[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 29 (Monday, February 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S344-S345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, you would have to look long and hard 
to find a Tennessee family who is better off now than they were before 
Joe Biden became President. By the end of last year, Tennesseans were 
paying an extra $629 per month just to cover the cost of inflation 
caused by this spending spree that Biden has been on--a $6 trillion 
spending spree.
  Madam President, it is $629 per month, per family, in Tennessee. I am 
noticing on my chart that in Hawaii, your monthly inflation costs are 
$802 per month, for an overall impact of $9,600. That is what this 
agenda is costing your constituents and my constituents in Tennessee. 
This is an enormous premium on the bare minimum, and Tennesseans know 
exactly who is responsible for this.
  After 2 years of hearing their stories, I am positive that not one 
person working in the White House has bothered to leave Washington, DC, 
and witness for themselves what is happening to American families as 
they try to work their way through this.
  It sure doesn't sound like my Democratic colleagues here in the 
Senate have been paying much attention to what is happening with 
families back home because if they had taken the time to put themselves 
in the shoes of a family who is trying to stretch that paycheck month 
after month after month, they never would have justified wasting 
families' money on social justice programs and green energy schemes. 
And the list goes on and on. Now those families, who have already been 
drained by Joe Biden's spending, are running out of things to cut in 
their family budgets. Small businesses are running out of places that 
they can cut back in their small business while they are trying to keep 
the doors open.
  What we are hearing in Tennessee is this: There is less meat on the 
dinner table than there was a year ago because it costs almost 9 
percent more to buy chicken and beef than just last year. They probably 
don't have cereal for the kids in the morning because the price of one 
box of cereal has risen about 16 percent.
  Here we are in the dead of winter, and Tennesseans are paying upwards 
of 15 percent more to keep the heat on in their houses--15 percent more 
than they paid last year. If the kids lose a coat at school, it is 
going to cost 3 percent more to get a new one. If it snows, socks and 
boots are going to come at the same premium.
  These percentages are adding up, and right now these families are 
praying that they will be able to move around money so that they can 
keep the kids warm, keep them in school, and keep the house dry. These 
are not things that are luxuries; they are necessities. The impact of 
inflation is measurable--measurable--to Tennessee families.
  Local officials all across Tennessee are feeling a different sort of 
pain when they confront the effects of inflation. Earlier this month, I 
spoke about the incredible growth that is happening right now in West 
Tennessee. Companies like Ford Motor Company are moving in, and they 
are bringing thousands of jobs with them. Now the pressure is on our 
county mayors and other local officials to start building out roads and 
utility services to support these projects.
  Officials in these rural counties have worked hard to keep their 
budgets balanced and their costs down. They, too,

[[Page S345]]

have basically done everything right. They balanced their budget. They 
have a rainy-day fund. Yet they are still struggling to prepare for the 
future because even a healthy budget can't cover the cost of inflation. 
Supplies are too expensive. Raw materials are too expensive. Pipe for 
the water project is up 400 percent. Can't get transformers for utility 
projects. Can't keep all of the emergency vehicles and the schoolbuses 
and the county road department--those vehicles running because of the 
cost of diesel and what it has done.
  What we know is that many things are just too expensive to afford. 
Money for luxuries? No. We have to keep the doors open, the lights on, 
keep them heated, and keep the buses running.
  Everything from electrical equipment to parts for emergency vehicles 
comes with a big price tag. But there is something that Joe Biden and 
my Democratic colleagues could do about this. They could do it if they 
wanted to, if they chose to. It is amazing that they have chosen not to 
do this.
  If the Democrats continue to spend, inflation will continue to rise. 
Economic growth will stagnate. The debt burden will become so large 
that future generations will never be able to escape it.
  You know that debt burden right now is about $95,000 per U.S. 
citizen? $95,000. I have a grandchild due this year. When that baby is 
born, he is going to have his share--$95,000--of our Nation's debt. Per 
taxpayer, that comes out to about a quarter million dollars. I would 
say: Is that moral, is it immoral to pass this on to our children and 
grandchildren?
  This debt burden will be very difficult for future generations to 
escape. And the people who have already lost so much to this Big 
Government will continue to suffer. For 2 years, the Biden 
administration has appeared to ignore that type of suffering.
  Now, I say ``ignored'' because it would be impossible for them to not 
know how obvious and unhappy the American people are with this impact 
of inflation and the cost of living on them every day. A Reuters poll 
recently released just before President Biden delivered his State of 
the Union Address shows that 65 percent of Americans think that this 
country is on the wrong track. A year ago, 58 percent of Americans 
believed we were on the wrong track. So it is safe to say that not only 
are they unhappy, they see this downward spiral that Joe Biden and the 
Democrats have thrown them into. The only way out of this is to get our 
fiscal house in order. And that does include cutting spending.
  Last week, I introduced legislation to cut Federal spending by 1 
percent. That is one penny out of every dollar. Every Agency should be 
able to save a penny out of their budget. And if they can do that 1 
penny, maybe they could do 2 pennies; maybe they could do 5 pennies. We 
could pass those bills this month to cut 1 percent, 2 percent, or 5 
percent out of the budget. Putting politics aside, it is going to take 
making certain that we prioritize fiscal responsibility. The 
frustration that the American people feel with what has happened in 
this building on the Democrats' watch doesn't compare to the pain the 
people in this country feel when they explain to their kids why there 
is less food in their lunch boxes this week, why there are different 
food items on the table when they come home every night. But 13-percent 
food inflation--that is tough. That is tough on families. You couple 
that with the amount of inflation at the gas pump and life becomes 
incredibly expensive.
  I yield the floor.