Tim Scott Tears Into Biden & Dems For Using Corporate America As ‘Scapegoats’ For Inflation

4 months ago

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) decried the state of the economy under President Biden.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you member Scott. Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you all for being here with us this

00:05morning. Listening to our chairman, Democrats would have Americans believe

00:09that the economic pain they're feeling is caused by greedy corporations putting

00:14a few less chips in your chip bag. It could be, it couldn't be more clear

00:20where the obvious pain is coming from. The obvious pain is coming from a guy

00:25who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The bottom line is that President Biden

00:31and Bidenomics has devastated our economy and devastated people working

00:36paycheck to paycheck. The highest percentage of Americans with the fewest

00:40dollars in their savings account for an emergency is now because of President

00:46Biden and Democrats reckless spending. They like to name their bills in

00:51attractive ways but the bottom line is a very simple thing. They all add to

00:55inflation. Whether it's the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure

01:00Act, or the worst named bill perhaps in American history, the Inflation

01:06Reduction Act. Anyone who believes that inflation has gone down because of the

01:11Inflation Reduction Act, all you have to do is look at the latest information

01:15coming out of the Federal Reserve itself. Inflation continues to increase. These

01:21bills used to be hailed positively as a part of Bidenomics but now they're just

01:27economics because no one can afford President Biden's approach to solving

01:32the problems that we see in our nation. And I know this to be true because it

01:36doesn't matter whether I'm at home in South Carolina or any other state around

01:40the country, I keep hearing the same things from consumers. Rent is too high.

01:46I'll never be able to afford a mortgage. I'm living paycheck to paycheck. My

01:51grocery bills are staggering. I can barely afford them. Or I spent my entire

01:58life working and building up enough savings just to retire. But now I'm

02:04worried that those savings won't go far enough and I'll have to go back to work.

02:09Or I'm really worried about my finances and our economy. And they always end with

02:17a simple question. What can you do to help me? The number one concern besides

02:24the devastation that Americans are experiencing because of an unsafe,

02:29insecure, wide-open southern border, the number one concern outside of that

02:34border is the economy. And Americans across the country point their fingers

02:41at the devastation of inflation. Inflation today is costing the average

02:47American family an additional $8,508 just to buy the same things they were

02:56able to buy before President Biden took office. It is truly unfortunate that the

03:03Biden administration continues to play a game of deflection. Not taking

03:08responsibility, not solving the problem, but looking for someone else to blame

03:12other than the man in the mirror. First, the Biden administration has told us

03:19that the challenges that we were seeing with inflation was transitory. I cannot

03:23tell you the number of hearings I sat through, whether it was Secretary

03:26Yellen or others, who said that this is transitory because of COVID. Well, then

03:32they changed the story that it was a Putin's price hike because of the

03:37Russian invasion of Ukraine. Then it was greedflation or shrinkflation. The fact of

03:44the matter is simply Biden's inflation. Here's the truth. The Biden

03:50administration's spending policies has caused the inflation that we're seeing

03:56and the economic devastation it is producing. They are the key contributors

04:04to the price hikes we are all experiencing today. Let's take a step

04:09back to understand what inflation really feels like to the average American. Prices

04:15across the board have certainly increased nearly 20% since Biden took

04:22office. Yes, 20% increase in just over three years. For example, butters up, 27%.

04:32Chicken, 26%. White bread, 30%. When you go to the pump, you don't have to

04:39believe what President Biden says about the challenges. All you have to do is see

04:44the price at the pump, 40% increase. Energy costs, 25% increase. I could spend

04:51the rest of my time this morning discussing other examples of how much

04:56prices have increased, but the American people know all too well the challenges

05:02that they face and where it comes. That's why they trust him so little on the

05:09economy. It is crystal clear. They know what they see with their own eyes. Yet

05:16instead of looking at ways we can bring inflation down, this administration

05:21continues to look for scapegoats, such as corporate America. But here's what the

05:26Federal Reserve recently studied. The administration, and that's the Federal

05:30Reserve, studied the administration's claims that corporations are driving up

05:35inflation and came to the conclusion, and I'll just read it, unprecedented large

05:42and direct government intervention and accommodative monetary policy. Profits

05:50were back to their pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022. With respect to

05:57shrink inflation, the Biden administration's own BLS, Bureau of Labor

06:01Statistics, reported that its effects have resulted in a 0.01% average annual

06:09increase to prices and has a very small impact on the overall inflation

06:16picture. I know this is really uncomfortable for some of you to listen

06:20to it. That's just called the facts. What we should be talking about today is the

06:27direct harm this administration's policies are causing as they continue to

06:32lead to more inflation. We should be talking about the inflation spike we are

06:36likely to see after billions and billions of dollars in student loans are

06:40illegally forgiven by this administration. We should be talking

06:44about a federal debt that is growing by trillions of dollars every single year.

06:51The American people are smart. They see through this blatant attempt by this

06:58administration to blame others for the inevitable results of their policies. It's

07:04time for the Biden administration and their friends on the other side of the

07:08aisle to wake up, smell the coffee that now costs 30% more. Out-of-control

07:15reckless spending led to runaway inflation that has remained elevated for

07:19years now. We must all accept the fact and return to sound economic policies

07:24that make affording the basics just a bit easier for the American family. With

07:31that, I yield back and look forward to asking some questions.

Tim Scott Tears Into Biden & Dems For Using Corporate America As ‘Scapegoats’ For Inflation

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