[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 19, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3345-S3346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, June inflation numbers came out last 
Wednesday, and, as is typical for the Biden Presidency, they weren't 
good. In fact, they were spectacularly bad. Inflation hit 9.1 percent 
in June, the worst inflation since November of 1981. The last time 
inflation was this bad, America was still a year and a half away from 
finding out whether Han Solo would survive his time in carbonite.
  Mr. President, we all know how we got here. In large part, it was via 
a Democratic spending spree. When Democrats took office in January 
2021, Congress had just passed a fifth bipartisan COVID relief bill 
that met essentially all current pressing COVID needs. But now that 
they were in charge, Democrats were eager to get spending. So they 
passed a massive $1.9 trillion piece of legislation under the guise of 
COVID relief that flooded the economy with unnecessary government 
money, and, as expected, the economy overheated as a result.
  Even worse, despite steadily climbing inflation in the wake of their 
bill, Democrats seemed incapable of learning from their mistake. In 
fact, they spent last fall attempting to double down on the strategy 
that helped get us into this mess in the first place. Fortunately, 
their plans for a second spending spree failed last December.
  But it has become clear that they are not giving up. In fact, right 
now, they are trying to pass a new version. In the latest iteration of 
their tax-and-spending spree, Democrats notably plan to hike taxes on 
small businesses. Yeah, that is right, on small businesses.
  Our country is struggling with soaring inflation, the economy is 
teetering on the brink of a recession, and the Democrats want to raise 
taxes on small businesses--and particularly on small, individually, and 
family-owned businesses or what are often called passthrough 
businesses, which make up more than 90 percent of the businesses in 
this country.
  Mr. President, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. After all, ``tax 
and spend'' is the unofficial Democrat motto. The Democrats have made 
their hostility to tax relief very plain. President Biden ran for 
President on repealing tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax 
relief legislation Republicans passed in 2017 that helped increase 
wages and incomes, boost economic growth, and drive the poverty rate to 
a record low.
  In addition to the natural economic recovery coming out of the 
pandemic, much of the residual strength in the economy that President 
Biden likes to tout is a result of the tax relief passed

[[Page S3346]]

in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but that hasn't stopped President Biden 
from claiming that the bill just benefited high-income earners and 
corporations.
  The only problem with his narrative, of course, is that lower- and 
middle-income Americans are actually the ones who saw some of the 
biggest benefits from Republicans' tax relief legislation. Wage growth 
in the wake of Republicans' legislation was strongest for those in 
lower income brackets. From 2017 through the end of 2019, real wealth 
for the bottom 50 percent increased by an astounding 28.4 percent, 
compared to 8.9 percent for the top 1 percent. Meanwhile, government 
revenue, which Democrats claimed would be hit hard by the Republican 
tax cuts, last year posted its largest increase in 44 years.
  Mr. President, before the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 
Democrats charged that reducing the U.S. corporate tax rate--from the 
highest rate, I would add, in the developed world, 35 percent, to a 
more globally competitive rate of 21 percent--would strip the 
government of corporate tax receipts. That has hardly been the case. 
Not only did Federal corporate tax revenues come in at a record high in 
fiscal year 2021; corporate tax revenue, as a share of the economy, 
rose to its highest level since 2015.
  Total tax receipts are set to increase this year by 19.5 percent or 
$800 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, 
after rising last year by 18 percent. Tax revenues year over year: 18 
percent last year; 19.5-percent increase in tax revenues this year, 
which begs the question: Why do Democrats want to raise taxes when you 
have got record revenue coming into the Federal Government?
  The effects of tax reform on business investment, wages, and tax 
revenue have been a boon to the American people and our economy. It is 
fascinating how Democrats claim to want one thing yet push for policies 
that will secure the exact opposite.
  The President claims he ran for office because he was tired of the 
trickle-down economy and that he wanted to build an economy that works 
for working families.
  The ironic thing is that the pre-COVID economy President Biden 
complains about was working for working families, thanks in large part 
to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and other Republican economic policies.
  The Biden economy, in contrast, is the very opposite of an economy 
that works for working families. Working families in the Biden economy 
are suffering. Food prices have risen astronomically, and gas prices 
are nearly twice as high as they were when President Biden took office. 
Real average hourly earnings are currently declining at the fastest 
pace in 40 years, and Americans continue to see a de facto pay cut 
under President Biden. Currently, a growing number of Americans are 
digging into their savings--when they have them, that is--to make ends 
meet. Others are relying on things like credit cards or visits to food 
banks, where demand has soared.
  Now Democrats want to make things worse by raising taxes on small 
businesses and other Americans. That is likely to lead to a combination 
of lower wages for workers, lower returns for business owners, and 
higher prices for goods and services. When you combine that with 
soaring inflation and more unnecessary government spending, you have a 
recipe for continued economic misery for American families.
  If Democrats really wanted to help American families, they would be 
focused on making all of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax cuts permanent. 
Instead, they are pursuing tax-and-spending policies that will make the 
economic havoc they created even worse.
  Let's hope that the newest iteration of their Build Back Better tax-
and-spending spree will fail before American families have to suffer 
any more consequences.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic whip.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I listened to the Senator from South 
Dakota, my friend, and I think he fairly set out the Republican agenda: 
Take the Trump tax cuts--the cuts that appeared during the Trump 
administration for the wealthiest people in America--and make them 
permanent. That is his idea of an economic boost that America needs; it 
is not mine. My idea is to try to address the challenges which working 
families in America face today, the challenges which many people in 
America of limited means face today. I think the Tax Code should be 
written with those people in mind, not with the wealthiest people in 
mind, which the Republicans did when they pushed through the Trump tax 
cuts, with the opposition of Democrats.
  So what are we proposing that was characterized yesterday by the 
Republican minority leader as socialistic? Well, what we are proposing 
is trying to bring some fairness when it comes to prescription drug 
pricing.