April 28, 2022

Smith: Our Economy is Shrinking Under President Biden

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement after economic data showed U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at a 1.4 percent annualized rate during the first three months of the year:

“Under President Biden, our economy is now shrinking. Today’s dismal economic report is another alarm bell going off about the damage President Biden’s policies are causing to the American economy and the workers and businesses who support it.

“Economic growth is now 4.3 percentage points below what the Congressional Budget Office predicted for the first quarter of 2022 before Democrats passed their $2 trillion bailout bill, and inflation is now four times higher than projected. The Washington Democrats’ spend first and ask questions later approach to the economy has not only failed to produce the jobs they promised, it has actually stymied the economic recovery that was underway before the Democrats’ agenda got in the way.

“The heavy-handed big government agenda is already weighing down America’s economy, and the President Biden’s FY23 budget request shows that he plans to double down on the very policies that are failing Americans today. President Biden wants to spend $73 trillion over the next ten years – 66 percent higher than the previous decade – while inflation rages at a 40-year high, up 10.4 percent since he took office; the President wants to layer $4 trillion in new taxes on families and job creators at a time when they are paying thousands of dollars more for food, gas, and clothing; and he wants to revive the $5 trillion Build Back Broke agenda that would only make things that much worse.”

Key Points

  • Economic growth is 4.3% lower than the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted for the first quarter of 2022
  • President Biden’s $2 trillion American Rescue Plan was the spark that ignited the inflation crisis.
  • Inflation has reached 8.5% year-over-year, the highest in forty years
  • Inflation is roughly 4 times higher than CBO projected for the first quarter of 2022
  • The average U.S. household will pay an inflation tax of $5,200 this year