US Republican senators on Tuesday strongly denounced Joe Biden's economic policies, which they said will fuel high inflation in the long term.
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While two gigantic investment plans are under discussion in Congress and could be adopted soon, the opposition believes that the money poured into the economy by the Democratic administration has already contributed to the rise in prices.
"Inflation is overwhelming the country (...) which is flooded with money"
, denounced the leader of the Republicans in the Senate Mitch McConnell, during a press conference in Congress, in reference to the aid plan of 1900 billion dollars that Democrats had already voted in the spring.
“The last thing we need to do is add a new tax and spending frenzy
,” he added.
The Democratic majority is hastening to find an agreement on the investment plans of President Joe Biden, before the latter leaves, Thursday, for the meeting of the G20 in Rome (Italy), then the COP26, the great international conference on the climate, in Glasgow (Scotland).
"I think the only thing that worries the American people is not what is happening in Glasgow but what is happening to gas prices,"
said Senator John Thune.
"The best thing for this country would be that this bill (...) is never adopted"
, added his colleague John Barrasso.
Two programs
Democrats are working on two programs spanning 8 to 10 years: one concerns investments of $ 1.2 trillion to modernize infrastructure; the other is in favor of social and environmental measures amounting to around 2,000 billion. These expenses, although high, have already been largely revised downwards to rally all fringes of the Democratic Party. And an agreement could be reached as early as this week.
Joe Biden argues that these plans will make it possible to reform the country in depth while ensuring long-term growth.
But some economists point to the risk of overheating.
For the Biden administration, the high inflation is explained by a sustained economic recovery and strong demand.
According to her, it is temporary.
Consumer prices jumped 5.4% in September, compared to a year ago, according to the CPI inflation index.
And oil prices keep rising, driven by the recovery.
They circled around their highest level since 2014 on Tuesday.