[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 26, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S3561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. The Biden administration has been working overtime to 
sell the American people a fantasy. The President would like working 
families who struggled under 2 years of soaring inflation to believe 
their refrain that ``Bidenomics is working for America.''
  The White House Press Secretary declared recently that ``people are 
feeling better about their personal finances.'' If only that were true. 
Unfortunately, the American people have too many reasons to believe 
their financial outlook is worse today--worse--than when the President 
took office.
  According to a survey conducted last month, just 24 percent of voters 
say the American economy is on the right track; less than a third buy 
the claim that this administration's policies are bringing costs down 
for working families; and just 22 percent think inflation is getting 
any better.
  No matter how many ways the administration officials spin the 
numbers, folks who work for a living and manage a family budget know 
that Bidenomics has made their lives harder. They know that prices have 
risen 16.6 percent since the President took office because they feel it 
every time they pay their bills. Energy prices, for example, are 38 
percent higher than they were in January of 2021, and groceries are 20 
percent more expensive.
  In Washington State, one man reported recently that soaring rent had 
forced him to move, take on a longer commute, spend more on gas, and 
put his goal of homeownership on hold.
  In Illinois, one woman told a reporter recently that she had paid $90 
for groceries that would feed her family of three for 3 days. They 
might have to start visiting food pantries. ``You have no choice but to 
sacrifice,'' she said.
  So look at it this way: During the first terms of the last four 
administrations before this one, year-on-year inflation never cracked 4 
percent. Under President Biden, it happened 26 times. To borrow the 
President's own phrase, that is Bidenomics in action.
  As one top Democratic economist put it last year, ``This is Biden's 
inflation and he needs to own it.''
  So it is fitting that the President finally slapped his name on our 
current economic situation. He is right to take credit. Working 
families wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't spent his first 
few months in office cramming $2 trillion in leftwing spending down the 
throat of our economy. So owning the runaway inflation Washington 
Democrats helped produce is one thing, but it is about time they 
focused on fixing it.

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