Republicans, along with some prominent right-wing Democrats, have been hammering the Biden administration over rising food and gas prices for months. In November, when the Labor Department announced that consumer prices had risen 6.2 percent from October 2020 to October 2021, the Republican National Committee tweeted, “Bidenflation is hurting working Americans all over the country.” Corporate media outlets are boosting this line of attack, from a viral CNN segment about a family that buys 12 gallons of milk a week to the downright false claims that inflation is being driven by the Covid-19 stimulus package that passed in March or by rising wages for the working class.
White House officials and party leaders have been scrambling to respond to the price scare, worried that it could cost them their congressional majorities in the midterm elections next year. After initially dismissing the price increases as merely transitory, Democrats are trying to revamp their messaging, highlighting falling unemployment and the few helpful programs they’ve actually managed to pass with their majorities, like the enhanced child tax credit payments. In recent weeks, they’ve sought to rebrand Build Back Better, the president’s signature social spending plan, as a counter to inflation concerns. “If you want to fight inflation, support Build Back Better,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said on the chamber’s floor last month.
New York...
WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against 455 people across 45 states accused of participating in health care fraud schemes involving more than $6.5 bi...