[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 96 (Monday, June 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. McCONNELL. Last week, we paused to honor the men and women who 
paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our Nation and in defense of 
our freedoms.
  For families all across America, the long holiday weekend also kicked 
off the excitement of summer traditions, but, unfortunately, a year-
and-a-half into the failed policies of this all-Democratic government, 
even modest family celebrations came with pricetags that were literally 
sky high.
  Today, the average price of gas in America reached a new record high. 
There is now just one State in our whole country where average prices 
haven't passed $4.30. From trips across town to visits with relatives, 
driving is becoming an even more painful proposition for working 
families.
  In Boyd County, one Kentuckian said it now cost him about $73 to fill 
up the tank.

       I just hope those prices will go down.

  Another in Lexington said:

       I'm traveling up north to take care of my mother up in 
     Michigan. It's a long haul, and yeah, it's hard when it is 
     this expensive.

  And sky-high fuel prices aren't just hurting drivers. April saw the 
biggest 1-month spike in airfare on record with tickets up nearly 20 
percent. The cost of backyard cookouts and all other home-cooked meals 
are continuing to rise. Prices on everything from ground beef to eggs 
have clocked the fastest annual increase since 1979.
  What about big household purchases? Many families wait for Memorial 
Day weekend sales to fill a need around the house. Well, tools and 
hardware are 11 percent more expensive than they were a year ago. Major 
appliances cost 12 percent more. And furniture is up almost 15 percent.
  These record-setting prices have got working families literally 
surrounded, and the American people know exactly where these hardships 
are coming from. They know this pain is a direct--a direct--result of 
the failed policies that Washington Democrats pursued even as everybody 
warned that their reckless spending would cause inflation.
  A little more than a year ago, Democrats dumped $2 trillion of 
liberal waste onto our economy. Their own experts--their own experts--
told them not to do it. President Obama's top economist warned then it 
was ``definitely too big for the moment.''
  President Clinton's Treasury Secretary said it could ``set off 
inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.'' 
And both of them said it at the time.
  It was reported a few days ago that even Secretary Yellen, the 
President's own Treasury Secretary, knew the spending spree was 
reckless and wished it were smaller.
  But our colleague, the Democratic leader, brushed aside expert 
concerns, saying that ``I do not think inflationary dangers, at least 
in the near term, are very real.''
  Well, now his party is presiding over out-of-control inflation, the 
worst in four decades, a year-on-year inflation rate of--listen to 
this--8.3 percent. And even that terrible number may be an 
understatement.
  In the early 1980s, right after the last bout of inflation this bad, 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics changed how they measure inflation. 
Larry Summers has coauthored a new research paper that tries to create 
an apples-to-apples comparison between the inflation figures today 
versus 40 years ago.
  So here is what they found:
  The current inflation regime is closer to that of the late 1970s than 
it may at first appear.
  In other words, Democrats have brought inflation much closer to the 
bad old days of the late seventies than the official numbers even make 
it look.
  Of course, no matter which way economists measure it, the American 
people know historic inflation when they feel it. It is impossible to 
ignore, from the gas pump to the supermarket, to the big-box store.
  On Democrats' watch, working families' hard-earned dollars are buying 
them less and less.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.