Embattled Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) on Thursday blamed record-high inflation on the pandemic and the Ukraine war, not on Democrats’ fiscal or energy policies, for which she voted.
“Government spending did play a role in inflation, did it not?” a WMUR 9 interviewer in New Hampshire asked her.
Inflation is the number one issue in the state.
Hassan dodged the question by claiming the massive Democrat spending throughout 2021-2022 was necessary after the pandemic in 2020. “There was a lot that we needed to do,” she said.
“When you talk with economists, they are really talking to us about the things I mentioned — about getting these long-term drivers of inflation back under control. And they really are related to the pandemic and the war,” she claimed about inflation.
“Government spending did play a role in inflation, did it not?”
Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan: “There was a lot that we needed to do.”
(Economists agree Democrats’ massive spending sprees are the primary drivers of inflation.) pic.twitter.com/zGJiOitAaf
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 20, 2022
Hassan did not mention that inflation and gas prices have spiked since Democrats regained control of the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the administrative state. Gas prices were already $3.53 two days before Russia invaded Ukraine. On January 20, 2021, the national average gas price was $2.39 a gallon.
Hassan also did not mention President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to reduce oil drilling. In the last two years, the Biden administration has succeeded in driving up private and public financing costs of oil drilling, halting drilling on public lands, and canceling the Keystone pipeline.
President Joe Biden’s administration ceased all oil and gas leases to Alaska’s Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico as of the night of Wednesday, May 11. (iStock, Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, BNN Edit)
Hassan also ignored her inflation-fueling voting record. She voted for Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget plan, the $1.9 trillion for coronavirus stimulus, a debt limit increase, and the $3 trillion infrastructure package. She also voted for the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which will cost taxpayers 700 billion dollars. Experts also say the bill will not reduce inflation.
According to September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation rose 8.2 percent compared to a year earlier. A recent Heritage Foundation study shows wages for American families are down $6,000 after adjusting for inflation, an increase from an earlier estimate that put the decline in real wages at $4,200.
Gen. Don Bolduc, Hassan’s Republican challenger, slammed Hassan in a debate on Tuesday for fueling inflation. “Look at what has happened to New Hampshire: historic inflation, people are hurting, they can’t afford the necessities of life,” Gen. Bolduc said.
“We’ve got to get rid of career politicians. Granite Staters say, ‘Number one problem is career politicians.’ Twenty-years, right there,” he said pointing at Hassan in the room.
Republican Senate candidate Don Bolduc greets supporters at a town hall event on September 10, 2022, in Laconia, New Hampshire. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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