Tranel’s plan to tax and spend increases inflation

No matter how hard Biden tries to redefine it, America is in a recession and Montana is feeling the pain. For decades economists considered the top indicator of a recession to be two fiscal quarters of economic retraction. According to government data, we’re there. But according to Biden’s White House and Democrat politicians, everything is fine and don’t pay attention to definitions because they have their own definition of what a recession really is. Perhaps they haven’t filled a pick-up or gone to the grocery store lately.

On top of the deepening recession, we are plagued by record high inflation, an underperforming labor market and a broken supply chain – all made worse by incompetent or maleficent leadership from the radical left in Washington.

Inflation is a hidden tax that is stealing from Montanans. As an example, a Montana family making $60,000 a year has an added hidden inflation tax of about $500 per month – that’s $6,000 a year. At a time when gas is up 49%, housing up 6%, and groceries more than 10%, the blow to working families is devastating.

Nearly every leading economist, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and others agree inflation is driven by Democrat policies that my opponent Monica Tranel supports such as more government spending and higher energy costs.

Democrats in Washington are jamming through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Great name, opposite effect. It’s a terrible “Bill” on the taxpayer that takes the Democrats’ worst wish list items from the $93 trillion Green New Deal and $4.5 trillion Build Back Better, and combines it with tax hikes and economic disaster.

My opponent, Monica Tranel, a radical environmental lawyer who made millions off efforts to shut American oil and gas production, hike utility rates, and defending a convicted child molester, already supports it. Even though every credible economic analysis says it will kill jobs and raise taxes on nearly every Montanan.

Monica Tranel has already pledged support for the Green New Deal and Build Back Better. She’s pushingMedicare for all and ending fossil fuels. Her “inflation plan” doesn’t address the causes of inflation - energy and government spending - it calls for more taxes, more spending, and shutting down American oil and gas. Not to mention raising the federal minimum wage and expensive mandates on small businesses.

Tranel’s push to raise the minimum wage without addressing inflation will result in the predicable outcome of higher cost of living and wages being caught in an endless race that will never catch up. The simple answer is to lower energy costs and cut spending so a 5% increase in wages means something.

If you talk to her she does a good job of seeming like she cares about Montanans and hiding the fact she is a left-wing radical. She talks about her “inflation plan” to address affordable housing even though she’s invested in AirBnB which many say is worsening the housing crisis. She tells you she’s for affordable medication even though she’s an investor in big pharma companies that hiked the price of insulin and profited off covid vaccines.

She wants to raise taxes on you while failing to pay her own $7,000 tax bill. She does this by day on the campaign trail before retreating to her multi-million dollar gated home in the hills while she looks down on Missoula. Taxes for thee but not for me. A limousine liberal if ever there was one.

When I was Secretary of the Interior we harnessed America’s energy potential, made our country energy independent, and gas was in the $2 range. Made in America manufacturing was booming, real wages were rising, and the labor participation rate was rising instead of more people living off a government check. Now under single-party Democrat rule and Biden-Tranel policies, we’re falling apart and Montana knows it.

The truth is, Monica Tranel doesn’t have what it takes to represent Montana in Congress. She has no plan to tackle inflation because she has no understanding of what we face. She and the Biden economic wizards believe the solution to every problem is more government. She will say and do anything to get a vote and she has already proven that she will lie to do it. Don’t be fooled.

Ryan Zinke, a Republican candidate for Montana’s western district U.S. House seat, is the former Interior secretary. He lives in Whitefish.