WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index, showed year-over-year core inflation rising faster than expectations at 2.7 percent: 

“The ghost of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s failed policies haunts Americans every time they check out at the grocery store or pay their bills. On Vice President Harris’s watch, prices are over 20 percent higher today – making it that much harder for families to put food on the table, clothes on their back, and a roof over their heads. Conversely, under the Trump tax cuts, real incomes grew by $5,000, 6 million people were lifted out of poverty, and America’s job creators stopped moving overseas.

“Vice President Harris has promised on Day One that she will fight to end those tax cuts. That will mean a tax increase for every single American, who are still spooked by the last four years of rising inflation and high interest rates. Ways and Means Republicans are fighting to build on the Trump tax cuts and stop the Democrats’ plan for a $7 trillion tax hike. We have traveled to 20 states and hosted over 120 listening sessions, sitting down and talking with workers and small businesses who need relief from the past four years of the Biden-Harris economy – not more of the same. We are fighting for economic policies that have a proven track record of increasing paychecks, helping small businesses grow and hire, and bringing new investment and life into communities in every corner of America.” 

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Key Background: 

• Everything Costs More: Prices have increased 20.5 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration. 
• Americans Making Less: Real wages and benefits have fallen 3.4 percent since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration.
• Inflation Above Fed’s Target: For 43 straight months, inflation has been above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
• Inflation Higher Than Wages: Inflation outpaced wages for 26 straight months under the Biden-Harris Administration.  
• Historic Interest Rates: Under the Biden-Harris Administration, interest rates hit their highest levels in 23 years.
• Mortgage Costs 91 Percent Higher: The monthly mortgage payment for a median priced new home has increased $1,030 and is 91 percent higher than when President Biden and Vice President Harris took office in January 2021.
• $1 Trillion+ Credit Card Debt: Credit card interest rates are at their highest levels in more than three decades, while consumer credit debt has exceeded $1 trillion for five calendar quarters. The number of Americans struggling to pay credit card bills has increased to the highest level since March 2012. Nearly 11 percent of credit card balances are more than 90 days past due.
• Shrinking Savings: Thanks to higher prices, families have spent the entirety of their pandemic savings by 2024, and they are able to save less of their income. The average personal savings rate since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office is 2.6 percent lower than the pre-Biden-Harris average and it remains comparatively low at 4.8 percent today.
• Families Falling Behind on Bills: Over one-third of families (37 percent) paid a late fee in the past year.
• Washington Has A Spending Problem: After the Trump tax cuts, federal revenue as a share of GDP averaged 17.2 percent, near the average since FY2000. Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, federal spending as a share of GDP has exploded to 26.5 percent, more than 6 percentage points higher than the average from FY2000 to the pandemic.