WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on Monday on the Senate floor regarding inflation:
“The Senate reconvenes today after Passover and Easter to begin a new work period. But unfortunately, the biggest problem facing the American people is the still same as it has been all year long.
“Rising inflation is continuing to inflict painful consequences on working families across our country. This painful problem isn’t getting better. It’s still getting worse.
“Last month, consumer prices clocked an 8.5% year-on-year increase.
“Inflation is now rising at its fastest pace in more than four decades. The surge is being led in large part by a 23.6% jump in airfares, a 35.3% increase in used car and truck prices, and a 48% spike in the cost of gasoline.
“These are exactly the sort of products consumers lean on most heavily in the warmer months. But while March’s numbers are an extra cruel twist, the American people have been feeling the effects of the Biden Administration’s war on domestic energy for the better part of a year.
“Before most folks even began to consider summer travel, and long before Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, working families were already facing soaring prices at the gas pump.
“Even as wage growth accelerated for a fifth straight month, workers’ paychecks once again failed to keep pace with the steep surge of rising prices. Raises and bonuses are being swallowed by inflation. Real wages are down 2.7%, year-on-year.
“Democrats’ runaway spending has bought us runaway inflation.
“Prices in the United States have risen higher and faster than in other developed economies. Even the New York Times now admits, ‘risks are mounting that America’s ambitious spending will end up with a checkered legacy.’
“But even in the face of this painful reality – even as every measurable indicator spells out the clear consequences of reckless runaway spending – Washington Democrats are showing no signs of changing course.
“President Biden’s response to this shaky economy he created is to propose the biggest tax hike in American history and double-digit percentage growth in domestic discretionary spending.
“Democrats’ policies have working families deep in a financial hole, and our colleagues across the aisle just want to keep digging.”