Palmetto State News

No one in the South Carolina congressional delegation has decided to comment when it comes to growing concerns surrounding soaring U.S. inflation.

The Palmetto State News has written a series of articles on skyrocketing inflation and declining wages, yet no one in the Washington offices of South Carolina has offered an opinion.

The news site reached out to SC Reps. Jeff Duncan (R), James Clyburn (D), Joe Wilson (R), Nancy Mace (R), Ralph Norman (R), Tom Rice (R), William Timmons (R), and Sens. Tim Scott (R) and Lindsey Graham (R) to no avail.

Inflation has steadily increased in the U.S. during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and is being driven in part by supply and demand, and federal efforts to support an economy reeling from the pandemic's impact beyond public health concerns.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index (CPI) had spiked to 5.4% over the course of a year through July. Among the inflation noted in the CPI were resources critical to Americans, including food (3.4%), energy (23.8%), and used vehicles (41.7%).

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under former President Barack Obama and current Harvard economist Jason Furman helped to author a report in the Peterson Institute for International Economics that found that inflation has flatlined on much of the wage gains that Americans have obtained dating back to the Trump administration.

Libertarian political columnist Kristin Tate wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill, there are two significant forces contributing to current inflation: “Money printing by the Federal Reserve” and “massive government spending.”

Tate added the growing inflation was “Biden’s hidden tax on working Americans.”

Economist Stephen Moore has given his take, stating to Just the News' John Solomon Reports podcast that inflation “the most regressive tax out there.”

The recent passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill had one of its authors, majority leader Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democrats, claiming that the bill would be "fully paid for," The Wall Street reported, however, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has gone on record that the bill would contribute $256 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years.

In a tweet, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) expressed his reservations on $3.5 trillion in additional spending.

When it came to Manchin's concerns, according to The Week, HuffPost political reporter Igor Bobic tweeted Schumer's response: "Some are worried about inflation. The way you deal with that, according to economists, is to make sure we pay for it. We intend to pay for it."

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said that the only way Congress could cover those funds would be through additional tax hikes that are likely to happen.