The Iowa State Capitol building Friday, July 31, 2020, in Des Moines.
CEDAR RAPIDS — U.S. House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Ashley Hinson voted against a $617 billion discretionary spending package, saying it’s time “to turn off the spending spigot … to stop this inflation tax on our middle and working-class families.”
The package would increase spending for several of President Joe Biden’s priorities, such as health care, education, child care and public health.
However, spending money the federal government doesn’t have will continue to contribute to rising inflation, Hinson said.
Hinson
“Republicans have been sounding the alarm on what would happen if the government continued to spend trillions and trillions of dollars that we don’t have,” the Marion Republican said in her weekly call with Iowa reporters.
Inflation, which increased 3.5% year-over-year in June, according to the Commerce Department, is putting “a terrible strain on hardworking families who are now paying more for just about everything,” including groceries, gas and utilities, Hinson said.
She believes Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is correct in his warning that inflation “could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we expect.”
In travels around the 20-county 1st District, Hinson said concerns about inflation have “particularly ramped up in the past couple of months.”
