Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the Senate floor about how under the Biden economy, Americans are seeing rising inflation and paying more for gasoline and groceries.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“I come to the floor to talk about our economy. In April, the unemployment rate went up. And so did the price of just about everything.

“The experts in the White House actually thought that we were going to add 1 million workers in America last month. In reality, only about 266,000 went back to work.

“The so-called experts in the White House were wrong. They were wrong by three-quarters of a million workers.

“40,000 of those people who went back to work went to government jobs, which means the cost of government continues to grow.

“So the private sector was only able to hire 220,000 people, rather than 1 million.

“This was the most disappointing jobs report in more than 20 years. It’s also a sudden slowdown in the middle of a recovery, which is surprising to many.

“Before Joe Biden took office we saw the fastest economic recovery in American history. We were bouncing back from the coronavirus shutdowns.

“It’s a very different story now. It no coincidence this is a direct result of President Biden’s policies.

“President Biden and the Democrats started paying people a bonus to stay home. Paying people more to stay home than they could make at work in many cases.

“It’s perfectly logical that the people took him up on that offer. As a result, job openings are at an all-time high right now people can’t find workers.

“I see help wanted signs everywhere I go in Wyoming. Delta Airlines cancelled 100 flights because they couldn’t find workers.

“People want to work. People want to hire. The incentives coming from government are absolutely wrong.

“It’s Joe Biden and Big Government that are getting in the way of people returning to work.

“There’s another big problem I hear about in Wyoming from business owners I hear they can’t find workers because of the incentives coming out of this administration and help wanted signs coming up.

“Other people were asking me, ‘why are prices going up, why is inflation back?’

“Under the Obama-Biden administration, we saw the same thing.

“It was called the ‘middle class squeeze.’ That’s where prices go up faster than wages are going up.

“April was the worst month for inflation since the Great Recession 13 years ago.

“In effect, inflation means that the money in your wallet buys less so in a sense you have a pay cut. Inflation is a regressive tax. That means the poorer you are, the more it hurts.

“The big donors in the Democrat elite will be just fine. They don’t even notice rising prices.

“The Silicon Valley hot shots and the Masters of the Universe in Manhattan will be just fine.

“It’s working families in Wyoming who are struggling to get by who are going to get hurt the worst.

“Let’s just look at the cost of a trip to the grocery store. First, you have to get to the grocery store and you have to drive.

“Gas is over $3 a gallon nationwide. A year ago it was about $2.

“Since Joe Biden took the oath of office it’s gone up by 70 cents. That was just four months ago.

“That hits people when they fill up because they have to drive getting back to work in Wyoming.

“People drive long distances, and we use more gas than most. So people in our states are paying more than many other places.

“I don't think it's a coincidence that the price of gas has gone up. Joe Biden's first action in office was to draw a target on the back of American energy and pull the trigger.

“He shut down the Keystone XL pipeline, he banned new oil and gas leases on federal land, he’s restricted the production of American energy. We need energy. We need it now.

“Gas prices affect the price of everything else. It costs more and more to transport things across the country. And that's why we're seeing prices go up at the grocery store.

“Working families are getting squeezed. And this is a direct result of the policies of the Biden administration.

“One reason it's happening is because President Biden is flooding the country with so-called easy money. We're finding out it's not too easy.

“In the month of March, President Biden signed into law a $2 trillion slush fund for basically liberal spending. It was described as a coronavirus relief package, but in fact when you take a look at it less than 9% of the money, a small percentage of the money went to medical care.

“He crammed it through Congress, party line vote, absolutely no Republican support, put the bill on the nation's credit card and the Federal Reserve started to print more money.

“Now, money doesn't grow on trees, it doesn't come from a printer, you cannot print your way to prosperity. The money has to come from somewhere.

“History shows that this is a strategy that eventually backfires. Nations try to print free money and they end up poorer than ever. Get rich schemes don't work, never have, and aren't going to this time either.

“Inflation has gone up every single month since the election. Now, the White House experts tell us not to worry. These are the same experts that predicted there would be a million new jobs and people working last month and that the unemployment rate would drop.

“Much of the $2 trillion that President Biden signed into law hasn't even gone out the door yet. And the president is asking for trillions and trillions more.

“The House of Representatives the other night put out a proposal related to the infrastructure bill, one that I'm trying to work with the administration on, they are requesting $7.1 trillion. An astonishingly high amount of money.

“If the president gets his way and keeps spending like this and the request from the House, inflation is only beginning.

“You don't have to take my word for it. Listen to the liberal economist Larry Summers. He was in the Clinton administration as well as the Obama administration and he was Clinton’s secretary of Treasury. He had an economic role in the Obama administration.

“He warned against President Biden's spending spree. He called that $2 trillion slush fund the least responsible spending bill he's seen in four decades. The least responsible spending bill in four decades.

“That's before all this additional spending may be coming. This is what he said after April's inflation numbers came out. He said, I was worried about inflation and then he said, yet, it's moved even faster and sooner even though I had predicted.

“That's Larry Summers, Clinton administration, Obama administration, commenting on the Biden policies.

“People who save money their whole lives for retirement are now watching their hard-earned savings go down with a stroke of Joe Biden's pen.

“Their buying ability is shrinking. People who did the right thing, worked hard, saved their money are being punished by Biden policies.

“Under President Biden, we’re seeing more government, more taxes more spending and as a result the American people are suffering, they are seeing higher prices and disappointing job creation.

“We see gas lines, we see people hoarding gasoline like it was in the 1970’s and President Biden should remember those times because he was still a member of the Senate back then.

“President Biden should remember by 1980 the American people had enough. We changed course. We thought it was enough of Jimmy Carter, and we elected Ronald Reagan president.

“It's time to change course again. Let's create more American energy. Let's set down the taxpayers' credit card, put it away, cut up the credit card, stop the reckless spending. American families have been paying the price.

“The people in the middle are being squeezed. The American people expect and deserve better.”

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