Smith: Latest Inflation Report an Indictment of the Welfare for the Wealthy Spending Agenda in Biden’s 2024 Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the Consumer Price Index showed inflation rising 6.0 percent from the previous year — matching a pre-pandemic high of 30 years — with prices having risen 14.8 percent since the President took the oath of office:
“President Biden can’t explain away the pain felt by American families and small businesses suffering under February’s core price increase — higher than expectations and the third consecutive monthly increase in a row — and his new budget proposal doubles down on the same policies that created today’s economic pain, while pushing more welfare for the wealthy.
“Families have lost two months of pay to inflation. Yet the President is embracing further rounds of fiscal and economic calamity including an additional $4.7 trillion in tax increases on families, farmers, and job creators to fund the Democrats’ welfare for the wealthy agenda. At the back of the line are America’s seniors on a fixed income, who are already struggling to pay for groceries and gas thanks to Biden’s inflation crisis. The President is threatening even more pain for Medicare beneficiaries by creating over $500 billion in looming cuts to their health care while pushing a Washington-prescribed drug pricing scheme that will mean fewer cures for America’s most vulnerable populations.
“This is a disturbing and deliberate effort by President Biden and Washington Democrats to put their partisan spending agenda ahead of the concerns of working families. Republicans are focused on listening to working families and acting on solutions that speak to their concerns. That is why the Ways and Means Committee is holding field hearings in communities across the country – most recently in Oklahoma – to hear firsthand from those on the front lines of America’s economy.”
The Consequences of the Democrat Inflation Crisis:
- The last time inflation increased 6.0 percent year over year prior to the pandemic was 1990.
- Inflation has increased 14.8 percent since President Biden took office.
- Real wages have decreased 3.7 percent since President Biden took office.
- The average mortgage payment is 29 percent higher than one year ago.
- Interest rates in the last year have increased more than in the previous 15 years combined.