Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ted Cruz have released their response to the Bureau of Economic Analysis's latest personal consumption expenditures (PCE) report. These findings indicated that the prices of American goods and services had increased by 2.1% over the year in the month of September.
Since the Biden-Harris administration took office in January of 2021, inflation has risen more than 20%, according to Sens. Scott and Cruz in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
One of the first points the legislators make is that the spending power of paychecks does not translate the way they did when former President Donald Trump (R) was in office.
“The past four years, runaway inflation has made it increasingly difficult for families to make ends meet. Since the Biden-Harris administration took office, consumer prices in U.S. cities have risen 26% faster than private-sector wages,” wrote the senators. “Paychecks now buy less than they did in January 2021. During the four years Donald Trump was in office, inflation-adjusted private-sector wages rose by 8.1%. That means real private-sector wages today are effectively 11.8% lower than they would have been if the Trump-era economy had continued for another four years.”
Furthermore, the senators shared the rising costs of houses, mortgage rates, electric bills, cars, car maintenance, etc., and asked Americans if they wanted to go through another presidential term with these kinds of increases.
“The annual cost of owning a new car and home, then, is 70%, or $21,375, higher than it was four years ago. Do we really want four more years of these policies?” said Cruz and Scott. That $21,375 exceeds the annual in-state tuition for any public university in Florida or Texas. Given S&P 500 performance, that money annually invested over four years could provide more than $550,000 for retirement in 20 years.”
The Florida and Texas senators finished their op-ed by saying it would take 10 years of “good economic policy” to undo the Biden-Harris administration’s economic policies.
“Families are still burdened by the Biden-Harris inflation. A decade of good economic policy is likely needed to overcome the failures of the current administration. America needs to restrain spending, enforce work requirements in welfare, stop illegal immigration, reduce regulatory burdens and let working families keep more of their income to build their dreams at kitchen tables across America,” concluded Scott and Cruz.
Both senators face a challenge this election cycle in races that are seemingly tightening.
