During an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) admitted that the Biden administration and congressional Democrats knew that certain of their actions would drive inflation up.
“What do you say to people who say, ‘Boy, yeah, but Washington can talk about all these big programs everything else, but I’m worried about the cost of food. I’m seeing the cost of eggs shoot up chicken, gasoline, you know, coming now with the winter, the heating.’ I mean, these are all concerns that hit very directly to people who may say you know ‘what’s going on in DC doesn’t think of us’?” host Jose Diaz-Balart asked.
“Well, let me make it very clear. All of us are concerned about these rising costs, and all of us knew this would be the case when we put in place this recovery program. Any time you put more money into the economy, prices tend to rise,” Clyburn, the House majority whip, admitted.
For many, many months, Joe Biden has blamed everyone else for inflation. He once falsely claimed that “inflation started under Trump” and that inflation was was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, he’s tried to blame the Russia war in Ukraine for inflation, which Biden dubbed “Putin’s price hike.”
Back in June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted that she and Biden were wrong about the impact inflation would have.
“Well, look, I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take. As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly that I didn’t — at the time didn’t fully understand,” Yellen told CNN. “But we recognize that now.”
Well, it sure looks like Clyburn understands what happened. In March of 2021, Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law, and, as Clyburn conceded, that sent prices up.
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