Democrats are criticizing President Donald Trump in his administration’s infancy for not delivering on a promise to lower grocery prices “immediately” after he took office.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) co-wrote a letter with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), which was signed by 20 Democrats and sent to Trump on Sunday evening.
“During your campaign, you repeatedly promised you would lower food prices ‘immediately’ if elected president,” the letter says. “But during your first week of office you have instead focused on mass deportations and pardoning January 6 attackers.”
Trump said in an August press conference, which also displayed a table full of common groceries, that he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.” He said he would “drill, baby, drill” to accomplish the goal, possibly bringing down domestic oil prices with the added supply.
The White House reinforced Trump’s past statements on energy and blasted Warren for past inflation.
“President Trump immediately took action on day one to unleash American energy, which will drive down costs for families across the country,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the Washington Examiner. “He has already ended the failed economic policies of the past four years that skyrocketed inflation, which were rubber-stamped by Elizabeth Warren.”
The Democrats also cited the administration’s recent backtracking on how fast grocery prices could come down as evidence it isn’t fulfilling its campaign promises. It said the administration’s only move to combat inflation is an executive order Trump issued “directing all Federal agencies to untangle the American economy from Biden constraints and improve affordability of necessary goods and services and increase the prosperity of the American workers.”
“Your sole action on costs was an executive order that contained only the barest mention of food prices, and not a single specific policy to reduce them,” it wrote.
Vice President JD Vance said in an interview Sunday that lowering grocery prices could prove complicated, adding that Trump “can’t undo all of the damage of Joe Biden’s presidency in four days.”
“There have been a number of executive orders that have caused, already, jobs to start coming back into our country, which is a core part of lowering prices,” Vance said. “More capital investment, more job creation in our economy, is one of the things that’s going to drive down prices for all consumers, but also raise wages so that people can afford to buy the things that they need.”
Vance called for patience in response to complaints that prices haven’t come down, saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“Donald Trump has already taken multiple executive actions that are going to lower energy prices, and I do believe that means consumers are going to see lower prices at the pump and at the grocery store, but it’s going to take a little bit of time,” Vance added.
Warren and others who signed the letter, including Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and a number of House lawmakers, declared they would work with Trump on the problem. They suggested Trump should go after “the dominant food and grocery companies that have made record profits on the backs of working families who have had to pay higher prices.”
“These companies often exploit crises like pandemics and avian flu outbreaks as an opportunity to raise prices beyond what is needed to cover rising costs,” they said. “For example, last year, a Kroger executive admitted in federal court that the company raised the price of eggs and milk
‘significantly higher than the cost of inflation’ in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Democrats noted eggs as a main concern in the letter. Egg prices have been climbing in the last couple of months, with the largest increases in December, according to the USDA. A dozen large, grade-A eggs cost $3.65 in November before climbing to $4.15 a dozen in December.
The price of eggs has been rising lately largely because of the H5 bird flu outbreak, which has killed millions of egg-laying hens.
Warren believes Trump can do something to stop the rising prices of eggs.
“If Donald Trump is serious about working to lower grocery prices, he should buckle down, pick up these tools to lower egg prices, and deliver on his promises,” she said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In their conclusion, the Democrats behind the letter called on Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to lower grocery prices.
“We urge you to make good on your campaign promise to lower food prices for American
families,” they wrote. “Therefore, we ask that you respond to this letter with additional clarity on your plans to lower food prices, including whether you will commit to the actions outlined above to help American families.”
