The Biden administration "keeps changing the language," but the United States is in a recession, Rep. Claudia Tenney said on Newsmax Monday.
"It is what it is," the New York Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "We are in a recession. We're in an economy that's contracting because of the bad policies of the Biden administration. We need to get back to having lower taxes, less regulation, and unleashing the ability of our small business owners to operate."
Her comments come after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday acknowledged the country's economy is in a "slowdown," but insisted that matters have not proceeded to become a recession and that there is a pathway to avoid that from happening.
"It's absurd," Tenney said. "Janet Yellen said we were just in transitory inflation and now it looks like we're going to be in a recession and have permanent inflation for a long time. Hopefully, we'll be moving out of this, but they're not going to do anything because they won't do a thing about energy."
And while there are high energy prices and the country is not energy independent, the United States will continue seeing rising prices, said Tenney.
The high price of diesel fuel is affecting farmers, and New York has "tremendous supplies" of oil in its Utica and Marcellus shale capabilities, "which we can't touch," said Tenney. "It could bring also energy independence and energy security for our nation, as we now are looking and depending on enemies."
But instead, "we're right back to the ’70s," said Tenney. "We used to be in gas lines."
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., she continued, "prevented the Democrats from hurting themselves" by blocking the Build Back Better legislation.
"If we had done Build Back Better, you would see even greater inflation and even bigger problems getting people back to work," she said.
Tenney on Monday also spoke out about the attack last week on Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who was jumped last Thursday while speaking from a flatbed trailer while campaigning for the state governor's race.
Zeldin's attacker, she said should have been charged with attempted murder, not assault, and should not have been released "within hours" through the state's cashless bail laws.
"When somebody stands next to you with a weapon that could kill you and goes at your neck with a weapon with a sharp edge," that is attempted murder, she said. "He was home for dinner basically after this rally, and this is not fair for our citizens."
Zeldin, as a congressman, is protected and his accused attacker was arrested on federal charges Saturday, but Tenney said she wants to know what happens for anyone who is not protected by federal law.
"We have to call these things out," she said. "People are unsafe. They feel unsafe in their communities across New York, and we need to stand up and people need to be held accountable.
"This man should have been behind bars immediately. He was just a threat to others and unfortunately, the rest of us citizens, and everyone else who doesn't get special protection is suffering."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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