Dem Sen. Kelly 'not satisfied' with White House work to address inflation

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona said he is "not satisfied" with the White House's attempts to address rampant inflation.

Kelly spoke Thursday with Fox News, emphasizing his concern for the price of basic essentials in his home state. The senator, who is up for re-election in the fall, said he was "working with the administration," specifically the Department of Agriculture, to lower prices on commodities like food and gas.

"No, I'm not satisfied because, you know, prices for Arizonans are still too high," Kelly said. "They need to work on it. We need to work on it in Congress here.

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"I've got a bill that I'd like to get passed that would suspend the gas tax for the remainder of this year," Kelly continued. "It doesn't bring it down substantially, but it does do something, and folks in Arizona are really hurting. I mean, prices are higher than a lot of folks have seen in their adult lifetimes."

Asked about opportunities to get his bill passed now as Democrats rally on abortion, Kelly voiced frustration with Congress' capacity for multi-tasking.

"Well that's the frustrating thing about the United States Senate," Kelly lamented. "Every job I've had before, whether it's at NASA or in the Navy, we could do more than one thing a week. For some reason, the United States Senate can only do one thing at a time. That's frustrating."

Democrats are urging Congress to pass a bill codifying Roe v. Wade in response to the leaked draft of a forthcoming Supreme Court opinion striking down the 1973 precedent on abortion. 

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Inflation has become a top priority for voters after the surge in price for gasoline and other basic necessities.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a half point for the first time in two decades as policymakers intensify their fight to cool red-hot inflation, a move that threatens to slow U.S. economic growth and exacerbate financial pressure on Americans.  

The Fed also announced it will start reducing its massive $9 trillion balance sheet, which nearly doubled in size during the pandemic, as the central bank bought mortgage-backed securities and other Treasurys to keep borrowing cheap. In a plan outlined Wednesday, the Fed indicated it will begin winding down the balance sheet June 1 at an initial combined monthly pace of $47.5 billion, a move that will further tighten credit for U.S. households. It will increase the run-off rate to $95 billion over three months.