Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Democrats’ distractions:
“Senators spent last week in our home states. We got to hear firsthand updates about the real issues facing the real families we represent.
“I was especially glad to return to Western Kentucky to keep working on our recovery from the catastrophic tornadoes that hammered our state in mid-December.
“Kentuckians are tough. We’re resilient. But many are still reeling from the impact of these storms. They have lost homes, or businesses, or even loved ones.
“I spent last week meeting with local leaders, small business owners, and Kentuckians in the hardest hit areas. We talked about our work here in Washington and the help they can expect to receive.
“Kentuckians in the affected areas have been grateful for the quick and efficient way that FEMA has begun distributing recovery aid. We know recovery will be a long process, but my office and I will be standing with you every step of the way.
“And the entire state is excited to improve our roads, bridges, railways, and broadband thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure deal that Congress struck last year.
“But like working people across America, Kentuckians also have serious concerns about significant headwinds.
“Kentucky families are feeling the pain of the worst inflation in 40 years. Our country has been hammered by 7% inflation over the last year.
“Employers are trying hard to keep up. Even as they face inflation across all their expenses, businesses across our region have significantly upped their spending on wages and benefits. Many workers have gotten raises.
“But only on paper. Because the historic inflation on the Democrats’ watch has more than cancelled the average increase in wages. Inflation is turning pay raises into pay cuts.
“This is just one of many significant problems we confront.
“After a year of record-setting bloodshed in America’s streets, violent crime is still forcing too many to live in fear.
“The historic humanitarian and security crisis that unfolded at our southern border on Democrats’ watch has only gotten worse.
“The Biden Administration’s war on affordable and reliable American energy has put consumers in a bind.
“And half a world away, in multiple regions, growing storm clouds are darkening the international stage with major implications for America and our allies.
“Across the Middle East, from proxy terrorist attacks to nuclear and missile development, Iran keeps reminding us it has no intention of playing by the rules.
“In Eastern Europe, Vladimir Putin himself is spelling out the reality of Russia’s threat to the international order, one armored vehicle at a time.
“I am encouraged that President Biden finally appears inclined to reinforce Eastern European treaty allies with U.S. forces. But those deployments must take place sooner rather than later. And other NATO allies should join us in defending our Eastern Flank allies.
“Likewise, American and allied efforts to support Ukraine’s ability to defend itself must occur not at the speed of bureaucracy, but at the speed of relevance.
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“Unfortunately, Washington Democrats have spent months focused on one distraction after another from these pressing challenges.
“Months before Russia began massing forces for an invasion of Ukraine, our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee produced a bipartisan defense authorization bill that would reassert our commitments to our allies and partners in Eastern Europe as well as Asia, and help our own forces stay on the cutting edge of competition with China and Russia.
“But instead of moving this legislation toward prompt passage, the Democratic Leader left the NDAA in limbo until almost the last minute.
“In the meantime, Senate Democrats spent months trying to assemble a massive, reckless taxing and spending spree packed with policies that nobody was asking for outside the radical left. Our citizens were fighting for their economic lives, trying to fight off gas prices, grocery prices, car prices, housing prices… and here Democrats were claiming the way out of inflation was to spend trillions on windmills and welfare.
“And of course, a multi-trillion-dollar debt explosion wasn’t even the most radical thing Democrats have recently tried to ram through. Earlier this month, the vast majority of Senate Democrats tried to break this chamber’s most fundamental rule for the sake of appointing themselves the entire country’s Board of Elections on steroids.
“Well, I hope our friends across the aisle can spend 2022 recommitting themselves to the actual problems that families are facing on their watch. This razor-thin Senate majority owes the American people at least that much.”