Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Monday that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was misguided when he said Republicans had created a "pincer of pain" for the American people.
After the Senate approved a GOP budget plan early Saturday, Schumer accused President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers of "taking away vital services" that Americans need while also "squeezing them by creating higher prices."
During an appearance on "National Report," Lankford was asked about Schumer's comments.
"Pretty remarkable," Lankford said. "If I want to look at something that happened against the American people, it was the four years of the Biden administration when inflation went up 20%, and everybody started talking about bacon and eggs and can't afford everything because of rapidly rising prices. That actually made the greatest difference."
"To be clear, what we're talking about is how do we keep tax rates the same? Democrats are fighting to be able to dramatically increase tax rates in January, because there's an automatic increase of taxes that come in in January if we don't act. So right now, we're acting to say, let's make sure that we keep tax rates the same."
Lankford added that Republicans also want to reduce "overspending."
"We're overspending $2 trillion, and [Democrats] just focused on, 'No, we've got to continue to be able to overspend at this level.' That is not rational," Lankford told co-hosts Shaun Kraisman and Emma Rechenberg.
"So we think it's basic common sense to say maintain where we are in the tax rates, and try to protect that for the American people, and reduce our spending. That's the best way to be able to get an economy back on track."
Rechenberg asked Lankford whether tariffs might impact prices for Americans to become "more on the expensive side."
"It could actually and [can also get] some of the targeted nations around the world that we have to get some negotiations on board," he said. "It was very interesting, over the weekend, that the president immediately announced, we've got 50 countries that want to engage. He obviously called out specifically Vietnam and said they are coming to the table."
"Today, [Israel's Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting in the White House with the president to be able to talk about the tariff issues with Israel because Israel has had high tariffs on us and getting those balanced out. So there's a lot of work to be done, and it can be done very rapidly, and we don't have to have a major long-term shock."
Lankford also promoted the release of his new book titled "Turnaround: America's Revival," due to be released Tuesday.
"It is an optimistic view of America," he said of the book. "It looks back on the past 100 years — where we've come from, where we're headed to, but it's also a focus on who we are as a people."
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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