WASHINGTON, D.C. — Missouri Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith (MO-08), the Republican Leader of the Budget Committee, released the following statement after the Consumer Price Index showed inflation over the past year at 7.9 percent, continuing to run at the highest pace in 40 years:
“It is clear that not only do President Biden and Washington Democrats not have a plan to address the spending-driven, crippling spike in prices, they actually want to convince the American people that more reckless spending is the solution. The radical policies and explosion in government spending that they are pushing has only thrown more fuel on an inflation fire at the heart of our economy that is fracturing wages and forcing working families to choose between the food they eat, the gas they put in their cars, and the clothes on their backs.
“At what point or at what price of goods and services will President Biden and Washington Democrats start putting the needs of working-class families ahead of their political agenda? For over a year, the warning signs have been everywhere. It was obvious – including to Democrat economists – that the Biden Administration’s spending agenda would overheat the economy. But Washington Democrats ignored the facts in front of them. They denied inflation existed. They dismissed it as transitory.
“Even now, with inflation at a 40-year high and gas averaging more than $4 a gallon, Washington Democrats are scheming for ways to spend trillions more, instead of how to lower the prices of everyday goods. It is just the latest sign that Democrats in control of Congress and the White House are out-of-touch with the concerns of American families.”