[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 104 (Thursday, June 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4165-S4166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Inflation

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, summer is an exciting time of year for many 
Americans. It is a time for adventure, for relaxation, for quality time 
spent with friends and family. But, like seemingly everything else, 
summer activities are more expensive in the Biden economy.
  The cost of gas for a family trip is up 45 percent since President 
Biden took office. Food for a summer cookout costs 10 percent more than 
it did last year. And fees for summer camp are giving parents sticker 
shock. Even just keeping the house cool has climbed 8 percent since 
last summer to over $700.
  And, of course, this is a small sampling of what Americans have been 
going through for the past 3-plus years. Last week's inflation report 
confirmed again what Americans know all too well, inflation is still a 
problem. Overall, prices are up more than 20 percent since President 
Biden took office. The

[[Page S4166]]

cost of groceries is up 21 percent. Energy costs are up 41 percent. Car 
repairs and maintenance are up 30 percent. And the list goes on.
  All told, it costs a typical family $13,000 more per year to maintain 
the standard of living that family enjoyed when President Biden took 
office--$13,000 more, just to buy the exact same things you were buying 
3 years ago.
  As one mother of three told the New York Times:

       We're spending way more to get the same amount of food that 
     we were getting before.

  The inflation rate has been elevated for 38 months. Understandably, 
many people are at the end of their ropes. Americans have dipped into 
their savings. They have taken out record levels of credit card debt, 
and a shocking report came out recently that said that more than a 
quarter of Americans have skipped meals because of inflation--skipped 
meals because of inflation.
  The cost of dealing with inflation is adding to Americans' financial 
pain. To fight inflation, the Federal Reserve has been forced to keep 
interest rates high, which affects Americans' finances in a variety of 
ways. Many Americans turned to credit cards--racking up record levels 
of debt--to cope with inflation.
  And higher interest rates, in part the result of the Fed's actions, 
are making credit card bills harder to pay down. The same is true for 
car payments. And Americans looking to own their own home are facing 
what one housing expert calls ``the most challenging home buying market 
we've ever seen.''
  The average monthly mortgage payment is a staggering $2,800. The 
result of a combination of higher mortgage rates and higher home 
prices. And if you do own a home, a recent report found that the cost 
of keeping and maintaining it has gone up 26 percent since 2020 to more 
than $1,500 per month.
  It is worth remembering that it didn't have to be this way. Three 
years ago, President Biden and Democrats forced through a reckless and 
partisan spending spree under the guise of pandemic relief.
  They had been warned that spending so much risked setting off an 
inflation crisis unlike anything that we had seen in decades. Yet they 
chose to ignore those warnings and push through $1.9 trillion in new 
government spending. Inflation almost immediately began surging as a 
result.
  It is the textbook definition of inflation: Too many dollars chasing 
too few goods. And then instead of learning a lesson, they moved 
forward with even more reckless spending plans.
  Fortunately, the Democrats' $3.5 trillion Build Back Better spending 
spree failed to get off the ground, but they have steadily run up the 
debt with their so-called Inflation Reduction Act, whose true cost 
continues to grow.
  And the student loan forgiveness schemes the President has put in 
place come with a price tag in the hundreds of billions of dollars. And 
it is clear that if President Biden gets a second term, there will be a 
lot more lavish spending on the docket. Plus, you have the President's 
proposed tax hikes, and then there are the expiring tax cuts.
  In 2017, Republicans delivered tax reform that lowered rates across 
the board and allowed families to keep more of their hard-earned 
dollars, but those tax cuts are set to expire next year. And President 
Biden seems willing to let that happen.
  That would mean a $1,600 tax hike for a typical family in 2026 on 
top--on top--of years of economic pain from Bidenomics and inflation. 
Let's hope the American people don't have to find out what that will 
feel like.
  It is going to be another expensive summer in the Biden economy, and 
if President Biden and the Democrats have their way, there could be 
many more to come.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.