{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1153CDC3-77C3-4C1F-A718-7843F7FF364C", "Thune: Democrats Double Down on Failed Policies That Have Created Record-High Inflation", "2021-12-14", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed how the Democrats\u2019 plan to double down on their failed policies and pass their reckless tax-and-spending spree would worsen the already record-high inflation and continue to hurt families in South Dakota.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, the latest inflation numbers came out on Friday, and the news was not good.\n\n\u201cInflation is currently at its highest level in nearly 40 years.\n\n\u201c40 years.\n\n\u201cThe last time inflation was this bad, E.T. and Rocky III were in theaters, and the Packers were being coached by Bart Starr.\n\n\u201cMr. President, high inflation is taking a major toll on American families.\n\n\u201cGas prices are at a seven-year high.\n\n\u201cThe price of used cars and trucks is up 31 percent.\n\n\u201c31 percent.\n\n\u201cPropane, kerosene, and firewood are up 34 percent.\n\n\u201cFood prices have increased significantly.\n\n\u201cGround beef is up 14 percent.\n\n\u201cApples are up 7.4 percent.\n\n\u201cPork is up 17 percent.\n\n\u201cEggs are up 8 percent.\n\n\u201cBaby food is up 6.7 percent.\n\n\u201cBacon and related products are up 21 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd the list continues.\n\n\u201cMr. President, rent prices are up.\n\n\u201cUtility prices are up.\n\n\u201cFurniture prices are up.\n\n\u201cAnd on and on.\n\n\u201cInflation is so bad that despite wage growth this year, Americans have seen a de facto pay cut, with real average hourly earnings down 1.9 percent for the year.\n\n\u201cMr. President, inflation is what happens when you have too many dollars chasing too few goods and services.\n\n\u201cAnd a big reason for our current inflation situation is Democrats\u2019 decision to pour a lot of unnecessary government money into the economy earlier this year \u2013 despite being warned that their partisan $1.9 trillion \u2018American Rescue Plan\u2019 spending spree could stoke inflation.\n\n\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to take my word for it.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s what former Obama economic adviser Jason Furman had to say recently when discussing our inflation problem: \u2018The original sin was an oversized American Rescue Plan. It contributed to both higher output but also higher prices.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat quote from Mr. Furman appeared in a New York Times article that also noted, and I quote, \u2018But some economists, including veterans of previous Democratic administrations, say much of Mr. Biden\u2019s inflation struggle is self-inflicted. Lawrence H. Summers is one of those who say the stimulus bill the president signed in March gave too much of a boost to consumer spending \u2026 Mr. Summers, who served in the Obama and Clinton administrations, says inflation now risks spiraling out of control and other Democratic economists agree there are risks.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, inflation is spiraling out of control.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats are preparing to throw more fuel on the fire.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are preparing to double down on the strategy that helped get us in this mess in the first place and pass ANOTHER massive government spending bill.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure whether Democrats simply don\u2019t care about the inflation situation facing American families, or whether they\u2019re operating under the delusion that they can somehow pass another major government spending bill without serious consequences for our economy.\n\n\u201cRegardless, there\u2019s no question that pouring another $1.75 trillion in government money into the economy would likely make our inflation crisis even worse.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I say $1.75 trillion, because that\u2019s what Democrats have been selling as the price tag for their so-called Build Back Better plan.\n\n\u201cBut as we learned on Friday from the Congressional Budget Office\u2019s latest analysis, Democrats\u2019 spending spree would far exceed $1.75 trillion.\n\n\u201cWhen you take away the shell games and budget gimmicks, Democrats\u2019 spending spree would cost almost $5 trillion.\n\n\u201c$5 TRILLION.\n\n\u201cAnd of course the tax hikes in Democrats\u2019 plan, as large as they are, would not even come close to funding that amount.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 Build Back Better proposal \u2013 if implemented over 10 years as they plan \u2013 would add an eye-watering $3 trillion to our national debt.\n\n\u201cIt turns out that Build Back Better is more like Build Back Bankrupt.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats have attempted to disguise the true cost of their Build Back Bankrupt plan by strategically sunsetting various provisions before the end of the bill\u2019s 10-year budget window.\n\n\u201cOf course Democrats have never had any intention of actually sunsetting these provisions.\n\n\u201cBut by claiming that they are going to sunset these measures, they have been able to \u2013 sort of \u2013 disguise the fact that their spending spree would actually cost nearly $5 trillion.\n\n\u201cNow Democrats are implicitly admitting that they plan to extend these programs but are saying that people shouldn\u2019t worry \u2013 that the cost of extensions will be offset.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to know how exactly they plan to do that.\n\n\u201cWith massive new tax hikes \u2013 on top of the tax hikes they\u2019ve already included in their bill?\n\n\u201cJust how many tax hikes do Democrats think our economy can handle?\n\n\u201cAnd if Democrats had a plan for future offsets, why didn\u2019t they include those offsets in their bill in the first place, along with an honest accounting of the length of their programs?\n\n\u201cIs it because they thought the American people would balk if they knew the true cost of the bill?\n\n\u201cThat they might not be crazy about the idea of a bill that would cost them $5 trillion?\n\n\u201cMr. President, I am hard-pressed to think of anything more irresponsible than for Democrats to pass their Build Back Better \u2013 or Build Back Bankrupt \u2013 measure right now.\n\n\u201cInflation is soaring \u2013 and there\u2019s no clear end in sight.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re emerging from a pandemic that required a lot of government expenditure \u2013 and a corresponding increase in our debt.\n\n\u201cAnd we have no idea what government money might be needed down the road.\n\n\u201cPassing a $5 trillion spending spree \u2013 that would add $3 trillion to our national debt \u2013 is the very last thing we should be doing.\n\n\u201cI hope that at least some of my Democrat colleagues will think better of their spending plans before the American people are forced to discover just what building back bankrupt is like.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "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.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1153CDC3-77C3-4C1F-A718-7843F7FF364C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6290831845253706, "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"}