[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 19, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3344-S3345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a year ago today, with prices already 
rising, President Biden said that high inflation was ``expected to be 
temporary.'' One year later, after 9 straight months of inflation over 
6 percent, the prices are now rising at their fastest rate in over 40 
years.
  Last week's inflation report confirmed on paper what working families 
have been feeling for a year: President Biden's prediction was dead 
wrong. Instead, prices are skyrocketing, and paychecks aren't keeping 
up. Real hourly wages are declining at breakneck speeds, dropping a 
full 1 percent last month alone. The average American worker got a full 
1-percent pay cut just last month alone due to inflation.
  The Biden administration has tried to claim that we are ``stronger 
economically than we have been in history.'' That is what the White 
House Press Secretary told reporters earlier this month. Kentuckians 
know that is utterly absurd. They know the opposite is true. In my home 
State, the average household now spends over $600 more--$600 more--
every month compared to the day President Biden took his oath of 
office. That comes out to more than $7,300 a year.
  Inflation is pushing Kentucky families to the brink. As a result, 
food bank

[[Page S3345]]

demand is rising, and shelves are running low. A soup kitchen in 
Campbell County put out an urgent call for volunteers as surging 
visitors threaten to overwhelm its limited staff. As the executive 
director said in an interview, with ``inflation and milk [at] $4 a 
gallon,'' they see people who have ``never needed help before.''
  I have received messages from constituents all over the Commonwealth 
facing the same crisis: Prices are rising while real wages fall.
  A 59-year-old from Louisville tells me she has worked two jobs since 
she graduated from college in 1987 to save for retirement. Now she is 
afraid she will ``lose [her] hard-earned money . . . due to this 
inflation.''
  Another constituent in Hopkins County tells me he worked 60 hours a 
week for years to afford the home he bought recently. Now, with rising 
prices, he ``can't even support [his] family anymore'' and might lose 
his new house as well.
  A couple in Lexington in their late seventies spends almost all of 
their fixed income on rent, utilities, and medical bills. They are 
struggling to find enough left over for food. ``What are we suppose[d] 
to do?'' they ask.
  Families across Kentucky are asking themselves the same question 
every day. The answer from Washington Democrats is alarming but not 
surprising. After spending us into inflation, they now want to tax us 
into recession. I can't think of a more reckless response for 
struggling Kentuckians.