[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 214 (Monday, December 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Madam President, last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released 
a grim set of numbers that confirmed our worst fears: Inflation is 
getting worse, and by this month, the American people are in for even 
more economic pain. Why? Because their paychecks just can't keep up 
with the skyrocketing prices. On top of everything else, they get to 
look forward to a pay cut every month for the foreseeable future, and 
all this is happening just in time for Christmas. It is insult added to 
injury.
  Now, it would be bad enough if this economic nosedive would have 
happened no matter what the White House had chosen to do, but it would 
not have happened. It was totally preventable. No, this is the direct 
result of the Democrats' reckless taxing-and-spending spree that 
started in March and has lasted all year long.
  American families struggled to stretch their budgets through 6.8 
percent inflation in November--that was in November--which is the 
highest we have seen in almost 40 years. We are looking at the largest 
12-month increase since 1982.
  Think about this: All of this happened just as the experts predicted 
and just as Tennesseans kept saying they feared this was what would 
happen.
  Now, despite a mountain of evidence proving their recovery strategy 
has failed, Democrats are ready to lean into the past year's insanity 
and pump not millions, not billions, but trillions--trillions--of 
dollars into the economy that they have already destroyed. What is 
worse is they are trying to leverage this economic pain against their 
Republican colleagues by refusing to raise the debt ceiling to 
accommodate their own reckless spending.
  You can't make this stuff up. This is Biden economics, it is 
intentional, and it is painful because what the Democrats are doing is 
showing they are willing to spend taxpayer money on things that 
taxpayers don't want, which is this destructive economic agenda.
  So I ask my Democratic colleagues: What is it about these numbers 
that are staring you in the face that you do not understand? Are you so 
eager to force President Biden's ``Build Back Broke'' agenda on the 
American people that you are willing to throw reason and accountability 
and basic economics out the window? Is it really worth watching your 
fellow countrymen suffer? Is it worth watching people whom you 
represent, people who elected you, suffer?
  If you all bothered to pay attention, what you would see is just how 
bad it has gotten out here in the real world. The policies that you are 
so convinced will lead us into a socialist utopia, as some on the left 
like to say, have dragged the people into a constant--constant--state 
of fear and worry.
  One Tennessee mom told me last week:

       Marsha, this stuff scares me. It just scares me.