{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8F4DFEB3-8FDE-423D-B0E2-C1E152BAA157", "Thune: \u201cBidenomics\u201d is a Nightmare for South Dakota Families", "2023-11-15", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about the incredible burden South Dakotans are facing as a result of \u201cBidenomics.\u201d Thune noted that Americans are having to deal with record-high prices and sky-high interest rates on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans due to President Biden\u2019s big-government, big-spending agenda.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, yesterday morning the monthly inflation report came out.\n\n\u201cAnd once again, inflation was well above the Fed\u2019s target rate of 2 percent.\n\n\u201cOverall, prices have risen by 17.6 percent since President Biden took office.\n\n\u201c17.6 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd price hikes in certain categories are even worse.\n\n\u201cGroceries are up 20.9 percent over that same period.\n\n\u201cGasoline prices are up 54.8 percent.\n\n\u201cElectricity is up almost 25 percent.\n\n\u201cRent is up 18 percent.\n\n\u201cCar repairs and maintenance are up 26.5 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd the list goes on.\n\n\u201cThe president said the other day that Bidenomics is the American dream.\n\n\u201cIt turns out that Bidenomics is more of a nightmare.\n\n\u201cMr. President, President Biden likes to talk about giving American families \u201ca little bit of breathing room.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut that is the exact opposite of what his policies have provided.\n\n\u201cWealthy Democrats may not be concerned about a 20 percent increase in the cost of their groceries, or a 54 percent increase in the price of gas.\n\n\u201cBut for a lot of hardworking American families, those kind of price increases have meant the difference between having that \u2018little bit of breathing room\u2019 and having absolutely none.\n\n\u201cThe Joint Economic Committee estimates that Bidenflation is costing American families $953 per month.\n\n\u201c$953.\n\n\u201cPer month.\n\n\u201cEven at half that, inflation would be a massive burden on working families.\n\n\u201cHow many families have put off needed home or car repairs, deferred a kid\u2019s braces, or eliminated a family vacation because they are paying hundreds of dollars more a month for their basic needs?\n\n\u201cAnd how many other families haven\u2019t even been able to pay for their basic needs thanks to the inflation crisis the president helped create?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no surprise that 65 percent of voters said they had cut back on nonessential spending.\n\n\u201cOr that 52 percent of voters \u2013 more than half \u2013 said they had cut spending \u2018on food or other everyday necessities.\u2019\n\n\u201cOr that 55 percent of voters say they are worse off financially under President Biden.\n\n\u201cOr that 66 percent of Americans rate the economy as \u2018fairly bad\u2019 or \u2018very bad.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe fact of the matter is, Mr. President, Americans can\u2019t catch a break under President Biden.\n\n\u201cFirst there was the worst inflation crisis in 40 years \u2013 a crisis that has improved from its worst point but is still very much with us.\n\n\u201cAnd now there are the heightened interest rates that the Federal Reserve was forced to put in place to help rein in this inflation crisis.\n\n\u201cSo now Americans are dealing not only with persistently high prices, they\u2019re also dealing with sky-high interest rates on credit cards and mortgages and car loans, which are being driven in part by the Fed\u2019s rate hikes.\n\n\u201cThe monthly mortgage payment on a single-family home has increased 19 percent since last year.\n\n\u201cA recent NBC News article reported, and I quote, \u2018\u2026 in late 2020, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical, newly sold home was around $1,100 in principal and interest. It\u2019s now about twice that.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet me just repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201c\u2018\u2026 in late 2020, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical, newly sold home was around $1,100 in principal and interest. It\u2019s now about twice that.\u2019\n\n\u201cIf the American dream is owning one\u2019s own home, it\u2019s a dream that\u2019s out of reach for too many Americans in the Biden economy.\n\n\u201cOn the car-buying front, Mr. President, Americans are facing loan rates last seen, as one article noted, during the Great Recession.\n\n\u201cAnd soaring credit card interest rates are making it difficult for Americans to afford their credit card bills, much less make progress at paying them off.\n\n\u201c(A situation not helped, of course, by the fact that many Americans have had to turn to their credit cards to help them get by under Bidenflation.)\n\n\u201cMr. President, it\u2019s been a rough three years for the American people.\n\n\u201cAnd I wish I could say that Americans could expect some relief.\n\n\u201cBut with at least a year more on the president\u2019s time in office, I\u2019m afraid that Bidenomics will continue to eliminate American families\u2019 breathing room for the immediate future.\n\n\u201cSo much for the president\u2019s \u2018American dream.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "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=8F4DFEB3-8FDE-423D-B0E2-C1E152BAA157"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8316098246723413, "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"}