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House Republicans urged to stoke inflation fears

23 May 2021
Dan Ackermann

House Republicans will be urged to lean into voters' fear of inflation and link it to enacting the White House's economic agenda, Axios has learned.

Why it matters:A memo being sent by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who leads the Republican Study Committee, comes as some Democrats and economists are increasingly concerned President Biden is doing too much, too fast, and his spending will crank up inflation.

  • Not only could rising prices jeopardize the Democrats' chances in next year's midterms but they could threaten Biden’s economic legacy.
  • Banks and GOP leaders are hoping this messaging tactic can help them achieve their goal of taking back the House majority. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) deployed it after meeting with the president this month.
  • The Republican Study Committee is the largest bloc of conservatives in the House.

Details: The document, carrying the subject line, "Tie Biden Agenda to Inflation," tells members to "explain to voters how inflation is Democrats’ hidden tax on the Middle Class."

  • It also provides a series of talking points such as telling voters "your dollar won’t go as far" if Biden continues to "devalue our currency," through COVID-19 stimulus payments and "generous unemployment benefits."
  • Banks also cites the warnings of Larry Summers, President Clinton’s Treasury secretary and former director of the National Economic Council during the Obama administration.
  • Summers cautioned in a Washington Post op-ed that Biden's stimulus could "set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation."
  • The memo concludes with a chart laying out the difference in prices of consumer goods and commodities between May 2020 and May 2021, as well as links to inflation data for members' states.

Between the lines: Republicans have already drawn parallels between Biden and President Carter as inflation continues to seep into the public consciousness.

  • The memo is being sent Monday as members prepare to fly home to their districts this week for a three-week recess, beginning with the Memorial Day holiday.
  • Most members will be speaking with their constituents during this period.

Flashback: In March, Banks handed McCarthy a similar messaging memo stating the party should lean into their "new coalition" and make the GOP the party of the working class.

Read the full memo.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.