00:00Summer is an exciting time of year for many Americans.
00:03It's a time for adventure, for relaxation, for quality time spent with friends and family.
00:11But like seemingly everything else, summer activities are more expensive in the Biden economy.
00:17The cost of gas for a family trip is up 45 percent since President Biden took office.
00:24Food for a summer cookout cost 10 percent more than it did last year.
00:30And fees for summer camp are giving parents sticker shock.
00:35Even just keeping the house cool has climbed 8 percent since last summer to over $700.
00:42And of course, Mr. President, this is a small sampling of what Americans have been going through for the past three-plus years.
00:50Last week's inflation report confirmed again what Americans know all too well.
00:55Inflation is still a problem.
00:59Overall, prices are up more than 20 percent since President Biden took office.
01:04The cost of groceries is up 21 percent.
01:07Energy costs are up 41 percent.
01:10Car repairs and maintenance are up 30 percent.
01:15And the list goes on.
01:17All told, it costs a typical family $13,000 more per year to maintain the standard of living that family enjoyed when President Biden took office.
01:31$13,000 more just to buy the exact same things you were buying three years ago.
01:42As one mother of three told the New York Times, and I quote,
01:45we're spending way more to get the same amount of food that we were getting before, end quote.
01:51Mr. President, the inflation rate has been elevated for 38 months.
01:56Understandably, many people are at the end of their rope.
02:01Americans have dipped into their savings.
02:03They've taken out record levels of credit card debt.
02:07And a shocking report came out recently that said that more than a quarter of Americans have skipped meals because of inflation.
02:15Skipped meals because of inflation.
02:20And, Mr. President, the cost of dealing with inflation is adding to Americans' financial pain.
02:25To fight inflation, the Federal Reserve has been forced to keep interest rates high, which affects Americans' finances in a variety of ways.
02:33Many Americans turn to credit cards, racking up record levels of debt to cope with inflation.
02:40And higher interest rates, in part the result of the Fed's actions, are making credit card bills harder to pay down.
02:47The same is true for car payments.
02:50And Americans looking to own their own home are facing what one housing expert calls, and I quote,
02:55the most challenging home buying market we've ever seen, end quote.
03:02The average monthly mortgage payment is a staggering $2,800.
03:12The result of a combination of higher mortgage rates and higher home prices.
03:16And if you do own a home, a recent report found that the cost of keeping and maintaining it has gone up 26 percent since 2020 to more than $1,500 per month.
03:30Mr. President, it's worth remembering that it didn't have to be this way.
03:34Three years ago, President Biden and Democrats forced through a reckless and partisan spending spree under the guise of pandemic relief.
03:43They've been warned that spending so much risked setting off an inflation crisis unlike any that we had seen in decades.
03:51Yet they chose to ignore those warnings and push through $1.9 trillion in new government spending.
03:58Inflation almost immediately began surging as a result.
04:04It is the textbook definition of inflation, too many dollars chasing too few goods.
04:10And then instead of learning the lesson, they move forward with even more reckless spending plans.
04:17Fortunately, the Democrats' $3.5 trillion Build Back Better spending spree failed to get off the ground.
04:25But they've steadily run up the debt with their so-called Inflation Reduction Act, whose true cost continues to grow.
04:37And the student loan forgiveness schemes the President has put in place come with a price tag in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
04:46And it's clear that if President Biden gets a second term, there will be a lot more lavish spending on the docket.
04:52Plus, you have the President's proposed tax hikes.
04:56And then there are the expiring tax cuts.
05:00In 2017, Republicans delivered tax reform that lowered rates across the board and allowed families to keep more of their hard-earned dollars.
05:09But those tax cuts are set to expire next year.
05:13And the President, President Biden, seems willing to let that happen.
05:19That would mean a $1,600 tax hike for a typical family in 2026 on top of years of economic pain from Bidenomics and inflation.
05:35Let's hope the American people don't have to find out what that would feel like.
05:43Mr. President, it's going to be another expensive summer in the Biden economy.
05:49And if President Biden and Democrats have their way, there could be many more to come.
05:55Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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