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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, this morning, the majority leader came to the floor of the Senate to talk about the Democrats' reckless tax- and-spending bill.

Now, he repeated the claim that the bill would actually reduce inflation. It won't. Just like the claim the President makes that the cost of the bill will be zero, the American people know that that is not true either.

The majority leader asked a question. He asked why not a single Republican would support the bill. Well, I am happy to respond to the majority leader and explain why the American people and the Republicans are rejecting what the Democrats are trying to force through the Congress.

So I come to the floor today to talk about rising prices. Next Thursday will be the most expensive Thanksgiving ever. As the New York Times put it, the Thanksgiving dinner will wallop your wallet. Turkey prices are up 25 cents on the dollar so far this year. Prices for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are up more than 10 cents on the dollar in just 1 year.

Companies like Nestle and Procter & Gamble, well, they put out warnings that they are raising their prices.

Who would have thought that in just 10 short months of the Biden Presidency we could set a record--a 30-year high record for inflation?

Millions of families this year will sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, and in addition to eating turkey, families around the table will also be talking turkey. They are going to have difficult conversations about how to make ends meet.

According to one estimate, families are now paying about $175 more every month because of inflation for the same things they were getting before Joe Biden became President. This works out to a $2,000 bite out of the paychecks annually of every working American.

So what is happening? Why is it happening?

It is for at least three reasons. First, Joe Biden's incompetence and mismanagement has caused the worst supply chain disruption in at least 40 years.

Now, the supply chain crisis is largely the result of a labor shortage. Last week, the New York Times called the shortage of truck drivers--truck drivers; not of trucks, but of the drivers--the single biggest cause of the supply chain crisis.

We don't have enough goods in large part because we don't have enough workers. This is the worst labor shortage in American history. There are more than 10 million jobs which have gone unfilled in recent months. We have broken new records for unfilled jobs in 5 of the last 9 months that Joe Biden has been in office.

This isn't a coincidence. This is happening because of the policies that have been put in place by the Democrats in this administration.

In March, President Biden and the Democrats extended a bonus payment to people who stayed home from work. Millions of people made more money by staying home instead of going to work. Well, in September, the bonus payment ran out.

Then President Biden announced a nationwide vaccine mandate on the American people. Having been traveling around the State of Wyoming this past week, I will tell you it is a mandate that is taking a sledgehammer to the American workforce.

Now, I fully support vaccination. I am a doctor. I am vaccinated, so are all the members of my family. I am pro-vaccine and anti-mandate. Imposing new mandates on workers during an unprecedented labor shortage is complete incompetence.

Now, this mandate is only making the supply chain crisis worse. The President must have known that many would not comply with this mandate. He must have known that people would be forced out of their jobs by his mandate. It didn't seem to faze him; he imposed the mandate anyway. Now people are losing their jobs, shelves are empty, and prices continue to go up.

The second major reason why prices are rising is President Biden's war on American energy. Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the busiest travel times of the year. AAA estimates that more than 50 million Americans will take to the highway and travel next week--pretty standard for a Thanksgiving weekend. Those who drive will pay a lot more for gas than they did last year or the year before. It is the highest in 7 years. Gas prices are up about $1 a gallon in the number of months that President Biden has been in office. It is more expensive to travel.

And it is getting more expensive also to stay warm. One in five American families has already cut spending to pay for their energy bill in the last year. Winter is coming. It is going to get worse. Some will have to choose between whether they can heat their home or whether they can eat a meal. Prices are so high, 11 Democratic Senators are pleading with the President to bring down gas prices.

So what is Joe Biden's solution?

Well, he admits he has no solution. He says that gas prices are going to stay high until the springtime.

One of the President's top nominees for the Treasury Department says she wants to ``starve''--starve--American oil and gas. She actually said that we want--in her mind--``we want [oil and gas companies] to go bankrupt.'' She is the nominee to be the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Secretary of Commerce was asked what the administration was doing to lower energy prices. She couldn't name a single thing.

The Secretary of Energy apparently thinks high gas prices are funny. She was asked what she could do to increase oil production in America. She laughed and said: ``That is hilarious.''

The Secretary of Transportation also thinks it's funny. He is joking around that people need to start Christmas shopping early this year.

So there you have the elites of the Biden administration--the elites of America--the people he has chosen to run these Agencies. They think it is funny. It is no laughing matter for the working families in Wyoming or all across America.

So who gets hurt by high prices?

The poor, people living on fixed incomes, families struggling to get by. Working families cannot afford what the Democrats are offering.

Since Joe Biden became President, prices have gone up much faster than wages. In other words, the American people have taken a cut in the spending value of their paychecks. They can buy less with the same amount of money. And even if they have gotten a bit of a raise, the prices are taking a greater and greater bite out of that paycheck.

So as we approach Thanksgiving, Democrats in Washington want to spend like it is already Black Friday. Democrats seem to think that every day is Black Friday, when you take a look at this reckless tax-and-spending bill where every page is over $1 billion of spending.

They have already put $2 trillion on the credit card earlier this year. This is in addition to the bipartisan coronavirus relief that the Senate passed last year. But for Democrats, there is never enough spending. Taxing and spending: it is an addiction. They want to print more money, they want to spend more money.

And right now, Democrats are pushing a reckless tax-and-spending bill, which will make inflation in this country even worse. Democrats say that the bill that they are proposing in the House right now will cost $2 trillion.

The Congressional Budget Office will give a final report the end of the week. Experts say, if all of the programs they are proposing were to stay in place for the full 10 years in the budget system, the price is much closer--if not exceeding--$4 trillion.

So if the Democrats pass this bill, we are talking about more spending, more debt, and higher prices. We are also, of course, talking about more taxes that ultimately will hit everyone in this country one way or the other.

Last week, the New York Times reported ``many researchers . . . say the bill is structured in a way that could add to inflation next year.'' Not just this year; next year as well.

Experts say this bill could increase the cost of childcare up to $13,000 for each and every family in America whose children need that care. This is already one of the biggest expenses on working families. They will nearly double that.

And, of course, Democrats' spending spree would add over $400 billion in taxes on America's small businesses--the mom-and-pop businesses in the communities all around this country.

Interestingly, at a time of high energy costs--we had a hearing about this this morning in the Energy Committee, the trend in prices on energy. Astonishingly, what the Democrats are proposing at this time are the highest natural gas prices in 7 years, and a tough season coming for the cost of heating oil and heating gas. This could raise taxes on American natural gas as well, when prices are at a 7-year high.

What happens to these costs with these taxes?

Of course, they get handed off to consumers in the form of higher prices.

If Democrats pass this bill, the American people are going to pay more at the pump, more at the store, and more on tax day.

So, last week, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said this bill would raise taxes on nearly one-third of middle-class families.

Didn't Joe Biden say he wasn't going to do that?

Well, who is right: the President of the United States, whose approval is at an all-time low and only 21 percent of Americans think the country is going in the right direction, or the Tax Policy Center that says that a third of all middle-class families will end up paying more taxes if this is signed into law?

This is a blatant violation of the President's campaign promises. The last thing the American people need right now is higher taxes, more debt, and higher prices. The last thing the American people need is this reckless tax-and-spending spree.

It is no wonder that 71 percent of Americans think our country today is on the wrong track, and this includes many Americans who actually voted last November for Joe Biden.

What do the American people want?

Well, they want us to produce more American energy so they can pay less for energy. They want us to make it easier for people to get back to work. They want higher wages and lower prices.

That is not what we are hearing from the Democrats.

So that is my response to the majority leader when he asks why not a single Republican would support this reckless tax-and-spending spree.

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