Palmetto State News

President Joe Biden will sign into law a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that’ll improve the nation’s roads, bridges, and waterways on Monday, the White House said.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-Columbia), was the only South Carolinian who voted to pass the legislation, The State reported.

“This legislation – that will soon be signed into law – responds to the needs of the American people,” Clyburn said in a statement to The State late Friday. “It goes deeper than simply building and repairing our roads, bridges, ports and railways. This bill invests in transit, ensures access to clean drinking water, and modernizes our electric grid.”

U.S Rep. Nancy Mace (R-Daniel Island), criticized the bill’s lack of bipartisan support and the price tag, The State reported. Thirteen House Republicans voted in favor of the measure and 19 Senate Republicans did as well in August.

“As good stewards of your dollars, we should instead allow states to use their leftover COVID relief and to let them decide how they want to invest in infrastructure,” Mace said in a statement to The State. “I believe we could have done more with less if done in a truly bipartisan and pragmatic way.”

In reference to the infrastructure bill that pledges to increase broadband access, South Carolina resident Dave Danna remarked on Twitter, “How many times can they spend billions on 'broadband' as inflation skyrockets. I live in rural South Carolina, the internet is fine. It's been fine since I moved to the Carolinas in 2016. It's not going to get any better after they spend all this money.”

Regarding the $1.2 trillion spending bill recently passed by the House of Representatives, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul remarked to Fox News, “The lie that this is only about going after rich people is frankly not true and they will go after a lot of ordinary people when this thing gets passed.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures index rose by the highest rate on record again in September. This is the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve. In light of the sustained high levels of inflation, former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin remarked, "I think we need to put a pause button on government spending [and] get inflation under control." He also argued that “it’s the exact wrong time to be raising taxes," in reference to the infrastructure spending bill.

According to Preston Byrne, a fellow and economist at the Adam Smith Institute, official numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that “your money is now losing 1% of its value every 30 days.”

In October, the Consumer Price Index increased by 0.6%, surpassing economists’ predictions that it would rise by 0.4%. This increase also eclipsed September’s 0.2% increase. Overall prices rose by 6.2% compared to a year ago, making it the sharpest annual increase in over 30 years. Fuel and oil prices rose dramatically once again in October, increasing by 12.3%, up from 3.9% in September. Fuel prices have skyrocketed by 59.1% since the same time last year.

“We expected inflation would get worse before it got better, but not this much worse. Particularly painful is the increase in food prices as we approach the holidays, and the rise in energy prices as we plan to travel more to family get-togethers,” writes Robert Frick, a corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union.

“However, both those increases are likely to be temporary, and the forecasts that inflation overall will drop early-to-mid-next year still seems credible,” he added.

Inflation’s surge was driven mainly by the increased cost of energy, shelter, food, and vehicles, indicating that rising prices are occurring due to factors beyond those associated with the reopening of the economy. The food at home index increased 5.4% over the past 12 months as every one of the six major grocery store food group indexes rose over the period. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs climbed by 11.9%, with the index for beef rising 20.1% and the index for pork rising 14.1%, marking the largest 12-month increase since the period ending December 1990. Other major grocery store food group indexes also rose over the last 12 months with increases ranging from 1.8% (dairy and related products) to 4.5% (nonalcoholic beverages).