By U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin
Vice President Kamala Harris has proven herself entirely incapable of answering the most fundamental question: how will she make life more affordable after her administration caused 40-year record inflation?
Time and again, Harris has taken pride in ‘Bidenomics,’ though, it remains uncertain which part of her and Biden’s failed economic policy she considers worth celebrating. Inflation has risen 20.34 percent since the Biden-Harris administration took office, causing American families to pay on average $1,085 more a month to maintain the same standard of living.
Americans who are struggling don’t want to hear Harris recount her experience of being raised as a middle-class kid. They want real policy solutions to the issues they are facing. The 82-page economic “plan” released by the Vice President does nothing to soothe this burden. Instead, it’s filled with more spending, more regulation, and few explanations on how this policy will dig Americans out of the hole she has put them in.
In this plan, largely copied from her current administration, Harris endorses $5 trillion in tax hikes, including a 25 percent tax on unrealized gains. She pushes for socialist price controls which would lead to shortages, black markets, and hoarding, unconstitutional student loan forgiveness, subsidies for green energy, and revival of the failed “Build Back Better” plan. She shrugs off the biggest tax hike in history, a 33 percent top capital gains rate, as “commonsense tax reform”.
Actions speak louder than words. As Vice President, Harris cast the tie-breaking votes on the American Rescue Plan Act and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act which combined included trillions of dollars’ worth of reckless Democrat spending and tax increases.
She says she is building an economy that works for working people. So, why are hardworking Oklahomans suffering? Harris’ economic agenda is a direct attack on the Oklahoma way of life. The Sooner State is the proud home of hundreds of thousands small businesses, however, these job creators are crushed by the weight of regulation and increased production costs. Our farmers and ranchers are paying more for fertilizer and fuel for equipment. Our domestic producers are operating with their hands tied behind their back thanks to direct attacks on the oil and gas industry from this administration. In turn, our state’s economy will take the hit.
Harris needs to wake up to reality. Sixty-six percent of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck and more than 60 percent do not approve of her handling of the economy.
If Harris wanted to offer real solutions, she would include unleashing American energy, cutting government waste, and reducing the regulatory burden on our manufacturers and business owners in her economic plan. We must return to the free market success of the Trump administration to ease the burden so many Americans are facing.
