Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who’s up for reelection in 2024, is placing blame on corporations for inflation despite helping President Joe Biden pass his massive spending legislation.
Casey’s office released two “Greedflation” reports in November — one arguing corporations are bringing in “record profits on the backs of American families,” and another claiming “big food and agriculture businesses” are making holiday meals more expensive. However, the senator voted to advance some of Biden’s most costly pieces of legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the American Rescue Plan and others that have added trillions to the national debt.
“Bob Casey rubber-stamped every one of Biden’s reckless spending bills that caused the inflation crisis and now Pennsylvanians are paying the bill,” Philip Letsou, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “Real greed is the Casey cartel cashing in on their family name while hard working families struggle to make ends meet.”
Critics attribute the spike in inflation under the administration to Biden’s record levels of government spending approved by Democrats, including the $1.9 trillion in new spending for COVID-19 relief authorized by the American Rescue Plan. Additionally, the IRA provided $750 billion in funding, of which a large portion sought to advance the president’s green energy agenda.
“There’s an economic theory called the ‘fiscal theory of the price level’ and it suggests that a stable economy requires good coordination between both monetary policy and fiscal policy,” Jai Kedia, a research fellow at the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, previously told the DCNF. “In a situation where the fiscal authority keeps spending without attempting to balance their budget, it is much harder for the monetary authority to meet its targets.”
Inflation rose to 9.1% in June of 2022, and has remained high throughout Biden’s tenure. The president continues to tout his economic policy platform on the campaign trail, dubbed “Bidenomics,” despite overall inflation jumping by 17% since he took office. (RELATED: NRSC Releases Ad Targeting Swing-State Dem Senator After Securing Top GOP Recruit)
The first “Greedflation” report, which Casey released on Nov. 8, argued that “monthly inflation has slowed with the help of Democrats’ passage of the [IRA],” and insisted costs remain high due to corporations increasing prices on its consumers. On Nov. 20, Casey’s second report criticized agribusiness for profiting off of food price hikes for holiday staples like turkey, chicken, pork and potatoes.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 21: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting about countering the flow of fentanyl into the United States, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The White House referred the DCNF toward remarks made by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday, where she argued the president “calls out price gouging” regarding “Big Agriculture,” “Big Pharma” and “Big Oil.”
“Prices for producers have grown a lot more slowly over the last year. Companies should pass those savings on to consumers,” said Jean-Pierre. “That’s why taking on price gouging has been part of the President’s economic agenda.”
Casey also supported Biden’s $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as well as the budget resolution for fiscal year 2022, which authorized over $4 trillion in new spending.
The senator drew a 2024 challenge from former hedge fund CEO Republican David McCormick in late September. McCormick ran in the Republican primary for the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. John Fetterman in 2022, but narrowly lost by less than 1,000 votes to Dr. Mehmet Oz.
A Franklin & Marshall poll released on Oct. 25 found Casey leading by 7 points among registered voters, though only 36% approve of the senator’s job performance. The Cook Political Report characterizes Casey’s seat in the “Lean D” column, along with several other contentious races in Michigan, Montana, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Casey did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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