Democratic Washington state Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal dismissed inflation as a “theoretical word” ahead of House Democrats’ final push to pass tax and climate spending legislation.
Speaking to reporters outside Capitol Hill Friday, Jayapal, who chairs the House Progressive Caucus, said that inflation was “a theoretical word that economists use” to describe everyday price increases that families experience. At the same time, Jayapal explained that the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” would lower everyday costs for Americans.
A clip of Jayapal speaking to Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn was shared by The Post Millennial. “It is ultimately going to lead to a reduction in overall inflation, but most importantly, to the budget that people have every single day,” Jayapal said. “Inflation is, like, a theoretical word that economists use, but what families feel every day is the up or down of costs.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal downplays inflation and says it’s like a “theoretical word that economists use.” pic.twitter.com/tWvjvAm0XN
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 12, 2022
Conservatives on Twitter were baffled by the Congresswoman’s comments.
“My congresswoman, Seattle Progressive Pramila Jayapal, thinks ‘inflation is like a theoretical word that economists use,’” Seattle radio talk show host Jason Rantz tweeted in response to Jayapal’s comments. “Send help.”
“Tell that to the families that can’t afford groceries,” Washington state GOP chairman Caleb Heimlich tweeted. “How out of touch are @washdems?”
“Democrats don’t care that you have to pay more at the grocery store,” the House Republican Policy Committee responded. “They just want to make sure their special interests funded with your tax dollars.”
“Apparently Democrats think that food is a theoretical thing people don’t really need either,” FreedomWorks replied.
“Step 1: There’s no inflation. Step 2: Inflation is actually good. Step 3: There’s no such thing as inflation,” conservative satirist Jim Treacher added.
“I’m an economist. Inflation is not a theoretical concept, it’s actually a mathematical fact, just like expansionary fiscal policy (government spending) while the economy is recovering causes prices to rise,” one Twitter user chimed in.
“Gonna try this on the cashier at the grocery store,” another user joked.
Jayapal’s comments come as the House prepares to vote to approve the $740 billion climate, tax, and spending bill, which includes a number of high-profile leftist priorities, including $369 billion in climate spending, a 15% corporate minimum tax, a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks, and funding for the IRS to hire up to 87,000 new agents.
According to The Hill, the House approved the rule to begin debate on the bill early Friday afternoon, setting up the final debate on the floor. The Hill reported that a vote on the final passage of the bill was expected to be conducted around 3 p.m. Eastern time. As of the publishing of this article, the final vote has not yet been conducted. The Senate voted along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie, to pass the bill on Sunday.
Jayapal’s comments also come after the inflation numbers for the month of July showed that record high inflation, which had been continually breaking records for months, cooled slightly, from a record high 9.1% in June to 8.5% in July.
The Biden administration tried to spin the numbers on Wednesday, highlighting the fact that inflation did not increase month-to-month between June and July, while ignoring the 8.5% annual increase from July 2021 to 2022.