Inflation

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I want to give a story to my good friends in the press corps because they always feel they have a shortage of interesting things in the paper. This concerns the excessive inflation we have under the current administration.

The current administration claims that inflation last year was 8.6 percent. I am going to focus on two different parts of that, one is 5.5 percent for housing and 16.1 percent for used cars.

I ask the press corps to call some local builders or builders anywhere around the country--builders, landlords, and assessors--and see if you can find anybody who thinks the cost of housing has only gone up by 5.5 percent in the past year. My goodness, the cost of interest by itself has almost doubled in that time. The cost of many parts of a house has gone up. There is no way that it is only 5.5 percent. I think if you look around and ask builders and Realtors, they will laugh at that number.

I would also ask you to call some car dealers around the country and see what they think about the idea that used cars have gone up 16.1 percent in the last year. They, as well, laugh at that. The number has to be significantly higher.

So there is a gift to my friends in the news business.

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