September 13, 2022

As Latest Consumer Price Spike Continues to Squeeze Middle-Class Families, Washington Democrats Cheer Spending that Will Drive Prices Higher

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement after the Consumer Price Index showed core inflation continuing to rise and while overall inflation has risen 13.7 percent since Joe Biden became President:

“As Democrats at the White House are celebrating another massive spending bill, families are grappling with higher prices as a result of that reckless spending agenda,” said House Budget Committee Republican Leader Smith. “For the last year, Washington Democrats have utterly abandoned middle class families who are suffering through the worst spike in prices in forty years – with the prices of housing, food, and medical care continuing to surge. Last month, the Biden White House bizarrely claimed inflation was zero percent, and this time around appears to be no different. This level of tone-deafness is the new normal in Washington under one-party Democrat rule. After an entire year of rising prices, Democrats charged ahead last month and passed the Inflation Act which spends an additional $745 billion, adding $60 billion to the federal debt today, and pushing 90 percent of its supposed savings until after 2029. Meanwhile, President Biden’s student loan cancellation will cost at least $500 billion, and according to some estimates, could cost up to $1 trillion, forcing working-class Americans to hand over more of their already shrinking paychecks to pay for another massive giveaway to the wealthy.

“Since President Biden took office, the inflation crisis has cost American families an extra $8,600. With real wages down 4.3 percent since Biden took office, families can barely keep up with the skyrocketing prices brought on by the Democrats’ spending agenda, and now under the law Democrats are celebrating at the White House today, the IRS will get $80 billion to hire an army of new IRS agents to target enforcement against those middle-class families and search under the couch cushions of every living room in America. Enough is enough.”

Biden’s Inflation Recession

  • Inflation is at a forty-year high of 8.3 percent.
  • Inflation has increased 13.7 percent since President Biden took office.
  • Real wages have decreased 4.3 percent since President Biden took office.
  • Gas prices have risen 56 percent since President Biden took office.
  • When Biden took office, CBO projected real GDP would grow 2.9 percent in the first quarter of this year. Real GDP fell by 1.6 percent.
  • When Biden took office, CBO projected real GDP would grow 2.2 percent in the second quarter of this year. Real GDP fell by 0.6 percent.
  • To combat the President’s inflation crisis, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, most recently by 75 basis points – the fourth such rate increase since March with others expected on the horizon. In total, the federal funds rate has risen by 2.25 percent, the fastest cumulative rate hike in 40 years.
Democrats’ Spending Agenda

President Biden and Washington Democrats have embarked on a massive spending spree, blowing up the taxpayer credit card. Under their watch, spending has increased by nearly $10 trillion including:

American Rescue Plan: $1.9 trillion

Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act: $625 billion Inflation Reduction Act: $745 billion* *Only after Democrats failed to increase spending by an additional $5 trillion as part of their Build Back Better agenda

Biden’s Executive Actions: $1+ trillion

Increase in interest payments on growing federal debt: $2.5 trillion

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