If you’ve been shopping for anything lately, you’re feeling the pain of higher prices. We’ve heard that inflation is the problem, but we can’t all explain what it actually is and where is actually comes from. Americans for Prosperity’s Senior Fellow for Fiscal Policy Kurt Couchman captures the essence of inflation’s cause and effect with the following explanation. Put simply, inflation is a problem created by the government. Congress spends too much and Congress borrows too much and when that happens, the Federal Reserve prints money to cover it. The more the Federal Reserve prints, the less our money is worth and the more everything costs.
Considering the pain inflation is costing Americans from all corners of the nation, it was extraordinary to believe President Biden, Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi were considering more federal spending to the tune of hundreds of billions. When we realized the deal was struck with Senators Manchin and Sinema, we knew the House would act to send the legislation to the President in short order. Indeed, Speaker Pelosi accomplished the task of getting every Democrat in congress to vote yes. Americans for Prosperity also acted with exigency, launching a six-figure accountability campaign targeting six members of the Senate and twelve members of Congress, including U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district. The ads step through key components of the Inflation Reduction Act, specifically pointing out the $770 billion of new taxes and spending and highlight the numerous expert analyses that find the bill won’t have a meaningful impact on inflation. The ad also highlights that for the higher taxes on American energy, the higher taxes on American businesses and higher taxes on American families we get a number of things very few Americans have been demanding over the past several years: 87,000 new IRS agents to conduct more tax audits on the middle-class, a bigger fleet of electric mail trucks and lower wages and kill jobs to name just a few.
The White House and Congressional leaders have told us the Inflation Reduction Act was an action they were taking to help combat the higher cost of living harming American families. Yet, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded last week that the changes would have a negligible impact on inflation this year and next. The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model concluded that, over the next decade, “the impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable from zero.” The natural question now is what can we do to hold these members accountable for their recent vote? First, you can sign and share our letter at www.action.americansforprosperity.org entitled “Hold Congress Accountable for Passing the $770 Billion Reconciliation Bill!” Second, commit to having as many conversations as possible with those in line in front and behind you at the grocery store and at the gas station. You make the connection about what Washington is doing to what they’re paying for groceries and gas. There’s an inflection point that’s just 70 short days away from now where the ultimate measure of accountability can be taken: Election Day. I hope you’ll join me and the team at Americans for Prosperity in voting and encouraging your circle of influence to join in the duty of holding our elected representatives accountable for the choices they’ve made throughout this 117th congress. I’m Ashley Klingensmith, State Director with Americans for Prosperity-Pennsylvania. Find us on Facebook by searching @PAAFP and on Twitter by searching @AFPPennsylvania.
Ashley Sisca Klingensmith | State Director | Americans for Prosperity – PA
m: 412.915.1551 | e: [email protected] | @AFPPennsylvania