Column: Reining In Inflation in Bipartisan Fashion

For 22 months in a row, inflation has outpaced real average hourly earnings, and remains the top concern of Americans across the country. House Republicans understand the pain inflation has caused, and last week made strides to prevent it from worsening by passing the REIN In Act with strong bipartisan support.

This legislation requires the White House to publish the inflationary impact of pending executive actions prior to enactment from now on. As I’ve said, the severity of inflation in the United States could have been mitigated if not for the current administration’s shortsighted policies.

When President Biden took office, inflation sat at 1.4%, according to the Consumer Price Index. Two years later, after unprecedented levels of federal spending, inflation spiked to 9.1% last summer, and still remains extraordinarily high at 6.4% for this past January. Despite this, President Biden has rejected any notion that he bears one iota of responsibility for it. In fact, when pressed, Biden has claimed inflation was already an issue when he took office.

At this point, if President Biden is unwilling to admit the impact of his administration’s reckless policies, then we must require the White House to make public an inflationary impact analysis for every future executive action to alert officials and the American people. If passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Biden, the REIN In Act would represent a historic move towards transparency, to hold future administrations accountable for their actions.

Many government analyses are conducted to inform Congress and the public on the budgetary and economic impact of legislation we consider. If a bill carries an enormous cost or is burdensome on the economy, constituents across the country will hear about it and have the opportunity to share their concerns with their representative. It’s time we hold the Executive Branch to the same standard of transparency.