[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 74 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2308-S2309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Biden Administration

  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I am really beginning to believe everyone 
in the White House is clueless. After promising to lead us away from 
crisis and chaos, President Biden has instead made achieving the 
American dream

[[Page S2309]]

more challenging and, folks, a heck of a lot more expensive while at 
the same time making the world a much more dangerous place. Then, to 
cover up the connection between his actions and their disastrous 
outcomes, the President plays the blame game.
  Since Joe Biden was sworn in as President just a little over a year 
ago, we have experienced record-setting inflation, making everyday 
essentials unaffordable; an unprecedented number of migrants rushing 
our southern border; our national debt topping $30 trillion for the 
first time; the Taliban's retaking control of Afghanistan; and the 
world being brought to the brink of nuclear war.
  Are these events purely the result of chance or are they direct 
consequences of the choices being made in the White House? You don't 
need to be a detective to solve this whodunit. Let's go ahead and 
examine the case.
  All right. Over the past year, the cost of nearly everything has 
increased at the fastest pace in over four decades. A gallon of milk is 
up nearly 50 cents, and 2 pounds of ground beef costs over $1.50 more 
than it did a year ago. Add in rising rents and home prices, and these 
numbers really add up quickly.
  While Iowans and the rest of Americans are struggling to adjust their 
family budgets to the ever increasing cost of living, the Biden 
administration has repeatedly dismissed concerns about the price 
problem.
  Last summer, the President said:

       It's highly unlikely that it's going to be long-term 
     inflation that's going to get out of hand.

  Now that the problem can no longer be ignored, he is actually blaming 
corporate greed.
  Get a clue.
  The Federal Reserve says the reason prices in the United States have 
been outpacing inflation in other countries since 2021--when Biden 
became President--is as a direct result of Washington's unprecedented 
spending spree. It turns out you can't just print trillions of dollars 
and hand it out for free.
  Republicans in Congress and even some Democrats warned that this 
would happen when the President began pushing one trillion-dollar 
spending bill after another. Now hard-working Americans are stuck 
paying for the Biden binge-spending twice--first with higher taxes and 
then again with higher bills. When you add it all up, Bidenomics is 
costing every family almost $500 more a month today than a year ago to 
buy the same exact items.
  So, despite the President's finger-pointing, this problem isn't being 
caused by corporate greed for profits, and it isn't caused on Wall 
Street.
  The White House is using a similar setup to hide the true cause of 
higher prices at the pump. President Biden wants us to believe that the 
skyrocketing costs to fill up your tank are all Vladimir Putin's fault, 
but gas was on the rise for more than a year before the Russian 
invasion of Ukraine. In fact, gas prices have steadily increased since 
the President's first day in office when he signed an Executive order 
to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline. On that day, January 20, 2021, a 
gallon of gas cost less than $2.50. The President then signed an 
Executive order turning off all new oil and gas leases on public lands.
  While the President was shutting down U.S. energy, he was helping to 
make the world more dependent on Putin for power. In May of last year, 
the Biden administration waived the sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 
gas pipeline. By then, gas here in the United States had reached $3 a 
gallon. When Putin invaded Ukraine in February, the price was already 
more than $3.50 per gallon.
  So don't be fooled, folks. It is really Biden's war on American 
energy that has been fueling the soaring costs. While the Russian 
dictator is guilty of many horrible things, the higher gas prices we 
have been paying for over the past year and a half did not begin as a 
result of Putin in Ukraine because of the war.
  It is impossible to miss the irony of President Biden's pointing the 
finger at Putin since the Russian dictator's aggression against Ukraine 
may have been emboldened by Biden's abrupt abandonment in Afghanistan. 
The poorly planned evacuation also turned over billions of dollars of 
weapons and equipment to the Taliban and other terrorists and left 
countless Americans and our allies behind while costing the lives of 13 
of our brave servicemembers.
  The President blamed our own military--he blamed our own military--
for not warning him of the catastrophe that would occur if he withdrew 
all U.S. forces, but those claims were contradicted under oath before 
the Senate Armed Services Committee by his own advisers, who said the 
President was told Afghanistan would collapse. Try as he might to lay 
the blame elsewhere, the President singlehandedly made the call to 
completely withdraw from Afghanistan, which will go down as one of the 
worst foreign policy decisions in U.S. history.
  Now Biden's blunders are threatening to turn the crisis at our 
southern border into total chaos. The number of illegal crossings last 
year exceeded 1.7 million--the most ever recorded. To make matters 
worse, the administration has announced that those attempting to enter 
our country illegally will soon no longer be turned away under the 
authority provided by title 42. As a consequence, Homeland Security 
officials are expecting a record surge of border crossings, which could 
reach as many as 18,000 people a day.
  Just like his other abrupt, poorly thought-out decisions, the 
President has no plan to deal with the inevitable repercussions. When 
the predictable disaster occurs, the President will be surprised and 
confused and look for someone else to blame.
  I could go on, but I am all ready to rest my case since the same set 
of fingerprints is on all of the evidence of these problems.
  But, President Biden, if you still haven't figured it out, I will 
give you a clue. Spoiler alert: The culprit is you.
  Whether signing Executive orders to turn off American-made energy or 
signing budget-busting bills that are fanning the flames of inflation, 
the source of these problems can all be traced back to President Biden, 
with the pen, in the Oval Office.
  It is right there, folks. Case closed.
  That is how all of these crises were created over the past year.
  Now, imagine how some of the other policies being proposed by 
Democrats, like defunding the police, abolishing ICE, or enacting the 
Green New Deal, could turn out if President Biden is given the chance 
to sign them into law.
  Taxpayers can rest assured that Republicans in Congress will keep 
doing our part to make sure those bills never make it to the 
President's desk. And if the President tries to bypass Congress and 
enact its radical agenda by signing Executive orders behind the closed 
doors of the White House, Americans can count on Republicans to clue 
you in.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). The Senator from Tennessee.