By Jason Smith, member of Congress
President Biden’s inflation crisis is sending our nation hurtling towards a recession, turning the American Dream into an unaffordable nightmare for hardworking Americans. Last week, families learned that inflation has gotten even worse and is now at a 40-year high of 9.1 percent in just the last 12 months, and a massive 13.8 percent since the start of Joe Biden’s presidency. This is completely unacceptable!
Despite their efforts to mislead Americans, Washington Democrats’ out-of-control spending is the reason why our nation is facing the worst economic crisis in my lifetime. In March 2021, they forced their so-called American Rescue Plan through Congress, pumping $2 trillion into an economy that the Congressional Budget Office confirmed was already on its way to recovery. The only thing that was bipartisan about that package was the opposition to it. Even a number of prominent liberal economists and former Obama administration officials agree that this package was the spark that ignited the inflation fire.
This year alone, families will pay an extra $5,520 because of the high prices caused by reckless one-party Democrat spending. Trips to the grocery store keep getting more expensive as food costs continue to skyrocket – whether it’s pork (up 19.6%), chicken (up 22.9%), or eggs (up 37.1%).
But the thing that hurts Missouri families the most is the massive increase in gas prices our nation has experienced thanks specifically to the Biden administration’s policies. From day one, this administration has prioritized stopping the United States from producing traditional energy, like oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. With gas prices doubling since Joe Biden became President, he is desperate for people to believe it’s someone else’s fault, but his proposed solutions only further highlight his own complicity in creating the crisis.
President Biden’s solution to rising energy costs is to beg foreign countries – most recently Saudi Arabia – to pump more oil. Ahead of President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, I joined a group of House Republicans in demanding an end to his regulatory assault against U.S. energy. In addition, we urged the president to visit oil producing states like Texas to see first-hand how his radical climate agenda is destroying communities and preventing our nation from becoming energy independent.
I’m also fighting the administration’s action to sell oil from our strategic petroleum reserve to the Chinese or Chinese-owned companies. This administration rarely makes a correct decision when it comes to producing affordable energy for working-class Americans, but selling nearly 1 million barrels of oil to a Chinese energy company rises to the next level of stupidity. How can we ever get a handle on gas prices here when we care more about lowering the price of gas for people living in other countries? I’m coauthoring an amendment that would block the administration from ever repeating a plan this dumb.
As the House Budget Committee Republican Leader, I have also exposed how this administration proposed a plan in their budget this spring to raise taxes by $45 billion on American energy producers. No one will ever take seriously the claim that this administration cares about energy prices when their own budget documents show they’re trying to raise the cost of energy! It’s outrageous.
Last week, I also helped introduce legislation to combat this administration’s secretive spending, which is driving inflation even higher without ever having to be voted on by Congress. I coauthored the Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation (REIN IN) Inflation Act, which would require the administration to publish the inflationary impact of executive actions before enacting them. The legislation would bring much-needed transparency on the hidden costs being passed on to working families because of President Biden’s executive overreach. Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office confirmed for me that the administration had spent an astonishing $532 Billion through its executive actions alone.
It’s clear that without reining in this administration’s radical left-wing agenda, they will continue to do everything they can to punish hardworking families and make it harder for small businesses and farmers to make a living. As a fighter for working families, I will continue doing everything I can to protect Missourians from President Biden and the left’s disastrous policies and out-of-control spending.