U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, took to the Senate floor and spoke about the tough economic climate in America, blaming the policies of the Biden-Harris administration.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, prices have risen over 20 percent, making life unaffordable for hardworking American families. Senate Republicans have solutions to make life more affordable and to unleash American energy.
Senator Barrasso’s Remarks:
“I come to the Floor today to discuss the need to get our Nation and our Economy back on track.
“We learned the morning, new number have come out on inflation, prices are higher today than they were the day that the Biden-Harris administration took over by over 20 percent.
“I hear about in Wyoming every weekend. I heard about it this past weekend, how high prices have become and the crushing effect that has had on families in my state of Wyoming and all around the country.
“This has been going on now for over three years. Prices have continued to go up.
“And this crisis of high prices has been cumulative. The impact on families has been cumulative. It is regrettably causing very hard choices for families to make. It shouldn’t be this way.
“Here is a recent headline from CBS News: ‘More Americans are having to choose between food and energy bills.’ Clearly this is a reflection on the Biden-Harris administration.
“One of the folks who talked about that was Stacy Freedman. Mrs. Freedman says her energy bills each month cost her hundreds of dollars. As she told CBS News, ‘sometimes I have to choose whether I’m going to pay the light bill” or “pay all the rent or buy food or not let my son’ participate in a sport.
“That’s what happened under the Biden-Harris administration. The impact of the high prices caused by the massive amounts of government spending—passed without a single Republican vote— stimulated an amount of increase in prices, the highest in 40 years.
“Mrs. Freedman’s story is sadly all too common.
“Many Americans know are feeling the high cost and the high anxiety related to the high cost of goods and services in their lives. Nearly 4 out 10, 2 out of 5, Americans say they worry about their ability to pay their own bills.
“Since 2019, utilities cost the average American almost $300 more each month. Not $300 a month, $300 more each month from what they were paying before.
“These are the costly and cumulative consequences of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s war on affordable and reliable American energy.
“Mr. President, if you ask people around the country, they know that this is an administration who has strongly come out against American energy.
“They froze federal oil and gas leases. They discouraged new energy production. They issued regulations to ban gas-powered vehicles – the kind of vehicles most Americans drive.
“So, it’s not a surprise that high energy prices continue to bother and cause pain for families.
“Month after month, year after year, Americans watch their costs go up and regrettably see their savings—if they have savings—go down.
“The Biden-Harris administration has offered no solutions to our nation’s cost of living crisis.
“Democrats instead tell Americans not to believe the price tags at the grocery stores or the price at the gas pump. They want you to believe everything is okay. Americans know that isn’t so.
“We learned last month that the Bureau of Labor Statistics – which is supposed to keep accurate unemployment data – well they reported faulty numbers. A million jobs, touted by the Biden-Harris administration, do not actually exist.
“They never existed. They were never created. Yet the Biden-Harris administration claimed credit for jobs that do not exist.
“Meanwhile, we’ve had two straight months where job growth was lower than expected.
“America today has fewer manufacturing jobs than we did last year.
“In Michigan, autoworkers are getting laid off.
“Last month, the carmaker Stellantis announced plans to lay off more than 2,000 American workers from its plants in Detroit.
“This is the same carmaker that received hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies – a tidal wave of electric vehicle grants from the Biden-Harris administration. And they’re laying off people. Take the money from the government – from the Biden Administration from the Harris administration – and lay off workers.
“It’s no surprise that last night in the debate Kamala Harris couldn’t even answer the first question when asked “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago.” Are you American people better off now than they were 4 years ago?
“She could not defend herself. She could not say yes. Because people are not better off now than they were 4 years ago.
“These recent layoffs come as they switch their assembly lines from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles.
“Thousands of American workers soon to be put in the unemployment line as a result to what Harris and Biden and the Democrats are continuing to promote.
“Democrats’ regulations, Democrats’ rhetoric of impending climate doom are crushing American jobs.
“It is no wonder that Biden and Harris are now running from their record, and it is a record of ruin for the economy.
“The flip flops, the walk backs, and the cover ups are all too apparent.
“The American people know the policies of Vice President Harris had a chilling impact on our American economy.
“When then-Senator Harris was rated the most liberal member of the United States Senate, Americans listened.
“When Vice President Harris said recently that her values have not changed, people listened again.
“Americans are struggling. Biden-Harris policies, and the Democrat polices, are to blame.
“Remember how we got here. Democrats passed trillions of dollars in reckless, radical, runaway spending.
“It was so unpopular—not a single Republican voted for it— it had to pass with a tie-breaking vote.
“And who broke the vote? Well, the Vice President of the United States, comes to the Senate to pass the tie-breaking vote and that would be Kamala Harris. Now the Democrat candidate for President of the United States.
“Vice President Harris came to this chamber and sat in that chair and cast the vote that broke the tie that brought us record-high inflation. 40-year high inflation.
“Americans cannot afford four more years of failure.
“Americans need a break from the damaging policies of Vice President Harris.
“What Harris is proposing is more wasteful, Washington spending. Harris wants to raise taxes on the middle class, and impose socialist-style price controls.
“She supports banning fracking. She supports banning gas-powered vehicles. She wants to make energy more expensive.
“That’s how she’s voted. That’s how her rhetoric has been. And as she’s said, her values haven’t changed.
“Vice President Harris would continue the nightmare of high prices and high taxes.
“Let’s remember, it was different three and a half years ago under the Trump administration.
“Back then, paychecks were going up. Inflation was nonexistent. Americans were breaking free of poverty. America was energy dominant. Our Southern border was safe and secure. Not anymore.
“People want go back to those days of American prosperity again.
“So, it is time to turn the page from the disastrous policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
“Republicans will work to lower prices, to unleash American energy, and to get this nation back on track.”
