While on an interview with Fox News’ “Fox News Rundown,” Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) admitted that it is “undeniable” how federal stimulus checks harmed inflation.
Khanna added that regardless of their impact, they were “the right thing to do” given the circumstances. He also claimed that the “main” cause of inflation is the Federal Reserve getting the issue wrong.
Breitbart reports:
Host Jessica Rosenthal asked, [relevant exchange begins around 8:50] “Do you then feel that stimulus checks, in light of COVID spending, the American Rescue Plan, did that drive some of this inflation then?”
Khanna answered, “It’s undeniable that the stimulus checks under both President Trump and Joe Biden — remember, President Trump did it in December of 2020, and then we did another one in March of 2021 — anyone would say, of course that had some inflationary impact. But it also helped save a lot of people from unemployment. It saved a lot of people from eviction when we were in the midst of the pandemic, and it was the right thing to do at that time. The challenge is that the Fed, at the same time, was buying back mortgage securities and had way too much quantitative easing. And so, I put the main burden [of] inflation on the Fed not having anticipated it soon enough.”