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Klapp: Arizonans need another assist from Senator Sinema

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Inflation is hitting Arizona harder than almost any other state. Will Senator Kyrsten Sinema once again come to the aid of her constituents by opposing Senate Democrats’ massive tax-and-spend plan that would make already outrageous price increases even worse?

In the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey in May, Phoenix led the nation in inflation among big cities, with an 11% rate that beat out Atlanta, the only other major metro area undergoing double-digit inflation. Metro Phoenix’s inflation rate was more than two points higher than the national average.

And it’s not just Phoenix area residents feeling inflation’s pain. All Arizonans are facing unaffordable prices for rent, groceries, fuel, and other basic necessities.

The crushing impact inflation is having on families and employers makes it hard to understand why shortsighted Democrat leaders in Washington, D.C. appear to be intent on resurrecting their previously rejected “Build Back Better” Act. The environmental, health care, and tax policies included in their original proposal would have upended the financial stability of consumers, farmers, and small and family-owned businesses across the country.

Just like the last time Democrats wanted to go on a spending spree, Arizonans need Senator Sinema to protect them by standing up to radical members of her party and stopping these deeply flawed proposals that would cost Arizona jobs.

Of all Senate Democrats, in 2021 only Senators Sinema and Joe Manchin (D-WV) were willing to say no to the House approved “Build Back Better” plan that would have saddled taxpayers with $175 billion in new job-killing taxes and regulatory costs.

With the U.S. economy in its most troubled state in years, these two forward-thinking Democrats again need to say, “no” to President Biden, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s extravagant government spending plans that they are attempting to pass as a reconciliation package.

Inflation is not our only problem. We recently learned that in the last week of June, jobless claims nationwide hit the highest mark in six months. That’s a sign that the economy is slowing, as companies let workers go in fear of an impending recession.

Tech companies, often considered a bellwether for the broader economy, are being hit especially hard. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that tech job cuts in May were 10 times greater than in the first four months of the year. Tesla has reduced job postings by 14% since founder Elon Musk voiced concerns about the economy and has also announced plans to lay off 10% of its salaried workforce.

A survey of macroeconomic experts conducted by the Financial Times in early June found that two-thirds of them expect the economy to go into recession next year. At the same time, Goldman Sachs updated a previous prediction, reporting that they felt a recession is now twice as likely as it was before.

With the likelihood that we are on the verge of an economic recession, it is beyond reckless and irresponsible to consider including tax hikes on job creators in any potential reconciliation package.

It doesn’t take an economist to know that raising taxes at the beginning of a recession would result in massive job losses. Just ask former President Barrack Obama and Senator Joe Manchin who both stated during their campaigns that, “the last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession.”

Liberal legislators know that voters would revolt if they tried to raise taxes during a recession, making it all the more likely they will try to sneak their costly pet projects into a large, complicated reconciliation package before the recession hits.

That’s why it is so important that Senator Sinema and other policymakers who care about the financial wellbeing of American families, workers, and employers hold their ground. They must oppose any spending package that tries to enact even more tax increases and green energy subsidies paid for by small and family-owned businesses.

They must reject massive new government spending proposals that promote President Biden’s green energy agenda, pushed by the left-wing activists he’s trying so hard to appease.

Senator Sinema has been down this road before, and has said that her stance on Build Back Better has not changed. Let’s hope she is as good as her word.