Pain At the Pump

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, listen, you are spot on. It is virtually everything. I honestly can't think of anything that the cost is not going up, whether we are talking food or fuel or energy or travel, vehicles. Across the board, it is all going up to the tune now of about $500 a month that the average family is having to pay more. I mean, $6,000 a year.

Literally, we are at a point in our Nation's history because of the horrific economic policies of this administration and this Democratic Party and the policies that they are pushing, that families literally are having to make choices, and they are concerned, literally, about feeding their family, about having a roof over their head, about putting gas in their cars.

This is the type of impact that these horrible policies are having on the American families, and it is all so unnecessary. That is what is aggravating about all of this. It all has to do with policies, horrible policies. All of this could have been and should have been avoided.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HICE of Georgia. Oh, absolutely.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HICE of Georgia. That is right, and they are suffering. People across the board are literally suffering right now and having to make critical decisions and some even to the point of getting rid of their pets because it is more important to get food on the table for their kids, obviously, than it is for pets. We have had two or three different stories of just that type of thing alone.

What is the administration's response to all this? Well, it is to double down on things like climate change, which ultimately is just going to raise taxes more. It is to spend more money that we don't have, which just exacerbates the problem.

It is horrible what the American people are facing right now. It, again, is so unnecessary. We should not be here; we were not here. Just 1\1/2\, 2 years ago, things were vastly different.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HICE of Georgia. That is exactly right. You are spot on. Listen, this administration can try all they want to redefine the meaning of a recession, but they cannot change the realities of what this means to the average family.

Like you just described, we have people who are trying to get in homes, and with the hike today, there is no question that is going to prevent many people from being able to get that car that they desperately need to replace the one that is falling apart or a home or whatever it may be, loans of different types. This is going to, right out of the gate, take thousands and thousands and thousands of people across this country away from being able to get those things.

I was speaking just this week with a leader in the construction industry in the State of Georgia, and I just said, Tell me the truth, what is your future? And he said, it was dismal. Man, we are seeing the brakes being put on in a major, major way.

Of course, as far as construction, right now Georgia is a major mover and shaker, and they are seeing it come to a halt, in his words--just along with what you said--we see no end in sight. It is just now starting to slow down, but we do not see on the horizon anywhere soon that this is going to be turning the corner.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HICE of Georgia. You are right, Mr. Perry.

What concerns me as well is what you just described is just a couple months away. States like yours, they are going to start feeling the cold of winter and will need to start heating their homes.

So the question then becomes: What are we doing about that here in Congress? What makes me scratch my head right now is we are not having any hearings on this issue. We had a hearing today on banning guns. We had a hearing last week on attacking the energy sector. We are voting on bills this week about big cats, of all things.

I mean, the lack of concern coming from the other side is devastating to the American people who right now already are going through some of the darkest days of their lives. It is only going to get worse as winter starts coming in the months ahead, and our colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle right now seem totally unconcerned. We are not even having hearings to discuss this. That, to me, is inexcusable.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HICE of Georgia. If I could just add a thought to that. This is not and should not be a Republican issue versus a Democrat. This is an American issue. Both parties, Independents, people who have no affiliation, the country is suffering under this.

I don't know if you saw the recent poll that said only 1 percent of Americans believe that the current economic conditions are excellent, only 1 percent. Twelve percent said it was good. That leaves 87 percent of this country admitting we are in bad economic circumstances in a variety of the spectrum there of how they described it. But 87 percent, that is Democrats and Republicans and Independents and people who never vote. That is our country that is suffering.

So I think it is important that we do all we can to stand up for the entire Nation right now and say it is time to make some key changes.

The free enterprise system is the greatest economic engine in the history of the world, and we are suffocating it right now by advancing policies that are just destructive, and the impact of that is not only on our economic system but on individual lives.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source