While Biden tries-and fails-to spin inflation, Tennesseans suffer

(June 5, 2024) - After more than three years of President Biden’s failed “Bidenomics” agenda—which pushed inflation to four-decade highs—a simple trip to the grocery store, gas station, or local restaurant has become a financial strain for millions of Tennesseans and Americans.

But to hear the White House tell it, the president’s trillions of dollars in inflationary spending has been a success.

Just last month, after the Labor Department reported that annual inflation in April stood at 3.4 percent—more than double the 1.4 percent inflation rate President Biden inherited—the president took to social media to claim that he’s “building an economy from the middle out and bottom up.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, meanwhile, claimed during a press briefing the same day that “President Biden’s economic plan is working.”

Unfortunately, this is not the reality that hardworking families live through every day.

All the time, I hear from Tennesseans who are frustrated about this disconnect: While President Biden continues to claim that inflation is improving, everything—from groceries and gas to rent and clothing—has become increasingly unaffordable. And they are right to be frustrated: By claiming that inflation is only 3.4 percent, the White House is hiding the truth about Bidenomics’ harmful, lasting impact on rising prices.

To clear things up, I’ve pulled together a fact sheet that explains the true cost of Bidenflation.

The fact sheet points out that although year-over-year inflation is 3.4 percent, prices are up nearly 20 percent across the board since President Biden took office, including food and rent prices up 21 percent, energy prices up 42 percent, and gas prices up 55 percent.

While President Biden falsely claims that inflation was 9 percent when he took office, the fact sheet makes clear that the President inherited an annual inflation rate of 1.4 percent, which surged to a 41-year high of 9.1 percent more than a year into his presidency. Since then, the annual inflation rate has remained well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2 percent.

When the President isn’t making explicitly false statements about inflation, the White House often cherry picks statistics to support its claim that inflation is on the decline. My inflation fact sheet points out that when the Biden administration touts “core inflation,” for example, it is excluding the impact of rising food and energy prices—where many Tennesseans are hurting most.

Perhaps most importantly, my fact sheet makes clear that President Biden’s multitrillion-dollar spending spree caused the inflation surge that continues to hurt hard working Americans. According to a recent U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee report, a family in Tennessee is paying on average $995 more each month just to tread water and afford the same goods and services since Biden took office.

Make no mistake: Bidenflation has placed a tremendous financial burden on families in Tennessee and across the country. To combat it, Congress must rein in the federal government’s reckless, inflationary spending, which is why I’ve introduced legislation to slash federal spending by 1 percent, 2 percent, and 5 percent for non-defense items. At the same time, we need to unleash American energy and deregulate certain markets to reduce burdens on businesses and lower the cost of domestic production.

Of course, President Biden won’t take these common sense measures to lower inflation. Instead, when it comes to rising prices, his message for Tennesseans and Americans remains the same: Don’t believe your lying eyes.