Tim Scott says Americans 'smarter than' Harris on economy amid release of controversial plan

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., shredded Vice President Kamala Harris' economic proposal on Friday, which laid out a sweeping overhaul including broad cross-industry price-fixing and $25,000 government-subsidized down payments for first-time home buyers. 

"The American people are smarter than Kamala Harris when it comes to the economy," the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Ranking Member told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

"The ‘price-gouging’ that they've experienced has come at the hands of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden," Scott said. "When you artificially stimulate the economy by the federal government and the Democrats spending trillions of dollars, the net effect is high inflation, high interest, high demand and lower supply."

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Scott explained, "You cannot put trillions of dollars into our economy and not expect prices to go up."

Harris' presidential campaign laid out her economic policy proposals on Friday morning ahead of her afternoon speech on the subject at a campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina. The agenda focuses on cracking down on corporate "price gouging" in the food industry, and Harris plans to implement a first-ever federal ban on it.

Additionally, Harris' plan would drastically expand the child tax credit, allowing up to $6,000 during a child's first year. The proposal would also extend prescription drug price caps to everyone rather than just senior citizens. It would further establish a $40 billion fund for assistance to local governments to build more housing, as well as take on landlords to prevent certain rent increases. 

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The plan quickly amassed criticism, mainly from Republicans. However, even a left-leaning Washington Post columnist panned the agenda. "At best, this would lead to shortages, black markets and hoarding, among other distortions seen previous times countries tried to limit price growth by fiat," wrote columnist Catherine Rampell in an op-ed. "(There’s a reason narrower ‘price gouging’ laws that exist in some U.S. states are rarely invoked.) At worst, it might accidentally raise prices." 

Scott eviscerated Harris' idea, slamming the vice president and her party for lacking "understanding of the private sector."

Criticizing her proposal for the government to provide $25,000 down payments to first-time homebuyers, the senator explained it "will only make the demand higher, with the supply not moving — which means prices will go up [and] fewer people will be able to afford it."

"And frankly, unless they're going to embed financial literacy in any program, it only means there will be a higher level of default," he said. 

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"I don't know why they don't remember 2007 to 2008," Scott remarked, in reference to the housing crisis at that time. 

Regarding Harris' characterization of high prices as "price gouging" by corporations is accurate, Scott dismissed the claim, saying, "Of course not."

The South Carolina Republican pointed to Democrat-backed spending bills as the culprit of high prices. Scott noted the "Inflation Reduction Act actually increased inflation." 

"The COVID relief package, that only had 1% for vaccines and less than 10% for COVID-related health, that was $1.7 trillion of spending that resulted, by June-July of [2022], in 9% inflation," he added. 

In June 2022, following the passage of the President Biden and Harris-led spending packages, inflation broke records by rising above 9%, the largest yearly increase since 1981. 

When asked about the recent July inflation report, which showed it rising by a less-than-expected 2.9% during the month, Scott slammed the idea that it should be celebrated. He noted that the Federal Reserve aims for a target of 2% inflation. 

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"You can't celebrate the highest inflation in the last generation and then say inflation is still increasing beyond the 2% target that the Federal Reserve has and call that really good news," the senator said. "It's terrible news."

According to Scott, "People running for re-election as Democrats, they want nothing to do with" Harris' proposal. 

"But can she whip them in line? We'll see what happens," he said. 

Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is embroiled in a competitive re-election match in red state Ohio and faces a real risk of being unseated. Neither the vulnerable Democrat senator's campaign nor his office provided comment to Fox News Digital regarding whether he agreed with Harris' proposal. 

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Scott predicted the vice president's economic plan would face an uphill battle in Congress. "No way in Hades would we allow the American people to suffer under four years of price manipulation, brought to you by Kamala Harris," he said, expressing confidence that Republicans would retake the Senate majority. 

The senator has been speculated as a candidate for a role in Trump's potential second term, but he seemed to indicate he plans to stick around and lead the Banking Committee in a Republican-majority Senate. "I am excited about being the chairman of the Banking Committee. I can't think of a better place for me to do more good for the American economy, the American people," he said.

FOX Business reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

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