Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said the Biden administration's war on fossil fuels has been the stimulus for the current recession.
"The economy was humming" under the Trump administration, Carter said Saturday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
"The Biden administration, the first thing they did when they got into office was to declare war on fossil fuels, which resulted in the higher gas prices and resulted in energy prices increasing, which is what has led, and been the stimulus, if you will, for the current recession that we're in right now," he added.
The U.S. economy shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession.
The decline that the Commerce Department reported Thursday in the gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of the economy — followed a 1.6% annual drop from January through March. Consecutive quarters of falling GDP constitute one informal, though not definitive, indicator of a recession.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and many economists have said that while the economy is showing some weakening, they doubt it's in recession. Many of them point, in particular, to a still-robust labor market, with 11 million job openings and an uncommonly low 3.6% unemployment rate, to suggest that a recession, if one does occur, isn't here yet.
Carter said the American people are smart enough to know the U.S. is in a recession.
"Whatever the White House tries to tell you, we are experiencing it. We see that wages are down, that spending is down, that inflation is up, and gas is still way too high. We're all experiencing that and, therefore, we know we're in a recession."
Carter said putting more money into the economy is a mistake.
"It's financial insanity," he said.
"You cannot spend your way out of a recession. You cannot spend your way out of inflation. Why don't they understand that? This is the worst thing that they can possibly be doing right now, is to throw fuel on the fire, to put more money into the economy. We've already got too much money chasing after too few products, and that's what's causing inflation. You know, the American Rescue Plan, it's been said by many, that it added four percentage points to the inflation rate. Why doesn't the administration understand this? ... They've already come after your budget; now they're coming after your job."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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