[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 18, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         AMERICANS ARE HURTING

  (Mr. SMITH of Missouri asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, for the millions of Americans 
struggling under skyrocketing prices, President Biden's attention to 
this issue is a day late and many dollars short.
  For the first year in office, he denied inflation existed and then 
dismissed it as transitory. Now, he is blaming Putin, even though 
inflation was already at 7\1/2\ percent before Putin's army invaded 
Ukraine.
  It took President Biden almost a year to speak up because he doesn't 
see inflation as a threat to families. He sees it as a threat to his 
political problems and his political party's problems.
  Since Joe Biden became President, inflation has risen 11 percent; gas 
prices are at an all-time high; real wages have gone down 2.6 percent; 
and our economy is shrinking. This is the result of the President's 
policies: high prices for food and energy, lower wages, and now a baby 
formula shortage.
  Americans are hurting, and the President's policies are making it 
worse.

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