{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=B5C25490-87D4-4460-BBBA-ACEC3FEC67B1", "Thune: \u201cBidenomics\u201d Costs Families an Additional $11,400", "2023-12-05", "2023", "2023-12", "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 harsh realities families are facing due to \u201cBidenomics.\u201d Thune noted that hardworking Americans are grappling with high prices, soaring interest rates, mounting debt, and shrinking savings as a result of the president\u2019s misguided economic agenda.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, $11,434.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s how much more a typical family has to spend today to maintain the same standard of living they had at the beginning of the Biden administration.\n\n\u201c$11,434.\n\n\u201cThat is a lot of money.\n\n\u201cAnd needless to say, it\u2019s money that a lot of Americans don\u2019t have.\n\n\u201cMr. President, nearly three years of high inflation has taken its toll.\n\n\u201cAmericans are exhausted from constant price hikes.\n\n\u201cAnd they are struggling to keep pace with the huge increase in their cost of living.\n\n\u201cOne recent news story noted, and I quote, \u2018Since early 2020, prices have risen about as much as they had in the full 10 years preceding the health emergency.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet me just repeat that, Mr. President.\n\n\u201c\u2018Since early 2020, prices have risen about as much as they had in the full 10 years preceding the health emergency.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn other words, Mr. President, we\u2019ve had 10 years of price increases packed into the last four years.\n\n\u201cAnd the lion\u2019s share of those increases has occurred during the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cSince President Biden took office, the price of groceries has risen by almost 21 percent.\n\n\u201cGas prices have risen by 54.8 percent.\n\n\u201cElectric bills are up almost 25 percent.\n\n\u201cCar repairs and maintenance are up 26.5 percent.\n\n\u201cRent is up 18 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd the list goes on.\n\n\u201cAnd unfortunately at this point it\u2019s clear that today\u2019s high prices are here to stay.\n\n\u201cMr. President, inflation didn\u2019t come out of nowhere.\n\n\u201cInflation is the result of too many dollars chasing too few goods and services.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly the situation the Biden administration and Democrats helped create in 2021.\n\n\u201cThe president\u2019s first major piece of legislation was a massive, partisan, $1.9 trillion spending bill filled with unnecessary spending and handouts to Democrat interest groups.\n\n\u201cThe bill flooded the economy with unnecessary government money, and the economy overheated as a result.\n\n\u201cAnd almost three years down the road, we\u2019re still dealing with the inflation crisis the president and Democrats helped create.\n\n\u201cSo it should come as no surprise that the president\u2019s \u2018Bidenomics\u2019 pitch \u2013 his attempt to sell the American people on his economic record \u2013 is falling flat, even among members of his own party.\n\n\u201cA substantial majority of Americans have a negative view of the economy.\n\n\u201cFifty-five percent of voters say they are worse off financially under President Biden.\n\n\u201cAnd a large percentage are cutting back on spending to make ends meet.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden claims that, quote, \u2018Bidenomics is just another way of saying \u2018the American Dream.\u2019\u2019\n\n\u201cBut for a lot of Americans, Bidenomics has proved to be less dream and more nightmare.\n\n\u201cBecause the reality is that under Bidenomics, working Americans are struggling to get by.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re tapping into their savings.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re taking on more debt.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re falling behind on car payments, or other bills.\n\n\u201cAnd increasingly, one key measure of the American dream \u2013 owning your own home \u2013 is out of reach for many Americans.\n\n\u201cThe higher interest rates the Federal Reserve was forced to put in place to help rein in President Biden\u2019s inflation crisis has meant more expensive mortgages \u2013 which, combined with higher home prices, has eroded homebuyers\u2019 purchasing power.\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\u201c\u2018It\u2019s now about twice that.\u2019\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\u201cUnder the Biden administration, Americans can\u2019t catch a break.\n\n\u201cMr. President, President Biden has spent a lot of time talking about giving families \u201ca little bit of breathing room.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut the reality of Bidenomics is that a lot of families have seen their breathing room disappear.\n\n\u201cPerhaps the president should remember that before he gives another speech touting his economic record.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:56:20Z"]], "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=B5C25490-87D4-4460-BBBA-ACEC3FEC67B1"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3442798517644405, "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"}