Americans are experiencing the highest inflation seen in decades, thanks in large part to the profligate spending of Congress, but Democrats and President Joe Biden seem intent on spending even more taxpayer money that will only make the problem worse.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), known for his humorous quips and absurd analogies, compared the insistent spending amid record inflation to the act of stuffing “diapers down the toilet.”
That comparison from the Louisiana Republican came during an appearance Thursday on Fox News‘ “The Faulkner Focus,” where he discussed President Biden’s “open borders” policies, the spending and inflation issue, and a reported program that uses taxpayer money to provide clean paraphernalia, including crack pipes, to drug addicts.
Inflation is the “most pernicious tax imaginable”
Host Harris Faulkner noted during the interview that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index pegged inflation at an average of 7.5 percent — up from just 1.4 percent when Biden took office last year and a level not seen since the early 1980s — and asked the Louisiana senator for his take on the situation.
“In terms of inflation — look, as I’ve said to you before, Harris, I like President Biden. I’m just not sure we can afford him,” Kennedy said.
“So far, the best evidence of the existence of the Biden administration has been the damage they leave in their wake,” he continued. “Exhibit A is inflation. It’s the most pernicious tax imaginable. It waterboards middle Americans and those among us at the lower end of the wage scale.”
“Biden wants to stuff more diapers down the toilet”
Kennedy pointed out that he and other Republicans had warned Biden and Democrats that the multi-trillion-dollar spending packages were unnecessary and would cause inflation — warnings that proved correct — but Biden and Democrats still want to spend trillions of dollars more on their partisan legislative agenda.
“And now, as I’ve said before, President Biden wants to stuff more diapers down the toilet,” the senator said. “He wants to pass the Build Back Better bill, which is $5 trillion. We’ve got too much money chasing too few goods, and if he passes Build Back Better we’ll have 20 percent inflation. And then the Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates so high that it’s gonna throw us into a recession.”
“This is not complicated,” he added and noted that even Democratic economists had issued similar warnings. “Unless you slept through Econ 101, it’s one of the first things they teach you in the first week.”
Some Democrats finally getting the message
Sen. Kennedy is not alone in sounding this alarm, as The Hill just reported that even some Democrats, albeit the few moderate ones or those facing vulnerable re-elections, were now finally acknowledging the inflationary impact of their excessive spending over the past couple of years, which would only be worsened by any additional spending.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who effectively killed Biden’s Build Back Better bill in December, made it clear again this week that, due to rampant and rising inflation, he simply couldn’t countenance any further unnecessary spending.
Other Senate Democrats, such as Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Tim Kaine (D-VA), have called upon the Federal Reserve to act and for Congress to consider limiting future spending, while Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) have called for a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax to lower gasoline prices at the pump.
