Washington, D.C.–U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the top
Republican of the Senate Finance Committee, led a news conference with
Republican Senators to highlight how record-high inflation is affecting
Americans, adding that additional reckless spending will only exacerbate the
inflation crisis. To watch the news conference in its entirety, click here.
Highlights:
“Americans are all painfully aware that we now have a 7.5
percent inflation rate. This is the highest rate since 1982–the highest rate
of inflation in 40 years. Producer price inflation is 9.7 percent.
These numbers are very clearly a result of the incredible, excessive
overspending that is heating up the economy.
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming):
“Wages aren’t going up in a way that can keep up with the
prices, so people are falling further behind and feeling squeezed. It
costs $275 more each month just for people to try to keep up with the standard
of living they were at a year ago. People’s dreams are being
crushed. President Biden’s suggestion? To go back to the Build Back
Better plan with higher taxes, more expenses, more debt, and more government
spending that will make inflation worse.”
Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota):
“As South Dakota farmers get ready to plant, they’re
looking at higher seed costs, higher fertilizer costs, higher equipment costs,
higher fuel costs. It affects everybody. This is a tax on every
single American, paid by every single American, but experienced the most by
those … struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet.”
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa):
“We know this inflation is very persistent and could get
worse…Iowa families are being hit by the same $3,500 increase in costs.
Iowa businesses can’t keep up with inflation. . . . The best thing Biden could
do is use the bully pulpit to tell Congress to spend less.”
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi):
“Mississippi is a huge timber state. . .
. To harvest timber, you have to get it to a saw mill. Well, the log
trucks that haul this timber to the saw mills… have to fill those tanks up
every day with fuel to continue on… Every morning, the loggers in Mississippi have
to fill those tanks up: 120 gallons, almost $4 per gallon. Do the math on
that. Mississippians are hurting. This country is hurting because
of the inflation we’re looking at.”
Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas):
“The Biden tax caused by Biden policies
is costing hardworking American families … $275 every month. Biden
policies are creating high prices and driving up the cost of living…This is a
tax from Joe Biden.”
Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma):
“From 1.7 percent a year ago to 7.5
percent. . . . Half of America has never experienced inflation like what we are
experiencing right now. . . . This is an American issue based solely on the
policies of this President. We have got to open up our manufacturing
here, open up our energy production here, stop discouraging American
production, and stop sending free money across the economy, which continues to
be able to spark inflation we are experiencing right now.”
Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana):
“Perhaps the easiest and most obvious way we could reduce
the pinch regular Americans are feeling from price inflation is to lean into
free trade. This Administration has not even requested Trade Promotion
Authority to allow us to sell our food and fiber and manufacturing goods into
foreign markets, and to bring things in that we don’t make here. The
Administration has doubled down on their tax-and-spend, big government agenda.”
Senator John Boozman (R-Arkansas):
“Americans’ bills are piling up.
Inflation is raging – it’s burning through families’ budgets and paychecks in
addition to hurting rural communities and ag producers. We’ve got to stop
pretending that pouring gas on this fire is our only option and give them relief.”
“The most punitive tax of all is high
inflation. Wages are going up a little bit, but not nearly as high as
inflation. People are feeling it. . . . Two weeks ago, I filled up my
pickup truck, my F-150. I paid almost $100. People can’t afford
that–people who commute to work, people who use their truck for their
business. It’s time to change policies and do it now to avoid this
punitive tax from continuing.”
Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana):
“If many Americans won the lottery
tomorrow, the first thing they would do is fill up their gas tank. . . . We
can’t force members of the Biden administration to retake Econ 101, but we can
do our part by stopping spending like we were drunken sailors. Actually,
we’re worse than drunken sailors because drunken sailors stop spending when
they run out of money.”
Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida):
“In my state, [inflation] is having a devastating impact
on families. Food’s up, gas is up, rent’s up. It’s all caused by
bad economic policy. What causes inflation? One, excess
spending. Two, making it difficult for people to produce things.
When you increase the permitting time, making it difficult to get a permit…prices
go up. . . . I can’t see any way this will get better until the Biden
Administration and Democrats stop spending money, stop making it difficult to
build and open a business, and stop making it difficult to run a business.”
Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska):
“The policies we have seen with this
Administration are now becoming legendary with how anti-American energy they
are. They’re stopping the production and making it harder to produce
American energy while begging OPEC to produce more. We’re importing twice
as much oil from Russia than we were at the end of the Trump
Administration. They are stopping and killing American energy infrastructure
like Keystone XL. These are the policies and predictable results: higher
energy prices on working families, pink slips for American energy workers and
empowering our adversaries like Putin.”
Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina):
“Gas prices in South Carolina are up nearly 50 percent
over the last 12 months. Pay is up four percent. It’s ten times
more expensive for a mom with two kids. . . . Democrats and President Biden
continue to ask the American people to believe what he is saying, as opposed to
what they are seeing. They are seeing the loss of spending power because
they can’t afford the price of gas per gallon. They are seeing the
challenges of achieving the American dream because they simply can’t afford a
down payment on a house. It’s about our neighbors. Mr. President,
we ask you to do a better job.”