[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 198 (Monday, November 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8065-S8066]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Government Spending

  Madam President, last week, even more economic data continued to 
confirm that inflation is hammering working families all across 
America. In October, consumer prices saw their steepest spike in three 
decades, the worst inflation surge in more than 30 years.
  When I was back home last week, I heard constantly from Kentuckians 
who have watched their gas prices and grocery prices literally soar. 
This is happening in every single State. Last month was the fifth 
straight month in which national consumer prices rose at least 5 
percent.
  The Democrats' inflation crisis has gotten so bad that Washington 
Democrats have stopped trying to pretend that it is just transitory and 
are starting to admit that it is on them to fix it. The same Democrats 
who spent months denying inflation was a lasting problem, the last 
people in America to wake up to this reality, are now convinced they 
are just the people to fix it.
  But their supposed solutions are more of the same absurd policies 
that helped dig this hole in the first place. After months of mostly 
ignoring the problem, President Biden finally responded to last week's 
inflation data by insisting that ``reversing this trend is a top 
priority for me.''
  But--surprise--the President's preferred solution just so happens to 
be the exact same reckless taxing-and-spending spree his administration 
has

[[Page S8066]]

been pushing, literally, for months now.
  They cooked up this massive multitrillion-dollar spending spree back 
when they were saying inflation wasn't a major problem and it was still 
time to spend like crazy. But now, miraculously, that same spending 
binge happens to be their prescription to fight inflation.
  Give me a break. This is just a sweeping socialist wish list in 
search of a justification. This is another megadose of the same radical 
recklessness that Republicans have warned against all along, that 
American families are already paying dearly for, as we speak.
  But, so far, Democrats seem intent on grabbing the hot stove yet 
again, and its American families who stand to get burned.