Democrat strategists hope that Kamala Harris can avoid responsibility for the inflation surge that soured the public on President Biden but the critical role she played in passing the legislation that fueled the worst price increases in four decades will make that a challenge.
The Biden-Harris administration’s sweeping $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed a deeply divided Senate in March of 2021 only after Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the pandemic spending bill that even prominent Democrat economists had warned would overheat the economy.
Republicans voted unanimously against it, criticizing the measure as unnecessary, unaffordable, and dangerously inflationary. Even prominent economists associated with liberal politics and the Democratic Party like Larry Summers and Olivier Blanchard had warned that the American Rescue Plan could cause significant inflation. Summers called it the “least responsible” economic policy in 40 years, arguing that it would push demand beyond the capacity of the economy and lead to sustained inflation. Similarly, Blanchard expressed concerns that the scale of the spending would create significant inflationary pressures, potentially harming economic stability in the long run.
She owns it, as does everyone who voted for this scam legislation.