Economic Recovery

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, over the past several months, American families have had to contend with a historic amount of painful, painful inflation. This summer, we saw the prices for core personal consumption soar at the fastest pace in nearly 30 years. Last month, the Producer Price Index notched its steepest year- on-year jump in more than a decade. All across the country, across the economy, families and businesses are being hit hard.

One measure of construction materials is reporting that homebuilders are facing materials costs that are 22 percent higher than just last year--22 percent higher than just last year. Homeowners and renters are approaching a fall and winter in which heating costs are projected to reach a 13-year high. Eighty-six percent of respondents told one recent poll they were either ``extremely'' or ``very worried'' about inflation.

Now, this is exactly what Republicans, independent experts, and even liberal economists warned would happen if Democrats started ramming through massive, massive inflationary spending. Back in the springtime, Larry Summers, the top economic adviser to both President Clinton and President Obama, warned at the time that runaway spending could ``set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.'' And, of course, that is exactly what has happened.

Well, just ask any working family in this country about their last trip to the gas station, the grocery store, or the car dealership. Inflation has gotten so bad on Democrats' watch that it has wiped out every ounce of the average American worker's pay growth during this economic recovery and then some. Annual real wage growth is negative even though employers have been handing out raises because--because--of inflation.

Remember, at the start of the year, working Americans had an economy that was teed up for a roaring recovery. So when Washington Democrats rolled out their first springtime spending spree, even the Washington Post cautioned that ``the improving picture is raising questions about whether the stimulus bill is mismatched to the needs of the current moment.'' That was the Washington Post on the so-called rescue package that passed back in March.

You might think that the disastrous consequences of Democrats' last spending binge for working Americans might give our colleagues some pause about the next one, but, alas, no such luck. Behind closed doors, they are putting together another, even more reckless taxing-and- spending spree. They want to take the last bill, which Democrats called the most leftwing law in American history, and actually dwarf even that.

Massive tax hikes on Americans that will hurt families and help China. Let me say that again. Massive tax hikes on Americans that will hurt families and help China. A socialist transformation that nobody voted for last year. Another invitation for even more painful inflation that will hit working Americans right where it hurts. The American people don't want it, and Senate Republicans won't support it.

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