[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 185 (Thursday, October 21, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5733-H5734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY IS IN TROUBLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today because our economy is in 
trouble. We are headed in the wrong direction. We must reverse course.

[[Page H5734]]

  My constituents are paying more today than they were a year ago for 
basic goods like milk, gas, and bread.
  In fact, the national average price for a gallon of gas recently 
reached $3.36, more than $1 higher than it was a year ago and the 
highest price since October of 2014.
  It was also recently announced that core inflation is at a 30-year 
high.
  Inflation has gone up every month since President Biden has been in 
office.
  Inflation is an invisible tax on all Americans, and it especially 
hurts seniors living on a fixed income.
  Out-of-control government spending fuels inflation.
  Some of my colleagues seem to believe more spending is the answer.
  They have proposed a $4.3 trillion spending plan coupled with a $1.5 
trillion infrastructure package, both of which are filled with pork, 
unfortunately.
  For example, the spending bill contains billions for job training in 
climate careers to create a Civilian Climate Corps to promote the Green 
New Deal; to develop environmental justice initiatives; for housing 
grants to felons convicted of domestic violence or hate crimes; to 
benefit, again, 10 million illegal immigrants; and $200 million for a 
park in San Francisco.
  While I do believe we need to invest in traditional infrastructures 
such as roads, bridges, internet connectivity, and cybersecurity, only 
a very small percentage of the proposed infrastructure package funds 
these types of essential projects, which is wrong. We must spend more 
on traditional infrastructure and get rid of the perks.
  These spending packages would raise taxes on every American, not just 
the rich.
  They will kill American jobs and make us less competitive in the 
global marketplace.
  In the end, it is more frivolous Washington spending, which is the 
absolute wrong approach, in my opinion, to fixing our economic woes.
  It will only make matters worse, Madam Speaker.
  Small business owners, who are the backbone of our economy, are 
having a very difficult time recovering from the pandemic, as you know. 
Not only are they dealing with the same inflationary pressures that all 
Americans are experiencing, but they are also facing labor and material 
shortages.
  As we head into the holiday season, consumer demand will only 
continue to rise.
  The supply chain bottlenecks must be resolved immediately to prevent 
further damage to our economy.
  Instead of working together to find common ground and areas about 
which we can build consensus--that is how we govern--my colleagues on 
the left, though, seem determined to go it alone. That is the wrong 
approach, Madam Speaker.
  They have spent weeks publicly arguing amongst themselves about how 
many trillions of American taxpayer dollars they should spend without 
any concern to what this out-of-control spending will do to our already 
struggling economy.
  Simply put, this is not how we grow the economy. This is how we grow 
inflation.
  In order to restore our way of life and renew the American Dream, we 
must implement Trump-era economic policies that yielded unprecedented 
economic growth, the lowest unemployment levels for minorities in the 
history of the United States, energy independence--that is what we 
need--and the highest rise in middle-class wages in decades.
  The destructive economic policies of those on the left must be 
defeated.

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