 trillion spending bill that was 
supposed to be about coronavirus. Yet only 9 percent of the money 
actually went to public health. They cut Republicans out of the 
negotiations completely. So much of the new spending went to the 
Democrats' favorite groups--to labor unions, to union bosses, to 
bankrupted blue States. They put the bill for all of that spending 
entirely on the American credit card. The Federal Reserve started 
printing money, and prices started going up.
  Yet Democrats haven't learned their lesson. They want to keep 
spending. Now they want to spend more than twice as much money as they 
just spent in March, and they are also asking for the largest tax 
increase in 50 years. Tax increases also raise prices.
  Last week, the White House Press Secretary made a statement, and, to 
me, it was one of the most irrational statements that some business 
owners have ever heard. She said: It is ``unfair and absurd'' for 
companies to raise prices in response to higher taxes. She

[[Page S6930]]

said it is absurd and unfair for companies to raise prices in response 
to higher taxes. Well, it may be unfair, but it certainly is not 
absurd; it is basic arithmetic. When the government raises taxes, the 
cost of doing business goes up. Companies either have to cut costs or 
increase their revenue. When Democrats raise taxes, it means higher 
prices, fewer jobs, and in many cases, both.
  It is why it is alarming that President Biden wants to raise taxes on 
American energy. Energy prices have already gone up. Oil, yesterday, 
was at a 7- or an 8-year high. Natural gas prices have doubled this 
year. Democrats are now proposing a new fee on natural gas production. 
According to one estimate, the new fee would cost our economy $9.1 
billion and eliminate 90,000 good-paying American energy jobs. It would 
also mean higher energy prices for people trying to heat their homes 
and cool their homes. Higher energy prices also mean higher grocery 
prices. They mean higher retail prices.
  It may be unfair, according to the White House Press Secretary, but 
it is not absurd because prices are rising for a reason. They are 
rising because Democrats spent trillions of dollars that we cannot 
afford.
  Democrats need to learn their lesson before it is too late. Stop this 
rush to more taxes and spending and borrowing. Stop cutting into 
people's paychecks. American families are feeling the pain. Stop 
pouring more fuel on this fire of inflation that is raging across the 
country.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.