[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 99 (Wednesday, June 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S4026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, since President Biden took office, 
consumer prices have risen more than 20 percent. The Nation hasn't seen 
this sort of persistent drain on our economy since the Carter 
administration, and the Biden administration is desperate to avoid the 
obvious comparison to the stagflation back in the 1970s.
  The White House recently asserted that ``President Biden's top 
priority is beating inflation, which is why he has taken historic 
action . . .''
  Well, that begs the question: Which historic action are we talking 
about here? Is the administration referring to the time it invited 
historic inflation over the warnings of top liberal economists like 
Larry Summers but ignored that and went ahead with the so-called 
American Rescue Plan or the time they did the same thing again but 
called it the Inflation Reduction Act?
  The Biden administration is still looking for a safe landing spot, 
and liberal commentators are literally tying themselves in knots. One 
liberal editorial board recently suggested that since employment and 
consumption levels are steady, ``people will . . . start to notice and 
the `vibes' will also return to more normal levels''; that ``[i]t's 
possible that Americans are experiencing the economic equivalent of a 
hangover.''
  But, Mr. President, that is just utter nonsense and is not fooling 
anyone who actually has to balance a family budget. A recent survey 
reported that nearly two-thirds of middle-class Americans say they are 
facing economic hardship.
  Numbers don't lie; neither do consumers. The high prices they are 
facing aren't a matter of ``bad vibes.'' They are the predictable and 
avoidable consequences of Bidenomics.