Washington, D.C. — House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement after the Producer Price Index showed wholesale prices rising by 4.6 percent from the previous year:
“Main Street businesses are still being forced to pay 4.6 percent more for goods than a year ago, leading to higher prices for families under President Biden’s failed economic policies, and under the President’s latest budget proposal, they face $1.8 trillion in tax increases. Democrats are threatening a new $650 billion small business surtax hike on owner-operated small businesses, $77 billion in death taxes that will break up family farms, ranches, and other generational businesses, and a new $37 billion tax hike on energy producers that will raise energy prices even further.
“Haven’t small businesses been through enough? Appearing before a recent Ways and Means hearing in Yukon, Oklahoma, small business owners shared their struggles in the Biden economy between a worker shortage, higher energy costs, and the supply chain crisis. House Republicans are putting these voices first in developing our economic policies – while the White House ignores them in favor of brutal new taxes to fund more welfare for the wealthy.”
READ: In the Heartland, Ways and Means Committee Listens to Working Americans’ Struggles in Biden Economy
In Their Own Words: Oklahoma and Small Business Owners
Witnesses at a recent Ways and Means Committee hearing in Yukon, Oklahoma, shared their struggles in President Biden’s economy:
Bryan Jackson, an Army veteran who earned the Distinguished Service Cross in Iraq and opened a meatpacking processing company in 2020:
“Today we are facing an increasingly-challenging work environment where employees may or may not show up to work. As a result, our ability to complete the work we commit to as a service company is made more difficult…
“The beef industry as a whole is in a tough spot. There is not much profitability for a rancher because the cost of fertilizer and feed is too high.…We would be more profitable if we could process at a lower cost.”
Kelli Payne, fifth-generation farmer and rancher from Mustang, Oklahoma, and North Central District Vice President for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association:
“The struggles of drought are exacerbated by high input costs, including fuel, feed and other supplies. All these negative impacts have caused some ranchers to sell their entire herd and many have indicated that they won’t re-stock anytime soon, if at all.”
“We have enough challenges with Mother Nature; let’s not compound the problem with more regulations.”
Chuck Mills, owner and operator of his family’s machine manufacturing company that was founded in Oklahoma in 1908:
“The lack of workforce and supply chain issues, combined with inflationary pressures, have made this economy the most difficult economy I have dealt with in over four decades.”
“In January 2021, our raw materials increased by 25%. The following month, the prices increased again by 15%, and the next month, the prices soared again by 20%. These substantial price increases of 10% – 25% continued for eight months. At that point, our suppliers told us just to call to get the current prices.”
“All I ask is for Congress to please allow me to continue running this family-owned business so that I am able to pass it to the next generation. Respectfully, please encourage able-bodied Americans to return to the workforce. Please do not raise tax rates that would further restrict our cashflow. Please do not make it any harder for me to stay in business here in Oklahoma.”
Joe Brevetti, owner and founder of an oil well drilling company in Oklahoma:
“We don’t want special treatment. We just want a level playing field to encourage investment. Burdensome regulations and increased taxes on oil and natural gas production hamper the ability of companies like ours to put Americans to work and bring affordable energy to families across the country. Unchecked inflation has hit all Americans very hard, including us independent oil and gas producers.
“Let’s stop going down the same anti-hydrocarbon road that is wreaking havoc in Europe. That is our wake-up call. We don’t want an America like that! America needs more energy, not less. More energy for America equates to more prosperity for all Americans.”