{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=93CB647E-33B9-44C1-847C-A89D93558B4B", "Thune: Democrats\u2019 Far-Left Fantasies are the Wrong Prescription for America\u2019s Economic Pain", "2022-09-29", "2022", "2022-09", "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 discussed how the Democrats\u2019 devotion to their big-government, big-spending agenda has harmed America\u2019s economic security, energy security, and national security. Thune noted that over the past two years, President Biden and Democrats in Congress have prioritized far-left fantasies instead of addressing the economic reality that is crippling families and businesses across the country.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, yesterday I came down to the floor to talk about where we are after nearly two years of Democrat control of Congress and the White House.\n\n\u201cWe are, as I noted, in the midst of an inflation crisis with no end in sight.\n\n\u201cOur economy is weakening.\n\n\u201cOur energy security has diminished.\n\n\u201cViolent crime has increased.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re dealing with record waves of illegal immigration and a serious security situation at our southern border.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s where we are, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cBut how did we end up here?\n\n\u201cThe answer lies with Democrats\u2019 priorities.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Democrat Party has moved sharply leftwards over the past few years.\n\n\u201cDemocrats, of course, have always been on the left side of the political spectrum.\n\n\u201cBut over the past few years, what was once far-left ideology has become the Democrat mainstream.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats swept into office determined to enact a far-left, big-government agenda.\n\n\u201cIt didn\u2019t matter to them that their majorities in the House and Senate were extremely narrow \u2013 or that President Biden had been elected largely because he was considered to be a moderate.\n\n\u201cDemocrats had a grip on power, however tenuous, and they were determined to use it to enact their most cherished far-left fantasies.\n\n\u201cThey started off with their $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, filled with unnecessary spending and payoffs to Democrat interest groups.\n\n\u201cThey were warned that their legislation ran the risk of overheating the economy and setting off inflation.\n\n\u201cBut they ignored the warnings and dumped a lot of unnecessary government money into the economy.\n\n\u201cAnd the economy overheated as a result.\n\n\u201cInflation quickly began climbing. And then climbing some more.\n\n\u201cNow, at this point, it might have seemed prudent to pull back on the spending plans.\n\n\u201cAfter all, if one massive spending bill had kicked off inflation, how much worse would another, even-more-massive spending bill make the situation?\n\n\u201cBut Democrats were just getting started.\n\n\u201cThe ink was barely dry on the so-called American Rescue Plan Act before Democrats were outlining plans for a new spending spree \u2013 one that would dwarf their initial spending spree and install some of Democrats\u2019 most-cherished big-government priorities.\n\n\u201cAnd even as inflation climbed and climbed again, Democrats kept pushing ahead.\n\n\u201cEven as Democrat economists warned that the American Rescue Plan had kickstarted inflation, Democrats kept pushing forward with plans for a $5 trillion spending spree \u2013 their so-called Build Back Better plan.\n\n\u201c$5 trillion.\n\n\u201cTo put that number in perspective, the entire federal budget in 2019 was $4.4 trillion.\n\n\u2018The ENTIRE federal budget.\n\n\u201cAnd yet Democrats were pushing forward with a $5 trillion spending plan ON TOP OF a $1.9 trillion spending bill earlier in the year.\n\n\u201cFortunately for the American people, Democrats\u2019 $5 trillion spending plan was foiled last December.\n\n\u201cBut that didn\u2019t stop them for long.\n\n\u201cEven as inflation reached 40-year highs, Democrats kept pushing for more spending.\n\n\u201cAnd they managed to jam through another partisan tax-and-spending spree in August.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we have now spent six straight months \u2013 six straight months \u2013 with inflation above 8 percent.\n\n\u201cThe last time inflation was this bad I wasn\u2019t even married yet.\n\n\u201cNow I have grandchildren.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats just don\u2019t seem to care.\n\n\u201cThey are committed to their tax-and-spending agenda, regardless of the consequences for the American economy.\n\n\u201cTheir August tax-and-spending spree will hurt both wages and economic growth \u2013 at a time when economic growth is weakening and Americans are experiencing a de facto pay cut thanks to inflation.\n\n\u201cAnd just days after signing this tax-and-spending legislation into law, President Biden announced a massive student loan giveaway, which could cost more than $1 trillion and will, to quote the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, \u2018meaningfully boost inflation.\u2019\n\n\u201cYet again, Democrats\u2019 big-government, big-spending agenda trumps the economic reality facing the American people.\n\n\u201cNo matter how bad the economy gets, Democrats are determined to enact their big-government vision.\n\n\u201cAnd I suspect the reason that Democrats and the president have spent nearly two years ignoring the raging crisis at our southern border is similar.\n\n\u201cAfter all, if Democrats and the president acknowledge there\u2019s a crisis, people might think that they should actually start solving the crisis.\n\n\u201cThey might, in fact, think that a raging security crisis deserves to be a priority \u2013 more of a priority than, say, Democrats\u2019 plans for electric postal vehicles or monitoring gaps in tree canopy coverage.\n\n\u201cIn addition, of course, acknowledging that there\u2019s a border crisis might offend some Democrat interest groups \u2013 and that might imperil Democrats\u2019 fierce determination to stay in power and enact their big-government agenda.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I mention Democrats\u2019 fierce determination to stay in power \u2013 and it is fierce.\n\n\u201cSo fierce that Democrats manufactured a voting crisis \u2013 and almost succeeded in gutting the Senate\u2019s rules \u2013 in an attempt to force through federal legislation that would give their party an advantage in future elections.\n\n\u201cAnd it clearly doesn\u2019t matter to them that their claims of voter suppression were pretty clearly refuted by excellent election turnout mere months later.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are still talking about forcing through a federal takeover of elections to address a nonexistent crisis \u2013 and give their party a leg-up in future elections.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I guess it\u2019s not necessarily surprising that Democrats\u2019 growing commitment to the biggest kind of big government has been matched by a growing determination to secure their party\u2019s grip on power \u2013 with government action if necessary.\n\n\u201cAs government power grows, I suppose the governing party starts to think its power should grow with it.\n\n\u201cIt would explain Democrats\u2019 commitment to abolishing protections for the rights of the minority party in the Senate \u2013 and the Americans it represents.\n\n\u201cAnd the commitment expressed by a number of Democrats to packing the Supreme Court \u2013 expanding it with Democrat justices until Democrats can be sure they will get the outcomes they want.\n\n\u201cLeading Democrats have been openly crowing about their plans to abolish the filibuster if they manage to gain a sufficient majority in the Senate \u2013 and then force through a variety of far-left, big-government legislation, from a government takeover of child care, to that voting bill they think will give them a leg-up in elections, to some of the most extreme abortion legislation in the world.\n\n\u201cClearly a raging border crisis, an inflation crisis, a weakening economy, and growing energy insecurity mean little to Democrats.\n\n\u201cTheir focus if they keep their majority is not on solving these very real problems facing Americans \u2013 it\u2019s on growing government and implementing their far-left, big-government, big-spending visions.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats\u2019 big-government vision is clearly not a vision I share.\n\n\u201cAnd despite Democrats\u2019 clear belief that their narrow majorities gave them a mandate for a far-left remake of our government, I suspect the American people are not looking for that.\n\n\u201cDemocrats may think months and months and months of high inflation are a small price to pay for implementing their big-government visions.\n\n\u201cI suspect the American people disagree.\n\n\u201cI also think the American people would like to see the party in power focused on solving problems like violent crime and the crisis at our southern border \u2013 not spending their time considering how to consolidate their hold on power or force through extreme and partisan policies.\n\n\u201cAnd despite Democrats\u2019 clear belief that Washington should be making decisions about most aspects of Americans\u2019 lives, I suspect that most Americans are not interested in having Washington dictate their choices \u2013 whether that\u2019s the choices they make about their child care or about their children\u2019s education.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 devotion to their big-government, big-spending agenda has left the American people worse off economically and left our country in a more dangerous position, from violent crime in our communities to the security crisis at our southern border.\n\n\u201cI think the American people know with painful certainty that we can\u2019t afford another two years like the last two.\n\n\u201cAnd for the sake of our country, I hope we won\u2019t have to see what two more years of Democrat power would bring.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:29:59Z"]], "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=93CB647E-33B9-44C1-847C-A89D93558B4B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8108739275485277, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": 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