Inflation and Fuel Costs Hurting Families and Small Businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding inflation:
“America’s working families continue to face strong headwinds as they try to make ends meet. The historic inflation kicked off by runaway liberal spending last year is still taking its toll, one paycheck at a time.
“For many Americans, eating out once in a while was already a treat.
“Now, restaurant menu prices are capping off the biggest 12-month price surge in more than 40 years, just as lunch counters are beginning to see more traffic from workers returning to the office.
“Meanwhile, just putting food on the table at home has become a hardship. For one mother in Florida, a trip to the grocery store that used to cost her about $150 now costs $250 for the same amount of food.
“She’s reportedly ‘cutting back on fresh produce and meat in exchange for less-nutritious but cheaper items… as it becomes harder to stretch her household’s income and ensure that her family has enough to eat.’
“Of course, the price hikes consumers are seeing at the grocery store are due in part to the soaring cost of fuel. The regular gas working families use to fill up their cars was already up nearly two dollars per gallon since President Biden took office. But the diesel used in semi-trucks and many commercial vehicles costs a dollar more than it did just last month!
“According to one recent survey, more than half of small business owners say that the rising cost of fuel is impacting their operations. ‘It’s keeping me awake,’ reported the head of a small transportation fleet that serves people with disabilities in Pennsylvania. For the manager of a lumber dealership in Nevada, the free delivery his business took pride in might have to be put on hold.
“Unfortunately, Washington Democrats’ response to these hardships has been as misguided as the war on American energy and runaway spending that helped create them.
“Several weeks ago, the Biden Administration entertained the idea of suspending the gas tax… but only long enough to give Democrats cover at the polls this November.
“This week, we learned the White House considered sending out gas cards through the IRS… even as they keep up their war on domestic energy production.
“The Biden Administration seems to be willing to try anything but walking back their own disastrous economic policies.
“For the sake of working families, I hope they snap out of it sometime soon.”
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Related Issues: Energy, Economy, IRS, Inflation, Taxes
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