The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“The Economy (Executive Calendar)” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S6929-S6930 on Oct. 6.
The Department includes the Census Bureau, which is used to determine many factors about American life. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department is involved in misguided foreign trade policies and is home to many unneeded programs.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
The Economy
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about what people in Wyoming are seeing every day, and that is rising prices when they go to the gas station, when they go to the grocery store. They are paying more and more.
Every month since Joe Biden took the oath of office, prices have been rising faster than wages. People are feeling the bite in their wallets of these higher prices. In effect, people all across the country and certainly in my home State of Wyoming have suffered a paycheck cut because the money just doesn't go as far. President Biden told us this wouldn't happen. He actually said inflation was transitory. Well, President Biden may still believe that. Yet, after 7 months in a row, it doesn't look transitory to most Americans.
Now, economists have actually revised their expectations of inflation, and they have revised them in ways that we are going to be paying higher prices for longer periods of time. They have revised their expectations about economic growth as well, and they have revised those downward--inflation up; economic growth down.
Well, on Friday, the Commerce Department said one measure of inflation has actually hit the highest that it has been in 30 years. The company Salesforce now estimates that costs for Christmas shopping will go up by 20 cents for every dollar you would spend on Christmas presents. The store Dollar Tree has announced that it will start selling items that cost more than a dollar. We have 10 Dollar Tree stores in Wyoming. They are a very important part of our communities. Many people in rural areas rely on dollar stores for their everyday needs. In Joe Biden's economy, these people are getting hurt the most.
So why is it happening? Well, it is because the money supply hasn't increased this fast in 75 years.
Last year, Congress spent trillions of dollars to respond to the worst pandemic in our Nation's history--actually, in a century. With a Republican majority in the Senate, we passed five relief bills, and they were all done in a bipartisan, overwhelmingly majority vote. Much of the money still hasn't been spent.
Then, this January, Democrats took over the White House as well as the Senate. They got their hands on the Nation's credit card, and they started swiping it.
In March, the President signed a $2 trillion spending bill that was supposed to be about coronavirus. Yet only 9 percent of the money actually went to public health. They cut Republicans out of the negotiations completely. So much of the new spending went to the Democrats' favorite groups--to labor unions, to union bosses, to bankrupted blue States. They put the bill for all of that spending entirely on the American credit card. The Federal Reserve started printing money, and prices started going up.
Yet Democrats haven't learned their lesson. They want to keep spending. Now they want to spend more than twice as much money as they just spent in March, and they are also asking for the largest tax increase in 50 years. Tax increases also raise prices.
Last week, the White House Press Secretary made a statement, and, to me, it was one of the most irrational statements that some business owners have ever heard. She said: It is ``unfair and absurd'' for companies to raise prices in response to higher taxes. She said it is absurd and unfair for companies to raise prices in response to higher taxes. Well, it may be unfair, but it certainly is not absurd; it is basic arithmetic. When the government raises taxes, the cost of doing business goes up. Companies either have to cut costs or increase their revenue. When Democrats raise taxes, it means higher prices, fewer jobs, and in many cases, both.
It is why it is alarming that President Biden wants to raise taxes on American energy. Energy prices have already gone up. Oil, yesterday, was at a 7- or an 8-year high. Natural gas prices have doubled this year. Democrats are now proposing a new fee on natural gas production. According to one estimate, the new fee would cost our economy $9.1 billion and eliminate 90,000 good-paying American energy jobs. It would also mean higher energy prices for people trying to heat their homes and cool their homes. Higher energy prices also mean higher grocery prices. They mean higher retail prices.
It may be unfair, according to the White House Press Secretary, but it is not absurd because prices are rising for a reason. They are rising because Democrats spent trillions of dollars that we cannot afford.
Democrats need to learn their lesson before it is too late. Stop this rush to more taxes and spending and borrowing. Stop cutting into people's paychecks. American families are feeling the pain. Stop pouring more fuel on this fire of inflation that is raging across the country.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
