Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has emerged as a leading Republican inflation hawk on Capitol Hill, hit President Biden on Thursday over the latest Producer Price Index report showing the price of eggs increased 209.3 percent compared to January a year ago.
“Joe Biden’s failure to get the inflation crisis he created under control is absolutely crushing America’s hardworking families with high prices,” Scott said pointing to the latest PPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report shows the price of pasta is up 30.5 percent over the past year while the price of turkey is up 36.8 percent and coffee has increased 20.7 percent.
It shows that home heating oil prices are up 26.5 percent and diesel fuel prices are up 22.8 percent.
“For poor families, like mine growing up, Biden’s message that no spending reforms will be discussed is a clear sign that Washington doesn’t care whether they ever get a shot at success or even survive,” Scott said. “So, when you are at the grocery store this week and not buying as much meat or eggs as you did a few weeks ago, you can thank the politicians who want to change nothing and just raise the debt ceiling.”
Eggs have been expensive for months largely because of a nationwide bird flu outbreak, supply chain challenges and high feed costs.
The producer price data reflects prices charged by manufacturers, farmers and wholesalers, and it flows into an inflation gauge that the Federal Reserve closely tracks.
Scott and other conservatives are ramping up pressure on leaders of both parties to attach fiscal reforms to legislation to raise the debt limit.
He joined 23 other Senate Republicans who wrote a letter to Biden stating their “outright opposition to a debt-ceiling hike without real structural spending reform that reduces deficit spending and brings fiscal sanity back to Washington.”
Contributing: AP, Nexstar Media