Manufacturers sound alarm on Biden's energy policies ahead of Iowa caucuses: Consumers will pay more

Just days away from the Iowa caucuses, manufacturers are highlighting their fears over another four years under President Biden's leadership.

FOX Business' Grady Trimble spoke with Iowa Spring CEO Tim Bianco, who vocalized concerns over the Biden administration's green energy policies.

"Right now we're a large consumer of natural gas, and we couldn't process the product we make without natural gas. It would cost the consumer exponentially more if we had to process with electricity," Bianco said.

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Workers at Iowa Spring additionally outlined their inflation concerns, explaining that Biden's economic policies have not only caused higher prices in business but also increased the cost of living. 

"Inflation's everywhere now. You can't seem to get ahead of it," Iowa Spring employee Nate Setchell told Trimble. "A quick visit to the store is no longer 150 bucks. It's 300 easy. Every time...with three kids. And that lasts a week, tops."

While inflation has fallen considerably from a peak of 9.1%, it remains well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. As a result, many small business owners continued to feel pessimistic about the state of the U.S. economy in December, reflecting fears over the persistent worker shortage and chronic inflation. 

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Inflation surpassed worker quality as the biggest threat posed to small businesses in December. About 23% of small business owners cited price increases as the single most important problem in operating their business, up one point from the previous month.

In additional to inflation, the growing cost of federal regulations is weighing heavily on the manufacturing industry, with smaller firms bearing a burden that is estimated to cost over $50,000 per employee per year, according to a new study.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) released a report Wednesday about the cost of federal regulations to the U.S. economy, manufacturing and small business that found the total cost of federal regulations across the economy in 2022 was nearly $3.1 trillion, or about 12% of the U.S. economy’s gross domestic product. 

The regulatory cost to manufacturers has risen from $277 billion in 2012 to about $350 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars, an increase of 26% over a decade.

"We are not only concerned about what the costs have been to date, but the costs that are coming down the pike with a slew of regulations coming out of the Biden administration that will significantly increase this number," NAM's president Jay Timmons told FOX Business. 

For companies of all sizes across the economy, the annual regulatory cost per employee is about $12,800 in 2023 dollars, but it is more than double for manufacturers, who pay about $29,100 per employee annually. Manufacturers with more than 100 employees had a slightly lower average cost of $24,800 per employee, but those with fewer than 50 employees face a regulatory cost of $50,100 per employee.

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"These caucuses come Monday and the general election in November, they're extremely high stakes for manufacturing companies, not just here in Iowa, but across the country," Trimble said Thursday on "Varney & Co."

FOX Business' Eric Revell and Megan Henney contributed to this report.