Dem Rep. Espaillat: Don’t Need Further Action Because Inflation Will ‘Eventually’ Start Declining Due to Low Unemployment, Gas Prices

On Thursday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) responded to a question on what more the Federal Reserve should do and Congress could do to combat inflation by stating that declines in gas prices and low unemployment show that “eventually, inflation will begin to come down” and he doesn’t think any further rate hikes are needed.

Host John McArdle asked, “I want to get your thoughts on that latest rate hike. Is there more you think the Fed should be doing, is there more that Congress can be doing?”

Espaillat responded, “Well, we see that unemployment is pretty low and that the price of gas is going down. And so, those are, obviously, good signs. And, unfortunately, inflation continues to be high, and this was, I believe, a prudent action by the Fed. But let’s see what happens. I think that, eventually, those two indicators show us that, eventually, inflation will begin to come down and prices will, of course, come down with it, of goods that are important to the American household. So, this is a prudent, and I thought, a good action that must be taken at this point. But I don’t foresee that it has to be done again. I am optimistic that inflation will begin to come down, given the indicators, the other economic indicators that show that we’re on our way back.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett