[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 19, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Bidenomics

  Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, in a speech last 
month, President Biden claimed that American wages were growing faster 
than inflation, saying, ``That's Bidenomics.'' Unfortunately, for 
working families, the truth of Bidenomics is quite the opposite.
  Even as nominal wages continue to rise, inflation is actually rising 
faster. For the third straight year, real median household income is 
declining. According to the Census Bureau, inflation-adjusted income 
declined last year alone--listen to this--by $1,750. In other words, 
Washington Democrats' historic inflation has swallowed the gains of a 
tight labor market and stuck workers across the country with a massive 
pay cut.
  Worst of all, this Bidenomics tax is hitting low-income workers the 
hardest. The wealthiest 5 percent of households are earning 4.1 percent 
less than they were 4 years ago, but--listen to this--the poorest 10 
percent are earning 6.3 percent less, and wage gains for manufacturing 
workers are lagging even further behind those of other industries.
  One contract worker in Michigan said of his job at a hardware store: 
``Every time my wage goes up, the price of everything else goes up, and 
it does me no good'' and that the price for some construction materials 
are only beginning to come down by ``cents when they went up dollars.''
  So that is Bidenomics, and working Americans have every reason to be 
sick of it.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.