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.
“Inflation (Executive Session)” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S4528-S4529 on Sept. 12.
The Department provides billions in unemployment insurance, which peaked around 2011 though spending had declined before the pandemic. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, claimed the Department funds "ineffective and duplicative services" and overregulates the workplace.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Inflation
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, tomorrow, the Labor Department will release the latest monthly update on the Democrats' inflation, but, of course, the American people hardly need government statistics to explain to them that Washington Democrats' reckless spending has sent prices skyrocketing. Working families have been feeling this pain in their pocketbooks every single day. Nearly two-thirds of middle-income Americans say inflation is negatively affecting their finances. An outright majority say they are experiencing ``financial hardship.'' A third of the country says they are struggling to meet basic family needs.
One parent shopping for school supplies recently told reporters:
I had to start early because the prices are so high. . . . Being a parent, I want to give them the world. Sometimes, I wish I could give them more.
But the back-to-school rush isn't the only headache facing working families. Since President Biden and this all-Democratic government took office, prices on grocery store essentials, from meat to produce, have seen double-digit percentage increases. Some household items, like furniture, are over 20 percent more expensive than they were on Inauguration Day. The diesel fuel that moves practically everything through the supply chain and onto store shelves is up nearly 80 percent since President Biden put his hand on the Bible. Households' electric bills are up an average of 20 percent since January of 2021. Commuting and running errands costs more, with gasoline up 70 percent. As fall and winter approach, homes that burn fuel oil are set to be more than 75 percent more expensive simply to keep warm.
The American people know who created this mess. They remember quite well how Washington Democrats spent the spring of 2021 dining out on leftwing spending and leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill. Poll after poll has shown they are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with what President Biden and his party have done since then.
One survey found five consecutive times that more than 70 percent of Americans say our country is headed in the wrong direction. But that hasn't stopped Washington Democrats from calling the same disastrous play over and over and over again.
For months--months--our colleagues' primary focus was on repeating the mistake they made in 2021. In August, on a party-line vote, they did it. In the teeth of the worst inflation in over 40 years, every single Democrat in Congress voted to ram through hundreds of billions of dollars more in liberal spending.
The American people's top concern is runaway costs. And the supply chain crisis could get even worse--much worse--in the next few days if Democrats let their far-left, Big Labor allies engage in massive railway worker strikes that would hamper the economy even further. But Washington Democrats' top concerns appear to be something very different. They prioritized waging war on affordable American energy in a bill that will have no meaningful impact on global temperatures. They prioritized inflating the IRS with $80 billion to audit more American citizens without a word of accountability for when tax collectors allow confidential information to become a political weapon.
Even the supposed reason for the spending package, ``inflation reduction,'' is utter nonsense. Nonpartisan experts have concluded that what Washington Democrats did last month will not meaningfully reduce inflation at all and will actually make it worse in the near term. This is what Democrats decided to put first for the better part of a year, and it is what they are now trying to peddle to the American people as a victory.
But the American people don't want tens of billions of dollars in wish fulfillment for climate activists; they want affordable gas and electricity. The American people don't want a bloated IRS; they want stronger support for law enforcement at the southern border and in their communities. Washington Democrats have consistently misunderstood what the American people have asked them to do. They have repeatedly ignored the basic challenges they have created for working families.
When the American people's priorities and Washington Democrats' priorities have diverged, this government has put the people last at every turn.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.
