“Record inflation is shrinking Americans’ take-home pay, and employers can’t find workers,” writes Republican Leader on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), warning that Democrats fueled inflation higher and made the labor shortage worse.

In an op-ed for the Washington Times, Rep. Buchanan notes that Democrats rejected Republican proposals to get Americans get back to work and help small businesses recover from the pandemic.

CLICK HERE to read the full op-ed.

Key Excerpts:

Democrats fueled inflation: 

“In 2021, Washington Democrats refused to work with Republicans and instead pursued the American Recovery Act and Build Back Better, two completely partisan spending bills that increased the federal deficit by over $2 trillion.

 

“This surge in deficit spending induced the record levels of inflation that is currently busting the budgets of American families and small businesses across the country.”

 

Democrats rejected Republican proposals for flexible child care and family leave: 

 

“Yet instead of working with Republicans to develop flexible, commonsense solutions, Democrats chose a ‘go it alone,’ ‘Washington knows best’ approach — a strategy doomed to fail. Unsurprisingly, these purely partisan Democratic ideas not only stalled in the Senate, but their heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all scheme would actually make paying for child care even more expensive. 

 

“Under the Democrats’ plan, which amounts to a ‘toddler tax,’ over half of all families with two kids who pay for child care could be faced with as much as $27,000 in additional costs due to new bureaucratic rules.”

 

READ: ONE-PAGER: Top 5 Reasons to Oppose Democrats’ Toddler Tax

READ: Poll: 49 Percent of Voters Support GOP Paid Leave Proposal Over Dems’ Plan to Put Washington in Control 

Democrats rejected Republican proposals to get people back to work: 

“Finally, last year Democrats also rejected another commonsense Republican idea to help get Americans back to work. As the enhanced $600 per week unemployment benefits were scheduled to expire last summer, Republicans offered the creative idea of using some of those resources as a ‘back to work bonus.’ Our policy would have not only offered additional resources during the pandemic, but it would have provided a strong incentive for people to rejoin the workforce.”

READ: Democrats’ Latest Crippling Tax Hikes Punish Workers & Families, & Make Labor Shortage Worse

American workers and Main Street businesses are falling further behind: 

“There is a clear and direct connection between too much federal spending and policies that discourage work. This matrix of mistakes fuels inflation, causes Americans to fall economically further behind, and robs small businesses of the workers they need to bounce back from the pandemic. It’s time for Democrats in Washington to connect the dots.”