Sen. Tim Scott has torn apart Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic agenda, which includes a price-fixing plan to address “corporate price gouging.”
Sen. Tim Scott, R-C., on Friday trashed Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic proposal, which called for a sweeping overhaul that included broad cross-industry price-fixing and government-subsidized $25,000 down payments for homebuyers for the first time.
“The American people are smarter than Kamala Harris when it comes to the economy,” the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Real Estate and Urban Affairs Committee told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“The ‘price gouging’ they witnessed came at the hands of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden,” Scott said. “When you artificially stimulate the economy through the federal government and Democrats spending trillions of dollars, the net effect is high inflation, high interest, high demand, and lower supply.”
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Senator Tim Scott tore up Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic plan that includes price fixing in the food industry. (Getty Images)
Scott explained, “You can’t invest trillions of dollars in our economy and not expect prices to rise.”
Harris’ presidential campaign has begun his economic policy proposals Friday morning before his afternoon speech on the topic during a campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina. The agenda focuses on cracking down on corporate “price gouging” in the food industry, and Harris plans to implement a federal ban for the first time ever.
Additionally, Harris’ plan would dramatically expand the child tax credit, allowing up to $6,000 during the first year of a child’s life. The proposal would also extend price caps on prescription drugs to everyone, not just seniors. A $40 billion fund would also be established to assist local governments in building more housing, as well as taking over the burden on landlords to avoid certain rent increases.
Americans are worried about the economy ahead of the November elections. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The plan quickly drew criticism, especially from Republicans. However, also a leftward orientation The Washington Post columnist panned the situation the agenda. “At best, this would lead to shortages, black markets and hoarding, among other distortions seen in the past where countries have tried to limit price growth with fiat force,” wrote columnist Catherine Rampell in a editorial. “(There’s a reason the more restrictive ‘price gouging’ laws that exist in some US states are rarely invoked.) At worst, they could accidentally raise prices.”
Scott eviscerated Harris’ idea, criticizing the vice president and her party for a lack of “understanding of the private sector.”
Criticizing his proposal that the government provide a $25,000 down payment to first-time homebuyers, the senator explained that “it will only increase demand, without moving supply, which means that prices will increase.” [and] fewer people will be able to afford it.”
“And frankly, unless they incorporate financial literacy into any program, that just means there’s going to be a higher level of default,” he said.
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Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has revealed its sweeping economic proposal. (Getty Images/FOX Business/Photographic Illustration/Fox News)
“I don’t know why they don’t remember 2007-2008,” Scott noted, referring to the housing crisis at the time.
As far as Harris’ characterization of the high prices as “price gouging” by companies is accurate, Scott rejected the claim, saying, “Of course not.”
The South Carolina Republican pointed to Democratic-backed spending as the culprit for the high prices. Scott noted that “the Inflation Reduction Act actually increased inflation.”
“The COVID relief package, which included just 1% for vaccines and less than 10% for COVID-related health, amounted to $1.7 trillion in spending that brought, by June-July [2022]with inflation of 9%,” he added.
In June 2022, following the passage of spending packages led by President Biden and Harris, inflation broke records to exceed 9%, the largest annual increase since 1981.
Asked about the recent July inflation report, which showed a lower-than-expected 2.9% increase over the month, Scott criticized the idea that it should be celebrated. He noted that the Federal Reserve is aiming for a 2% inflation target.
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Senator Tim Scott is the ranking member of the Banking Committee. (Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“You can’t celebrate the highest inflation in a generation and then say inflation is still rising above the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve and call it really good news,” the senator said. “This is terrible news.”
According to Scott, “people who are running for re-election as Democrats want nothing to do with” Harris’ proposal.
“But will he be able to line them up? We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is in a competitive re-election game in the red state of Ohio and is in real danger of being unseated. Neither the vulnerable Democratic senator’s campaign nor his office provided comment to Fox News Digital on whether he agreed with Harris’ proposal.
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Scott predicted the vice president’s economic plan would face an uphill battle in Congress. “We absolutely would not allow the American people to suffer through four years of price manipulation, carried out by Kamala Harris,” he said, expressing confidence that Republicans will regain the majority in the Senate.
The senator has been speculated as a candidate for a role in Trump’s potential second term, but appears to indicate he intends to stay on and lead the Banking Committee in a Republican-majority Senate. “I’m thrilled to be the chairman of the Banking Committee. I can’t think of a better place to do more for the American economy, for the American people.”
FOX Business has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.