WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Liz MacDonald on The Evening Edit to discuss the Democrats’ reckless spending and rising inflation.
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Partial Transcript:
Hagerty on Biden and Democrats’ inflation-fueling policies: “I think it’s these reckless policies that the Biden Administration has induced from the very beginning, Liz. They’ve waged war on the oil and gas industry here in America. It’s no surprise that gas is up more than 50 percent at the pump. And for every industry that uses oil and gas as a feed stock, the cost of production has gone up and every good has to be transported in America. Again, inherently inflationary. If you look at what’s happened across the board, their policy is throwing more and more money into the system while they’re basically subsidizing unemployment and creating policies that keep people out of the workforce. Again, it’s dampening supply at the same time they’re just stimulating demand like crazy.”
Hagerty on Biden’s reckless spending: “I think this is exactly why Americans believe that Biden doesn’t care about inflation. He’s just stayed on the same talking point. He’s even claimed that if you pass this—what is now close to a $5 trillion package when you look at the real numbers coming out of [the Congressional Budget Office] CBO—that’s going to somehow cure inflation. No, it’s going to stimulate it even further. The American public know this, and Biden’s just trying to deny reality and stick to some talking points that actually are the opposite of what the truth actually is.”
Hagerty on the impact inflation has on the American public: “As Milton Freeman said, ‘there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary federal program,’ Liz. That’s exactly what’s going on here and what the Press Secretary is saying is the exact opposite of the truth, yet again. The budget gimmicks that they put in this bill to get the number down below $2 trillion were just taken out. That’s what Lindsey Graham asked to be done when he asked them to be scored along the same lines, the same length of time that the pay-fors were scored. When he does that, you get a $3 trillion addition to our national debt. That’s 10 percent of the current debt that’s way too high. This is a ridiculous argument that the White House is making. It’s very rich, but we see what’s happening here too. There’s a psychological component that Brian Moynihan underscored, the President of Bank of America, when he said he hasn’t seen consumers spend at this pace. The reason they’re spending at this pace is precisely because they think that something’s going to be more expensive tomorrow than it is today. That’s a psychological component if this becomes self-filling. As people begin to accelerate their spending to try to beat the inflation that’s coming. Again, that begets inflation. That’s what Biden has set off here is a psychological impact on the American public that’s very real.”