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Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a year ago today, with prices already rising, President Biden said that high inflation was ``expected to be temporary.'' One year later, after 9 straight months of inflation over 6 percent, the prices are now rising at their fastest rate in over 40 years.

Last week's inflation report confirmed on paper what working families have been feeling for a year: President Biden's prediction was dead wrong. Instead, prices are skyrocketing, and paychecks aren't keeping up. Real hourly wages are declining at breakneck speeds, dropping a full 1 percent last month alone. The average American worker got a full 1-percent pay cut just last month alone due to inflation.

The Biden administration has tried to claim that we are ``stronger economically than we have been in history.'' That is what the White House Press Secretary told reporters earlier this month. Kentuckians know that is utterly absurd. They know the opposite is true. In my home State, the average household now spends over $600 more--$600 more-- every month compared to the day President Biden took his oath of office. That comes out to more than $7,300 a year.

Inflation is pushing Kentucky families to the brink. As a result, food bank demand is rising, and shelves are running low. A soup kitchen in Campbell County put out an urgent call for volunteers as surging visitors threaten to overwhelm its limited staff. As the executive director said in an interview, with ``inflation and milk [at] $4 a gallon,'' they see people who have ``never needed help before.''

I have received messages from constituents all over the Commonwealth facing the same crisis: Prices are rising while real wages fall.

A 59-year-old from Louisville tells me she has worked two jobs since she graduated from college in 1987 to save for retirement. Now she is afraid she will ``lose [her] hard-earned money . . . due to this inflation.''

Another constituent in Hopkins County tells me he worked 60 hours a week for years to afford the home he bought recently. Now, with rising prices, he ``can't even support [his] family anymore'' and might lose his new house as well.

A couple in Lexington in their late seventies spends almost all of their fixed income on rent, utilities, and medical bills. They are struggling to find enough left over for food. ``What are we suppose[d] to do?'' they ask.

Families across Kentucky are asking themselves the same question every day. The answer from Washington Democrats is alarming but not surprising. After spending us into inflation, they now want to tax us into recession. I can't think of a more reckless response for struggling Kentuckians.

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