Inflation

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a little more than 2 years ago, with Republican policies in place, American workers and families were enjoying one of the best economic moments in a generation.

Unemployment was at a 50-year low. Inflation was very low at the same time. Our economy was growing robustly, and workers were reaping the benefits: Real wages were climbing. In fact, wages at the bottom of the income distribution were growing faster than that at the top. In other words, on our watch, working-class Americans were getting bigger percentage raises than their bosses.

Under these conditions, the American people were looking forward to the future. Satisfaction with the direction of our country was at a 15- year high. Consumer confidence was hovering near its highest level since 2000, and small business optimism had set an alltime record high.

Republican policies helped create that environment, from cutting redtape to passing the most comprehensive tax cuts and tax reform in a generation.

Now, Democrats said the 2017 tax bill would not strengthen the economy and would starve the Federal Government of money, but we Republicans knew better. And sure enough, with our tax bill in place, Federal revenues are at historic levels. The past fiscal year's nominal corporate tax receipts were the highest they have been since 2007. Individual income tax receipts just hit an alltime record high as well, and they are on pace to climb even higher this year. Overall, Treasury Department revenues just recorded their largest 1-year surge in 44 years.

So that is what has happened since the 2017 tax reform that Democrats literally predicted would be ``Armageddon": tax cuts for American families, record-setting tax revenues, and the best economy for working families in a generation prior to the pandemic. Unfortunately, most of our Democratic colleagues have a terrible track record when it comes to economic policies and predictions. The tax reform they called Armageddon preceded low inflation, high employment, and robust growth.

And what about on their watch?

Democrats setting policy on party lines decided on trillions of dollars in reckless spending. That has bought us the worst inflation in 40 years, anemic growth, and now, on top of all of that, the threat of rising unemployment and a possible recession.

Just as Senate Democrats were preparing to dump $2 trillion in reckless spending on our economy, the Senate Democratic leader said:

I do not think the dangers of inflation, at least in the near term, are very real.

President Biden said:

The risk is not doing too much. The risk is not doing enough.

Secretary Yellen said:

[T]he price of doing too little is much higher than the price of doing something big.

Well, they were all wrong, and American families are paying dearly for it.

The Democratic leader claimed:

The dangers of undershooting our response are far greater than overshooting.

And:

We cannot do too little. We cannot lock our country into a long and slow recovery.

Well, if Democrats did not want a long recovery, mission accomplished. A long and steady recovery with stable prices, rising real wages, falling unemployment, and strong growth would have been exactly what the doctor ordered, but the Democrats' policies helped take that option entirely off the table for our country.

Instead, their decisions have fueled skyrocketing prices, a decline in Americans' real incomes, and cornered the Federal Reserve into having to raise rates sharply and potentially stop or reverse the recovery altogether.

So, faced with this mess, what is our all-Democratic government planning next? Are our colleagues admitting their mistakes and trimming back their appetites?

Unfortunately, not--just the opposite.

Even now, with the evidence of a historic, self-inflicted policy disaster piling up all around them, Democrats are reviving talks for yet another party-line taxing-and-spending spree this summer. Even with the economy teetering on the brink of a recession, even with families' real incomes already falling rapidly on their watch, Senate Democrats are reportedly behind closed doors, dreaming up--listen to this-- historic new tax hikes to drop on top of our economy at the very worst possible time.

The same Democrats who wanted to pass trillions more in spending last year now want to rush through huge new tax hikes. The same party that spent 2021 trying to inflate their way out of inflation now wants to spend 2022 tax-hiking their way right into a recession. You could not invent--could not invent--a worse time for Washington Democrats to pile on new tax hikes on our country.

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