Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) delivered a speech on the Senate floor to demonstrate that inflation is “spinning out of control.”
Ernst brought a large wheel mimicking those seen on “The Price Is Right” — a television game show in which contestants guess the price of various items. Ernst used the prop to demonstrate that prices for consumer goods have risen substantially in recent months.
.@SenJoniErnst: "Let's go ahead and give it a spin." pic.twitter.com/cGPF0PImR9
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 14, 2021
“Bidenomics has resulted in the biggest surge in inflation in nearly thirteen years,” commented the lawmaker. “For Iowans who are living on a budget, these unpredictable price markups are making every purchase a real guessing game. They keep asking themselves if ‘The Price Is Right.’”
To demonstrate the extent to which costs are “spinning out of control,” Ernst rotated the wheel to indicate that the price for bacon rose by 8%, the price for clothes by 5%, and the price for auto insurance by 11%.
“There’s no winning numbers on this wheel,” Ernst said. “No matter how you spin it, we simply cannot afford any more Bidenomics.”
As The Daily Wire reported on Tuesday, data from the Department of Labor show that the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.9% since May in the highest monthly increase since 2008. The year-over-year inflation rate rose to 5.4%, while core inflation — which factors out food and energy costs — rose to 4.5%.
On Wednesday, however, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell informed Congress that the Federal Open Market Committee will neither reconsider its near-zero federal funds rate target nor taper its $120 billion monthly bond purchases — both of which increase the money supply:
At our June meeting, the FOMC kept the federal funds rate near zero and maintained the pace of our asset purchases. These measures, along with our strong guidance on interest rates and on our balance sheet, will ensure that monetary policy will continue to deliver powerful support to the economy until the recovery is complete.
In addition, we are continuing to increase our holdings of Treasury securities and agency mortgage‑backed securities at least at their current pace until substantial further progress has been made toward our maximum-employment and price-stability goals. These purchases have materially eased financial conditions and are providing substantial support to the economy.
In addition to Ernst, other Republican lawmakers are pointing to Democrats’ aggressive federal spending as a cause for rising price levels.
On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pointed to his colleagues’ attempts to pass $3.5 trillion in federal spending without Republican support: “And now they want an even more absurd, even more damaging summer sequel? What Democrats say they want to force through this summer through reconciliation would make our current inflationary mess look like small potatoes.”