Manchin Says Congress Can ‘No Longer Ignore the Economic Pain’ Caused by Inflation

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is warning that lawmakers cannot “ignore” the “pain” facing Americans caused by inflation.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Manchin wrote, “By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not ‘transitory’ and is instead getting worse.”

“From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day,” he added.

His tweet comes after data from the Labor Department found that the consumer-price index, a measure of the prices consumers pay for goods and services, rose at its faster annual pace since 1990, as IJR reported.

In the past 12 months, prices rose 6.2%, and October marked the fifth month in a row that inflation was over 5%.

The Wall Street Journal notes that consumer spending increased at a 1.6% annual rate in the third quarter, down from 12% in the previous quarter. It attributes the drop to a “scarcity of new cars and other durable goods.”

The increase in prices comes as companies are seeing increased demand for goods but are facing supply chain bottlenecks and difficulties getting materials.

Kathy Bostjancic, the chief U.S. financial economist at Oxford Economics, told The Wall Street Journal, “The bigger picture is we’re likely to see inflation climb higher.”

“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” she added.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told NPR earlier this month, “I expect that next year, many of the supply bottlenecks that we’re experiencing now in opening up our economy will recede.”

“Sometime during the second half of the year, we’ll see inflation rates moving back toward the 2% that we regard as normal,” she added.

In a statement in September, Manchin voiced opposition to Democrats spending bill, which at the time was expected to cost $3.5 trillion, as he cited concerns about inflation.

“Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, 🏛️Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation,” he said, adding, “I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why 🏛️Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs.”