On the recordSeptember 15, 2022
Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the harmful economic consequences Americans are seeing from President Biden's reckless tax-and-spend agenda. Earlier this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest Consumer Price Index figures for the month of August, showing that inflation increased 8.3 percent compared to August 2021. Inflation has now exceeded 8 percent for 6 straight months. This persistent high inflation is causing price increases for American families at the grocery store, the gas pump, and for basic housing needs, leaving many Americans struggling to make ends meet. Rather than getting government out of the way, increasing domestic energy production, securing our border, and taking meaningful action to reduce inflation, the Biden administration is instead doubling down on its failed economic policies. Gas prices are $1.34 per gallon higher than when President Biden took office, and diesel fuel prices are even higher, at nearly $2.40 per gallon more than January 2021. A gallon of diesel now costs more than $5 a gallon. Yet, last month, as followup to the massive $2 trillion spending package from March 2021 that fueled the inflationary fire we are now dealing with, Democrats jammed through another package on a party-line vote, a tax-and-spend bill that imposes new energy taxes and Green New Deal-style subsidies that will only worsen our energy crisis and weaken our Nation's economic and national security.…





