Inflation

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, the Senate is back in session, and still we have no indication from the White House or my Democratic colleagues that they have a plan to lower inflation.

Tennesseans are frightened. You would be, too, if you consistently found more month at the end of your paycheck than paycheck at the end of your month. It is getting harder to stretch the pennies and nickels and dimes, and talking points aren't going to fix this problem.

The White House keeps telling people that if they hang on just a little bit longer, they are going to be all right, but that is not how it works in the real world. In the real world, at a certain point, you run out of rope to hang on to.

People are looking at this transition economy, and they are saying: What are we transitioning to? It is not what they want for their economic future. It is no longer a matter of just trying to make things work; you just can't pay the bills anymore. The gas tank stays empty or you go to bed hungry.

Now, it is clear that Joe Biden and the Democrats know that the country has reached a tipping point, but rather than offering hope, they have settled into blaming everyone from congressional Republicans to foreign dictators for the problem. That is not what the American people want to hear. They know who got us in trouble, and they know it wasn't Vladimir Putin; it was Joe Biden and the Democrats.

It is the people--the Democrats who are controlling every branch of government in this town. Yes, they have done it, and no amount of scapegoating will change the fact that the American people have been watching closely over the past year and a half, and they know things have gone terribly wrong.

The Biden administration abandoned our recovery, spent trillions on a reckless spending spree, and then panicked when all that spending caused record-high inflation. No, it is not temporary. The country doesn't need a pep talk; they need Joe Biden and the Democrats to reverse course before we fall into a recession, if we haven't done so already.

There are things the administration can do right now that will pull us back from the brink.

It is time to take the taxpayer-funded credit card away. The American people can't afford what the Democrats are selling, and they wouldn't want it even if they could afford it. They know this is wasteful, out- of-control, reckless spending.

Next, the President must stop expanding the size and power of the Federal Government. Stop hiring bureaucrats we don't need at salaries we can't afford to write regulations that only exist to take more money out of people's paychecks.

Democrats would also be wise to get the regulators we do have out of the way--especially when it comes to the energy sector--restart the Keystone XL Pipeline, and make America energy independent again. Go back to drilling in Alaska, offshore, fracking. Return it all so that we once again are energy independent.

Finally, there is something we can do right here in the Senate that would keep future spending and inflation in check. I have introduced legislation that would require a supermajority to pass a spending bill during times of high inflation. It is good common sense, so we should put it up for a vote.

It is time for each of us to go on the record and let the American people know what our priorities are. They are tired of what they are seeing coming out of Washington, DC. I am glad they are paying attention. I am so pleased that Tennesseans are paying closer attention now than ever before.

I do think that it is appropriate that President Biden, the White House, the executive branch, and the Democrats who are in charge of Capitol Hill go on the record and decide if they are going to stand with that ``Build Back Broke'' agenda, stand with the radical left, or are they going to stand for the prosperity and safety of the American people? Tennesseans know what the right answer would be.

Whether I am in church, whether I am out at one of the grandkids' sporting event, whether I am at the MoonPie Festival in Bell Buckle, I hear it from everyone--this spending is out of control.

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