Reining in Biden's secretive $1 trillion spending spree

Last week, House Republicans took an important step in our efforts to hold President Joe Biden accountable for his wasteful spending that is fueling the worst spike in prices in a generation. With the support of 59 Democrats, the House came together to pass my Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation (REIN IN) Inflation Act. That's right -- even House Democrats are sounding the alarm over Biden's out-of-control spending.

The REIN IN Inflation Act would help combat rising prices and push back against Biden's wasteful spending by requiring the administration to reveal the inflationary cost of executive actions before they are allowed to go into effect. So how much are taxpayers on the hook for Biden's wasteful spending? Since the start of his administration, Biden -- without any input from Congress -- has burned through $1 trillion with his executive actions, including a $500 billion student loan giveaway to the wealthy. That's absolutely unacceptable. At a time when working-class Americans can barely afford to put food on their table, clothes on their backs, and gas in their cars, Biden is focused on giving out welfare for the wealthy and could care less that his reckless spending is only inflicting more harm on farmers, families and small businesses.

Under one-party Democrat rule of Washington, the Left created an economy where the wealthy and well-connected get handouts, while the working class pays the price. In fact, since Biden took office, real wages for working families have gone down 3.9%. And a whopping 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck because they're making less and paying more just to get by.

Americans voted in a Republican House majority to stop the crazy, restore fiscal sanity in Washington, and get our country back on track. In stark contrast to when Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Democrats controlled the House, the new Republican majority is listening to the pleas of working Americans who are telling us that high prices have made life unaffordable. We will continue fighting for families, farmers, workers, and small businesses to stop the flood of Democrat wasteful spending that is feeding the vicious cycle of historic inflation and rising interest rates.

That's exactly why I'm bringing the Ways and Means Committee to Yukon, Oklahoma, to hear from communities in the Heartland about the challenges facing working-class Americans and how they think Congress can help. Under my chairmanship, the committee will continue partnering with the American people to develop solutions that will reverse the course of the Biden economy and deliver results that will improve their livelihoods.

Whether it's holding hearings where real Americans have the opportunity to shape policies that impact their lives every day, exposing the billions lost to unemployment fraud -- the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history -- or passing bipartisan legislation to rein in Biden's wasteful spending, House Republicans are committed to honoring the promises we made to the American people. We'll continue fighting tooth and nail to deliver for the millions of working-class Americans who were left behind during the past two years of one-party Democrat rule of Washington.

Jason Smith (R-MO) represents the 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.