Sen. Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View, serves as the Senate minority leader in the Delaware General Assembly.
When not in session at Legislative Hall in Dover, I spend much of my time at one of the small businesses my family and I own. Aside from the typical day-to-day tasks that go into running a business, I enjoy meeting with the customers who shop at my stores, many of whom are constituents within the 20th Senate District.
I appreciate these daily interactions, and often, they’re able to provide me with valuable insight into what matters most to Delawareans. Legislative ideas have often been formulated from these conversations.
The past two years, however, have not been as pleasant as years prior.
Record inflation and high fuel prices have greatly diminished the buying power of Delawareans. In fact, it isn’t rare for me to see multiple customers crying while checking out their groceries, as prices of food and other necessities have risen so dramatically. In speaking with my employees, this is a daily occurrence.
There is very little, if anything at all, the Delaware General Assembly can do to impact the value of the American dollar. There are ways to try and curb the effect of inflation, such as cut taxes, like Rep. Rich Collins, R-Millsboro, advocated for in House Bill 191. Unfortunately, like most Republican bills designed to put more money back into the pockets of constituents, the Democrat majority in Dover wouldn’t entertain it.
Any meaningful action to attack inflation must be taken by the federal government.
At first glance, one would think this recently happened. Our state’s federal delegation, consisting of Democrats Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, recently voted yes in their respective chambers on the Inflation Reduction Act. Delaware’s own President Joe Biden then signed the bill into law Aug. 16. Surely, this is designed to do just what its title suggests, right?
Well, the devil is in the details.
The legislation sets aside $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service to hire 87,000 new agents. Nearly $370 billion is allocated towards energy security and climate-change policies. Many analyses, including the Penn Wharton Budget Model, conclude the Inflation Reduction Act will do little to reduce inflation.
What’s worse, a study by the Congressional Budget Office found that the act will raise taxes on the middle class by $20 billion. This runs contrary to the narrative pushed by elected Democrats and their mouthpieces, who state only those who make over $400,000 annually will see a tax increase.
To say I am disappointed in our three elected leaders to Washington, D.C., is an understatement. The lack of economic common sense exhibited by them and their elected Democrat cohorts is infuriating.
The answer to fixing our economic woes would require a time machine to go back in time, pump the brakes on spending and not implement policies that cripple our energy production. While that certainly is not feasible, passing a bill with hundreds of billions of dollars in spending and tax increases on the middle class is definitely not the solution.
Now more than ever, we need strong leadership from our federal delegation and the elected majority in Washington, D.C., to slow the government’s out-of-control spending. Unfortunately, such strength appears to be absent.
