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Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Washington Democrats have spent nearly 2 years--2 years--borrowing, printing, and spending our economy into turmoil. Families and businesses across Middle America are paying the price. I met with many of them in my home State of Kentucky over the past few weeks.

Since President Biden took office, prices in the Commonwealth have spiked by 13 percent. At the same time, we still have 19,000 fewer workers than before the pandemic.

During a meeting with the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers in Louisville, I heard directly from employers who would, under different circumstances, be powering our recovery. Instead, many are struggling to find enough workers to meet consumer demand.

In Hopkinsville, I spoke to farmers who have watched the price of energy skyrocket, raising the cost of everything from fuel to fertilizer. As a result, all Americans are paying higher prices at the grocery store.

While Eastern Kentucky struggles to recover from devastating floods, supply chain issues and the increased cost of building materials are hamstringing the repair process and making it even harder to rebuild.

I am sure my Democratic colleagues heard similar stories during their own August travel. Kentuckians aren't the only Americans feeling pinched.

The official inflation numbers confirmed that yet again just after the Senate adjourned last month--a fifth straight month of inflation above 8 percent. Inflated gas prices, inflated utility bills, the worst explosion in grocery costs since 1979--these are the painful effects of Democrats' reckless spending.

Americans keep communicating over and over and over that runaway costs are their top concern, and they didn't like what President Biden and his party are doing about it.

Ah, but amazingly, just a few days before the latest inflation report, Democrats had just pushed through hundreds of billions of dollars more in liberal waste on a party-line basis. Democrats packed their bill with an environmentalist wish list that won't even affect climate. They sold it--listen to this--as an Inflation Reduction Act even though experts found it would do absolutely nothing meaningful to reduce inflation. They did find room for massive, job-killing tax hikes that will hit manufacturing especially hard and kill jobs on the brink of a possible recession.

It is not getting any easier to put food on the table, pay rent, or even keep the lights on, but here we are again, starting another Senate work period with not one word from the Democratic leader about plans to bring bills to the floor to cut inflation, fight the crimewave, or secure the border.

The American people have communicated loud and clear what their priorities are, and Democrats keep communicating loud and clear they simply do not care.

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