[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 128 (Monday, August 1, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Democratic Party

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, Joe Biden and the Democrats have 
ushered us into what will be remembered as one of the most cynical and 
dangerous periods in our Nation's history. For 18 months, they have 
wreaked havoc on the economy, welcomed drugs and crime into their own 
backyards, and enabled the rise of the new axis of evil, which is my 
term for Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.
  Last week was really a particularly bad week for the Biden-Harris 
administration, but it was even worse for the people watching it play 
out, sitting at home in their communities. Inflation hit a 41-year 
high, consumer confidence hit a historic low, and we confirmed that the 
American economy is indeed in a recession.
  But rather than taking responsibility, my Democratic friends decided 
they would go on an all-out campaign and redefine the word 
``recession,'' and they insisted that the economic ruin that they have 
rained down on us all is in our imaginations. The economy is in great 
shape, they say. It is better than ever, they say. But Tennesseans 
sitting at their kitchen table, trying to figure out how to make ends 
meet, they know different.
  If ever there were a time to listen to what the American people are 
telling each and every one of us, it is now. Yet here we are facing now 
what is possibly the Democratic Party's most cynical and dangerous move 
to date: a trillion-plus--a trillion-plus-dollar spending spree. It is 
full of tax increases and policies so unpopular that its negotiators 
had to hide its existence from our own colleagues.
  Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin have dubbed this secret plan--I guess 
is what it was--they have dubbed it the Inflation Reduction Act, which 
immediately brings to mind one simple question: How out of step can you 
possibly be with where the American people are? You are so out of step. 
And do you truly think that the American people are so stupid that they 
think raising taxes is going to bring a reduction in inflation?
  If the situation weren't so dire for people back in Tennessee, I 
would assume this was some sort of joke, but it is not. The American 
people are drowning, and Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin have thrown them 
a cinder block instead of a life preserver. People cannot believe this. 
They absolutely cannot believe this.
  This bill represents the worst elements of a radical socialist agenda 
that Americans have already rejected: a multihundred-billion-dollar tax 
hike that will kill tens of thousands of jobs, sabotage energy 
producers, and make it even more expensive to heat homes and fill gas 
tanks; a multihundred-billion-dollar payday for climate activists and 
the environmental lobby; innovation-killing price controls on 
prescription drugs; and tax breaks, but only for the wealthiest 
Americans.
  Nothing in this bill will make life easier. Nothing in this bill will 
lower gas prices or reduce inflation. But it is exactly what 
Tennesseans were afraid would happen if Joe Biden and the Democrats 
took control of the Federal Government.
  This week, every Member of this body has a choice to make: Will you 
stand with the American people, or will you make their life harder 
every day because of more spending, more tax increases, and more Green 
New Deal? Will you ease their pain, or will you make their pain worse 
by supporting this bloated, foolish spending spree?
  I hope that my colleagues will come to their senses because this is a 
breaking point between Congress and the American people.
  I cannot tell you how many times I heard that very statement this 
weekend from Tennesseans. They cannot even believe another trillion 
dollars in spending--another trillion. Money does not grow on trees.
  If you, as an individual who has a vote on this bill, if you choose 
to support this bill and tax and spend this country into oblivion, that 
is a road that you are going to have to go down alone because the 
American people cannot afford to go down this road with you.