For over a year, the Biden administration insisted inflation was transitory, played it down as “high-class problems” and implemented policies that made it worse. Now, President Biden finally lays out a plan (“My Plan for Fighting Inflation,” op-ed, May 31).
How does he begin? Blame the Federal Reserve: “My plan has three parts. First, the Federal Reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation,” the president writes. So much for “the buck stops here.”
Mr. Biden’s plan to lower skyrocketing energy costs and record gas prices? More government subsidies for the green-energy industry: “Congress could help right away by passing clean energy tax credits and investments that I have proposed.”
While I welcome the administration’s epiphany on the threat of inflation, the president’s plan reads more like a “C” economics paper than a road map to break inflation and rescue the middle class.
As the lead Republican on the House Financial Services Subcommittee overseeing Monetary Policy, I would suggest a different approach. First, unleash U.S. energy producers to create an avalanche of reliable and affordable energy that will lower costs at the pump. Second, Congress enacts pro-growth tax and regulatory policies—including making the Trump individual tax cuts permanent. Third, Mr. Biden abandons further big-government tax, borrow and spend packages, such as the Build Back Better agenda. If we do all this, the great American comeback will be on the horizon.
Rep. Andy Barr (R., Ky.)
Lexington, Ky.
This piece originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, June 10, 2022.