Biden Administration
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor to talk about our economy and link that to the budget that the President has introduced for our Nation going forward.
On Friday, the Department of Labor published its monthly jobs report. Just like the April jobs report, the May report is a cause for concern. There really wasn't any cause for celebration. Yet President Biden did exactly the same thing that he did in the previous month after that disappointing jobs report--he declared victory. He gave a speech in Delaware, and he called it ``historic progress.'' Even the President of the United States is stretching the language of our Nation right here.
Let's look at the facts.
What is Joe Biden calling ``historic progress''?
Over the last 2 months, about 850,000 fewer people were hired than the economists had predicted. In the month of May alone, 160,000 people left the labor force. The percentage of Americans in the labor force actually went down. Another month, another weak jobs report. It is disappointing but not surprising. We know why it has slowed down. President Biden and the Democrats have committed to paying millions of people more to stay home from work than to go to work. If you pay people more to not work than to work, that is what you are going to get. That is what they are being encouraged to do. In fact, I would say that these people are not being lazy; they are being logical with the incentives that the Democrats have put in front of them, which is money in their pockets to stay home from work.
There are 9.3 million jobs that are unfilled right now in the United States, a record high. As a result, small businesses--and I heard about it this weekend in Wyoming--are struggling to find people to work there. They are having a hard time finding people to take jobs. They have signs up: ``Help Wanted.'' ``We Need You.'' ``Offering Incentives.'' If people are getting paid more to not work than to work, that is what they are going to do.
At the same time, prices continue to rise. That is what I heard about as I was sitting, waiting to have my oil changed. It was a longer line than usual in Casper, not because we didn't have good workers but because we didn't have enough of them in a place that changed oil that had two bays set up but was down to one. They have to do that several days a week because they don't have the workforce. They can't find the people to change the oil. So it was a good townhall meeting as we sat around there, waiting for our oil to be changed, talking to people about their concerns. That is what we heard about: trouble finding workers, inflation.
Last week, the White House Press Secretary was asked about high gas prices--and I had heard about that in Wyoming as we were sitting around, waiting to get the oil changed: You know, it costs about $15 or $20 more to fill a tank than it did a year ago. People not only pay attention to how many dollars and cents it costs for a gallon of gas but how much it costs to fill the tank and how much less they have to spend for other things.
The White House Press Secretary said that gas prices aren't very high if you account for inflation.
If you account for inflation? It is inflation. Gas prices are high because it is what happens when prices go up. That is inflation.
This should be a news flash for America. Inflation is the problem. The White House Press Secretary didn't seem to see the connection. It is caused by this administration. Gas prices have gone up about 70 cents a gallon in the last 4 months--since Joe Biden took the oath of office. It is no surprise when the President, on the day he takes the oath of office, paints a target on the back of American energy and pulls the trigger, which makes us more dependent on foreign sources of energy.
As the senior Senator from Alaska said in an Energy Committee hearing, we are, at this time in the United States, using more energy from Russia than we are from her home State of Alaska. That is a comment on the policies of this administration.
Summer is almost here, and the pandemic is almost over. What is going to happen with regard to the demand for gasoline? It is going to continue to go up.
There is a moratorium on the exploration of oil and gas in the United States, and we are making ourselves more dependent on foreign sources. What is the President doing? Imposing more taxes on American energy. Last week, he put more restrictions on the production of energy from Alaska. Now what does he want to do? Well, we have seen it in the Finance Committee right here. He wants to impose the increase of taxes on oil and gas producers. That is going to hurt the people who work in that industry, and it is going to make all of us pay more at the tank. This is basic economics. If you restrict the production of American oil and gas and if you raise the taxes on oil and gas, the prices people have to pay at the pump--the prices they pay to fill up their vehicles--are going to go up.
President Biden keeps declaring victory and keeps doubling down on policies that are slowing down the economy. Two weeks ago, he introduced his budget request for next year. To me, it is a blueprint for bankruptcy. He is proposing $6 trillion in Federal spending for next year. During the pandemic, the country hit about $4 trillion in annual Federal spending for the first time ever. This was during a national emergency, and we passed it in a bipartisan way with over 90 votes in the Senate. In five different coronavirus relief bills, we were able to deal with what needed to be done for our Nation at the time. The pandemic is behind us, and the President now wants to spend $2 trillion more than that every year even after the pandemic is over. This is only the beginning.
The Biden budget doesn't even include some of the most expensive campaign promises he made when he was running for President. According to one estimate, the Biden budget is missing about $1.5 trillion that he had promised to spend. It is not even included in the budget. What happens with all of this additional spending? Of course, it is going to cause inflation because more money will be out there to chase the goods and services that are available.
President Biden also wants to bring back the death tax. This would be devastating for farmers and ranchers who want to keep their farms in their families. I heard about it this past weekend in Sheridan, WY, with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. As for the families who have had the ranches or the farms in their families for over 100 years, we call them centennial families in Wyoming, and we celebrate them every year. They have all said, if this happens--if the Biden administration does this with what it wants to do with the death tax-- when Grandma or Grandpa passes, every one of them is going to have to sell the farm just to pay the taxes. They have been able to keep them within the families for 100 years. Joe Biden is going to take the ax to them.
Get this. He wants to hire 87,000 more bureaucrats at the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service is the least accountable and most powerful Agency in the Federal Government. The Biden goal is to collect $700 billion more from taxpayers. What does he want to do with the money? Use it for additional socialist spending. We have seen the list. Under the Biden agenda, working families are going to be paying more at the pump, more at the grocery store, and they are going to end up paying more as well through taxes. They are seeing it now. Our jobs reports, our inflation reports, our gas prices have all been disappointing to all Americans.
This is a direct result of the policies that are coming out of this administration and out of this White House. It is time for the President to stop the attacks on American energy, to stop paying people more to not work than to work, and to stop this irresponsible spending spree as outlined in the budget.
We know what works. Let's return to the policies that work, to the policies that have been giving us the best economy in a half a century. Just 16 months ago, we had low taxes, reasonable regulations, and more American energy. The economy was booming until the coronavirus hit.
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