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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, inflation numbers came out this morning, and it won't surprise anyone to discover that it was yet another month of elevated inflation, par for the course for the Biden administration.

Inflation that not only remained well above the Federal Reserve's target inflation rate for yet another month, it actually kicked up in March to 3.5 percent, not exactly a hopeful trend.

It has been a rough few years for the American people under President Biden, thanks in large part to the President and Congressional Democrats' decision to push forward with their American Rescue Plan spending spree, despite, I might add, warnings even from liberal economists that it ran the risk of setting off inflation. But now the entire Biden administration has been one long inflation crisis.

Today, a typical family is paying $1,000 more per month to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed when President Biden took office. Now, think about that for just a moment. Today, a typical family is paying $1,000 more per month--$12,000 more per year--to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed when President Biden took office--if, of course, these families even have that money available. There is no question that there are families out there--a lot, I suspect--whose standard of living has diminished since President Biden took office because they simply don't have the money to maintain the same living standard with the elevated prices in the Biden economy.

The list of price hikes in the Biden economy is long. Groceries are up 21 percent since President Biden took office. Energy prices are up 38 percent. Gas prices are up 47 percent and are on the rise. The cost of shelter is up 20 percent. Car repairs and maintenance are up 30 percent. And the list goes on.

I mentioned the increase in grocery prices. The cost of food now takes up a larger share of Americans' disposal income than it has in 30 years.

A recent Bloomberg article noted:

Nationally, seven in 10 consumers say they are very or extremely concerned about the cost of groceries. . . . Forty- two percent said they were worried about having enough money to buy food in December, the last time FMI asked, compared to 26 percent at the March 2020 onset of the pandemic.

Well, that is a pretty grim statistic, and it is not the only one. On the home-buying front, one recent article reported:

The income needed to comfortably afford a home is up 80 percent since 2020.

Let me just repeat that.

The income needed to comfortably afford a home is up 80 percent since 2020.

Mr. President, 80 percent--and I don't need to tell anyone that incomes have not risen by 80 percent over the same period.

President Biden loves to talk about giving Americans ``a little bit of breathing room.'' Well, Americans have lost their breathing room in the Biden economy. They have seen their disposable income dry up. They have had to downgrade their standard of living. They have had to turn to savings accounts and credit cards to make ends meet. It is no wonder that nearly half of voters say their personal financial situation is getting worse or that 55 percent of Americans say they worry a great deal about inflation or that 58 percent of voters say the economy is on the wrong track.

The sad thing is that President Biden has apparently learned nothing from his inflation crisis. He is still set on the same kind of massive government spending that helped plunge us into this inflation crisis in the first place. The budget he released last month was full of massive new spending programs, accompanied by a staggering $5 trillion in tax hikes--tax hikes that would unquestionably have their own damaging economic effects, like discouraging job creation and driving up energy prices for hard-working Americans.

President Biden's first term in office has been characterized by economic misery for Americans, and if the President gets his way, a second term would likely be characterized by economic misery as well. It has been 36 months of elevated inflation in the Biden economy--36 months--and the end is still not in sight. It is starting to look like it won't be as long as President Biden is still in office.

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