[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, over the last 12 months, the economy has 
rebounded at levels that we have not seen in decades--a 5.7-percent GDP 
growth rate and 6.6 million new jobs. This is the fastest our economy 
has grown since, perhaps, 1984, and the new jobs we added to the 
economy were the most ever for a President's first year.
  After former President Trump botched our national response to COVID, 
America is now on the right track under President Biden, but we face 
serious challenges that demand action from Congress. The cost of living 
has come up for families across the country and around the world. The 
destruction unleashed by COVID has decimated supply chains, strained 
the labor supply, and the effects of a global pandemic that began 2 
years ago still reverberate today. These challenges demand action, and 
Democrats remain laser-focused on lowering costs for American families.
  Yesterday, our caucus met for our weekly lunch, where we held a 
spirited, enthusiastic discussion about ideas from our Members of how 
we can lower costs and take action to do so. We talked about how we can 
continue working to lower childcare costs, prescription drug costs, the 
costs of semiconductors, which is a huge driver of price increases 
across a wide variety of products, and things as basic and vital as the 
cost of food and meat.
  Lowering costs will continue to be a caucuswide effort. We are not 
going to agree on everything, but we are all on the same page in that 
we need to tackle the issue head on.
  That is the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Rising 
costs, of course, impact all of us, whether we come from blue or red 
States, but Democrats are the ones laser-focused on showing where we 
stand and in offering solutions that aim squarely at the problem. 
Republicans seem to have no solutions, just rhetoric. The other side, 
sadly, seems, oftentimes, motivated by something else. Rather than 
working with us in a bipartisan spirit, our Republican colleagues seem 
more comfortable giving speeches that go on and on about rising costs 
without offering any solutions. Complaining about the problem doesn't 
make inflation better--proposing solutions does--and that is precisely 
what Democrats will continue focusing on.
  Over the next month and beyond, Members from our side will continue 
offering a number of solutions--solutions--that will lower costs and 
leave more money in people's pockets. We need to help working families 
build wealth after the pandemic. We need to lower the costs of 
medications like insulin, which can still reach $600 a month. We need 
to relieve our strained supply chains and increase domestic 
manufacturing on things like chips--and on that front, I am hopeful 
that we can take bipartisan action soon.
  Our Republican colleagues, we hope, will join us in these efforts. 
Our Members would welcome it.
  We have come a long way from the start of COVID, but we still have 
more to do. Democrats' goals are to make sure that the job creation and 
wage increases of last year carry into this year. We are going to keep 
working on that this spring, and I hope to see our colleagues from the 
other side work with us to improve the lives of the American people. If 
we can keep wages growing and get costs down, the average American will 
have more money in his or her pocket to live a better life.