‘The American People Aren’t Buying It’: John Thune Rips Biden Admin’s Claims Of ‘Strong’ Economy

4 months ago

During Senate floor remarks on Wednesday, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) spoke about inflation under the Biden-Harris Administration.

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Transcript

00:00Madam President, America has always been a place where if you work hard, you can get ahead.

00:07But it's a lot more challenging in the Biden economy.

00:11Inflation has dealt working families a series of setbacks that have made it harder to get ahead.

00:17And it's in large part due to this administration's reckless spending.

00:21Madam President, three and a half years ago, Vice President Harris cast her first

00:25tie-breaking votes in the Senate to advance a $1.9 trillion spending bill

00:32under the guise of pandemic relief.

00:35She and our Democrat colleagues had been warned that that level of spending

00:39risked setting off inflation unlike any we had seen in a generation.

00:45But they passed it anyway.

00:47Inflation began to take off almost immediately.

00:53Three years later, prices have gone up more than 20 percent.

00:58Groceries are up 21 percent.

01:01The cost of car repairs up 31 percent.

01:05Energy costs have gone up 40 percent.

01:10Nearly every aspect of daily life is more expensive in the Biden-Harris economy,

01:14and Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

01:16More than one-third of Americans are worried about paying their bills.

01:20They're pulling back on their spending and putting more on their credit cards.

01:25Some people are even taking on extra work just to get by.

01:30But sometimes it's still not enough.

01:34As one new mom in Missouri put it, and I quote,

01:37it's just hard. I work full-time.

01:40My husband works full-time.

01:42I feel like at this point we're moving more towards survival mode

01:47rather than thriving, end quote.

01:50Another mom in Virginia says of her sons and their wives, and I quote again,

01:55everyone is working as absolutely hard as they can.

02:00They are not farther ahead than my husband and I were 30 years ago, end quote.

02:06And another woman in Pennsylvania who's working two jobs says, and I quote again,

02:10prior to inflation, I didn't have any debt.

02:14I didn't have any credit cards, never applied for like a payday loan or any of those things.

02:19But since inflation, I needed to do all those things.

02:23I've had to downgrade my life completely, end quote.

02:28Well, Madam President, they're not alone.

02:31For many Americans, life in the Biden-Harris economy feels like a downgrade.

02:35It now costs a typical family $13,000 more per year

02:39just to maintain the same standard of living it enjoyed when President Biden took office.

02:45$13,000 more per year just to tread water.

02:53That's an incredible strain on families' budgets.

02:56And it's not just higher prices.

02:59Measures to tame inflation have also added to Americans' financial pain.

03:05To fight inflation, the Federal Reserve has been forced to keep interest rates high,

03:10which affects Americans' finances in a variety of ways.

03:13As I said, many Americans have turned to credit cards to cope with inflation.

03:19And higher interest rates, in part the result of the Fed's actions,

03:23are making credit card bills harder to pay down.

03:27The same is true for car payments.

03:30And Americans looking to own their own home are facing what one housing expert called,

03:34quote, the most challenging home-buying market we have ever seen, end quote.

03:41The average monthly mortgage payment is a staggering $2,600,

03:48the result of a combination of higher mortgage rates and higher home prices.

03:53Madam President, the White House has spent a lot of time trying to spin the economy as strong.

03:59But the American people aren't buying it.

04:02An economy where people are working harder and still struggling to get by

04:05isn't what most Americans consider a strong economy.

04:09And it can't be America's future.

04:14I said inflation began accelerating as a result of Democrats' reckless spending.

04:20That's not a Republican talking point.

04:23It's a fact with which Democrat economists agree.

04:28Yet the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Democrats

04:31show no signs of backing off their reckless tax and spending agenda.

04:35In fact, it's clear they envision a lot more of the same.

04:41The administration's latest budget request is filled with burdensome new taxes

04:47and trillions in new spending.

04:50They want to see the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire, which would mean more tax increases.

04:58And Democrats still have plenty of other tax and spending ideas they would like to implement.

05:03Madam President, the American people have suffered enough.

05:07I don't want to think about what kind of economic pain we could see

05:11from another four years of Democrats' reckless spending.

05:16I hope, I sincerely hope, that the American people will not have to experience it.

‘The American People Aren’t Buying It’: John Thune Rips Biden Admin’s Claims Of ‘Strong’ Economy

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