[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 37 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1053-S1054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Economy

  Mr. President, 3 years ago around this time, the Senate was 
considering Democrats' so-called American Rescue Plan Act. With a $1.9 
trillion pricetag, this reckless spending bill was packed with liberal 
priorities and progressive giveaways.
  Before it even passed, Democrats were warned that it was too big. 
They were warned even by liberal economists that that kind of spending 
risked setting off an inflation crisis, but they chose to go ahead 
anyway. Inflation almost immediately--immediately--began accelerating, 
and 3 years later, we are still dealing with the crisis the Democrats 
helped create.
  In the last 3 years, inflation reached levels not seen since the 
early 1980s. While inflation may have descended from those 
stratospheric heights, we are still--and I say ``still''--stuck with an 
inflation rate well above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2 
percent.
  Three years of persistent price hikes have taken a serious toll on 
Americans' budgets. Working families have had to scrimp and save to 
stretch their dollars. Many Americans have had to turn to their credit 
cards to cope with higher and higher costs. Families have had to cut 
back on saving and investing for the future.
  Today, it costs a typical family $1,000 more per month to maintain 
the standard of living it had when President Biden took office--$1,000 
more per month just to tread water. And it is no wonder. Energy costs 
are up 31.7 percent. Housing costs are up 19.4 percent. Car repairs are 
up 27.5 percent. And the list goes on.
  Where inflation has really hit many Americans is at the grocery 
store. Grocery prices are up 21 percent under President Biden. The cost 
of food now takes up a larger share of Americans' disposable income 
than it has at any point in more than 30 years.
  Faced with higher prices, shoppers have had to adjust. Families are 
opting for cheaper alternatives. They are putting items back on the 
shelves, and they are hunting for deals at multiple stores. Tighter 
budgets have become a fact of life in the Biden economy.

  As I said, many Americans have had to turn to credit cards to cope 
with higher prices, and with the Federal Reserve having to keep 
interest rates elevated to fight inflation, paying off that debt has 
gotten harder.
  High interest rates have also put the American dream of owning your 
own home increasingly out of reach. The average mortgage rate has more 
than doubled since the President took office.
  The Biden inflation crisis has made life harder for a lot of people. 
It is harder to save. It is harder to get ahead, harder to make ends 
meet. Yet President Biden still tries to claim his economic policies 
are working, that the economy somehow is doing well.
  Well, Americans disagree. A January poll found that 63 percent of 
Americans believe economic conditions are getting worse. Another poll 
found that 54 percent of voters rate their personal economic situation 
as fair or poor, and 7 out of 10 voters in the same poll also said they 
expect that higher prices are here to stay.
  For the last 3 years, the White House has attempted to disclaim 
responsibility for the inflation crisis that has done so much to harm 
family budgets. Despite economists agreeing that the President's 
reckless spending led to higher inflation, the White House has taken 
every opportunity to pin the blame somewhere else.
  The latest strategy? Complaining about ``shrinkflation,'' which 
refers to instances where goods have gotten smaller but the price has 
stayed the same.

[[Page S1054]]

  The President even released a video on Super Bowl Sunday lambasting 
snack companies for shrinking their packaging and ``ripping off'' 
consumers. It is a tactic that fits well with the President's previous 
attempts to blame price gouging for higher prices, but these arguments 
are political spin and not serious explanations.
  Jason Furman, an economist who served in the Obama administration, 
previously ``described the focus on price gouging as a distraction from 
the real causes and solutions'' of inflation, to quote one article 
where he was quoted. And the New York Times referred to the President's 
focus on shrinkflation as ``a blame-shifting message.''
  I expect we will get more blame shifting from President Biden in the 
State of Union Address next week, as well as more of the same reckless 
spending proposals that helped create the crisis in the first place. 
Meanwhile, the American people will continue to suffer.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.