Floor Statements

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Iowa (Ms. Ernst), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, yesterday afternoon, Democrats and the President gathered at the White House to celebrate their so-called Inflation Reduction Act--a bill that will do absolutely nothing to reduce inflation.

You don't have to take my word for it. The nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model said this about the bill's impact on inflation:

The impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable

from zero.

``[S]tatistically indistinguishable from zero.''

Or you could take the word of the Democrat chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who admitted on the Senate floor right here that the so-called Inflation Reduction Act would not reduce inflation. That is right.

To describe yesterday's celebration at the White House as tone deaf would be putting it mildly. Democrats had a big party to celebrate a bill that may fulfill some of their Big Government fantasies but will do nothing to fix the inflation crisis facing our country. Meanwhile, Americans were dealing with the release of August inflation numbers, which were even higher than expected and made it very clear that the soaring prices will continue for the foreseeable future.

One of President Obama's top economic advisers noted yesterday:

Today's CPI report confirms that the US has a serious

inflation problem. Core inflation is higher this month than

for the quarter, higher this quarter than last quarter,

higher this half of the year than the previous one, and

higher last year than the previous one.

That is from one of President Obama's top economic advisers, who made that statement yesterday.

Yet Democrats and the President somehow thought yesterday was a good day to celebrate fulfilling some of their Big Government fantasies.

I guess Americans struggling to afford their soaring grocery bills can be comforted by the fact that, thanks to Democrats' legislation, their tax dollars will now be going to fund electric vehicle tax credits for wealthy Americans, not to mention road equity and identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage--yes, provisions in the bill that they were celebrating yesterday. Meanwhile, the pain of inflation is permeating every aspect of our economy.

During the month of August, I spent a lot of time traveling around South Dakota, and naturally I spent a lot of time talking to farmers and ranchers. One thing I heard over and over is the toll that inflation is taking on agriculture.

In addition to the normal challenges every American is facing from inflation, like high utility bills and high grocery prices, farmers and ranchers are facing massive increases in the price of essential inputs like fertilizer

and fuel. Under the Biden administration, farm production expenses will reach a record high this year. Fertilizer prices are on track to increase by 84 percent--84 percent. That is a staggering increase. Fuel prices are on track to increase 65 percent. And there is no end in sight.

Farmers are facing a huge increase in interest costs thanks to a combination of higher interest rates and record-high farm debt. Gross farm income is actually supposed to reach a record level this year, but those gains are expected to be entirely wiped out by inflation--and then some. Thanks to inflation, net farm income is expected to decrease. At a time when gross farm income is expected to reach a record level--14 percent higher year over year than last year--net farm income, inflation adjusted, is actually going to go down because of the impact of inflation.

Meanwhile, Democrats were at the White House celebrating a bill that will not only do nothing to address our inflation crisis but will drive up energy bills for American farmers and American families.

Agriculture is the lifeblood of my State of South Dakota, and addressing the needs of farmers and ranchers is always one of my top priorities here in the Senate. While it is, unfortunately, going to be difficult to stop Democrats from prolonging our inflation crisis as long as they are in charge in Washington, in the meantime, I am doing everything I can to make life easier for our farmers and ranchers.

One of my top priorities right now is preparing for the 2023 farm bill, to make it as effective as possible in addressing the challenges that are facing our farmers and ranchers. I have been holding roundtables in South Dakota to hear directly from producers about their priorities for the farm bill. So far, I have held roundtables covering row crops, conservation, and livestock. I also participated in a farm bill panel at Dakotafest and an Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce farm bill discussion at the Brown County Fair.

I look forward to continuing to receive input from producers as the time to draft the farm bill approaches. I have also begun introducing legislation--based on my conversations with farmers and ranchers--that I will work to get included in the farm bill.

In March, I introduced the Conservation Reserve Program Improvement Act, which would make CRP grazing a more attractive option for farmers and ranchers by providing cost-share payments for all CRP practices for the establishment of grazing infrastructure, including fencing and water distribution. It would also increase the annual payment limit for CRP, which has not changed since 1985, to help account for inflation and the increase in land value.

In May, I joined Senator Klobuchar to introduce the Agricultural Innovation Act. Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture collects reams of data on conservation practices. The problem is that a lot of this data is often not analyzed and presented in a way that would be useful for farmers and ranchers.

The legislation Senator Klobuchar and I introduced would provide for better processing and development of the data that the USDA collects so that farmers and ranchers can evaluate the impact of conservation and other production practices on things like soil health, crop yields, and profitability. Our bill would make it easier for farmers and ranchers to decide what conservation practices to adopt by, among other things, helping producers identify the ways that adopting conservation practices can improve their bottom line.

In the next couple of weeks, I will be introducing another piece of legislation for the 2023 farm bill to improve the effectiveness of livestock disaster assistance for producers. Too often, producers find that accessing disaster relief programs at the Department of Agriculture is an arduous and lengthy process. I am working on legislation that would make it easier for farmers and ranchers to access the Livestock Forage Disaster Program and the Emergency Conservation Program so that producers can receive timely assistance in the wake of natural disasters like drought and flooding.

The U.S. Drought Monitor plays a critical role in triggering USDA disaster assistance, and I am working to build on my previous efforts to improve weather monitoring and the accuracy of the Drought Monitor.

This isn't a farm bill issue per se, but I am also introducing legislation today to prevent Democrats from using funding in the recently passed and misnamed, as I pointed out earlier, Inflation Reduction Act to monitor livestock methane emissions.

It is very clear that elements of the radical environmental left would like to see U.S. livestock producers out of business entirely. My legislation is designed to forestall future attempts to curtail beef production by preventing the Biden Environmental Protection Agency from using funds in the Democrats' bill to monitor livestock emissions.

Agriculture is a challenging way of life. In addition to backbreaking work in all weather, our Nation's farmers and ranchers have to contend with the uncontrollable whims of the weather, which can wipe out a herd or a crop in a day. And as if the actual challenges of the job weren't enough, over the course of the Biden administration, our Nation's farmers and ranchers have had to deal with soaring inflation.

I am incredibly grateful for all the South Dakota farmers and ranchers and all of our Nation's farmers and ranchers who continue to persevere during these difficult circumstances. I will continue to do everything I can in Washington to make their jobs easier and to support them as they do the essential work of feeding our Nation and the world.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be able to complete my remarks before the start of the vote.

Mr. President, this morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the August inflation numbers, and as every American who has been to a grocery store lately knows, August was yet another month of high inflation.

Consumer prices rose 8.3 percent last month from a year earlier, holding to a near-four-decade-high--40-year-high--inflation. And Americans are feeling the strain.

Even 1 unexpectedly expensive month can be challenging for many families, but at least it is actually and usually possible to recover from a single tough month. How are American families going to recover from the months upon months upon months of high inflation that have marked the Biden economy?

As I said, American families are suffering. Grocery bills are out of control. Between August 2021 and August 2022, grocery bills rose at their highest rate since 1979--1979, I was a senior in high school. Even back-to-school supplies like pencils and glue are more expensive.

The National Retail Federation reported in July that households were on track to spend an average of $864 on back-to-school shopping--a 24- percent increase from 2019.

Utility bills have soared. Things have gotten so bad that approximately one out of every six households--one out of every six households in America--is behind on its utility bills. Unfortunately, considering the increases in the price of natural gas and electricity since President Biden took office, it is not surprising. Forty percent of households--40 percent--reported having difficulty paying for their normal household expenses.

And Gallup reports that 56 percent of Americans--well over half of the U.S. population--are experiencing financial hardship as a result of inflation.

The personal savings rate has plunged to its lowest levels since 2009, and many Americans are dipping into their savings to make ends meet. Others have taken up a side job or are pulling out the credit card. Still others have been forced to rely on food banks.

As recently as Friday, President Biden was touting his work to ``finally deliver an economy that works for working families.'' I have to say, I don't know what ivory tower the President is living in, but the Biden economy is the very opposite of an economy that works for working families.

Working families in the Biden economy are struggling. They are wondering how they can make ends meet. They are cutting back on groceries like meat or milk. They are cutting back on family trips or putting off necessary home repairs. They are, as I said, dipping into their savings or charging necessities on their credit cards or visiting food banks.

A recent CBS News article discussing a new Gallup poll noted:

The findings indicate that the hottest inflation in 40

years is eating into the bedrock of the American economy--the

middle-class--and even eroding the financial stability of

more well-heeled households.

To repeat:

The findings indicate that the hottest inflation in 40

years is eating into the bedrock of the American economy--the

middle-class.

This is not an economy that is--to paraphrase the President--being built from the bottom up and the middle out. This is not an economy that ``works for working families.'' This is an economy where living standards for working families are declining.

The President has actually had the audacity to repeatedly bring up the lines of cars waiting at food banks that occurred during the height of the COVID pandemic, with the implication that things are different now in the Biden economy. Perhaps no one at the White House has read the news recently.

Here is a sampling of headlines from the past few weeks:

Las Vegas food banks experiencing heightened demand amid

inflation spikes.

Here is another one:

Food banks feeling pinch of high inflation as centers

juggle to increased demand for help.

Another headline:

New Hampshire food pantries struggle with rising costs,

growing demand: Organizations say more people than ever need

help.

Another headline:

St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix sees record number of

families in need amid inflation.

Yet another headline:

Mountain West food banks are strained by high customer

demand and low supply.

Unfortunately, I can go on. At this point, everyone knows how we got here. Democrats took office and decided to pass a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill, the so-called American Rescue Plan Act, that flooded the economy with unnecessary government money. And the economy overheated as a result.

When President Biden took office, the inflation rate was 1.4 percent, well within the Fed's 2-percent target.

Democrats were warned, including by at least one noted economist from their own party, that the legislation ran the risk of overheating the economy. But they were committed to taking advantage of their new majority to push through their Big Government, Big Spending vision. And so they ignored the warnings, and their bill helped trigger the worst inflation crisis in 40 years.

But perhaps the worst part is that even after Democrats saw the damage that resulted from their American Rescue Plan spending spree, they continued to try to double down on the spending strategy that helped get us into this mess in the first place.

Democrats spent half of last year attempting to force through--if you can believe this--yet another partisan spending spree originally planned to cost up to $5 trillion. Fortunately for Americans, those particular far-left fantasies were foiled. But that hasn't stopped Democrats from continuing to accumulate wasteful government spending.

In August, Democrats forged through a partisan tax-and-spending bill that will raise Americans' energy bills, reduce jobs and opportunities for American workers, and waste taxpayer dollars on a host of Green New Deal priorities, like electric vehicle tax credits for wealthy Americans and road equity and identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage. They called this tax-and-spending spree the Inflation Reduction Act, even though--as even the Democrat chairman of the Senate Budget Committee admitted--the bill will not reduce inflation. Apparently, the title's only function is to make the bill sound more acceptable to Americans who are sick and tired of dealing with soaring prices and economic pain.

Then, a mere 8 days--8 days--after signing the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, the President once again added to Democrats' record of economic malfeasance with a massive student loan giveaway that could cost more than $1 trillion and that the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes will ``meaningfully boost inflation.'' That from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

I am not sure whether the Democrats are incapable of learning their lesson or whether they consider soaring prices to be a trivial issue next to implementing their Green New Deal agenda or whether they think inflation is an acceptable price to pay for Big Government. But, whatever it is, Democrats are apparently going to continue to ignore the economic pain that Americans are experiencing in favor of implementing their far-left, Big Government, and big-spending agenda. And it appears that the American people are going to have to continue to suffer as a result.

I yield the floor.

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have noted ``nay.''

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have noted ``nay.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun) would have noted ``nay''.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young).

Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Young) would have voted ``nay''.