[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 15, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H5551-H5552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE INCREDIBLE TRANSITION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from

[[Page H5552]]

California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, so what have we had so far under the 
Biden plan? Well, what we have heard about lately is that for 
Republicans trying to be more fiscally responsible, we hear that he is 
complaining that we are worried about deficits and spending.
  He says we are affecting lives. Boy, are we affecting lives with the 
policy coming out of Washington, D.C. Inflation. Energy crisis. But 
that is part of the incredible transition, we are told, that is being 
forced upon us to put us out of our vehicles or not being able to use 
gas appliances, if they have their way.
  On the Republican side, crisis acting is the new term. We are crisis 
acting. Well, I guess if we want to talk about crisis acting, let me 
remind everybody that carbon dioxide is only 0.04 percent of our 
atmosphere, right. You would think it is 40 or 50 percent by the way 
the hype is on that, and everybody has to change their lives in this 
incredible transition as we get forced into electric cars and have our 
appliances taken away, and who knows what else, as part of the Green 
New Deal that is being forced upon us, indeed, by executive action 
because it is not passing Congress.
  So when you are looking at the American people out there, they think 
of you in Washington, D.C. as the great reset. You are the spring in 
the great reset button. You are not being listened to. Your pain is not 
being felt by Washington, D.C.
  Inflation? Oh, not a big deal. It was 8.6 percent this month, right. 
Wages--though some of them have gone up for some people or are being 
forced up by legislation--are being outstripped by inflation. Wages up 
a little bit, inflation up a lot more.
  Why? Trillions and trillions of spending and policies that take 
energy options away from Americans being productive. Oh. Well, let's 
get it from Russia--until we finally banned that. Let's get more from 
Saudi Arabia.
  Why don't we get it here? Why don't we do more here instead of 
cutting off leases, cutting off permits for known reserves we have in 
this country? No, no. We are going to have the incredible transition 
forced upon us by these policies.
  It doesn't matter what it costs. It doesn't matter what it is taking 
off the table. So live with it. Inflation and wages. Let them eat cake, 
as Senators drive past in an electric car, laughing at what the costs 
are at the gas stations.

  Well, not everybody can turn around and go buy an electric car at 
$50,000 or $70,000, or even any new car right now with the way they are 
living paycheck to paycheck, and it is going to be more and more so.
  So what is the Federal Government's answer? Well, we are doing 
something about inflation and the deficit. Yeah. Instead of borrowing 
trillions and trillions, I guess by not borrowing the trillions, it 
makes the deficit go lower.
  So let's put things back on track, have our energy policy be one that 
actually produces in the United States of America by our American 
workers producing more things in the USA.
  Food, for example. In my home State of California, as the water gets 
cut off more and more so they can flush water out to the ocean, 
hundreds of thousands of acres of food crops are being left out, not 
grown.
  It isn't all because of a drought. We still get lots of rainfall. We 
had an incredible amount of rainfall and snow in December. Of course, 
the planters decided well, we are going to go ahead and let all the 
water run out through the delta in northern California instead of being 
able to cut back some of it and keep it in storage, although our lakes 
were at record lows last year. No, no, no. We will keep doing the 
environmental thing on that, saving nonexistent fish.
  In the meantime, the price for food keeps going up. In America, we 
see empty store shelves in the land of plenty. It is an incredibly dumb 
policy that has been put in place, piled on by energy that is almost 
unaffordable.
  Ask any trucker when the price of diesel has gone basically from 3 
bucks a gallon to 6 or 7, even, in my home State, what does that mean?
  That means all the input costs of bringing fertilizer and seed to a 
field to grow your food and bringing the finished product from the 
harvest to the mill and from the mill to the store shelf, it all has to 
be passed along. There is no free lunch.
  So we haven't even seen the full effects of this yet because in 2022, 
some of the people had these inputs carried into the crop year. It 
hasn't been fully felt yet.
  Wait until 2023 when the price of a bale of hay, that you need in 
order to feed cattle or what have you, kicks into place. Wait until 
that all happens because then, chicken might triple in price from 
today, beef, or maybe even just a loaf of bread.
  So what are we supposed to think about that? Oh, Americans can afford 
that. We can just cut back on other disposable income or disposable 
items, you know, maybe less frivolous spending.
  Well, is your government telling you what you can spend on? 
Basically, they are dictating that by these policies, yes.
  When your energy goes up, when your water gets taken away, you will 
feel it all the way through, all the way through your whole economy, 
and your wages will be outstripped by inflation.

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