{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-bidenomics-is-crushing-american-families/", "Barrasso: Bidenomics is Crushing American Families", "2024-05-20", "2024", "2024-05", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor today to correct the record about the failure of Bidenomics and its negative impact on the American people.\n\nSen Barrasso\u2019s Remarks:\n\n\u201cI come to the floor today to speak about the economy. Joe Biden is clearly the president of high prices. People all across the country, all 50 states, are well aware that this is going to be Joe Biden\u2019s enduring legacy.\n\n\u201cPrices spiked again in April. The statistics are out. Prices have been rising again and again and again. Price increases have been now above 3 percent for the last 37 months. This is the longest period in history of high prices since the late 1980s.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden continues to repeat a falsehood. You could call it a lie. Because he has said time and again that inflation was 9 percent when he came into office. This is pure confusion on his part. Even the liberal fact-checkers \u2013 people at CNN, people in the Washington Post \u2013 have said what President Biden is saying about inflation is flat-out false. It\u2019s wrong.\n\n\u201cIn January of 2021, the day that the current President Biden took the oath of office, the inflation rate in America was 1.4 percent. Today, prices are almost 20 percent higher than they were the day he took the oath of office.\n\n\u201cThe burden of Bidenomics on the American public is crushing, it\u2019s compounding, and of course, it\u2019s cumulative. It continues to add on every single day. But Democrats in this chamber and around the country deny this economic reality. Certainly, the Democrat in the White House denies this economic reality. And President Biden proved that he was completely disconnected from the suffering American families.\n\n\u201cEarlier this month, he said Americans have, quote, \u2018the money to spend.\u2019 I\u2019m not sure who he\u2019s talking to, but that\u2019s not the case across America. And it\u2019s not the case in my home state of Wyoming. Democrats are completely out of touch on the economy because they are out of touch with American voters, the citizens of this country.\n\n\u201cRising prices have plagued Americans for the last three years. Everyday life costs more and more and more. Under Joe Biden, Americans are squeezed, they are stressed, and they are struggling to get by. More than half of Americans will tell you that the economic conditions that they see day in and day out are poor \u2013 poor for them personally. More than 80 percent of Americans saying that high prices are their number one concern. That\u2019s what the Americas are suffering from today.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden\u2019s policies are not the cure for inflation and our economic anxieties. Joe Biden and the Democrats\u2019 policies are the cause of our economic struggles. Joe Biden and the Democrats in this chamber and in the House of Representatives at a time when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker, they approved more than $3 trillion in wasteful Washington spending. The President added more than $1 trillion additionally on stifling and punishing economic regulations. He launched a war on American energy. Hiked energy costs for families. Gas prices went up, electricity prices went up.\n\n\u201cBecause of failed Bidenomics, Americans are paying over $12,000 more a year, this year, than they did the year that he came into office just to buy the same things that they could buy the day he came into the White House. It\u2019s over $1,000 a month. That\u2019s what the American people are seeing today.\n\n\u201cA hundred-dollar cart of groceries in 2019, the costs now are that same cart full of groceries, not very full, $137. Gallon of gas was in 2021, 2.38. Today in many of the battleground states \u2013 Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania \u2013 it\u2019s approaching $4 a gallon.\n\n\u201cNow of course, high prices aren\u2019t the only problem. Interest rates are at the highest level in 23 years. High interest rates are a bitter fruit of Bidenomics. People are suffering when they have to take out a loan. This is causing significant affordability crisis all across the country and in all age groups. Under these failed policies of the Biden administration, younger people, younger Americans, have been demoralized. They are delaying life\u2019s biggest moments.\n\n\u201cHome ownership is slipping far out of the reach of most young married couples and young people trying to start a family. Young Americans are facing the costliest housing market ever. Borrowing costs have soared. Biden took office, they were 2.7 percent. Today, over 7 percent. Home prices today are nearly six times higher than the average household income. That\u2019s a record ratio. Six times higher than the average household income.\n\n\u201cOther costs \u2013 utility costs, insurance costs, all costs \u2013 are climbing. And they\u2019re all caused by the amount of spending we\u2019ve had under this administration. Young Americans having trouble buying a car. The price of car loans is going way up as well as the price of automobiles themselves.\n\n\u201cYoung Americans are also forced to rely on credit cards more and more. They are developing mounting debt, which is going to contribute to saddle them and their future. Young Americans will tell you that they are overextended and they are distressed and they\u2019re begging for relief.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s high prices and high interest rates are going to create tomorrow\u2019s troubles. President Biden has failed to protect the American dream. We now have an entire generation of young Americans who can\u2019t afford to buy a home, can\u2019t afford to start a business, can\u2019t afford to begin a family, and certainly can\u2019t afford to grow any savings that they may have.\n\n\u201cAmericans are absolutely fed up with big spending high-priced Democrats. People are financially exhausted by Joe Biden\u2019s high prices. People are ready to move beyond Bidenomics and beyond Joe Biden. Time for a change.\n\n\u201cSenate Republicans are ready to put America back on track. We\u2019re fighting to lower costs. That\u2019s what we\u2019re hearing every weekend at home: Get down the prices of things that are up under Joe Biden, stop the wasteful Washington spending and unleash American energy. That\u2019s the solution to the problems facing America today.\n\n\u201cThis is how we can help make life more affordable for all Americans.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:12:30Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-bidenomics-is-crushing-american-families/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9115631692111492, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}