[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 26, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H7081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HIGH PRICES AND RISING INFLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, this time last year, President Biden 
claimed that high prices and rising inflation were temporary; that if 
we continued down this administration's path and trusted their 
policies, then prices would go down again.
  Well, last month's Consumer Price Index score came out and revealed 
that inflation has soared to 9.1 percent, the highest rate in 41 years. 
So obviously, his statement that inflation was transitory, temporary, 
what have you, is false. The numbers aren't bearing up.
  Now, the Commerce Department is days away from releasing its first 
estimate of the economy's output in the April through June quarter. The 
economy already shrank 1.6 percent in the January through March 
quarter, and many economists are forecasting another negative output 
rate.
  Two outputs in a row means that--the ``R'' word, the one that the 
Biden administration and his Cabinet don't want to say--it could mean 
the recession.
  Now, that will validate the feelings of Americans across the country 
who are struggling to afford the basic necessities amid rising prices.
  Despite record-high prices, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is trying 
to spin the definition of a recession, claiming that since our Nation's 
unemployment rate isn't that high, then our economy must be doing 
great. That is not being felt at home. That is obviously false.
  The American people are feeling unprecedented financial pain in all 
aspects of their lives. Fuel, electricity, their healthcare, homes, 
everything is going up. It is becoming unaffordable for lower-income 
and middle-income Americans.
  Wholesale prices have surged 11.3 percent. Small business confidence 
has dropped to a 48-year low with businesses struggling to hire new 
employees and fill open jobs.
  These high-up bureaucrats in the Biden administration aren't 
suffering the financial consequences that their policies are causing 
average Americans. They don't feel them the same as regular people do.
  This is the same administration who, when gas prices hit an all-time 
high, told people to go out and buy brand new electric vehicles. Sure, 
no problem; $50,000 $65,000.
  Our Secretary of Transportation says it will require more pain to 
benefit electric car drivers and owners at $65,000 vehicles with 
Chinese-made replacement battery packs.
  Our Nation is facing a recession, meaning that the sales of new 
homes, consumer confidence, spending, and real wages are dropping, and 
inflation is still rising.
  President Biden has allowed the American people and Main Street 
businesses to suffer while his reckless spending policies continue to 
make things worse. I have heard this firsthand from my own 
constituents, real people out there that deal with this every day.
  The price of everything at the cash register, at the supermarket, is 
all going up, and their wages, effectively, are going down.
  In a telephone town hall I hosted recently, I asked participants, 
have rising costs impacted your spending habits? Ninety percent said 
yes. They can spend less; they can do less.
  There are similar figures across the board. A new FOX News poll 
revealed that 75 percent of Americans reported experiencing hardship 
because of inflation.
  We need to work to repair our economy through cutting wasteful 
spending, burdensome regulations, our dependence on foreign oil. Why 
are we going to Saudi Arabia and asking for their oil when we have so 
much in our own backyard, our own energy, that we could make ourselves 
completely self-sufficient, as we were a couple of years ago, and help 
our allies around the world with that as well.

  Focus on things that help the American people, lower-income and 
middle-income families especially, instead of helping more illegal 
immigrants come to the country; instead of helping China become richer 
with more and more of our assets and more of our business.
  I keep having to ask the question: President Biden, and your Cabinet, 
whose side are you on?

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