Over the Labor Day weekend, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running digital ads on social media blaming House Republicans for “driving up the price of burgers.” But that’s misleading. The sizable rise in ground beef prices is tied to drought conditions in recent years, among other factors.
Lawmakers of both parties often blame each other for rising prices, and such finger-pointing is popular around holidays, with political rhetoric reminding voters about the size of their grocery bills for family get-togethers. The DCCC messaging mirrors Republicans’ arguments during the 2022 midterms, when congressional campaigns tied an increase in inflation to then President Joe Biden, and by extension the Democrats. (As we’ve written, economists cited several reasons for the higher inflation. And while stimulus spending did contribute, the root of the problem, economists said, was the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia’s war with Ukraine further affected prices.)
Here, again, prices have been affected by multiple factors – not merely an action, or inaction, by Congress.
