March 4, 2021.
That was the day that Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to advance the behemoth $1.9 trillion spending package known as the American Rescue Plan. The bill — which not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for — was signed into law a week later.
The American Rescue Plan was the catalyst that sparked the country&#8217;s highest inflation rates in over 40 years, with The Washington Post noting that prices on a wide-range of items began to rise &#8220;within days&#8221; of the bill being signed into law. The following month, <a href="https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/">inflation</a> jumped from 2.6% to 4.2%, the highest number in well over a decade, and a year later, inflation rates were soaring over 8% on a monthly basis, going as high as 9.1% in June 2022.
According to the newest <a href="https://twitter.com/jackikotkiewicz/status/1823700895005098262">statistics</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices on nearly everything have skyrocketed during the three and a half years that the Biden-Harris administration has been in office, including:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SSFV031A">Food for K-12</a>, +65.5%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SETE">Car Insurance</a>, +54%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEHB02">Hotels</a>, +51.2%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SS47014">Gasoline</a>, +50.5%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEHE01">Fuel Oil</a>, +49.1%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SAT">Transportation</a>, +32.9%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEHF01">Electricity</a>, +31.7%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEFT05">Baby Food</a>, +30.1%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEFV">Restaurants</a>, +23%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SETG01">Airfare</a>, +22.6%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEHA">Rent</a>, +22%</li>
<li><a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SAF11">Groceries</a>, +21.6%</li>
</ul>
These categories also do not take into account the loss in <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000012">average weekly earnings</a> that Americans take home, which is down -3.9% under the Biden-Harris administration.
Soaring inflation rates also triggered the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, which in turn made it significantly more expensive for Americans to take out loans to buy homes and cars.
Housing has become so unaffordable under the Biden-Harris administration that 77% of Americans <a href="https://www.nahb.org/blog/2024/05/housing-affordability-pyramid">cannot</a> afford a median-priced new home, and homes are <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/homes-for-sale-affordable-housing-prices/">unaffordable</a> in 99% of the country for the average American.
Numerous economic experts, including many on the political Left, warned before the American Rescue Plan was passed that it would likely cause severe damage to the economy because the economy was already well on its way to recovering from the economic damage that occurred following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard <a href="https://twitter.com/ojblanchard1/status/1357789090792488971">warned</a> on February 5, 2021 — the same day that Harris <a href="https://twitter.com/Forbes/status/1357690451575394304">cast</a> her first tie-breaking vote, which paved the way for the American Rescue Plan — that the $1.9 trillion bill was likely to &#8220;overheat the economy so badly as to be counterproductive.&#8221;
Blanchard <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210205203208/https://twitter.com/ojblanchard1/status/1357789090792488971">said</a> that he agreed with an assessment from economist Larry Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama. Summers had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/04/larry-summers-biden-covid-stimulus/">warned</a> in a Washington Post op-ed that the American Rescue Plan was a macroeconomic stimulus &#8220;on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels&#8221; that would &#8220;set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation, with consequences for the value of the dollar and financial stability.&#8221;
Former Obama economic adviser Steven Rattner <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/opinion/biden-inflation-spending-manchin.html">wrote</a> in The New York Times in November 2021 that he and other top economists warned the administration that &#8220;shoveling an unprecedented amount of spending into an economy already on the road to recovery would mean too much money chasing too few goods.&#8221;
&#8220;The original sin was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed in March,&#8221; Rattner added. &#8220;The bill — almost completely unfunded — sought to counter the effects of the Covid pandemic by focusing on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment. That has contributed materially to today’s inflation levels.&#8221;
Another top economist in the Obama administration, Jason Furman, <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1397236381970206727">said</a> that the bill was far &#8220;too big&#8221; and that he did not know &#8220;any economist&#8221; who supported the $1.9 trillion bill.
Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget <a href="https://www.vox.com/23036340/biden-american-rescue-plan-inflation">said</a>: “We put gasoline on the fire. That’s basically what the ARP did. It was almost written as if we didn’t just pass a trillion-dollar stimulus in December.”
But it&#8217;s not just the Biden-Harris administration&#8217;s American Rescue Plan that sent inflation rates skyrocketing over the last three and half years; the administration&#8217;s war on the oil and gas industry and its weakness on foreign policy also played key roles.
The administration hit the oil and gas industry with new <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/blog/biden-policies-raising-gas-prices/">regulations</a> that imposed significant costs on the industry which get passed on to consumers. The administration also halted new oil and gas drilling leases on federal land, which increased costs for consumers. The administration&#8217;s war on energy not only directly harmed consumers, it also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-war-on-oil-and-gas-has-cost-the-u-s-250-billion-in-lost-gdp-study">cost</a> the country hundreds of billions of dollars in lost GDP.
Increased fuel costs directly increase the costs of nearly all goods and services for consumers as it becomes more expensive to gather resources needed to manufacture products and to distribute the products to stores or directly to consumers.
&#8220;Everything we purchase is either grown with or manufactured with or transported by energy, and making energy expensive, as Biden-Harris has done, has made life expensive,&#8221; Daniel Turner, Founder and Executive Director of Power The Future, said in a statement to The Daily Wire. &#8220;The only way to reduce costs for American families is to unleash American energy and end the ideological war on American fossil fuels, but Kamala is too beholden to the radical green movement which puts climate hysteria ahead of the need for affordable food.&#8221;
On the foreign policy front, critics have said that the administration&#8217;s weakness on the global stage made Russia feel emboldened enough to invade Ukraine and face few consequences. Biden refused to take preemptive measures that could have prevented the war, including sending Ukraine weapons that they were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/19/ukraine-russia-munich-zelensky/">begging</a> for, enacting sanctions against Russia as it amassed troops along the Ukrainian border, and more.
Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine caused chaos in supply chains — just as they were starting to get sorted out from the pandemic — that resulted in increased inflation, according to an economic <a href="https://kpmg.com/us/en/articles/2022/russia-ukraine-war-impact-supply-chains-inflation.html">analysis</a> from KPMG.
Democrats passed another massive spending bill in 2022 — the Inflation Reduction Act — which was <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/one-year-later-even-president-biden-admits-the-inflation-reduction-act-failed-to-lower-costs-for-americans">not</a> actually focused on inflation, but rather on green-energy spending.
The Penn Wharton Budget Model <a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2022/7/29/inflation-reduction-act-preliminary-estimates">found</a> that the Inflation Reduction Act&#8217;s impact on inflation was &#8220;statistically indistinguishable from zero,&#8221; while the Tax Foundation <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/inflation-reduction-act/#.Yul_n1Vy6oU.twitter">said</a> that the bill &#8220;worsens inflation&#8221; by constricting the economy&#8217;s ability to grow and by increasing government spending.
Inflation could explode if Harris is elected to be president because of some of the extreme policy proposals that she has embraced, including the Green New Deal, which she <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-environmentaljustice-idINKCN2522RC/">co-sponsored</a> with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in 2020.
Experts have <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-25/group-sees-ocasio-cortez-s-green-new-deal-costing-93-trillion?embedded-checkout=true">said</a> that the Green New Deal could cost up to $93 trillion, a number that was calculated in 2019, before the high inflation rates of the Biden-Harris administration.
Harris <a href="https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1301957179860307968?s=20">said</a> that she would support ending the Senate filibuster to ram through her Green New Deal, which she <a href="https://grabien.com/file?id=702089">described</a> as the &#8220;most aggressive and progressive&#8221; piece of legislation, through Congress.
Another policy that Harris has adopted is introducing price controls to combat the inflation that the Biden-Harris administration caused. Price controls lead to shortages, black markets, a reduction in product quality, a reduction in industry investment and, when the price controls are removed, an explosion in inflation.
Harris&#8217; price control proposal was so bad that even CNN, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/left-wing-economic-columnist-blasts-harris-price-controls-hard-to-exaggerate-how-bad-this-policy-is">economic columnists</a>, and The Washington Post Editorial Board <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-rushes-to-help-harris-rewrite-her-disastrous-pandering-economic-rollout">warned</a> about the dangers of implementing such a policy.
Harris&#8217; housing proposal would give first time homeowners $25,000 in down payment, thus increasing the prices of homes by $25,000 and increasing demand pressures which would also increase housing costs.
Harris&#8217; campaign <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-proposes-raising-corporate-tax-rate-28-rolling-back-trump-law-rcna167208">unveiled</a> her plan on Monday to increase the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, which will lead to more inflation as businesses will have to charge more for goods and services. Increasing the corporate tax rate will also <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/videos/who-bears-burden-corporate-income-tax/#:~:text=Raising%20the%20corporate%20income%20tax,fewer%20opportunities%20for%20many%20workers.">reduce</a> wages for workers and damage economic growth.
The economy and inflation is by far the top issue for voters this year, with 73% of the country <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/29/americans-top-policy-priority-for-2024-strengthening-the-economy/">saying</a> that &#8220;strengthening the economy&#8221; needs to be a top priority for the next administration and 62% of Americans <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/05/23/publics-positive-economic-ratings-slip-inflation-still-widely-viewed-as-major-problem/">saying</a> that inflation represents &#8220;a very big problem&#8221; in the country today.
The Trump campaign is running ads in markets across America in both English and Spanish reminding voters that the Biden-Harris administration&#8217;s policies caused the inflation crisis that is hurting families.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The Donald Trump campaign is up on TV in battleground states with this spot which hits Kamala Harris on the economy &#8212; <a href="https://t.co/UeF2cRBC52">pic.twitter.com/UeF2cRBC52</a>
&mdash; Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) <a href="https://twitter.com/MediumBuying/status/1824765625438228936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Biden Returns To Campaign Trail, Navigating New Harris Dynamic

How Kamala Harris Triggered The Inflation Crisis That Harmed America

American Rescue Plan

Inflation

Inflation Reduction Act

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

U.S. Senate

Those who benefit from President Joe Biden’s policy to cancel $10,000 in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/student-loans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">student debt</a> per borrower will not have to pay <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/taxes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taxes</a> on their forgiven loans thanks to a provision passed under the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-rescue-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Rescue Plan</a> last year.
The loan cancellation policy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-biden-announces-details-of-student-loan-cancellation-plan">applies</a> to individuals with annual wages under $125,000. Although current law generally considers forgiven debt to be taxable income, student loans were exempted from such income-driven repayment plans through 2025 under “the rationale that tax burden arising from treating forgiven student debt as income partially undermines debt relief,” according to an <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/student-loan-debt-forgiveness/">analysis</a> from the Tax Foundation.
“It makes sense to have consistent rules in the tax code,” Tax Foundation federal policy analyst Alex Muresianu told The Daily Wire. “It doesn&#8217;t make sense to make forgiven student loan debt exempt from taxation while other forms of debt forgiveness typically count as taxable income.”
The treatment of student loan cancellation with respect to taxes differs from state to state, according to another <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/student-loan-debt-cancelation-tax-treatment/">report</a> from the Tax Foundation. While many states are following federal guidelines enacted under the American Rescue Plan, others — including Arkansas, California, Minnesota, and North Carolina — are prepared to tax canceled student debt.
The Biden administration’s loan cancellation plan has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paying-for-coastal-elites-to-get-their-phd-in-gender-studies-republican-lawmakers-blast-biden-student-debt-cancellation">received criticism</a> from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-top-dem-comes-out-against-bidens-student-debt-cancellation">both sides of the aisle due</a> to its regressive nature. According to nonpartisan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-student-loan-cancellation-would-cost-330-billion-and-largely-help-the-wealthy">analysis</a> from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, as much as 42% of the benefit from the policy would impact Americans earning more than $82,400 per year.
The Wharton analysts also implied that the loan cancellation will prompt students to “eventually reorganize their financing toward additional borrowing.” Although the policy could increase access for students who would not otherwise be able to afford higher-level degrees, universities themselves could capture the value “in the form of higher prices” as they raise tuition.
Indeed, Muresianu confirmed to The Daily Wire that student loan cancellation could distort market expectations as potential borrowers begin weighing the possibility of additional one-time cancellations in the future. “On paper, this wouldn&#8217;t change incentives to take on more debt, because the forgiveness is retroactive,” he remarked. “But in practice, student loan forgiveness suggests the federal government might forgive future student loan debt, which would incentivize greater borrowing.”
Nixing $10,000 of student loans per borrower would cost $298 billion in 2022 and a total of $329 billion by 2031, presuming that the policy is renewed each year, according to the nonpartisan Wharton analysis. A recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/clear-majority-of-americans-worried-about-more-inflation-as-biden-mulls-canceling-student-debt">survey</a> from CNBC shows that 59% of Americans are concerned that student debt cancellation “will make inflation worse.”
While the plan was still deliberated by White House officials, former Treasury Secretary and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers broke from his party to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/larry-summers">warn</a> that student debt cancellation would worsen soaring college costs. Average private university tuition is currently $43,775, while average in-state public university tuition is $11,631, according to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2017-09-20/see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities">data</a> from U.S. News and World Report.
“Every dollar spent on student loan relief is a dollar that could have gone to support those who don’t get the opportunity to go to college,” Summers explained. “Student loan debt relief is spending that raises demand and increases inflation. It consumes resources that could be better used helping those who did not, for whatever reason, have the chance to attend college. It will also tend to be inflationary by raising tuitions.”

Recipients Of Biden’s Student Loan Cancellation Plan Also Get A Tax Break

Beneficiaries From Biden Student Loan Cancellation Do Not Have To Pay Taxes On Forgiven Debt

Biden Administration

Student Loan Cancellation

Taxes

President <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> claimed on Wednesday that the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-rescue-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Rescue Plan</a> was responsible for an apparent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economic</a> rebound in the United States.
The economy met the rule-of-thumb definition of a <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/recession" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recession</a> — two consecutive quarters of negative growth — two months ago as the economy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-states-economy-shrinks-in-the-first-part-of-2022">shrank</a> at a 1.5% annualized rate in the first quarter and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-in-a-recession-after-second-straight-quarter-of-negative-growth">contracted</a> at a 0.9% pace in the second quarter. Yet the Biden administration has repeatedly argued that the economy, which has been plagued by <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/inflation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inflationary pressures</a> and persistent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/supply-chain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supply chain</a> backlogs for the past two years, is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-again-claims-u-s-stronger-economically-than-we-have-been-in-history">stronger than ever</a>.
“The American Rescue Plan took America from an economic crisis to an economic recovery,” Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1565048030067310595?s=11&amp;t=o5h9dcvzwGG3m6yD2FEqkw">said</a> on social media. “And not a single Republican voted for it.”
Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-covid-relief-plan-where-is-the-money-actually-going">signed</a> the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that included $1,400 relief payments for those who met the qualifications and an extension of $300 weekly enhanced federal unemployment insurance, at the outset of his tenure. The legislation was among the largest stimulus packages in American history and followed President Donald Trump’s $2.2 trillion CARES Act.
Evidence that the higher unemployment checks <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidenomics-how-inflation-got-out-of-control">contributed to record-high inflation</a> has continued to mount. While some states allowed residents to continue receiving the benefits through September 2021, others opted out of the program in the interest of fostering a recovery in their labor markets. Economists Harry Holzer, Glenn Hubbard, and Michael Strain <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/surprise-enhanced-unemployment-benefits-significantly-increased-unemployment-study">noted</a> in a recent paper that the states which prematurely nixed the benefits saw “the flow of unemployed workers into employment increase by around two-thirds.”
Biden, however, still asserts that the American Rescue Plan fostered “a fundamentally different economic vision” that induced a landmark recovery.
“The previous administration lost more jobs on its watch than any administration since Herbert Hoover — that’s a fact — all based on failed trickle-down economics that benefitted the wealthiest Americans and hit the middle class and working people the hardest,” Biden argued during a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/07/06/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-american-rescue-plans-special-financial-assistance-program/">speech</a> delivered in Ohio two months ago. “We designed the American Rescue Plan based on the belief that a recovery should help all Americans prosper… a plan that led to the most jobs created in the first period of a presidency than any time in all American history.”
Biden has repeatedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-blasted-online-for-graph-claiming-biden-created-most-monthly-jobs-ever">claimed</a> that the strong labor market recovery stemmed from his policies — without accounting for the reality that the job growth occurred as the United States is regaining jobs from the lockdown-induced recession rather than creating new jobs from scratch.
Meanwhile, wage inflation has been a salient factor for employers as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-continue-to-opt-out-of-the-workforce">labor force participation</a> rates fail to recover, with retailers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/consumers-absorb-inflation-as-retail-sales-increase">passing additional costs</a> onto consumers. Labor force participation dropped from 66% in 2008 to 63% in 2020, then fell another 3% between February 2020 and April 2020 alone amid government lockdowns and business closures, according to <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Biden has also pinned inflation on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-says-exxon-made-more-money-than-god-this-year-blames-them-for-gas-price-spike">corporate price gouging</a> and “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/president-biden-blames-vladimir-putin-for-record-high-inflation">Putin’s Price Hike</a>.” As year-over-year inflation reached its highest levels in June, the commander-in-chief <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-claims-inflation-is-worse-everywhere-but-here-thats-not-even-close-to-true">falsely claimed</a> that rising price levels are “worse everywhere but here” — though developed nations such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, and Japan had been experiencing lower inflation than the United States.

Biden Says His Spending Agenda ‘Took America From An Economic Crisis To An Economic Recovery’

Biden Points To Spending Agenda As The Cause For America's 'Economic Recovery'

Economy

Recession

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against the City of St. Louis on Thursday that would stop city officials from using taxpayer-funded resources — like the American Rescue Plan Act — to pay for abortions, including travel expenses and other costs to terminate pregnancies in other states.
&#8220;My Office today filed suit to put a stop to Mayor Jones and the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen&#8217;s blatantly illegal move to spend Missourians&#8217; hard-earned tax dollars on out-of-state abortions,&#8221; Schmitt said in a <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2022/07/21/missouri-attorney-general-eric-schmitt-files-suit-against-the-city-of-st.-louis-to-halt-taxpayer-funded-abortions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
Schmitt&#8217;s attempt to sue St. Louis comes off the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court&#8217;s historic overturning of Roe v. Wade last month, which fundamentally changed the abortion landscape across the nation. Since then, at least eight states have outlawed abortions with little to no exceptions — including Missouri.
The decision has left women who choose to end their child&#8217;s life in such states forced to have the operation done elsewhere. However, Missouri&#8217;s AG has vowed to ensure Missouri taxpayers wouldn&#8217;t spend a dime on the terminations.
Schmitt, who unapologetically fights to uphold the sanctity of life, filed the lawsuit after St. Louis city officials passed the &#8220;<a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/city-laws/board-bills/boardbill.cfm?bbDetail=true&amp;BBId=14073" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reproductive Equity Fund</a>&#8221; bill, which authorizes $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars to fund &#8220;logistical support&#8221; for abortion.
While signing the bill, CNN <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/us/missouri-ag-sues-st-louis-abortion-travel-funds/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said, &#8220;abortion bans hurt the working people who can&#8217;t afford child care, a hotel or time off from work because they need access to abortion care.&#8221;
However, Schmitt said the bill &#8220;clearly&#8221; violates Missouri law.
According to the <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2022-07-21---petition---final.pdf?sfvrsn=ec0f20cb_2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a>, $1 million from the so-called equity fund would cover the costs of childcare, transportation, and other needs for women who seek an abortion. At the same time, Schmitt added that the remaining $500,000 would aid &#8220;reproductive healthcare access,&#8221; which also evidently includes abortion.
Schmitt argues the bill violates state law which reads, &#8220;it shall be unlawful for any public funds to be expended for the purpose of performing or assisting an abortion, not necessary to save the life of the mother, or for the purpose of encouraging or counseling a woman to have an abortion not necessary to save her life.&#8221;
The lawsuit argues that state law prohibited public employees such as doctors, nurses, or other health care personnel like social workers or counselors from encouraging or counseling women to abort their unborn child.
&#8220;The Missouri General Assembly&#8217;s determination &#8216;that the state and all of its political subdivisions are a &#8216;sanctuary of life&#8217; that protects pregnant women and their unborn children,'&#8221; Schmitt said.
Schmitt warned city officials before signing the bill he would file a lawsuit against the move, but the city&#8217;s mayor has stood her ground in using taxpayer money for elective abortions.
&#8220;I will not back down when our opponents threaten, bully or demean our city,&#8221; the mayor said, according to CNN. &#8220;Especially the attorney general, who is more concerned about chasing clout than care.&#8221;
Just the News <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/missouri-ag-threatens-sue-cities-pledging-2-million-covid-funds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>, Mayor Jones, said 70 percent of Missourians oppose political interference in abortion access, and legal threats would not stop their fight to protect reproductive health care rights for St. Louis families.

Supreme Court Hears Challenge To Trump-Era “Remain In Mexico” Policy

Missouri Attorney General Sues St. Louis To Stop Abortions Using Taxpayer Funds

Abortion

Eric Schmitt

Missouri

Pro-Life Movement

St. Louis

An IHOP in Wasilla, Arkansas, posted a sign targeting President Biden for giving out “way too much free money” after the restaurant had trouble hiring workers. The restaurant wrote, “Due to the fact that Biden gave out way to (sic) much free money and nobody wants to work anymore. We are forced to reduce our hours during the week.”
The restaurant listed its new hours as 7 a.m. &#8211; 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. &#8211; 10 p.m. on the weekends.
https://twitter.com/ThatOtherDude12/status/1469437351822774272
Some supportive messages were posted on social media, including, “Hey iHop, my family and I don&#8217;t normally eat breakfast out but I will make it a point to support your business because you dare speak the truth at a time it&#8217;s being silenced.” Another stated, “Kudos to iHop for being truthful and not freaking woke. Think our family of 6 will stop by.”
Last July, a Taco Loco in Folsom, California, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9780031/Restaurant-owner-posts-sign-blaming-government-state-handouts-slow-service-amid-staff-shortage.html">posted a sign</a> reading, “&#8217;To our loyal customers. Sadly, due to government and state handouts no one wants to work anymore. Therefore, we are short staffed. Please be patient with our staff that did choose to come to work today to serve you.”
Last week, the Department of Labor’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) admitted there were 11.03 million job openings in the United States — exceeding the number of people actively searching for work by 3.6 million, as <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/there-are-now-3-6-million-more-jobs-than-people-willing-to-take-them/">The Daily Wire</a> reported.
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/08/jolts-october-report-great-resignation-slowed-job-openings-jumped.html">CNBC</a> reported:
<blockquote>The JOLTS report is closely watched at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere for signs of labor market tightness…
The coronavirus pandemic has seen quits surge to what had been record highs. Even with October’s decline, the level is still 24% above where it was a year ago. Economists generally see the exodus as greater opportunity in the pandemic-era jobs market spurred by many workers still reluctant to come off the sidelines either because of child-care issues or health concerns.
Through November, the labor force was still about 2.4 million smaller than what it had been in February 2020. The total employment level was more than 3.5 million down.</blockquote>
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-bidenomics-issues-every-american-should-know-about-kevin-brady-on-unemployment-taxes-and-inflation?al_applink_data=%7B%22target_url%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.dailywire.com%5C%2Fnews%5C%2Fthe-bidenomics-issues-every-american-should-know-about-kevin-brady-on-unemployment-taxes-and-inflation%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dbenshapiro%26fbclid%3DIwAR0Sa-er6T2DegajAR3H8AnAVVQICMSDxgOQqqCSBTcdD9zKIqUymTRvJ-g%22%2C%22extras%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22referer_app_link%22%3A%7B%22url%22%3A%22fb%3A%5C%2F%5C%2F%5C%2F%22%2C%22app_name%22%3A%22Facebook%22%7D%7D">The Daily Wire</a> last August that President Biden’s American Rescue Plan’s $300-per-week enhanced federal unemployment insurance was “crushing Main Street businesses.” He added, “Companies of all sizes simply can’t find the workers they need, whether they’re retailers, restaurateurs, or production lines — this is inevitable when you pay four out of ten Americans more to stay home than to work.”
“Though the enhanced unemployment checks expired in September, Brady observed similar distortionary effects from Child Tax Credits,” The Daily Wire added.
Earlier this month, Northrop Grumman chief executive Kathy Warden <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/northrop-grumman-ceo-says-labor-shortages-supply-chain-are-threatening-defense-industry/">warned</a> that labor shortages were problematic for the defense industry. “When I think about the challenges that we all might face going into next year, the labor shortages that we’re seeing are suddenly one that’s top of mind,” Warden told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan during an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/03/northrop-grumman-ceo-warden-on-labor-shortages-omicron-variant.html">interview</a>. “We have seen an increase in demand for the kinds of skills that we need to support our work at the same time that we’ve seen labor participation rates go down.”

Unemployment Claims Rise Slightly, From A Pandemic Low

Understaffed Arkansas IHOP Posts Sign: ‘Biden Gave Out Too Much Free Money’

In an open <a href="https://pfnyc.org/news/250-of-nys-large-employers-and-small-business-leaders-challenge-need-for-state-tax-increases/">letter</a> to New York City officials on Tuesday, a group of 250 business leaders asked the city not to raise taxes as they struggle to get back on its feet after over a year of economic hardships from the pandemic.
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📨 Today 250 large employers and small business leaders issued a letter to state lawmakers re increases in taxes and spending. Full letter: <a href="https://t.co/XdRpyFLCpx">https://t.co/XdRpyFLCpx</a> <a href="https://t.co/kcVZub8RVr">https://t.co/kcVZub8RVr</a>
&mdash; Partnership for New York City (@Partnership4NYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Partnership4NYC/status/1374335960092131328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The letter is addressed to Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie, telling the government officials that the leaders felt the need &#8220;to express alarm at plans to enact the largest spending and tax increases in the state&#8217;s history.&#8221;
The leaders add that the &#8220;current budget proposals&#8221; will make it more difficult for New York to recover from the devastating economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year.
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-new-york-taxation-idUSKBN2BF2K8">Reuters</a> reports, &#8220;New York’s fiscal year 2022 budget projects a $37 billion revenue loss over four years due to the pandemic. Budget plans have called for raising $1.54 billion and $1.4 billion in the next two fiscal years on taxable income greater than $5 million.&#8221;
The letter states,
<blockquote>The American Rescue Plan, for which most of us advocated, is providing $1.9 trillion in federal funding to eliminate the need for new state and local taxes this year. Once we are on a path toward restoring more than one million jobs and thousands of small businesses that New York has lost in the past twelve months, there may well be need to raise new revenues to fill the gaps in our education, health and social welfare systems.
At this moment, however, significant corporate and individual tax increases will make it far more difficult to restart the economic engine and reassemble the deep and diverse talent pool that makes New York the greatest city in the world. We are not alone in this view; among others, the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission has said these tax increases are “both unnecessary and economically risky,” thanks to federal aid and higher than expected tax receipts in 2020.</blockquote>
The business leaders add that the pandemic has shown that people can work from anywhere, and increasing taxes in New York will make it more difficult to bring employees back to New York who have relocated elsewhere over the past year.
&#8220;This is not about companies threatening to leave the state; this is simply about our people voting with their feet,&#8221; the letter continues, stating that new taxes could lead to companies moving their businesses to other states &#8220;where the talent wants to live and work.&#8221; The leaders use the example of the 1970s when half of the city&#8217;s Fortune 500 companies left New York &#8220;and it took thirty years to recover.&#8221;
The letter continues, stating that the coronavirus pandemic &#8220;has also put a spotlight on the inequitable condition of Black and Latinx communities, low-wage workers and immigrant populations who were struggling to survive in our high-cost cities in the best of times but have been ravaged during the past year. We understand your need to respond to these urgent human needs and we will continue to support these efforts through expansion of partnerships for education and workforce development, hiring and small business assistance.&#8221;
The leaders make the point that COVID-19 has likely affected the region in ways that are not fully known yet, adding that &#8220;a healthy state economy&#8221; needs government and businesses to be able to work together.
The letter closes with the plea for government leaders to &#8220;hold off on major tax and spending changes&#8221; until the coronavirus pandemic is in the past, &#8220;and the path to recovery is better defined.&#8221;

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New York City Business Leaders Ask Officials Not To Raise Taxes As City Recovers From Pandemic

Andrew Cuomo

New York

New York City

Small Businesses

The United States Department of Agriculture announced on Monday that it will be increasing benefits from its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, otherwise known as food stamps. The move comes by way of funding from the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden&#8217;s COVID relief bill that was recently signed into law.
According to a <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/03/22/usda-increases-snap-benefits-100-household-funding-american-rescue">press release</a> by the USDA, the department plans to implement &#8220;a 15 percent increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits through September 2021, providing an estimated $3.5 billion to households experiencing food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic.&#8221; The expansion of 15% &#8220;will provide about $28 more per person, per month, or more than $100 more per month for a household of four, in additional SNAP benefits.&#8221;
“We cannot sit by and watch food insecurity grow in the United States,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The American Rescue Plan brings help to those hurting the most due to the pandemic. It increases SNAP benefits so households can afford to put food on the table. It invests in working people and small towns and small businesses to get the economy back on track. And it makes the most meaningful investments in generations to reduce poverty.”
According to <a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/34SNAPmonthly-3a.pdf">data</a> provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, participation in the program increased from the fiscal year of 2019 to 2020 by over 4 million persons. From the fiscal year of 2020 to 2021, it increased by almost another 2 million persons. However, the fiscal year of 2018 shows similar numbers to 2020 and 2021 at 40.7 million people participating in the program. The 2020 and 2021 fiscal year participation numbers were around 39.8 million people and 41.7 million people, respectively.
The data also includes information about the costs of the benefits program. In 2018, the cost was over $60 billion, but during the fiscal year of 2019, the cost went down to $55 billion. In 2020, the cost increased to over $74 billion.
An <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/arp-national-factsheet.pdf">information sheet</a> on the nutrition program extension states that without the COVID relief bill, the expansion of the program in place would end in June. It states, &#8220;The extension will provide an estimated $3.5 billion in relief directly to over 41 million people living in struggling households. In addition to helping millions of families put food on the table, additional SNAP benefits are shown to have a powerful stimulative impact on the economy.&#8221; It also claims that more benefits provided through SNAP help to reduce child poverty by half, which it says is one of the American Rescue Plan&#8217;s &#8220;most powerful estimated impacts.&#8221;
The expansion will also assist states as they give out more benefits through SNAP by providing &#8220;an additional $1.135 billion in administrative resources for states over three years, without requiring states to match those funds.&#8221;
The government benefits <a href="https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/361">website</a> says that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the largest of its kind. It allows low-income individuals and families to use an Electronic Benefits Transfer card in order to receive help in order to purchase food. The website explains, &#8220;This card can be used like a debit card to purchase eligible food in authorized retail food stores.&#8221;
People who wish to check if they are eligible for the program can visit the SNAP eligibility <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility">website</a>.

72690018-F58C-4E3A-B609-228DA3836CF6_1_201_a

USDA Increases Food Stamps Program With COVID Relief Bill Funding

Food Stamps

Tom Vilsack

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it plans to give $10 billion to schools in order to help them expand COVID-19 testing and reopen classrooms.
The funds come from Biden&#8217;s recently-passed COVID relief bill. Health and Human Services (HHS) put out a <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/03/17/biden-administration-invest-more-than-12-billion-expand-covid-19-testing.html">statement</a> that described the use of the money for testing. It detailed how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will give the funds to states to help them create ways to test teachers, staff, and students.
The CDC put forth <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/operation-strategy.html">guidelines</a> on school reopening in February and included specifications on testing as an added layer of protection against COVID-19 spread in schools. The CDC recommended that schools use diagnostic testing if someone is showing symptoms of being infected with COVID-19 at school, as well as incorporating screening testing at some locations in order to prevent a potential spread.
The statement from the administration explains that the funding will be sent out &#8220;quickly as part of a strategy to help get schools open in the remaining months of this school year.&#8221; It adds that on top of diagnostic testing, &#8220;serial screening testing will help schools identify infected individuals without symptoms who may be contagious so that prompt action can be taken to prevent further transmission.&#8221; The CDC, as well as local and state health departments, will assist schools in the effort to set up the testing structures since many schools might not have these programs in place.
The <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-education-announces-american-rescue-plan-funds-all-50-states-puerto-rico-and-district-columbia-help-schools-reopen">Department of Education</a> also released a detailed list of how $122 billion of the COVID relief act would be allocated to each state for schools to reopen. The funds can be used for more Wi-Fi hotspots, hiring workers, funding programs including summer school, and more. It can also be allocated in order to create ways &#8220;to meet the social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs of students hit hardest by the pandemic, including through evidence-based interventions and critical services like community schools.&#8221; The $122 billion going to schools does not include the $10 billion HHS is providing for testing.
The Department of Education&#8217;s announcement also comments on the importance of using the funds in order to increase equity. It stated that Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona &#8220;underscored the importance of advancing equity in states&#8217; efforts to reopen schools quickly and safely.&#8221; American Rescue Plan funds can be used in order to &#8220;equitably expand opportunities for students who need the funds most, including students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, students with disabilities, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, and students with inadequate access to technology.&#8221;
On top of the $122 billion funding for schools, The Department of Education said that the COVID relief bill &#8220;includes $7.6 billion for special education, children and youth experiencing homelessness, Tribal educational agencies, Native Hawaiians, and Alaska Natives, emergency assistance to non-public schools, and the Outlying Areas (American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), as well as $40 billion for higher education.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/03/17/biden-stimulus-money-give-schools-10-billion-covid-testing/4734108001/">press release</a> on Wednesday, Cardona said, “The extraordinary steps the department is taking to get these resources to states quickly will allow schools to invest in mitigation strategies to get students back in the classroom and stay there, and address the many impacts this pandemic has had on students — especially those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.&#8221;
<aside class="gnt_em gnt_em_pdf" data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="loadPdf" aria-label="Ed embedded PDF" data-v-pdfurl="https://oese.ed.gov/files/2021/03/FINAL_ARP-ESSER-Methodology-and-Table.pdf"></aside>

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Biden Administration To Give $10 Billion To Schools For COVID Testing

Department of Education

According to the spokesman for New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that the U.S. Senate passed on Saturday stipulates enough funds for the state of New York that the state’s projected budget deficit will be erased.
Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro tweeted of the “American Rescue Plan,” “Ok. Thanks to @SenSchumer NYS budget deficit for this year is…..Zero, nada, niete, zilch (NY terms).”
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Ok. Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenSchumer</a> NYS budget deficit for this year is&#8230;..
Zero, nada, niete, zilch (NY terms)
&mdash; Angelo Roefaro (@AngeloRoefaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngeloRoefaro/status/1369007072700948480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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“The American Rescue Plan provides state government coffers with $12.6 billion in unrestricted aid, a measure championed by Schumer, the New York senior senator,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/08/schumer-federal-pandemic-relief-eliminates-nys-deficit/">The New York Post</a> reported. “Asked if the geyser of pandemic relief eliminates the needs for tax hikes or spending cuts, Roefaro told The Post, ‘the statement speaks for itself. … How NY decides its budgetary policy is a matter for the state legislature and the administration. Our job was to deliver resources to help NY confront and overcome Covid and its impacts, including the fiscal impact. And we did that fully and completely.’”
Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still considering a tax increase. “It is on the table,&#8221; he said in reference to the possibility of tax hikes. &#8220;It is the difference between $12.5 and $15 [billion]. And don’t get me wrong, the $12.5 billion is very, very helpful. But as you know, because I’ve said it a hundred and fifty times, we needed $15 billion in my opinion. So we do have a gap there, and tax increases are on the table. And they’re on the table for the Assembly and the Senate, I’m not speaking for them, they can speak for themselves, but yes, they are on the table, because you have damage to repair.”
E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy said bluntly to the Post, “There’s no need for a tax increase,” arguing that the federal stimulus could obviate the need for additional taxes for two years.
WalletHub <a href="https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494">reported</a> in June 2020 that they compared states across the nation based on property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excise taxes and found that New York’s total tax burden was the highest in the country, at 12.28%. By way of contrast, Florida, whose GOP governor Ron DeSantis has been unfavorably compared to Cuomo numerous times by the legacy media, ranked 46 out of 50 states. Alaska ranked 50.
“The Senate-passed bill would waive federal tax obligations on the first $10,200 of jobless benefits. The provision would apply to households with incomes under $150,000,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/the-american-rescue-plan-creates-a-tax-problem-for-the-unemployed.html">CNBC</a> reported. “A tax waiver on up to $10,200 of benefits may greatly reduce or eliminate a worker’s tax bill. Taxpayers may ultimately get money back from the IRS if they overpay, but that timing is unclear.”
&#8220;With its massive price tag, and major expansion of federal social safety net programs, the package is set to count among one of the largest rescue measures in U.S. history,&#8221; <a href="http://v">The Washington Post</a> reported.
“Both House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have labeled the bill a Democratic ‘wish list,’” <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/09/974841565/heres-whats-in-the-american-rescue-plan-as-it-heads-toward-final-passage">NPR</a> noted.

Democratic Senators Schumer, Durbin, and Stabenow Hold News Conference On The Hill

Schumer Spokesman Celebrates: $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Plan Erases NY Budget Deficit

Charles Schumer

Coronavirus Relief

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