U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) led a Senate hearing this week on how high costs under the Biden administration are impacting families.
Tuberville, a ranking member of the HELP Subcommittee on Children and Families, spoke with economist and former president of the World Bank David Malpass about how the White House's economic policies had created record-high inflation for families.
Alabama's senior U.S. Senator highlighted that inflation under President Joe Biden "has been out of control" and needs to be reined in or there will no longer be a middle class in America.
Partial transcript as follows:
TUBERVILLE: Inflation has been out of control for the past three years, and it's having a devastating impact on our country. And my state of Alabama. We’ve got to rein in inflation, or we aren’t going to have a middle-class left in this country.
I want to welcome the Chairman’s three witnesses and thank you for coming today, I look forward to visiting with you.
I’m honored to have been able to invite a brilliant economist with an incredible record of public service to today’s panel, former World Bank President and senior Trump administration Treasury official David Malpass. I look forward to introducing David after sharing some brief observations about the inflation crisis.
During President Donald Trump’s administration, annual inflation averaged 2.1%. Under President Joe Biden, the annual inflation level has skyrocketed to 5.6%, and inflation has hit a 40-year high.
Under President Trump, real wages increased by $4,000. Under President Biden real wages have decreased by $4,200.
Gasoline under President Trump’s pro-American energy policy averaged $2.58 per gallon. Gas under President Biden has averaged nearly $1.00 a gallon higher at $3.49.
Unlike politicians trying to get reelected, the numbers don't lie.
Americans of all backgrounds are struggling, and their struggle shows in the data. Credit card debt has soared to a near all-time high of over $1 trillion. American families just can’t afford to keep up with skyrocketing prices.
Overall, prices have increased 20% under President Biden’s leadership. Even if inflation normalizes, those are baked-in price increases that aren't going away.
Every American has suffered as a result of the inflation crisis. People of color, single moms, and young folks just starting out have had an especially difficult time in this economic environment.
For the average American to afford the same lifestyle they had at the end of President Trump’s presidency, they would need an additional $11,400 per year today just to maintain what they had three years ago. $11,000. Two-thirds of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
So, who's to blame for the situation we’re in? President Joe Biden and a Congress obsessed with spending money our country doesn't have. The Biden administration has successfully pushed for trillions of dollars in irresponsible deficit spending and dumped fuel on the inflation fire sweeping our country. Clinton Treasury Secretary and Obama chief economic advisor Larry Summers called it right when he said in 2021 that the Biden administration’s economic agenda was the “least responsible macro-economic policy” in decades.
The good news for Americans is that it doesn’t have to be this way. There's a game plan that can turn the American economy around, and it has worked before.
We are desperately in need of supply-side growth along the lines of what President Reagan brought about in the 1980s. By growing the size of the economy and increasing production of goods and services, President Reagan was successful at [taming] out-of-control inflation.
The key to igniting that supply-side market response was a tax and regulatory agenda that encouraged economic growth by unleashing the power of the free-market system that made America the greatest, most prosperous nation in the world.
President Trump built on the Reagan playbook in [2017] with his tax cut package and aggressive deregulatory agenda. As a result of President Trump's pro-growth policies, American prosperity reached new heights and, for the first time in history, blue collar wages rose faster than white collar wages. Americans of all colors, creeds, and classes thrived.
I look forward to hearing the perspectives of all our witnesses on the economic challenges facing American children and families. I’m hopeful our discussion today can be the start of some meaningful change to turn things around.
Tuberville then asked Malpass, "Mr. Malpass, can a Trump-Reagan styled supply-side economic approach of tax cut and deregulation ease the current inflation crisis facing our country?”
“I think the answer is yes," Malpass replied. "And as we look at regulatory policy, and I addressed this in my remarks, it really matters to the economy how the regulations work and what burdens they put on. What does it cost to comply with the regulations? What do they allow you to do and stop you from doing?"
"One of the examples is the natural gas export ban. It changes the world. Do you know what has happened in Europe? It causes them to buy Russian gas under the table, so that the ban on the U.S. export of natural gas helps Russia, and it hurts the job creation in the U.S.," he added.
In his closing remarks, Tuberville noted that he cooked chicken instead of steak for the Fourth of July holiday this year "because it's a lot less [expensive]."
"[The] American people are suffering," he declared. "Our country is in trouble when it comes to inflation. It all starts with common folks, people that actually raise the food or actually run the businesses. Small businesses [are] in trouble. In my state of Alabama, we are struggling big time with the cost of everything. And it starts with fuel, the input cost for farmers input cost for truckers. The fuel cost of hauling something [has] almost tripled. In cost and inflation is not going to go down unless we get back to dependent on our fuel and our oil and gas in this country, [it] is not going to happen."
Tuberville continued, "You know, we can trick ourselves. It's just not going to happen. But regulation, regulation, regulation. That's all you have to know. Every time I go to a farmer, to a small business, the regulations put on from city to state to county, all went to federal. It's unbelievable. We need to let people live and make a living. We need to put let people do what they need to do to help our country become stronger and stronger. And until we lift these regulations, until we get the federal government out of people's lives, we're not going to have the same country that most of us had a chance to grow up in."
"So, inflation is growing, and it's not going to go anywhere. And I hate it for the American people, and I just hope the people up here in Capitol Hill will get out of the dang way. And let people live, put more money back in their pocket so they can take care of their families. And that's all they want," he concluded.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email trent.baker@1819news.com.
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