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Floor Speech
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Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I rise today to talk about something we have been hearing a lot about recently, and that is Bidenomics. The President and his Cabinet have been traveling the country trying to convince the American people into believing that the President's economic vision for the country has our Nation on the right path.
Well, I can assure you, after being home for the last 2 weeks, that these false messages are not really resonating with the American public. Polling data between June 6 and July 7 of this year shows that, on average, two-thirds of Americans believe that our Nation is going on the wrong track. If you spend a few minutes at the supermarket, a car dealership, or a retail store, or if you are looking to purchase or rent a home, or if you face energy and utility bills or the prices at the pump that middle-class American families are having to pay-- everybody is paying--this should be no surprise.
So what exactly is Bidenomics? Let me break down a couple of definitions of this term as they relate to American folks outside of the beltway, and certainly those would include people whom I represent in West Virginia, which I consider the backbone of our country.
Bidenomics means you are getting less while spending more. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since President Biden took office, grocery prices have increased 20 percent, energy prices have increased 38 percent, prices for fuel oil have increased 45 percent, gasoline prices have increased 52 percent, natural gas prices have increased 20 percent, electricity prices have increased 26 percent, prices for used cars and trucks have increased 35 percent, prices for new vehicles have increased 20 percent, apparel prices have increased 10 percent, and airline fares have increased 39 percent. But the list goes on and on.
Bidenomics means that inflation is just a part of everyday life. Today's inflation report marks the 30th straight month that year-over- year inflation is over the target rate of 2 percent. The President is touting this decreasing inflation as something to celebrate, but there is really nothing to celebrate here. Americans have felt the blunt and unapologetic force of inflation for over 2 years.
Bidenomics is certainly not a science. If it were, it would be a shifting one. Remember when inflation was only supposed to be transitory? The individual who voiced that opinion, who himself is not an economist, got a promotion from the President and is now Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Bidenomics means, if you are looking to rent or buy a home, you might just be out of luck. Rampant spending from the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act were main contributors of high inflation and, in turn, the source of soaring interest rates.
So, on top of that, rental prices for a primary residence have increased 15 percent, furniture prices have increased 19 percent, the average rate of a 30-year fixed mortgage is now 7.22 percent, and, just this May, home prices hit record highs. All of this combined leaves the prospect of buying a home seemingly unattainable to many American families and compromises the American dream.
I would add here that young families can't get in the game of buying a house, fixing it up, living there for a while, and moving on to a little bit nicer, better, bigger home as their family grows.
Bidenomics means that if you have a small business, it will be harder to maintain and grow, and if you want to start a small business, it is nearly out of the question. Increased taxes felt directly by mom-and- pop shops combined with skyrocketing costs have made it very difficult to support a business along our Main Streets. Increased prices on consumer goods and basic needs means that wage growth cannot keep up with employers' rising costs.
Bidenomics means the destruction of the financial health of a lot of our American families. The Feds's ``Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households'' report was just released Monday. And it stated that ``[o]verall financial well-being declined markedly over the prior year'' and that one-third of Americans say they are worse off financially than they were the year before.
These are devastating statistics, but, unfortunately, they show the dire straits of an economy that has a 71-percent probability of recession, according to the New York Federal Reserve's recession probability model.
One aspect of Bidenomics that really baffles me is the President's willingness to take credit for the current state of our economy and his efforts to make this the centerpiece of his White House.
There is a long list of achievements that our President has failed to adequately address and accept accountability for. Certainly, the crisis at the southern border is one, the weakened status of our military another, and the out-of-control spending that has defined his time in power. Yet, surprisingly, President Biden is more than happy to accept responsibility for the state of our Nation's economy. And in this one instance, he does have the right of ownership because they are his policies that have been put into place.
So for my State of West Virginia, Bidenomics is costing West Virginia families an additional $713. That is not a year. That is a month. That is a month.
President Biden and his administration continue to lead our country down the wrong path, but if we look at Republican-led States where Republican Governors are in charge and have been able to prove their resilience among these enormous headwinds: increased earnings in States like North Dakota and my colleague's home State of Nebraska, booming manufacturing sectors in States like Florida and Texas, or States with record surpluses like my own State of West Virginia where Republican leadership is leading the way.
So moving forward, our Republican colleagues and I will continue to fight for proven solutions that rein in unnecessary spending, that bring down inflation, that increase market competition, that lower tax burdens on our small businesses, and spur the economic development that every State in this Nation needs.
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