(NewsNation) — If you shop for groceries, fill your car with gas, buy clothes or go out to eat, inflation has been front and center for you lately, with prices across the board rising for a variety of reasons.
Conscious of the effect inflation could have on the midterm elections, President Joe Biden today will lay out a plan to reduce costs across the board on everything from internet access to child care. Meanwhile, some congressional Republicans support a plan that would insure all Americans pay income taxes.
Currently, inflation is at it highest level in four decades, with prices rising 8.5% across the board. During a Rose Garden announcement Monday, Biden set a plan to lower the cost for internet access for families of reduced means to $30/month in partnership with most of the nation’s large internet carriers. “Every person in our nation, no matter how much they earn, should be able to afford high-speed internet,” he said.
The White House said this is just the beginning of Biden’s plan, and that he will work on reducing costs for child care, gas, food, prescription drugs, housing and other goods. Outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, “What you will also hear him talk about tomorrow is the contrast … the contrast that his plan draws with those on the other side of the aisle that have not put forward any plan to lower costs for the American people.”
On the other side of the aisle, Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida does have a plan, calling for income taxes on more than half of Americans who pay none now, and for the sunsetting of plans like Social Security and Medicare. Speaking on his plan last week, Scott said, “The Biden administration, they have no plan. They have no plan to deal with inflation.”
However, Scott is getting pushback from within his own party. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared, “Let me tell you what will not be a part of our agenda: We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare after five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.”
With the GOP in some disarray over an inflation-fighting plan, Biden is rolling out his agenda, some of which requires congressional action to put into effect, such as a billionaire minimum income tax, which aims to reduce the deficit by about $360 billion. However, time is running short before the midterms for either party to get any inflation-fighting plan in place.