[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 116 (Thursday, July 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3289-S3290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Inflation
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, yesterday morning, June inflation numbers
were released. And, as usual with this administration, the news was not
good.
Inflation rose once again in June to 9.1 percent--the highest
inflation since November of 1981. November of 1981. I was in college
the last time inflation was this bad.
Americans are suffering. Everywhere Americans turn, they are being
asked to pay more--more for cleaning supplies, more for gas, more for
health insurance, more for groceries.
A new analysis yesterday from the Joint Economic Committee found that
inflation will cost the average American household a staggering $718 a
month over the next year--$718 per month. That will happen even if
prices stop going up tomorrow--$718 per month, more than $8,600 for the
year. No working family can afford that.
A major reason that we are in this crisis is because of Democrats'
decision to flood the economy with unnecessary government money with
their so-called American Rescue Plan Act. And, unfortunately, there is
no easy solution to the crisis they helped create. But the first
thing--the first thing--should be to do no more harm.
Incredibly, however, Democrats are currently attempting to double
down on the strategy that helped create this crisis in the first place
by passing a version of the Build Back Better tax-and-spending spree
they tried to force through last year.
Apparently, Democrats think more government spending--like the
government spending that helped get us into this mess--plus new taxes
are a good solution for an inflation crisis and an economy teetering on
the brink of recession.
Madam President, if Democrats want to help our country get out of
this inflation crisis, more unnecessary government spending and new
taxes are the exact wrong way to go about it. In fact, the biggest
thing the Democrats can do to avoid making this crisis worse is by
flooding the economy with more unnecessary government money.
After that, the biggest thing Democrats and the administration in
particular can do to help alleviate this crisis is to unleash American
energy production. I don't need to tell anyone that energy prices have
been a major contributor to our inflation crisis. Gas prices are up
nearly 60 percent--60 percent. The current cost of a gallon of regular
gas is $4.60--almost double what it was when President Biden took
office just 18 months ago--and the price of diesel is even worse, which
is a big concern for farmers and ranchers back home in South Dakota and
around the country, not to mention all of our truckers. Electricity--
that is up 13 percent. Utility gas service is up 38 percent. Americans
everywhere are feeling the pinch.
Of course, high gas prices and utility prices don't just cause direct
pain at the pump; they also contribute to higher prices across the
economy, which means that lowering energy prices is one of the most
important things we can do to help ease high prices on a variety of
goods. The way to lower energy prices is to unleash American energy
production, including and especially conventional energy production.
Unfortunately, the President has shown and continues to show a clear
hostility to conventional energy production despite the fact that our
economy cannot function without conventional energy.
Now, I am a longtime supporter of alternative energy, from wind to
biofuels, and I come from a State that derives a substantial portion of
its electricity generation from wind. In fact, in 2021, over 50 percent
of our State's power generation came from wind and 30 percent came from
hydroelectric power on the Missouri River. But if it weren't for
traditional fossil fuels backing up that generation, we would be left
in the dark.
The fact is, no matter how much Democrats might wish it were
otherwise, alternative energy technology has simply not advanced to the
point where our country can rely exclusively on alternative energy.
That means that, unless we want Americans to be permanently buried
under the pain of high gas prices, we need to invest in responsible
production of oil and natural gas.
We have tremendous natural resources here at home, and the ability to
extract those resources is a far more environmentally responsible way
than frequently happens in other countries. But unleashing American
production is going to require action from the President, who, despite
the current energy price crisis, continues to display hostility to
domestic production. He touts the number of leases oil and gas
companies have available, but he fails to mention that just 3 months
ago his administration made it harder for oil and gas companies to
actually make use of the leases in question by increasing the
regulatory burden for environmental reviews. On top of this, thousands
of drilling permits, which are required to actually begin drilling on
oil and gas leases, are currently stuck in the approval process at the
Department of the Interior.
At the beginning of this month, the administration released a new
offshore drilling plan which includes an option to offer, at most, a
paltry 11 new leases over the next 5 years. It also leaves the door
open for zero new leases--zero. If this proposed 5-year plan doesn't
make it clear that the President isn't interested in increasing our
domestic energy production, I don't know what does.
Madam President, I could go on. I could mention the administration's
proposed SEC climate-disclosure rules that are designed to discourage
investment in conventional energy or the President's quest to increase
taxes on domestic oil and gas production or Democrats' efforts to
impose a new fee--or tax--on methane that could cost consumers an
additional $35 billion to $69 billion annually, but I will leave it
there.
Madam President, I hope--I really hope--that the President and his
administration will take a good, hard look at their hostility to
conventional energy production. Inflation is at 9.1 percent--9.1
percent. American families are paying nearly twice what they were
paying in gas prices just 18 months ago, and utility gas prices have
increased sharply.
Unless Democrats want Americans to be facing staggering prices at the
pump and on store shelves for the long term, the administration needs
to start encouraging domestic production of conventional energy. That
means not just approving leases but making it easier for oil and gas
companies to actually develop those leases and produce oil and natural
gas. It means encouraging, not discouraging, investment in responsible
conventional production and infrastructure like natural gas pipelines.
It means giving up attempts to discourage domestic energy production
with new and higher taxes or burdensome ESG regulations.
American families are struggling, Madam President. The President can
actually do something to help them, and I sincerely hope that he will.
I yield the floor.
[[Page S3290]]
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota.