Last week, the House voted on the spending package that funds the federal government through September of this year. H.R. 2471 was 2,741 pages long, released in the middle of the night and included 33 other individual bills on completely separate topics. While this bill provides needed funding for our military and other priorities and programs I support, the overall spending levels are irresponsible and spent on items I cannot support. It spends billions on Green New Deal programs while reducing funding for Customs and Border Patrol officers and failed to provide adequate funds to immigration enforcement officers as they battle President Biden’s border crisis.
I do want to applaud my House and Senate Republican colleagues for preserving pro-life protections and rejecting Democrats’ attempts to expand Planned Parenthood and other abortion funding in this bill. I remain committed to making tough spending decisions on behalf of Florida’s hardworking taxpayers to reduce government debt and deficits.
A few hours after this vote, we learned that the rate of inflation in February grew faster than it has since 1982 when Ronald Regan was unwinding Jimmy Carter’s disastrous economic policies. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), hit a 40 year high last month. I will keep telling my colleagues, Democrats in Congress and President Biden that Americans cannot afford these price increases. They are truly devesting for American families who are paying more for just about everything because of inflation:
- Gasoline is UP 38.0% to an average of $4.50 a gallon
- Bacon is UP 18.8%
- Peanut butter is UP 15.6%
- Pork is UP 14.0%
- Women’s dresses are UP 13.5%
- Eggs are UP 11.4%
- Coffee is UP 10.5%
- Baby food is UP 8.4%
Despite warnings that these inflation rates could lead to a recession, President Biden continues to push for record-levels of federal spending which will add even more fuel to the fire.
Congressman Daniel Webster represents The Villages in the U.S. House of Representatives.