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Floor Speech
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Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, last winter a restaurant and a bakery near Omaha NE, well, they both closed their doors. The restaurant owner said: We have to close. There is no way around it. The owner simply couldn't keep up with food and labor costs that were going through the roof, costs that have been catapulting higher and higher ever since President Biden implemented his so-called Bidenomics agenda.
The bakery owner, well, she had a similar story as she closed her doors. She said that rising costs made it impossible to continue. Inflation took a sledgehammer to those small businesses as well as the livelihoods of their owners and their employees. That is Bidenomics in Nebraska.
Starting and sustaining a family business is already a massive undertaking. That work, combined with the burden of oppressive inflation, becomes too heavy for some families to carry. And the coming months may add even more to that heavy load.
As we close in on the winter season, days are getting colder; days are getting darker; and that means that many family-owned shops--well, they are going to lose significant business. Fewer customers are going to venture out to shop at small businesses and they will do it for fewer hours during the day and that is going to cut down on the amount of profit that these businesses make.
But not only that, while profit decreases, costs will go up. Because it is colder, small businesses will spend more of their money on energy bills to heat the buildings. Winter in Nebraska, well, it can pose challenges for family-owned businesses every year. And this year, that is especially the case.
Since President Biden took office, energy prices have risen by 44 percent. The burden of a higher energy bill during the winter months is 44 percent heavier. Fuel oil is 51 percent more expensive. That is an astounding number. Electricity has gotten 26 percent more expensive, and natural gas, well, it is 22 percent more expensive.
This winter, there may be Nebraska businesses that follow in the footsteps of that Omaha restaurant and that Omaha bakery, losing so much money to inflation that they are going to be forced to close up shop.
Spending hundreds more dollars on basic business necessities is unsustainable for a family-owned business, and that is Bidenomics in Nebraska.
Inflation burdens businesses, but that is not where it stops. Inflation is costing the average Nebraska household $988 a month. That is almost $12,000 more a year. Families are paying more for everything, from eggs to gas to their mortgage payments, and this October--for the second year in a row--candy. Candy inflation hit double digits. When buying Halloween candy contributes to a middle-class family's financial struggle, we have got a serious problem. And that is Bidenomics in Nebraska.
Nebraskans know Bidenomics isn't working and so do the American people. In a New York Times poll this weekend, 81 percent of respondents said that the economy is less than good. Over half said that economic conditions are poor. Our economy is sick, and this administration is making it sicker with every reckless financial decision.
Since January 2021, this administration has been trigger-happy with heavy-handed regulations, instead of listening to people and putting a stop to these outrageous levels of inflation.
We know how to heal the economy. It is just a matter of getting it done. The administration has got to stop with its reckless spending. The President needs to reverse course on damaging regulations like his ineffective Inflation Reduction Act, and he certainly needs to refrain from passing more of it.
We need to unleash American energy so our economy can breathe again. Bidenomics means sky-high prices, hollowed-out savings, and costly interest rates. We can combat it with less spending, less regulation, and more American energy.
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