Capito defines Bidenomics as economic pain for West Virginians

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., didn’t mince words Thursday when asked about “Bidenomics.”

“It’s simply we pay more and get less,” Capito said of Bidenomics during her weekly virtual press briefing. “You spend more and you get less. That’s been the results. Our wages are not keeping up with inflation and families are tightening their belts. Over a third of Americans feel financially as they are in worse shape this year than last year. That’s a sizable amount of Americans who are really struggling.”

Bidenomics isn’t easy to define, but is being used by President Joe Biden as a political slogan to promote what the president argues is a robust national economy.

Capito was asked by the Daily Telegraph to respond to an Associated Press report that suggested lower inflation could become a political strength for President Joe Biden with voters as opposed to a liability. The AP report included a Biden quote that read, “Good jobs and lower costs: That’s Bidenomics in action.”

The veteran West Virginia lawmaker disagrees.

“I think that shows a disconnect by the White House,” Capito said. “I think they are going to regret labeling this particular economic environment as Bidenomics because I think obviously they are tying the president to everything that happened economically here. When you see mortgage rates up 7 percent what does that say to you? That says to me a young couple who wants to get into the market and buy a house — it is prohibitive and you can’t do it.”

Capito said it doesn’t make political sense for a president to celebrate high inflation.

“Housing prices are going up. Electricity prices are going up. Gasoline prices are going up,” Capito said. “I just think the White House needs a reality check here and I would suppose the AP does too. I don’t know of any president who could literally stand there and say inflation is my friend. For those of us who lived through the high inflationary times of the 80s and high inflationary times from just six to eight months ago, high inflation and inflation in general is a big time negative to any political figure.”

While some economic indicators suggest that inflation may be slowly easing, Capito said what she is hearing from her constituents back home in West Virginia is that people are still struggling with the high cost of food, gasoline and other everyday items.

“The president touts inflation has gone down, which it has, but it is still too high,” Capito said.

The inflation problem impacts everything, including local, state and federal government projects that are now more expensive and slower to get started due to excessive costs, Capito said.

“So Bidenomics for me is problematic,” she said. “If you look at the statistics, over 70 percent of people in a recent study said they were not optimistic that we are getting off on the right track.”

Capito also was asked Thursday about President Joe Biden’s latest attempt to eliminate student loan debt for millions of borrowers. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his originanl plan to wipe out the debt of more than 43 million Americans was illegal, the administration is now working on a plan to forgive debt under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

But that too will require approval from the U.S. Congress, Capito said.

“I mean I would have to think that anything that is spending of those kind of levels, which would be considered in the student loan region would — and remember all spending according to the Constitution has to originate in the Congress, specifically in the House,” she said. “So I think we will get the same results.”

Capito said it is unfortunate that Biden continues to give student loan borrowers false hope. Also, his original plan would not have refunded or helped those Americans who have already paid off their student loan debts in full.

“I feel concern for those student loan borrowers who signed on the bottom line and said they owed the money that have been given false hope by the administration that you are going to have all of this forgiven,” she said. “And they keep pushing it. Even the president said he didn’t think what he was doing the first time would pass the Constitutional mustard.”

Capito also was asked about Democrat Joe Manchin’s planned appearance next week at a No Labels town hall meeting in Utah with former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman, which is once again fueling speculation of a potential third-party presidential run by Manchin. Under the No Label concept, a proposed White House ticket could consist of a Democrat and a Republican with one running for president and the as a candidate for vice president.

“Well I think a third-party candidacy could be very difficult for anybody,” Capito said. “I think they are probably going to New Hampshire to see what the temperature might be in a state interesting enough that probably has a lot of registered independents. I can’t really say much more than that other than I hear New Hampshire is very nice this time of the year and I hope he has a good time.”