In the absence of leadership from the White House, Republicans in Congress have stepped up.
Republican plans to boost innovation and economic activity at home would help workers across the country who desperately need any sort of relief they can get.
T he Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released new inflation numbers that are lower than they were at their recent, 2022 peak but still nowhere near the Federal Reserve’s target. The figures confirm that wages have not kept up with increased prices since 2021. This isn’t a one-time hit to American families. Inflation is cumulative, and the hardworking Kansans I represent — and all Americans — have been suffering for the past three years.
Since Joe Biden took office, inflation is up by 20.1 percent. The Joint Economic Committee estimates that Kansans are paying, on average, more than $1,000 more each month for the same goods and services as they did in January 2021. And since then, the average Kansas household has spent $25,678 more because of inflation.
President Biden and his administration try to highlight rosier statistics, but anyone who buys gas or groceries feels the true impact of Bidenomics — and knows it is a complete failure. According to Gallup’s latest annual Economy and Personal Finance poll, inflation, once again, ranks as families’ top financial problem. For three years in a row, inflation has topped the list, and this year the percentage of Americans citing this concern reached a new high.
Almost unbelievably, Biden and his D.C. bureaucrats are unaware of or choose to ignore this reality. In 2021, when inflation was first creeping up, treasury secretary Janet Yellen dismissed concerns about inflation by calling it “transitory,” forgetting that even a short period of inflation can have adverse effects for Americans. While she has since admitted to have chosen the wrong word, Secretary Yellen still doesn’t seem to understand just how bad Bidenflation is.
In a Ways and Means hearing at the end of April, I asked Secretary Yellen how she would describe inflation. She was unable to do so — apart from disingenuously claiming that inflation had gone down. I was quick to inform her that many of my constituents use words and phrases such as “crippling,” “painful,” or “hindering their pursuit of the American dream” when describing inflation.
But it is not just high prices that Americans have to worry about. Higher taxes are just around the corner thanks to Biden, the Democrats, and Yellen.
President Biden recently said he would allow certain tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to lapse. This is in direct conflict with the president’s earlier promise to not raise taxes on anyone who’s making less than $400,000. The Tax Foundation estimates that if TCJA is allowed to expire, constituents in my district would pay, on average, $1,930 more in taxes in 2026. It is unthinkable that Biden would add a tax increase such as this on top of the historic inflation that is already wearing away people’s paychecks.
In the absence of leadership from the Treasury and the White House, Congress has stepped up. Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith (R., Mo.) recently announced the formation of ten tax teams to address the pending expiration of TCJA’s provisions. These teams will cover issue areas from manufacturing and supply chains to global competitiveness.
I’m pleased to lead the U.S. Innovation Tax Team that will look for pro-growth policies that would encourage research and development within our borders, U.S.-based intellectual-property development and ownership, and more American manufacturing. Americans are innovators: It’s in our DNA. From the air conditioner to the zipper and everything in between, Americans have been at the forefront of innovations that have changed the world. We need to ensure that we continue to support the life cycle of innovation — and keep it here, in the U.S.
Whatever we can do to boost innovation and economic activity at home would be a help to workers across the country who desperately need any sort of relief they can get from Bidenflation. Americans can’t stomach high prices and high taxes any longer.