How Kamala Harris Contributed to America’s Inflation Woes

On March 4, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to advance the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a massive spending package that not a single Republican in Congress supported. This moment, which was supposed to symbolize the Biden administration's commitment to economic recovery, instead marked the beginning of the highest inflation rates America has seen in over 40 years.

The consequences of this vote were immediate. The Washington Post noted that prices for a wide range of goods began to surge “within days” of the bill being signed into law. Just one month later, inflation skyrocketed from 2.6% to 4.2%, the highest rate in well over a decade. By the following year, inflation was hitting 8% on a monthly basis, peaking at a staggering 9.1% in June 2022.

The impact on everyday Americans has been devastating. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices of nearly everything have soared during the Biden-Harris administration:

• Food for K-12: +65.5%

• Car Insurance: +54%

• Hotels: +51.2%

• Gasoline: +50.5%

• Fuel Oil: +49.1%

• Transportation: +32.9%

• Electricity: +31.7%

• Baby Food: +30.1%

• Restaurants: +23%

• Airfare: +22.6%

• Rent: +22%

• Groceries: +21.6%

These skyrocketing prices don't even take into account the decline in average weekly earnings, which have dropped by 3.9% under the Biden-Harris administration. The Federal Reserve's response to the inflation crisis—hiking interest rates—has made it even more difficult for Americans to afford homes and cars. Today, 77% of Americans cannot afford a median-priced new home, and homes are now unaffordable in 99% of the country for the average American.

Many economists, including those on the political Left, warned that the American Rescue Plan would wreak havoc on the economy. Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard cautioned that the $1.9 trillion bill would “overheat the economy so badly as to be counterproductive.” His concerns were echoed by Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, who predicted that the plan would “set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.”

Even former Obama administration officials were alarmed. Steven Rattner, an economic adviser to Obama, called the American Rescue Plan “the original sin” that led to today’s inflation levels. He pointed out that the bill was “almost completely unfunded” and focused on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment, contributing directly to the inflation crisis.

But the American Rescue Plan is only part of the problem. The Biden-Harris administration's war on the oil and gas industry has also driven up costs across the board. New regulations and the halting of oil and gas drilling leases on federal land have significantly increased the costs of energy—a critical input for nearly all goods and services. As Daniel Turner, Founder and Executive Director of Power The Future, put it, “Everything we purchase is either grown with or manufactured with or transported by energy, and making energy expensive, as Biden-Harris has done, has made life expensive.”

Foreign policy failures have compounded the economic damage. The administration's weakness on the global stage, particularly its failure to deter Russia from invading Ukraine, has further disrupted supply chains and fueled inflation. An analysis from KPMG confirms that the war in Ukraine, which began just as global supply chains were recovering from the pandemic, has contributed significantly to rising inflation.

Adding insult to injury, the Biden-Harris administration passed another massive spending bill in 2022—the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Despite its name, the act has done nothing to curb inflation. The Penn Wharton Budget Model found that the act’s impact on inflation was “statistically indistinguishable from zero,” while the Tax Foundation warned that the bill would worsen inflation by constraining economic growth and increasing government spending.

Looking ahead, the prospect of Kamala Harris as president is deeply concerning. Harris has embraced extreme policy proposals like the Green New Deal, which experts estimate could cost up to $93 trillion. This kind of reckless spending would only exacerbate the inflation crisis. Harris has also supported ending the Senate filibuster to push through her radical agenda, including price controls—a disastrous policy that would lead to shortages, black markets, and even higher inflation once controls are lifted.

The economy and inflation are the top issues for voters in the upcoming election, with 73% of Americans saying that “strengthening the economy” should be a priority for the next administration. The Biden-Harris policies have driven this crisis, and as the 2024 election approaches, voters are being reminded of the damage done. The Trump campaign is running ads nationwide, in both English and Spanish, to highlight the inflation crisis that began with Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote.

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