Economic Statistics Missing From State of the Union

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, last week, President Biden delivered hopefully his final State of the Union Address that included heavily selective statistics that painted a one-sided account of the state of our economy. I rise to add some important context that gives a better snapshot of the economic conditions facing working families I represent in Tennessee.

For starters, American families now spend an average of $1,000 more per month than 3 years ago just to get by. This means they are paying 20 percent more for necessities like food and rent and nearly 30 percent more to power and heat their homes. It is a staggering $11,400 more every year just on the basics, just to get by.

The average monthly payment on a new home was $1,746 before this President. Now, the average mortgage on a new home is $3,322 every month. That is almost double. These rising mortgage payments are a direct result of higher interest rates, which are due to the reckless and runaway spending of this administration.

I believe it wouldn't have been this way if President Biden had heeded the advice of economists from both parties and fiscal conservatives like myself. Had he not advocated for the disastrous spending bills, which passed on a mostly partisan basis, the economy would not have overheated to the extent that it has.

The $1.9 trillion stimulus package that the President proposed and passed early in his administration directly links to the soaring inflation that immediately followed, and it was to be expected. In fact, former Democratic Treasury Secretary Larry Summers predicted exactly this outcome.

Making matters worse, this administration has hardly mentioned the ballooning national debt, which now approaches $34.5 trillion. In the first quarter of this fiscal year, the Federal Government spent half a trillion more than it collected. This is simply unsustainable.

In his address last week, we also heard the President tout small business growth and low employment. The speech, however, did not include the barriers employers around the country endure because of his administration's policies. To date, the Biden administration has finalized 838 new regulations, which come with a projected negative economic impact of $470 billion annually and 291 million hours of additional paperwork for American workers.

I will close with another statistic. A recent national poll shows that only 38 percent of voters approve of this administration's handling of the economy. More than half of those polled believe President Biden's policies will continue to increase prices. I agree.

That is just one of the reasons I am committed to supporting policies that foster economic growth, unburden our job creators, and end the reckless and unnecessary deficit spending.

Our children, my children, cannot afford the reckless spending policies of this administration, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that they do not have to foot the bill for this administration's mistakes and misguided policies.

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