Inflation Already Hammering Families as Democrats Plot Yet Another Reckless Spending Spree

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

“Over the past several months, American families have had to contend with an historic amount of painful inflation.

“This summer we saw the prices for core personal consumption soar at the fastest pace in nearly 30 years. Last month, the producer price index notched its steepest year-on-year jump in more than a decade.

“Across the country, across the economy, families and businesses are being hit hard.

“One measure of construction materials is reporting that homebuilders are facing materials costs that are 22% higher than last year.

“Homeowners and renters are approaching a fall and winter in which heating costs are projected to reach a 13-year high.

“86% of respondents told one recent poll they were ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ worried about inflation.

“This is exactly what Republicans, independent experts, and even liberal economists warned would happen if Democrats started ramming through massive inflationary spending.

“Back in the springtime, Larry Summers, a top economic adviser to both President Clinton and President Obama, warned at the time that runaway spending could, ‘set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.’

“Well, just ask any working family in this country about their last trip to the gas station, the grocery store, or the car dealership.

“Inflation has gotten so bad on Democrats’ watch that it has wiped out every ounce of the average American worker’s pay growth during this economic recovery – and then some. Annual real wage growth is negative even though employers have been handing out raises. Because of inflation.

“Remember, at the start of the year, working Americans had an economy that was teed up for a roaring recovery.

“So, when Washington Democrats rolled out their first springtime spending spree, even the Washington Post cautioned, ‘the improving picture is raising questions about whether the stimulus bill is mismatched to the needs of the current moment.’

“You might think the disastrous consequences of Democrats’ last spending binge for working Americans might give our colleagues some pause about their next one.

“No such luck.

“Behind closed doors, they’re putting together another, even more reckless taxing and spending spree. They want to take the last bill, which Democrats called the most left-wing law in American history, and dwarf even that.

“Massive tax hikes on Americans that will hurt families and help China. A socialist transformation that nobody voted for. Another invitation for even for more painful inflation that will hit working Americans where it hurts.

“The American people don’t want it. And Senate Republicans won’t support it.”