[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4549-S4550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Inflation
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics
released the August inflation numbers, and as every American who has
been to a grocery store lately knows, August was yet another month of
high inflation.
Consumer prices rose 8.3 percent last month from a year earlier,
holding to a near-four-decade-high--40-year-high--inflation. And
Americans are feeling the strain.
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Even 1 unexpectedly expensive month can be challenging for many
families, but at least it is actually and usually possible to recover
from a single tough month. How are American families going to recover
from the months upon months upon months of high inflation that have
marked the Biden economy?
As I said, American families are suffering. Grocery bills are out of
control. Between August 2021 and August 2022, grocery bills rose at
their highest rate since 1979--1979, I was a senior in high school.
Even back-to-school supplies like pencils and glue are more expensive.
The National Retail Federation reported in July that households were
on track to spend an average of $864 on back-to-school shopping--a 24-
percent increase from 2019.
Utility bills have soared. Things have gotten so bad that
approximately one out of every six households--one out of every six
households in America--is behind on its utility bills. Unfortunately,
considering the increases in the price of natural gas and electricity
since President Biden took office, it is not surprising. Forty percent
of households--40 percent--reported having difficulty paying for their
normal household expenses.
And Gallup reports that 56 percent of Americans--well over half of
the U.S. population--are experiencing financial hardship as a result of
inflation.
The personal savings rate has plunged to its lowest levels since
2009, and many Americans are dipping into their savings to make ends
meet. Others have taken up a side job or are pulling out the credit
card. Still others have been forced to rely on food banks.
As recently as Friday, President Biden was touting his work to
``finally deliver an economy that works for working families.'' I have
to say, I don't know what ivory tower the President is living in, but
the Biden economy is the very opposite of an economy that works for
working families.
Working families in the Biden economy are struggling. They are
wondering how they can make ends meet. They are cutting back on
groceries like meat or milk. They are cutting back on family trips or
putting off necessary home repairs. They are, as I said, dipping into
their savings or charging necessities on their credit cards or visiting
food banks.
A recent CBS News article discussing a new Gallup poll noted:
The findings indicate that the hottest inflation in 40
years is eating into the bedrock of the American economy--the
middle-class--and even eroding the financial stability of
more well-heeled households.
To repeat:
The findings indicate that the hottest inflation in 40
years is eating into the bedrock of the American economy--the
middle-class.
This is not an economy that is--to paraphrase the President--being
built from the bottom up and the middle out. This is not an economy
that ``works for working families.'' This is an economy where living
standards for working families are declining.
The President has actually had the audacity to repeatedly bring up
the lines of cars waiting at food banks that occurred during the height
of the COVID pandemic, with the implication that things are different
now in the Biden economy. Perhaps no one at the White House has read
the news recently.
Here is a sampling of headlines from the past few weeks:
Las Vegas food banks experiencing heightened demand amid
inflation spikes.
Here is another one:
Food banks feeling pinch of high inflation as centers
juggle to increased demand for help.
Another headline:
New Hampshire food pantries struggle with rising costs,
growing demand: Organizations say more people than ever need
help.
Another headline:
St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix sees record number of
families in need amid inflation.
Yet another headline:
Mountain West food banks are strained by high customer
demand and low supply.
Unfortunately, I can go on. At this point, everyone knows how we got
here. Democrats took office and decided to pass a massive $1.9 trillion
spending bill, the so-called American Rescue Plan Act, that flooded the
economy with unnecessary government money. And the economy overheated
as a result.
When President Biden took office, the inflation rate was 1.4 percent,
well within the Fed's 2-percent target.
Democrats were warned, including by at least one noted economist from
their own party, that the legislation ran the risk of overheating the
economy. But they were committed to taking advantage of their new
majority to push through their Big Government, Big Spending vision. And
so they ignored the warnings, and their bill helped trigger the worst
inflation crisis in 40 years.
But perhaps the worst part is that even after Democrats saw the
damage that resulted from their American Rescue Plan spending spree,
they continued to try to double down on the spending strategy that
helped get us into this mess in the first place.
Democrats spent half of last year attempting to force through--if you
can believe this--yet another partisan spending spree originally
planned to cost up to $5 trillion. Fortunately for Americans, those
particular far-left fantasies were foiled. But that hasn't stopped
Democrats from continuing to accumulate wasteful government spending.
In August, Democrats forged through a partisan tax-and-spending bill
that will raise Americans' energy bills, reduce jobs and opportunities
for American workers, and waste taxpayer dollars on a host of Green New
Deal priorities, like electric vehicle tax credits for wealthy
Americans and road equity and identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage.
They called this tax-and-spending spree the Inflation Reduction Act,
even though--as even the Democrat chairman of the Senate Budget
Committee admitted--the bill will not reduce inflation. Apparently, the
title's only function is to make the bill sound more acceptable to
Americans who are sick and tired of dealing with soaring prices and
economic pain.
Then, a mere 8 days--8 days--after signing the so-called Inflation
Reduction Act, the President once again added to Democrats' record of
economic malfeasance with a massive student loan giveaway that could
cost more than $1 trillion and that the Committee for a Responsible
Federal Budget notes will ``meaningfully boost inflation.'' That from
the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
I am not sure whether the Democrats are incapable of learning their
lesson or whether they consider soaring prices to be a trivial issue
next to implementing their Green New Deal agenda or whether they think
inflation is an acceptable price to pay for Big Government. But,
whatever it is, Democrats are apparently going to continue to ignore
the economic pain that Americans are experiencing in favor of
implementing their far-left, Big Government, and big-spending agenda.
And it appears that the American people are going to have to continue
to suffer as a result.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I would ask consent to speak for up to 5
minutes before the vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.