New Hampshire Dem Sen. Hassan says Biden took ‘too long’ to address inflation

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said Saturday that President Biden took "too long" to start addressing inflation, which started skyrocketing as far back as April 2021.

While speaking to reporters in Dover, Hassan, who is up for re-election in November, was asked by FOX Business whether Biden has done an effective job on lowering energy prices.

"Well, I think the president was – it took too long to really begin to tackle inflation," Hassan answered. "And I think we still have work to do on lowering energy costs. As you know, I pushed the president to release more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As a result, the administration did. I'm pushing them right now to increase funding for heating aid for this winter, a bipartisan letter from all New England senators that I led just went out yesterday on that."

"I will continue to push big oil to increase production in the wells that are already permitted that they are not using, even though they could if they wanted to increase the supply," she continued. "I think it's important to the Inflation Reduction Act that we stood up to big oil, and we're giving tax cuts to families who invest in energy efficiency in their homes and pivoting away from our dependence on big oil and foreign oil into a clean energy economy."

FED BEIGE BOOK SHOWS US GROWTH OUTLOOK DIMMING AS INFLATION BITES

Hassan was asked by FOX Business whether Biden’s handling of inflation and the border crisis had put her in a vulnerable position going into the midterm elections this November.

"You know, one of the things that Granite Staters are really focused on is obviously the ongoing opioid epidemic," Hassan responded. "And it's why I've worked on securing the border and making sure that we have the technology at the border to detect fentanyl and actually taking steps now as we're seeing our cartels move to other kinds of synthetic opioids. I'll continue to stand up to the Biden administration on the issue of securing the border and listening to our frontline personnel down there."

New Hampshire’s primary will be held Tuesday, when voters decide between Republicans Chuck Morse, president of the New Hampshire Senate, and Don Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, to face Hassan in the general election.

"Both of them are very extreme – way out of step with the future," Hassan said of the candidates. "Both of them will stand with corporate special interests."

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Without any Republican support, Democrats last month passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which is a climate and health care bill that some studies suggest will do very little to bring down inflation.

Meanwhile, the Fed has been ratcheting up interest rates at the fastest pace in decades as it seeks to cool the hottest inflation in four decades. Policymakers approved back-to-back 75-basis-point interest rate hikes in June and July and have signaled that another increase of that magnitude is on the table during their September meeting. 

FOX Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.