On Thursday’s episode of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) defended 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ apparent support for food price controls, but said he’s “a little bit worried” about President Joe Biden’s push for rent caps, fearing they will reduce the housing supply.
“Your main points are: [2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump] Were you going to continue to focus on food prices and say the candidate will go ahead with price controls?”
Krishnamoorthi responded, “Unfortunately, I think the reality is that grocery store prices are rising much faster than inflation and costs. We recently found that prices are up nearly 20% while costs are only up in the single digits, which is just not true. One CEO actually went on a conference call with analysts and said that inflation is good for him because it gives him an excuse to inflate prices. States typically have these anti-price gouging laws in place now…”
Berman then interjected, asking: “Did you have a problem with anything Mr. Trump just said?”
Krishnamoorthi responded: “Well, I think what Trump is really trying to avoid is how to actually control these prices, because states do this on a daily basis. It’s just that the federal government hasn’t enacted similar legislation.”
Berman then listed some of the price increases and asked, “So if we’re going to have price caps or price controls, whatever you want to call them, on meat, should we also have them on insurance?… Should we have them on the big gas companies? Should we have them on the big egg companies?”
Krishnamoorthi responded: “Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily a cap. It comes down to how much costs are going to rise versus how much prices are going to rise. As I said, if costs are going to rise in the low single digits and prices are going to rise much more than that, then something is beyond the consumer’s control and profiteering is happening at the expense of the consumer. And by the way, this happens a lot with natural disasters.”
Berman acknowledged that unfair price gouging occurs during natural disasters, but said, “Kroger made a 1.43 percent profit last year. Grocery stores make an average of 1 percent profit. I’m just wondering if you think the federal government should be fining some of these companies?”
Krishnamoorthi responded, “Yes, I think so. Look at the absolute profit figures too. Remember, when prices are not somewhat linked to costs, as is happening in grocery stores and food markets, there are real impacts. People can’t feed their families, they can’t meet their needs. Food is different from other types of goods, but the reasons are obvious and don’t need to be explained to an audience. That’s why it resonates so well.”
Berman continued, “So, let me ask you one more question – about rent. President Biden has proposed a 5% cap on rent for homeowners with 50 or more units. Economists are saying, ‘Only 2% agree that this is a good idea, while 74% oppose it. We also hear that Vice President Harris will be announcing her plan on housing costs tomorrow. Should she adopt this idea from the Biden-Harris Administration?'”
Krishnamoorthi responded, “Well, I’m a little bit concerned about that because right now we have a housing shortage, we have very low housing stock across the country and we need more housing, so I would be concerned about doing anything that would impede the construction of housing. But going back to food, food is a necessity and we absolutely have to be very careful because we’re seeing a spike in food insecurity across the country.”
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