"Families are feeling the pinch as higher prices mean their paychecks cover less and their bills are more," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) tweets. "Congress cannot keep ignoring the problem! It's time to balance the budget and stop the reckless spending so we can give Americans the relief they deserve."
Families are feeling the pinch as higher prices mean their paychecks cover less and their bills are more. Congress cannot keep ignoring the problem!
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) August 30, 2026
It’s time to BALANCE THE BUDGET and STOP THE RECKLESS SPENDING so we can give Americans the relief they deserve.
You cannot put lipstick on a pig. Prices are still too high. The most recent Consumer Price Index recording for "all items" is a 3.3 percent increase in the price of goods and services in July of 2026 from July of 2025. The June recording is up 3.5 percent annually. The May recording is up 4.2 percent annually. So inflation is not under control.
We must continue to work to combat high inflation. Our government has tools at its disposal, and the private sector is also equipped to deal with it. Government can start by getting out of the way of private businesses. This can be done by lowering tax rates on individuals and businesses; reducing regulations that cause higher costs and trickle down to the consumer; and, of course, as Sen. Scott tweets, the reckless spending must stop. There is also an onus on businesses to invigorate the economic cogs of our free market when there is an open and well-regulated commerce field in which to labor, serve, and produce. This can lead to more buying and selling, more trading, and more investment, all of which equals more economic activity.
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The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee maintains 2 percent as the goal for inflation. The CPI "all items" monthly recording has not fallen at or below 2 percent since February of 2021, 66 months before the most recent statistic release. That is a long time.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh says U.S. inflation is still too high and opens the door to more rate hikes to fight elevated prices. https://t.co/KJFj8S81DY
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 28, 2026
The Fed can be a go-to pinata of blame for high prices and the default silver-bullet answer for how government can reduce prices. But it does not work that way, at least with respect to curing things. It can, however, do a lot of damage in a relatively short period of time through jacking up tax rates, spending recklessly, and enacting edicts called regulations that handcuff individuals, families, and businesses. The government does not have a button to press to make economic ills go away. It can move out of the way, but it cannot cause things to be made well overnight. It has to come from the willingness of the people and those who make the economy go.
Republicans are elected to enact deregulatory, free-market-based economic policies to unleash commercial power from the business and consumer level up, and they campaign on such principles. Commerce in the United States comes down to employees who work sincerely for their employers and the customers they serve; business owners who are careful custodians of the people they serve and those they employ; innovators who use technological advancements to meet timeless challenges; entrepreneurs who recognize and fill pockets of demand; inventors who add to possibilities through new products and services; and many more of the same strain of ethic. Regulation is necessary from time to time, but those who keep the U.S. economy going are free to create and produce when government is least involved in the creation and production.