02.15.22

Democrats’ Inflation Is Getting Worse and Worse

WASHINGTON, D.C.U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding inflation:

“At this time last year, Washington Democrats were beginning their quest to dump trillions of dollars in left-wing spending on a recovering economy that already had the preconditions for some inflation.

“Everybody warned Democrats to pump the brakes. Just weeks earlier, Republicans had already supported a smaller, targeted, bipartisan stimulus that had barely started to take effect. Even top liberal economists warned Democrats’ agenda could spark massive inflation.

“Well, one year on, those warnings have proven sadly correct.

“Last week’s report showed that had inflation has set yet another 40-year high, breaking Democrats’ own modern record from late last year.

“And just this morning, we learned that the producer price index shot up a full percentage point last month alone. That was literally double what experts had forecast. The index has skyrocketed by 9.7% year over year.

“The consequences for working families have been particularly harsh. Essential goods have played an outsized role in driving up prices overall.

“It’s harder to put dinner on the table when meats, eggs, and fish are 12% more expensive.

“It’s harder to fill up cars with gas that’s 40% more expensive, and to heat a home with natural gas that’s gone up 24% or fuel oil that’s gone up 47%.

“This is reality for millions of Americans. They’re living it every day.

“Yet the Biden Administration seems less interested in trying to solve this problem than in trying to persuade families the pain is just in their heads.

“One recent story reported that members of President Biden’s team were, ‘seemingly mystified’ about why the American people weren’t celebrating this economy.

“Well, if Washington Democrats spent five minutes talking to a middle-class family, I’m confident they would cease to be mystified.

“The middle 40% of American earners have seen their disposable incomes fall more than an entire percentage point over the last year due to inflation.

“Any American who hasn’t managed to secure an 8% pay raise in the last year has actually received a real pay cut, thanks to Democrats’ inflation.

“The American people are reporting their lowest consumer sentiment in over a decade. Seventy-five percent say our economy is doing badly.

“Almost eighty percent expect inflation to get worse. Six in ten say their family’s income isn’t keeping pace with their costs of living.

“These are not statistics the White House can wave away. We are talking about human pain.

“A working mother in Michigan recently said, ‘I cannot buy the food that I would normally buy for my family.’

“In Washington State, a single mom of four who also cares for her elderly parents says she’s had to take favorite family foods like frozen pizza and wings and make them, ‘more of a treat than a just a regular meal.’

“This is where Democrats’ policies have left working families.”

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Related Issues: Inflation, Economy, Energy, Middle Class, Senate Democrats, House Democrats