The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“The Economy (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Roy Blunt was published in the Senate section on pages S4877-S4881 on July 14.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
The Economy
Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, like all of us, I just got back from spending some time at home. I got back from being there and making a difference. I think one of the important things of being outside of Washington is you get a chance to hear what people are really concerned about. We have all kinds of speeches given here every day of what Members of Congress are absolutely sure people are concerned about. I think that topic becomes much more crystal clear when you get home. I know it is certainly much more crystal clear to me when I am home in Missouri.
Over the Fourth of July holiday, there were a number of visits all over the State--to Columbia, St. Louis, Montgomery City, Monroe City. There were lots of events everywhere in the State at which I talked about the importance of getting the vaccine and the progress we were making there, but the first thing that people wanted to talk to me about was inflation. People are already seeing that prices are well above the numbers that they believe they are seeing that the official numbers are confirming.
In May of this year, prices were 5 percent higher than they were in May a year ago. In June, they were 5.4 percent higher than they were a year ago, but people are seeing a lot of prices that are higher than that. The price of whole milk is up 7.5 percent from a year ago. The price of an airplane ticket has averaged up about 25 percent from a year ago. Used cars are more expensive than they were last June. In fact, they are 45 percent more expensive than they were a year ago in June.
There is an incredible increase in the cost of things that people not only want to buy but on those things that are more pressing: what people have to buy and need to buy.
A lot of people specifically talked to me about gas prices. I was on the road a lot, driving a lot while I was home, and I saw those prices for myself. The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline nationwide is about $3.15. That is 45 percent higher than in June of last year. That is a hidden tax that working people pay every day.
Whether it is a hidden tax on a glass of milk, a hidden tax on a tank of gas, or a hidden tax on other things that they like to do or have to do, it makes a real difference for the people who want to take a vacation or have to travel to work. In the part of Missouri that I live in, there are a lot of little towns that have manufacturing jobs. It is not unusual for somebody to drive 40 or 50 miles one way to get to that job, and if gasoline is 45 percent higher than it was a year ago, it makes a real difference. That is a real hidden tax, and it is usually a hidden tax on the people to whom the President rightly would not want to pass on tax increases.
I think the administration has to start taking into account the issues that are out there. Larry Summers and others from the Obama administration have warned of the great risk of inflation. When we talk about energy, for instance, I think we have to do that, clearly, in a way that, if we are making transitions to energy, we don't make those transitions in a way that needlessly have a negative impact on families and on opportunities.
In his first few days in office, President Biden rescinded the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, and not too long after that, he blocked the new oil and gas leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. These were things that Congress had talked about for a long time and, in some cases, were things Congress had specifically decided were timely to do, but an Executive order from the President decided, no, we are going to head in a different direction.
That was just the beginning, really, of what my colleagues have seen in the discussion in Congress and what my Democratic colleagues in Congress have in mind. So, if you like paying higher prices for gasoline, you are going to love what happens to the restrictions that go into effect and drive prices of all energy even higher.
The other thing I talked to small business owners about and, frankly, to all business owners about was the trouble in finding enough workers. Republican Governors in 25 States have now determined that the larger unemployment benefit kept people from going back to work. People were choosing to stay on the sidelines rather than go to work. Frankly, if you looked at that $618 weekly unemployment check that was the average in America in May, that unemployment check didn't have any childcare costs associated with it, and it didn't have any travel to work associated with it. You have to have a job that pays a lot to not consider, if I am continuing to get this check, why should I go back to work?
Missouri was one of the 25 States that decided that the extra bonus was not only bad for families in their not going back to work but that it was bad for our economy. So, as of June 12, the return to the important but much lower normal unemployment benefit happened in our State, and I think you can already see people making the decision that it is time to go back to work.
Surprisingly, even though we have created a lot of opportunities for people to stay home, the June economy created 850,000 new jobs, and we should all feel good about that, but if this is an economy that has created 850,000 new jobs, at some point, we have to stop pushing money into that economy that we don't have. There are, obviously, a lot of factors at play here, but the 850,000 people going back to work is an important and a significant thing.
Part of the explanation, obviously, is the rush by Republican Governors, principally, to eliminate that bonus, but part of it is just simply an economy that is already beginning to rebound--to rebound based on the current tax structure and rebound based on what governments already spend rather than this incredible rush to drive inflation even further.
The Congressional Budget Office put out a new report recently that read the Federal deficit for this fiscal year will be more than $3 trillion. The problem is that nobody has any idea what $3 trillion really is, and that probably includes most of us. If I said the deficit was $3 million or $300,000, somehow divided up to every American family, we would immediately think: Oh, my goodness. We could never deal with that.
By the way, it was just announced that there is a budget agreement on top of that $3 trillion deficit to spend another $3.5 trillion.
It is time we started talking frankly about how much $3 trillion really is. That $3 trillion is something that somebody has to pay back sometime. All that borrowing and spending has been one of the big factors contributing to inflation. It doesn't even count the $3.5 trillion, again, that had been added just overnight in that discussion.
Some people are beginning to call this Bidenomics. I think Congress has to take its share of responsibility here. The belief that we can spend without limit and that it won't cause any problems is outrageous. The idea that we can pay people not to work or pay them more than they would make if they did work is outrageous. All of these things lead to unintended consequences. There is a belief that high gas prices and inflation are just temporary and that people shouldn't be concerned about it. Well, people are concerned, and they should be concerned.
I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will spend some time listening to people, hearing their concerns. I hope they will reconsider their policies that are fueling inflation and holding back our economy
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Ms. ERNST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to use a prop during my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. ERNST. Madam President, President Biden's economic policies are causing nationwide sticker shock.
The price of nearly everything is higher today than it has been since Biden was in the White House the first time. The cost of consumer goods has gone up every month since January, and the markup in prices over the past year is the biggest annual increase since 2008. The Democrats' response to these rising prices is to simply spend more, which is making the problem worse.
Paying people not to work is contributing to worker shortages. Not having enough workers is resulting in service and supply shortages. Combine these two factors with trillions of dollars of government spending, and it all adds up to higher prices on everything for everyone. It is a common story wherever I visit on my 99-county tour. Because of Washington's upside-down economic policies, small businesses are struggling to hire workers, and our families are paying much more for far less.
Put simply, under Bidenomics, the price is up. Everyday products, like diapers and paper towels, are either increasing in cost or decreasing in size, which is the same result: more money out of our wallets. Whether you are eating in or you are dining out, the one thing you are guaranteed to find on every supermarket shelf and restaurant menu is higher prices.
A pound of sliced bacon has increased a whole dollar in just the past year, and the fast-food dollar menu is disappearing. We are paying more at the pump too. A year ago, a gallon of gas cost about $2.18. Today, the price is just under $3 in Iowa. Nationally, the cost has risen to about $3.15 per gallon and is expected to keep going up throughout the summer. Meanwhile, rising shipping costs are lifting the prices of everything from coffee to furniture.
All in all, Bidenomics has resulted in the biggest surge in inflation in nearly 13 years. For Iowans who are living on a budget, these unpredictable price markups are making every purchase a real guessing game. They keep finding themselves asking if the price is right.
To demonstrate just how much costs are spinning out of control, I have brought the wheel of inflation with me here today. Each of the numbers on the wheel represents a price increase for a common household product. It will tell us exactly how much more Bidenomics is costing hard-working Americans.
So, folks, let's go ahead and give it a spin.
No. 8. In the past year, the price of bacon is up about 8 percent.
Give her a good spin.
OK. No. 5, and it is a black 5. In the past year, the price of clothes is up about 5 percent.
No. 11. In the past year, the price of auto insurance is up 11 percent; and if you go to the 17 there, you will find that hotel rates, the price has gone up 17 percent in the last year.
There are no winning numbers on this wheel. Again, every number represents the increase of a common good American consumers are dealing with. There are no winning numbers on this wheel. No matter how you spin it, we simply cannot afford any more Bidenomics. I think the American people will agree, all of these prices need to come on down. But instead of addressing inflation, Democrats are trying to outbid one another over a massive new government spending program they are calling human infrastructure.
Want to guess what the price tag being floated by the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee for this package might be? Three and a half trillion dollars--all capital letters, folks.
The endless giveaway of cash and prizes may make it appear like Democrats in Washington are running a game show, but we all know that this is not a game. With our national debt approaching $30 trillion, the bills are eventually going to come due. And you know who will be stuck with the tab? Taxpayers.
What runaway inflation doesn't take from working Americans' paychecks, the IRS will take to pay for the Democrats' never-ending spending. We are all going to be paying back the trillions of dollars borrowed to pay for Bidenomics, both in higher taxes and in higher consumer costs, and that price--folks, it isn't right.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, like my colleague from Iowa who has just spoken, I travel Iowa as well, and in holding my county meetings and visiting with employers and employees--not just these last 2 weeks that we have been in recess, but all year--I have been hearing all of what Senator Ernst has referred to, that people are afraid of inflation and a lot of people are old enough to remember the 12- to 15-percent inflation we had during the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. We don't want to repeat that.
Traveling Iowa, it is always refreshing to hear directly from my constituents because, as I often say, Washington is an island surrounded by reality. The Midwest seems to be the real America compared to what we know here in Washington, DC, where everything that dominates the economy is affected by government--and very Big Government.
There is no better example of this than how the Biden administration and Washington elites talk about inflation and rising prices. To them, inflation is transitory or the result of base effects, and those words
``transitory'' and ``base effects'' are used to justify this inflation. Really something not to worry about, I think, is the impression they want to leave us with.
To the Iowans I spoke with, inflation is real and persistent, as Senator Ernst has so colorfully shown. I heard concerns from my constituents about inflation wherever I went. And why? Because it is affecting people's lives right now.
I heard about how inflation was cutting into families' budgets, making it hard to make ends meet. I heard how prices in grocery staples, such as milk, meat, fruit, vegetables, are on the rise, along with all manner of household goods.
Yet the President and his top economic advisers say inflation is nothing to worry about, or as the President's Treasury Secretary put it, ``I don't think there's going to be an inflationary problem. But if there is, the Fed will be counted on to address it.'' They shouldn't be so nonchalant about it. As we know from the 1970s, once inflation takes off, getting it back under control can require very painful measures.
They should take the advice of former Clinton Treasury Secretary Summers. He recently stated, ``The Fed has had almost no success gently bringing down inflation once an economy has started to overheat.''
Notice that word ``gently'' because everybody thinks this is going to just occur very easily, getting it under control, but we remember the results of the 1970s, early eighties. It took Paul Volcker to take a sledgehammer through the policies of the Federal Reserve to bring down interest rates.
And a lot of farmers in Iowa lost their farms when they were borrowing on that inflation, trusting the government that there was no problem, and then we have just farmers going out of business because Volcker used a sledgehammer, and he probably had to use it because there wasn't a gentle way of doing it. Unfortunately, instead of taking inflation seriously, the current administration appears intent on stoking its flames, pouring gasoline on the inflation fire.
In his budget, the President proposes government spending and debt at levels previously only seen temporarily during war or economic recession. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal both recently raised their inflation expectations. CBO raised its inflation projections because
``output now exceeds its potential level sooner and by a larger amount than previously anticipated.''
Output exceeding its potential is economic speak for the economy is starting to overheat. Consumer price data released yesterday shows inflation heating up. In June, prices climbed 5.4 percent over the prior year compared to 5 percent in May. Moreover, core inflation, which omits volatile food and energy goods, rose at the highest rate in 29 years
The trillions of dollars in new spending proposed by the President could set inflation ablaze. If that occurs, it is not going to be the wealthy and the Wall Street elites that pay the price. The average hard-working American living paycheck to paycheck, and particularly tough on the retiree on fixed incomes, those are the people that are going to pay more and get less for paying more. The President would be well served to listen more to everyday Americans about how rising prices are affecting their lives today.
President Biden might then realize pursuing another multitrillion-
dollar spending spree isn't worth the risk. It could fan the flames of inflation and devastate the livelihoods of average Americans.
It is incumbent upon the President and the Congress to avert catastrophe by pursuing responsible fiscal policies. We can't just expect the Federal Reserve to clean up our mess if we act irresponsibly by spending another $4 trillion. By that time, it could already be too late, waiting on the Fed.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
Mr. WICKER. Madam President, what the senior Senator from Iowa just said is exactly right, and unfortunately, the Biden inflation tax increase is real, and it is already here.
We warned about it earlier this year when our friends on the Democratic side decided to spend almost $2 trillion that was unnecessary, and here it is. Just the other day, consumer prices increased by 5.4 percent. This represents the largest year over year price surge since 2008. It is a tax increase on every American consumer.
And then today, even worse news, the producer price increased 7.3 percent. We are in an inflation problem. It is caused by this unnecessary spending spree that we have been on this year. We have known about it--now, we see the statistics--because we felt it at home.
And the senior Senator from Iowa mentioned what he was hearing during the break. Mississippians are paying more for a tank of gas, for a gallon of milk. They are paying more for a new home, for a used car. Used car prices have shot up by 10 percent since May and by 45 percent since June of last year--used cars, up by 45 percent. That is real inflation, and it affects real working Americans.
The hard reality is that our economy is now saturated with a tsunami of spending unleashed by the Democratic majority back in March, when party leaders abandoned what has been a balanced and bipartisan approach in the year 2020 to COVID relief. I would remind my colleagues that in February, the Congressional Budget Office had predicted our economy was already going to return to its prepandemic size by midyear without the spending of a new $2 trillion.
As the senior Senator from Iowa mentioned, Larry Summers, a longtime Democratic adviser, an adviser to President Obama, warned that more stimulus could overheat the economy and cause inflation. And more spending came and the economy got overheated, and we are faced with real statistics about inflation that cannot be denied.
Our Democratic friends brushed off that warning and instead pumped trillions more of borrowed money into our economy. Our Nation's money supply has increased by an unheard of 31 percent since the pandemic. Now, some of it, we had to do in the year 2020, when the economy had fallen off a cliff, but we are halfway through 2021, the Fed is still printing cash, and the majority party in this body seems intent on spending trillions more.
As a result, inflation is now eating away at family earnings, at bank accounts, at 401(k) savings accounts, most of which are shrinking as a share of the economy. Loss of purchasing power is making it harder for Americans to buy a home, start a family, or send their children to college. All of this should serve as a caution to all of us, to our friends on the other side of the aisle. This week's Consumer Price Index and today's Producer Price Index information are an early alarm bell signaling that this Congress and the Biden administration are courting runaway inflation.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WICKER. Madam President, if I might, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Marshall, Scott of Florida, and Murray be permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, this past week, we held 12 townhalls back home in my home State of Kansas. We heard from Kansans about a variety of issues, but thanks to this administration's economic policies, runaway inflation has replaced COVID at the top of the mountain of concerns for the people from my State.
Make no mistake about it--the inflation harming checking accounts of Kansans and all Americans rests squarely on the shoulders of the socialist economic policies coming out of the White House, otherwise known as Bidenomics.
As we all know, yesterday, the Department of Labor reported consumer prices climbed for the third straight month, jumping over 5 percent in June--the largest increase in 13 years. Gas prices are up, groceries are up, cars and truck prices are up, home prices are up, paper products are up, utilities are up, and I could go on and on.
Every day, we see the Bidenomics of inflation impacting hard-working Americans. In fact, inflation is a great social injustice. Inflation is really a regressive tax. It hurts everyone but none more than our seniors and young, hard-working families living paycheck to paycheck.
So what exactly is Bidenomics? Let's look at what they did to create this crisis. Stating the obvious, they are printing money, borrowing money we don't have, and implementing quantitative easing like there is no tomorrow, like there are no generations of America for our future.
Look no further than the cost of utilities. The administration has made it hard to use affordable, clean, traditional energy, and they leveled more and more regulations on the industry.
Manufactured products? Ditto. Bidenomics is paying people more to stay at home than go to work, creating labor shortages and government-
created bottlenecks in manufacturing plants. And then, to top things off, we don't even have enough truckdrivers to transport goods to market.
As for gasoline, I bring your attention, which is up 31 percent since January, and according to AAA, it is expected to rise another 20 cents this summer.
Let's think about what all the administration has done. They shut down the Keystone XL. They stopped drilling on government lands and imposed harmful rules and regulations to slow down drilling and make it more expensive. We are now importing more oil from Russia than Alaska.
As a physician in rural Kansas, I had the privilege of delivering a baby most every day, and one thing I always noticed, when that price of gasoline got above $3 a gallon, all of a sudden, those moms were missing their appointments. Today, we are at that number, and we are expecting it to go even higher, unfortunately. Kansans aren't the only ones feeling the squeeze at the pump.
Many popular items we all regularly purchase at the grocery store increased in recent months. The cost of a typical all-American Kansas breakfast--two eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, and orange juice--is up almost 10 percent.
Pre-COVID, we had the greatest economy in my lifetime, and that came about because we lowered people's taxes, we lowered regulations, and we lowered energy prices. Now, out-of-control spending and socialist policies dictated by the White House are leading to rampant inflation that shows no signs of stopping
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, America is in a debt crisis because of reckless government spending. Now, thanks to the insane spending and failed policies of President Joe Biden and Democrats in Washington, we are seeing higher and higher inflation.
Under the Biden administration, inflation has grown every month. Just look at this week's CPI numbers. From June 2020 to June 2021, the Consumer Price Index rose 5.4 percent. Energy costs are up 24.5 percent, and gasoline prices are up 45 percent--nearly $1 more from where they were last year. Inflation is at the highest rate since the great recession. This week's Producer Price Index data shows a 7.3-
percent increase in June and a historic 22.6-percent jump in the prices of processed goods, the highest since 1975. For 6 straight months, we have seen the data clearly shows that spending beyond our means has consequences. Inflation is growing at the fastest rate since 1981.
These aren't just numbers or statistics; these increases represent a growing pressure on Florida families and businesses. Every time prices rise, life gets harder.
Last month, I met with business owners in Miami and heard firsthand how their businesses were struggling with the rising price of goods. Every time I am home in Florida, I hear from families who are noticing prices are up, gas prices are up, and food prices are up. Every price increase has a direct impact on a family's budget.
When inflation goes up, it hurts everyone, especially our poor families, those on fixed incomes, and small businesses. I saw how hard it was for my parents to make ends meet when inflation hit in the seventies. When food and gas prices went up, we had less food on the table.
I remember going to the grocery store, when my mom took in ironing to raise money every day for groceries, and she said: You have to look at the price of things because they are constantly going up.
That is happening again in Joe Biden's America. Families in Florida and across our Nation are suffering because of the Democrats' reckless spending spree led by Joe Biden.
Just take a look around. Average prices of everything--everything is up. Let's say families are filling up their tank once a week. If you drive a car, that means Joe Biden raised your expenses $600 a year. If you drive a truck, that means Joe Biden raised your expenses by more than $1,000 a year. And let's remember, half of Americans make less than $35,000 a year. Inflation is a new tax on our families.
Instead of addressing this crisis that has hurt Americans, Biden and the Democrats are living in an economic fantasyland where debt doesn't matter, spending has no consequences, and inflation is impossible. They are ignoring the fact that our Nation is barreling towards $30 trillion in debt. That is $233,000 in debt for every family in America.
Now Democrats in the Senate want to spend another $4 trillion of your money on a so-called infrastructure plan that has little to do with infrastructure. They don't care if Americans get a return on their hard-earned tax dollars.
But the truth is, we can't keep spending like this. There will be a day of reckoning coming if we don't act to get our fiscal house in order. That is why I have introduced legislation, the Federal Debt Emergency Control Act, to take real steps to rein in Washington's out-
of-control spending. That includes preventing Biden and the Democrats from mindlessly spending by requiring that two-thirds of the Senate vote to increase the debt before approving any bill with deficit spending.
It would terminate any unobligated funding from the American Rescue Plan and any previous stimulus bills, sending it back to the Treasury General Fund for deficit reduction.
Finally, it would ensure that any bill reducing the debt by at least 5 percent over 10 years is fast-tracked through the legislative process.
We are in a debt crisis. This isn't monopoly money; it is Americans' money, and we have to be responsible with it. It is time to end the madness, and it is time to stand up for low- and fixed-income families and for small businesses that bear the brunt of President Biden's inflation crisis. With the debt ceiling suspension expiring on July 31, we must tackle these issues head-on and chart a new and fiscally responsible path forward that protects families and our Nation's financial security.
I look forward to every fiscally responsible Republican and Democrat working with me to reject Biden's insane spending spree, quickly pass my bill, and protect the future of this Nation
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
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