Vulnerable Iowa Dem falsely claims that government spending did not cause inflation

Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa denied a link between government spending under President Biden's administration and the skyrocketing rate of inflation sweeping across the U.S. economy during a recent interview.

Axne's position conflicts with what economists have said on the issue. 

In an interview with local radio station KNIA-KRLS last week, Axne was asked whether she believed the unprecedented inflation in the U.S. economy was linked to the White House's spike in spending during and after the pandemic. Axne dismissed this narrative as a "talking point" and said that conclusion was "shortsighted" and not in touch with "the reality of things."

"The facts are that although there is inflation, it isn’t just because of – you can’t ever just – listen, I wouldn’t blame inflation on President Trump, and I’m not going to blame it on President Biden," Axne told host Bob Leonard. "To do so is so shortsighted and doesn’t look at the reality of things."

INFLATION AND RECORD GAS PRICES WILL HIT AMERICAN’S PAYCHECKS HARD

"It was decades of moving products out of our country from – you know, from creating them here," Axne continued. "Decades of putting tax policy in place that hurt working-class families but really helped out corporations not paying their fair share. And then you throw on top of it a major worldwide crisis of a pandemic, where we’re seeing supply-chain disruption across the entire world."

"Absolutely we’re going to see this. So let’s fix it. Let’s not just sit there and say, ‘Oh, you know, we’ve got this problem.’ Let’s talk about the solutions, and that’s what the president did last night, and I’m proud to be a part of it," she concluded.

Axne, who previously dismissed inflation concerns as "false advertisements," has been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) as a vulnerable House Democrat heading into the 2022 midterms. 

Despite her claims about the causes of inflation, prominent economists, including Democrats, warned Democrats that their big-spending agenda would cause inflation. Steven Rattner, a former Treasury Department official under the Obama administration, said the spending in President Biden's American Rescue Plan was the "original sin" that caused inflation. 

"The original sin was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed in March. The bill – almost completely unfunded – sought to counter the effects of the COVID pandemic by focusing on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment," Rattner said in November 2021. "That has contributed materially to today’s inflation levels."

INFLATION NATION: THESE STATES ARE PAYING THE HIGHEST PRICES

Larry Summers, who served in the Obama administration and was the treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, also warned about inflation last year when Democrats were pushing for increased government spending.

"I do think that unfortunately some of the predictions that I made about the consequences of stimulus do seem to have come true," Summers told CNN host Brianna Keilar. 

The Federal Reserve of San Francisco also found last year that Biden’s $1.9 trillion spending bill contributed to driving up inflation.

A new report from the Joint Economic Committee revealed that U.S. households across the country are paying hundreds more each month due to inflation.

Households in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are paying the highest average of $500 more per month due to 9% regional inflation as of January, the committee reported Wednesday.

On average, monthly costs per household across the U.S. increased from $100 more in April 2021 to over $380 in January 2022, according to the report.

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U.S. inflation rose 7.5% in January – a 40-year high – and prices aren't expected to go down anytime soon as supply-chain disruptions continue into 2022, the committee noted in its report.

Axne's office did not immediately respond to Fox Business' media inquiry.