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Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the economic crisis that this Nation is facing, all as a result of the actions of the Democrats and Joe Biden.
Right now, Joe Biden is on his way to Massachusetts. He is expected to announce, while he is there, even more restrictions on American energy. One New England Senator has lobbied him to go ``executive Beast Mode.'' The Senator might forget that we still have a Constitution. The Supreme Court just ruled that the President can't do that. The Constitution says Congress writes the laws and it is up to the President to enforce them.
I would also remind that Senator that Joe Biden just got back from a trip to the Middle East. That is where he went to beg the Saudis to produce and to sell us more oil. Joe Biden doesn't need to fly around the world to solve the energy crisis that he created. The solution is right here at home in America. We have some of the largest energy reserves in the world. We have the best energy workers. We have the highest standards. Yet Joe Biden won't let go of his stranglehold on American energy. Joe Biden would rather send our money and more and more money to the Middle East than let us use the energy we have sitting right here in the ground in the United States.
Joe Biden has created the worst energy crisis for our country in the last 40 years--4-0--40 years. Gas prices today in my home State of Wyoming and all across the country are more than $2 per gallon higher than they were the day Joe Biden took office.
The spot price of natural gas has tripled under Joe Biden and that means even higher prices are on the way. Natural gas powers half of the homes in America and the price of that natural gas has tripled under Joe Biden.
Last year, Joe Biden's energy policies cost the average American family more than $1,000. That was last year. This year it is going to be higher than that. Higher energy costs are driving up the costs of everything--almost everything--because energy is such a vital part of our nation's economy.
Higher energy costs have led to the worst inflation crisis in 40 years--worst inflation in 40 years. Under Joe Biden, inflation has hit record highs. In the previous administration, inflation was nearly nonexistent. But for 15 months in a row now, prices have gone up. And not just have prices gone up, they have gone up faster and faster than wages have gone up. With every passing month, working families can afford less than they could the month before.
This is Joe Biden's America. This is what he brought and the Democrats who supported him in position and policy after each, one after another.
This year, the average family will pay $100 a week more just to buy the same things they bought last year. Just to stay even, it is $100 a week more. That is over $5,000 for the year. One hundred dollars a week adds up very quickly. As a result, people are spending their savings because they are not making enough to keep up. They are falling behind. They are borrowing money just to get by.
The savings rate in the country has plummeted to the lowest level since the Great Recession of 2009. Credit card debts are at an alltime high because people can't afford things and are putting things on the credit cards. Personal debt is at an alltime high. Consumer confidence, on the other hand, is at an alltime low--thank you, Joe Biden and Democrats.
Working families are being pushed to the breaking point. That is what we have here in America today. All told, it is the summer of strain and stress and suffering for American families. It is all happening because of the dereliction of duty on the part of the United States and the Democrats in this very body. The American people just want to be able to actually have enough money in their wallet to fill their tank with gas and to go to the grocery store and buy a full week's worth of groceries and have enough left over at the end of the month to pay their bills. Yet under Joe Biden and the Democrats, who are in charge of both the House and the Senate, this is becoming nearly impossible in America today.
Democrats call this the cost of the ``liberal world order''--the liberal world order. Look what it is getting us. Believe it or not, that is exactly what the White House has said. That is their official policy on the cost of inflation and the cost of energy being so high: Tough; suck it up. ``Liberal world order.'' We are here now. I don't care what it costs you or what pain and suffering we put onto the families of this country.
Meanwhile, as the President is going to talk about his climate emergency in Massachusetts, baby formula is still out of stock in stores all across America. For 15 months, there has been nothing but bad news coming from this administration and the Democrats for the working families in this country.
Last week, working families got a one-two punch of even more bad news. First, they found out that, once again, inflation is at another 40-year high. They also found out it is not going away any time soon. On Thursday, we found out that what is called wholesale inflation-- which is the inflation that our producers are experiencing--is even worse than the inflation for consumers.
These are the people who build our homes, who grow our food, keep the lights on. Higher costs for them mean higher costs are coming for all the rest of American families because, if inflation is higher for producers today, inflation for consumers tomorrow will be higher than it is today. It means there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
But that is not what Joe Biden is telling us. He has continued to say: Oh, inflation is transitory. Pay no attention to the fact you can't pay your bills, you can't buy enough food to feed your family, and you can't fill your car with gasoline. Tough. Pay no attention.
He said on Thursday that the inflation numbers we are using are ``out of date.'' He is out of date. Joe Biden is essentially saying inflation peaked before the Fourth of July. That is what he told the American people. Well, remember the last time Joe Biden said inflation peaked? That was last year in December he said it peaked. What has happened over the last 7 months to this country and to families? It is now July, and inflation has broken new records three more times in just the last 6 months.
Is he clueless? Does he believe what he is saying? And who is surrounding him at the White House? Joe Biden was wrong in December; he is wrong now. He has been wrong every step of the way, and yet Democrats blindly follow him right over the cliff.
First, he created the inflation crisis; then he denied it existed. Oh, then he said it was transitory. I think it was a year ago yesterday, he said it was transitory. Then at one point, the White House even said inflation was a good thing. It is not good for American families, not good for the men and women who go to work every day. Then Biden decided, let's start blaming everyone but ourselves.
At every step of this crisis, Joe Biden has told the public things that were simply not true. Joe Biden keeps trying to downplay the pain and the suffering going on all across the country. In fact, 1 year ago yesterday, Joe Biden said inflation would be temporary. He was wrong. The Democrats running Washington right now are completely out of touch--I mean, completely out of touch with the American people as Members of this body say: Yeah, Joe, go to Boston. Declare a climate emergency to claim a crisis.
There are a lot of crises in America today; climate is not one of them. There is an inflation crisis, an energy crisis, a border crisis, a crime crisis. There is a crisis in the White House of competence and credibility. But no, Joe Biden has other things on his mind--a climate crisis. Only 1 percent of Americans list that as a key item in their lives--only 3 percent of Democrats; only 3 percent of people under the age of 30. Everybody is focused on inflation. Joe Biden is going to Boston to talk about climate.
We have today, in this country, with the Democratic Party, a government of the elites, by the elites, for the elites. The Democratic Party has completely forgotten about the working men and women in America. For more proof of that, the Democrats are talking about more reckless taxing, more reckless spending.
When did the inflation crisis start? Right after the Democrats passed their last spending bill in March of last year when they put $2 trillion on America's credit card--party-line vote for massive government spending. They bailed out bankrupt blue States. The Democrats spent $2 trillion, triggered inflation, triggered a nightmare--a nightmare, I tell you--that has been robbing the American people of $100 every single week since then.
Democrats must have enjoyed their shopping spree because they spent the second half of last year trying to pass an even bigger, more reckless spending bill. Here they are again, trying it once again. It was reckless then; it is reckless now.
And the President's poll numbers continue to plummet because the American people say you are focused on the wrong thing, you are ignoring our needs.
You are abandoning the people. You have abandoned them, and that is why so few people think the country is heading in the right direction, and so many people are looking for a change. Democrats don't seem to care. They know they are about to face the voters in November and can see the handwriting on the wall, and they can hear the clock ticking.
The reason why inflation is out of control, at 40-year record highs, is because of the massive spending combined with the attacks by this administration and the Democrats in this body on American energy. That is what is causing the price of everything from gas to groceries to hit one record high after another.
The Democrats have spent us into record-high inflation. Now it seems that they want to tax us into a recession. The last thing the American people now need is more spending, more taxes, more debt. What we need is more American energy.
The way to get out of this crisis is to stop the reckless spending and increase the supply of American energy. We don't need to look halfway around the world for energy; we have it right here in this country. It is time for the President of the United States to stop begging, and it is time to start exploring for the energy right here in America.
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