John Barrasso: “I come to the floor today to talk about what people in Wyoming are seeing every day, and that is rising prices when they…”

“I come to the floor today to talk about what people in Wyoming are seeing every day, and that is rising prices when they go to the gas station, when they go to the grocery store. They are paying more and more. Every month since Joe Biden took the oath of office, prices have been rising faster than wages. People are feeling the bite in their wallets of these higher prices. In effect, people all across the country and certainly in my home State of Wyoming have suffered a paycheck cut because the money just doesn't go as far. President Biden told us this wouldn't happen. He actually said inflation was transitory. Well, President Biden may still believe that. Yet, after 7 months in a row, it doesn't look transitory to most Americans. Now, economists have actually revised their expectations of inflation, and they have revised them in ways that we are going to be paying higher prices for longer periods of time. They have revised their expectations about economic growth as well, and they have revised those downward--inflation up; economic growth down. Well, on Friday, the Commerce Department said one measure of inflation has actually hit the highest that it has been in 30 years. The company Salesforce now estimates that costs for Christmas shopping will go up by 20 cents for every dollar you would spend on Christmas presents. The store Dollar Tree has announced that it will start selling items that cost more than a dollar. We have 10 Dollar Tree stores in Wyoming.…”