[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3510-S3512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
the economic crisis that this Nation is facing, all as a result of the 
actions of the Democrats and Joe Biden.
  Right now, Joe Biden is on his way to Massachusetts. He is expected 
to announce, while he is there, even more restrictions on American 
energy. One New England Senator has lobbied him to go ``executive Beast 
Mode.'' The Senator might forget that we still have a Constitution. The 
Supreme Court just ruled that the President can't do that. The 
Constitution says Congress writes the laws and it is up to the 
President to enforce them.

[[Page S3511]]

  I would also remind that Senator that Joe Biden just got back from a 
trip to the Middle East. That is where he went to beg the Saudis to 
produce and to sell us more oil. Joe Biden doesn't need to fly around 
the world to solve the energy crisis that he created. The solution is 
right here at home in America. We have some of the largest energy 
reserves in the world. We have the best energy workers. We have the 
highest standards. Yet Joe Biden won't let go of his stranglehold on 
American energy. Joe Biden would rather send our money and more and 
more money to the Middle East than let us use the energy we have 
sitting right here in the ground in the United States.
  Joe Biden has created the worst energy crisis for our country in the 
last 40 years--4-0--40 years. Gas prices today in my home State of 
Wyoming and all across the country are more than $2 per gallon higher 
than they were the day Joe Biden took office.
  The spot price of natural gas has tripled under Joe Biden and that 
means even higher prices are on the way. Natural gas powers half of the 
homes in America and the price of that natural gas has tripled under 
Joe Biden.
  Last year, Joe Biden's energy policies cost the average American 
family more than $1,000. That was last year. This year it is going to 
be higher than that. Higher energy costs are driving up the costs of 
everything--almost everything--because energy is such a vital part of 
our nation's economy.
  Higher energy costs have led to the worst inflation crisis in 40 
years--worst inflation in 40 years. Under Joe Biden, inflation has hit 
record highs. In the previous administration, inflation was nearly 
nonexistent. But for 15 months in a row now, prices have gone up. And 
not just have prices gone up, they have gone up faster and faster than 
wages have gone up. With every passing month, working families can 
afford less than they could the month before.
  This is Joe Biden's America. This is what he brought and the 
Democrats who supported him in position and policy after each, one 
after another.
  This year, the average family will pay $100 a week more just to buy 
the same things they bought last year. Just to stay even, it is $100 a 
week more. That is over $5,000 for the year. One hundred dollars a week 
adds up very quickly. As a result, people are spending their savings 
because they are not making enough to keep up. They are falling behind. 
They are borrowing money just to get by.

  The savings rate in the country has plummeted to the lowest level 
since the Great Recession of 2009. Credit card debts are at an alltime 
high because people can't afford things and are putting things on the 
credit cards. Personal debt is at an alltime high. Consumer confidence, 
on the other hand, is at an alltime low--thank you, Joe Biden and 
Democrats.
  Working families are being pushed to the breaking point. That is what 
we have here in America today. All told, it is the summer of strain and 
stress and suffering for American families. It is all happening because 
of the dereliction of duty on the part of the United States and the 
Democrats in this very body. The American people just want to be able 
to actually have enough money in their wallet to fill their tank with 
gas and to go to the grocery store and buy a full week's worth of 
groceries and have enough left over at the end of the month to pay 
their bills. Yet under Joe Biden and the Democrats, who are in charge 
of both the House and the Senate, this is becoming nearly impossible in 
America today.
  Democrats call this the cost of the ``liberal world order''--the 
liberal world order. Look what it is getting us. Believe it or not, 
that is exactly what the White House has said. That is their official 
policy on the cost of inflation and the cost of energy being so high: 
Tough; suck it up. ``Liberal world order.'' We are here now. I don't 
care what it costs you or what pain and suffering we put onto the 
families of this country.
  Meanwhile, as the President is going to talk about his climate 
emergency in Massachusetts, baby formula is still out of stock in 
stores all across America. For 15 months, there has been nothing but 
bad news coming from this administration and the Democrats for the 
working families in this country.
  Last week, working families got a one-two punch of even more bad 
news. First, they found out that, once again, inflation is at another 
40-year high. They also found out it is not going away any time soon. 
On Thursday, we found out that what is called wholesale inflation--
which is the inflation that our producers are experiencing--is even 
worse than the inflation for consumers.
  These are the people who build our homes, who grow our food, keep the 
lights on. Higher costs for them mean higher costs are coming for all 
the rest of American families because, if inflation is higher for 
producers today, inflation for consumers tomorrow will be higher than 
it is today. It means there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
  But that is not what Joe Biden is telling us. He has continued to 
say: Oh, inflation is transitory. Pay no attention to the fact you 
can't pay your bills, you can't buy enough food to feed your family, 
and you can't fill your car with gasoline. Tough. Pay no attention.
  He said on Thursday that the inflation numbers we are using are ``out 
of date.'' He is out of date. Joe Biden is essentially saying inflation 
peaked before the Fourth of July. That is what he told the American 
people. Well, remember the last time Joe Biden said inflation peaked? 
That was last year in December he said it peaked. What has happened 
over the last 7 months to this country and to families? It is now July, 
and inflation has broken new records three more times in just the last 
6 months.
  Is he clueless? Does he believe what he is saying? And who is 
surrounding him at the White House? Joe Biden was wrong in December; he 
is wrong now. He has been wrong every step of the way, and yet 
Democrats blindly follow him right over the cliff.
  First, he created the inflation crisis; then he denied it existed. 
Oh, then he said it was transitory. I think it was a year ago 
yesterday, he said it was transitory. Then at one point, the White 
House even said inflation was a good thing. It is not good for American 
families, not good for the men and women who go to work every day. Then 
Biden decided, let's start blaming everyone but ourselves.
  At every step of this crisis, Joe Biden has told the public things 
that were simply not true. Joe Biden keeps trying to downplay the pain 
and the suffering going on all across the country. In fact, 1 year ago 
yesterday, Joe Biden said inflation would be temporary. He was wrong. 
The Democrats running Washington right now are completely out of 
touch--I mean, completely out of touch with the American people as 
Members of this body say: Yeah, Joe, go to Boston. Declare a climate 
emergency to claim a crisis.
  There are a lot of crises in America today; climate is not one of 
them. There is an inflation crisis, an energy crisis, a border crisis, 
a crime crisis. There is a crisis in the White House of competence and 
credibility. But no, Joe Biden has other things on his mind--a climate 
crisis. Only 1 percent of Americans list that as a key item in their 
lives--only 3 percent of Democrats; only 3 percent of people under the 
age of 30. Everybody is focused on inflation. Joe Biden is going to 
Boston to talk about climate.
  We have today, in this country, with the Democratic Party, a 
government of the elites, by the elites, for the elites. The Democratic 
Party has completely forgotten about the working men and women in 
America. For more proof of that, the Democrats are talking about more 
reckless taxing, more reckless spending.
  When did the inflation crisis start? Right after the Democrats passed 
their last spending bill in March of last year when they put $2 
trillion on America's credit card--party-line vote for massive 
government spending. They bailed out bankrupt blue States. The 
Democrats spent $2 trillion, triggered inflation, triggered a 
nightmare--a nightmare, I tell you--that has been robbing the American 
people of $100 every single week since then.
  Democrats must have enjoyed their shopping spree because they spent 
the second half of last year trying to pass an even bigger, more 
reckless spending bill. Here they are again, trying it once again. It 
was reckless then; it is reckless now.
  And the President's poll numbers continue to plummet because the 
American people say you are focused on the wrong thing, you are 
ignoring our needs.

[[Page S3512]]

  You are abandoning the people. You have abandoned them, and that is 
why so few people think the country is heading in the right direction, 
and so many people are looking for a change. Democrats don't seem to 
care. They know they are about to face the voters in November and can 
see the handwriting on the wall, and they can hear the clock ticking.
  The reason why inflation is out of control, at 40-year record highs, 
is because of the massive spending combined with the attacks by this 
administration and the Democrats in this body on American energy. That 
is what is causing the price of everything from gas to groceries to hit 
one record high after another.
  The Democrats have spent us into record-high inflation. Now it seems 
that they want to tax us into a recession. The last thing the American 
people now need is more spending, more taxes, more debt. What we need 
is more American energy.
  The way to get out of this crisis is to stop the reckless spending 
and increase the supply of American energy. We don't need to look 
halfway around the world for energy; we have it right here in this 
country. It is time for the President of the United States to stop 
begging, and it is time to start exploring for the energy right here in 
America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.