Biden Administration

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. The Biden administration has been working overtime to sell the American people a fantasy. The President would like working families who struggled under 2 years of soaring inflation to believe their refrain that ``Bidenomics is working for America.''

The White House Press Secretary declared recently that ``people are feeling better about their personal finances.'' If only that were true. Unfortunately, the American people have too many reasons to believe their financial outlook is worse today--worse--than when the President took office.

According to a survey conducted last month, just 24 percent of voters say the American economy is on the right track; less than a third buy the claim that this administration's policies are bringing costs down for working families; and just 22 percent think inflation is getting any better.

No matter how many ways the administration officials spin the numbers, folks who work for a living and manage a family budget know that Bidenomics has made their lives harder. They know that prices have risen 16.6 percent since the President took office because they feel it every time they pay their bills. Energy prices, for example, are 38 percent higher than they were in January of 2021, and groceries are 20 percent more expensive.

In Washington State, one man reported recently that soaring rent had forced him to move, take on a longer commute, spend more on gas, and put his goal of homeownership on hold.

In Illinois, one woman told a reporter recently that she had paid $90 for groceries that would feed her family of three for 3 days. They might have to start visiting food pantries. ``You have no choice but to sacrifice,'' she said.

So look at it this way: During the first terms of the last four administrations before this one, year-on-year inflation never cracked 4 percent. Under President Biden, it happened 26 times. To borrow the President's own phrase, that is Bidenomics in action.

As one top Democratic economist put it last year, ``This is Biden's inflation and he needs to own it.''

So it is fitting that the President finally slapped his name on our current economic situation. He is right to take credit. Working families wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't spent his first few months in office cramming $2 trillion in leftwing spending down the throat of our economy. So owning the runaway inflation Washington Democrats helped produce is one thing, but it is about time they focused on fixing it.

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