[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 182 (Monday, October 18, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7019-S7020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Madam President, now on an entirely different matter, there is a 
famous saying: If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is 
to stop digging. Well, my Democratic colleagues' policy

[[Page S7020]]

decisions have dug our economy into a deep hole, and American families 
desperately need them to stop digging.
  Families of this country are currently battling the worst inflation 
in well over a decade. Over the last 12 months, consumer prices have 
shot up by 5.4 percent. Gasoline prices and food prices each increased 
by a full 1.2 percent just last month alone. That is just in 1 month. 
Year on year, groceries are about 4.5 percent more expensive than they 
were at this time in 2020. Let's look at housing. Rent jumped a full 
half a percentage point just in September alone. That was the biggest 
monthly jump in two decades.
  On paper, American workers have been getting raises. The average 
worker's paychecks have gotten bigger over the last year, but the 
Democrats' inflation has cannibalized all those gains and then some. 
Any man or woman in the country who hasn't gotten a pay raise of 5.5 
percent this year has effectively had their pay cut by the Democrats' 
inflation.
  Let me say it again: Unless you have recently gotten a 5.5-percent 
raise, you have gotten a pay cut. And even the households that have 
enjoyed pay raises are contending with major shortages of the things 
they want to buy and rapid and unpredictable price changes.
  Of course, none of the families we represent need to hear these 
figures from experts on the news; they are living this reality every 
time they need to swing by the store, fill up their tank, or grab some 
essentials.
  What is especially remarkable and especially sad is that our Nation's 
inflation nightmare was not unavoidable. These conditions are the 
product of intentional policy decisions made by Democrats over the 
objection of experts who warned exactly--exactly--what would happen.
  Larry Summers, a leading economist and top adviser to each of the 
last two Democratic Presidents, said a few days ago--just a few days 
ago--``We're in more danger than we've been during my career of losing 
control of inflation in the U.S.'' That is Larry Summers, just a couple 
of days ago. The worst inflation risk he has ever seen? Mr. Summers was 
one of the many mainstream economists who warned the Biden 
administration what their policies would unleash. From the start, they 
tried to persuade Democrats not to ram through their historic glut of 
borrowing, printing, and spending. Ah, but alas, Democrats didn't 
listen. Back in the springtime, they used the pandemic as an excuse to 
pass a massive spending bill that the White House boasted was the most 
leftwing legislation in American history. Now families are paying the 
painful price.
  The country is deep in this hole that Democrats dug, but they are 
showing no indication--none--that they want to stop digging. Led by our 
socialist colleague, the distinguished Senator from Vermont, Chairman 
Sanders, Washington Democrats are plowing forward with yet another 
reckless taxing-and-spending spree that would make their huge 
inflationary package from the springtime look like child's play by 
comparison. They want the government to borrow and print multiple 
trillions more dollars and dump all that spending onto the heads of 
families who are already struggling--struggling--to stay afloat.
  Meanwhile, Democrats want to saddle a sputtering economy with the 
biggest peacetime tax hikes on record, obliterating President Biden's 
promise not to raise taxes for the vast majority of American families 
and leaving American job creators with tougher tax rates than 
businesses pay in communist China.
  Look at energy prices. Americans are already paying more at the pump 
than they have in 7 years, but now our colleagues want to go beyond 
their war on gasoline and slap new taxes and new regulations on other 
domestic energy sources such as natural gas. But winter is fast 
approaching. The whole world is steeling for huge price increases in 
natural gas. Our friends in Europe are frantically trying to secure 
their gas supply lines, and Russia is threatening to turn the 
continent's winter heating into a political hostage. But, inexplicably, 
Democrats' response is essentially to have America stand down as an 
energy superpower--new taxes and new regulations on top of the 
inflation that is already wreaking havoc.
  Here was one headline last week:

       Winter heating bills set to jump as inflation hits home.

  The story went on:

       With prices surging worldwide for heating oil, natural gas 
     and other fuels, the U.S. government said Wednesday it 
     expects households to see their heating bills jump as much as 
     54% compared to last winter.

  This is the moment that President Biden is choosing to let the 
farthest-left people in Washington, DC, rewrite America's energy and 
environmental policy. Reckless liberal policies have dug America into a 
hole. Americans need Democrats to stop digging deeper, but the response 
from my colleagues across the aisle is to trade in their shovels for an 
excavator. Democrats want to keep digging deeper. They want to try to 
inflate their way out of inflation.
  It makes no sense whatsoever. It sounds as crazy as it is. No wonder 
this expensive socialist experiment is proving so very painful. It is 
not what American voters elected, and it is not what American families 
want.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.