Senate Democrats will lead the charge in arguing that companies are raising prices while racking up profits — with Trump-era tax breaks passed by Republicans letting the shareholders and the CEOs take home more of that money for themselves than ever before.
The clearest signal of the shift will be the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm on Tuesday rolling out a new ad ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address.
The first half touts success on passing the infrastructure bill and cutting unemployment. Then comes a sharp switch to ominous music. Images flash by of the Wall Street sign, glasses full of red wine being clinked and $100 bills being counted into someone’s hands, ending with a shot of a smiling Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Mitch McConnell’s fighting too — for the same wealthy insiders who get rich by keeping prices high,” the narrator says. “With McConnell in charge, they win and you lose.”
“What you’re seeing right now with rising prices is those very companies that received huge tax breaks are actually earning huge profits and they’re increasing their prices,” said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “When you have large corporations actually bragging to their shareholders that they’re able to increase prices, I think that will anger the American people.”
Several Democratic strategists tell CNN they see reason for hope in voters’ answers when asked specifically about inflation and whom they blame, in public and private polls. In a Washington Post-ABC poll last week… 68% of people combined said they blame corporations trying to increase profits.
Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who is advising the Senate Democrats, said… “We’re seeing an enormous level of cynicism and skepticism about the way that big corporations conduct themselves. Voters think that corporations try to squeeze every penny of profit out of every opportunity, regardless of the consequences.”
From the conversations Ryan has had on the campaign trail in Ohio, he says that’s an essential piece of how Democrats need to prove themselves to voters.
“People are smarter than a lot of politicians give them credit for. They know we’re coming out of a pandemic…” he said. “The question really comes down to, are we able to do something about it — and are we trying to do something about it.”
The message is already spreading. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s running for a full term, hosted an event at a gas station when in his state to talk up a bill to create a temporary holiday on the gas tax — another idea which economists have largely been skeptical would have major actual benefits for consumer. There, he turned his attention to the gas companies themselves.
“While they are seeing record prices, oil and gas companies are seeing record profits,” Warnock said, pledging to “hold these oil and gas companies accountable.”
Val Demings, the Democratic Florida congresswoman running against GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, echoed the sentiment. “I grew up the daughter of a maid and a janitor,” she told CNN. “I know exactly how important a dollar is to so many families, and that’s why we must hold big corporations accountable for exploiting crises to profiteer off hardworking Floridians.”
“It’s a powerful contrast anywhere and everywhere,” Garin said. “It allows Democrats to get off of defense and start playing offense on the cost of living — and the good news for Democrats is it’s an offense that is quite powerful.”
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