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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, I join my colleagues on the floor to talk about Joe Biden's economy.
Over the past few weeks, the President has traveled across our great country. He has been giving speeches on what he calls Bidenomics. He is bragging about how good our economy is.
I have got news for the President: The American people aren't buying what you are selling.
Two-thirds of the American people disapprove of him on the economy-- two-thirds. Three out of four Americans say our country is on the wrong track. Most economists think we are going to have a recession within the next year. We all hope that doesn't happen.
Nevertheless, I agree with the American people. Bidenomics has been a disaster, a complete disaster, for the people of this country.
When Joe Biden took office, this economy was ready to take off. We were opening back up after the pandemic, but obviously Joe Biden took credit for that too.
The Congressional Budget Office said the economy didn't need any stimulus--no more money. We were expected to fully recover within just a few months. Guess what. Our President didn't listen. He signed the biggest stimulus bill in history. Joe Biden spent $2 trillion that we didn't need. It wasn't paid for. We didn't have the money, but we approved it anyway, in this room. That $2 trillion is going straight to the national debt--$32 trillion. Embarrassing.
Even the Democrats' own experts warned them not to do this. President Obama's economic adviser, Jason Furman, said:
I don't know any economist who is advocating for a spending bill that size.
Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, said it would cause inflation. Well, sure enough, a month after the Democrats passed their spending bill, inflation started going up, and now prices are 14 percent higher than they were when President Biden took office--14 percent. Gas prices are still up by more than a dollar a gallon since this President took office. The price of diesel is raising costs for farmers in my State of Alabama and across America, and they are struggling. In total, inflation has cost the typical American family more than $8,000 annually since Joe Biden took office.
Last summer, Joe Biden and the Democrats started spending trillions in taxpayer money again. Didn't learn a lesson. It was an election year, and they must have thought it was going to help them in the election.
As of today, Joe Biden has authorized more than 4 trillion--that is not billion; that is trillion--dollars in spending. That is more money than we spent in World War II. Again, this is after the Congressional Budget Office said we didn't need any stimulus, and again, it was money that we didn't have. We didn't have it. It is no wonder we have had the highest inflation in 40 years, and it is no wonder Joe Biden is the least popular President since Jimmy Carter.
Record inflation has caused the fastest increase in interest rates in 40 years, and it is self-inflicted. The American people didn't do that; this city did that. The interest rate on a mortgage has doubled since Joe Biden took office--doubled. More and more young people are giving up on the goal of owning their own home because they can't afford it.
Last summer, Joe Biden also raised taxes on nearly every person in this country. He wants 85,000 more IRS agents to shake people down because they need the money. They need the money to help pay this debt down, but they are going to take it away from the American people. That should never happen.
So now we are paying the price for inflation, and we are paying more because of higher taxes.
Last fall, there was a Gallup poll that showed that a record number of people have given up on the American dream--given up. That is what everybody wants to come to this country for, is the American dream.
Folks, it ain't here anymore. It is gone.
According to the poll, the majority of Americans do not think their kids will have a better standard of living than they had when they were growing up.
Joe Biden shouldn't be bragging right now. Joe Biden ought to be on an apology tour across this country because it is embarrassing what we have done to the debt and what we have done to inflation and prices all over the country. He ought to apologize to the American people for robbing them of thousands of dollars that they worked for, that they shouldn't have to send to this place to spend when they don't need it to be spent. He ought to apologize to the people who are giving up on the American dream.
Two-thirds of the American people disapprove of the handling of Joe Biden's economy. And I agree with the American people. Bidenomics has been a total disaster, and it will go down in history. It will go down in history. It will be remembered, and it will be studied--how not to run an economy. Totally wrong.
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