Lafayette Reporter

Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana addressed Congress on the Senate floor, presenting strategies to mitigate inflation, which he attributes to the previous administration. Kennedy emphasized collaboration with the Trump administration in this effort.

In his speech, Kennedy criticized the Biden administration's handling of inflation, stating: “I don’t want to dwell on the past, but President Biden’s administration was an inflation machine. . . . What the American people are wondering every single day as they sell blood plasma to go to the grocery store is: when am I going to get some relief from these high prices? And we do need to provide them relief. I want to talk about three ways that we are in the process of trying to reduce those prices that my Democratic colleagues caused.”

Kennedy outlined three main approaches. The first involves reducing federal spending, a commitment he claims is being upheld by President Trump through auditing efforts. He stated: “Number one: reduce spending. You see it every single day from President Trump. He said he was going to audit federal spending, and that is exactly what he is doing.”

The second approach focuses on deregulation. Kennedy argued that excessive regulations add significant costs to businesses, which are then passed onto consumers: “Number two: deregulation. The federal government wants to regulate every breath we take... It is just amazing, and each one of these regulations has a cost... That extra expense is added to the cost of the product or the service.”

Lastly, Kennedy discussed stimulating economic growth through tax policies designed to boost wages and consumer spending: “The third way we are attacking these high prices is by trying to stimulate the economy to increase wages so that we actually can grow out of these high prices... We have about $4.5 trillion worth of tax cuts that we implemented back in 2017... Those tax cuts are expiring here very shortly, and we are going to extend them.”

Kennedy concluded by reiterating his commitment to tackling high prices through reduced spending, deregulation, and strategic tax code design: “We are well aware that high prices are gutting the American people like a fish, but by reducing spending, by deregulating the economy, and by designing a tax code that looks like somebody designed it on purpose, we are going to get those high prices down.”