President Joe Biden outlined his plan to address the nation’s rising inflation in a live address Tuesday.
Americans are paying more for essential commodities like gas and food than they have in a generation as the country experiences a 40-year high inflation rate that has gone up every month since Biden took office, reaching 8.5 percent in March.
This is coupled with a GDP that shrank 1.4 percent in the first quarter, leading many economists to predict a national recession in the near future.
“I want every American to know that I’m taking inflation very seriously, and it’s my top domestic priority,” Biden said on May 10.
Biden has continued to tout rebounds in job growth, unemployment, and reduced deficit spending while casting the blame for inflation on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and on the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released a statement saying, “the Biden administration is attempting to blame everyone but Biden’s own policies for the skyrocketing inflation Americans are facing.”
In his speech, Biden renewed calls to pass pieces of his legislative agenda that he says will reduce costs for Americans. These include plans to invest in energy sources other than fossil fuels, lower the cost of prescription drugs, lower the cost of childcare, and build more government housing. Biden would also raise taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans.
“All of my plan is focused on lowering costs for the average family in America,” he said.
EJ Antoni, an economic research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, criticized Biden’s plan in an interview with The Epoch Times on Tuesday while accusing the Federal Reserve of being complicit in robbing trillions from Americans through the “hidden tax” of inflation.
“The president has a list of items that do not address the underlying costs of inflation, and those are the bad actions of the Federal Reserve, and the bad actions of this administration in its war on reliable energy—namely coal, oil, and natural gas produced here in America,” Antoni said.
Antoni says the Fed has printed excess money to finance deficits created by increased government spending under the Biden administration, particularly from the American Rescue Plan (ARP)—the pandemic relief bill that passed along party lines and cost taxpayers nearly $2 trillion.
While Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen touts the ARP as “justified and appropriate,” she admitted on May 4 that the spending plan “did feed” inflation.
“So, look, inflation is a matter of demand and supply, and the spending that was undertaken in the American Rescue Plan did feed demand,” Yellen said.
Biden also pointed to the Fed’s role in bringing down inflation and is urging the Senate to confirm his nominees to the agency.
The Fed moved forward with its biggest rate hike in 22 years last week, raising interest rates by a half-percentage point to try to rein in inflation.
Biden also had disparaging words for Republicans in Tuesday’s speech, pointing specifically to an economic plan from Sen. Rick Scot (R-Fla.) which Biden refers to as an “ultra-MAGA” agenda that will raise taxes on the middle class.
“Republicans in Congress are so deeply committed to protecting big corporations and CEOs that they’d rather see taxes on working American families and try to depress their wages to take on inflation,” Biden said.
Scott called Biden’s attack “lies,” releasing a statement Tuesday saying that “the most effective thing Joe Biden can do to solve the inflation crisis he created is resign.”
The RNC’s statement also accused Biden of lying about the GOP’s agenda, saying he is “attempting to gaslight Americans into believing that it is Republicans who want to raise taxes.”
The upcoming Consumer Price Index Report from the Department of Labor is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 11.
