On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said he opposes the tax increases proposed by President Joe Biden in his budget and stated that at a time where “we still have challenges” with inflation, we should want to make things more affordable.

Co-host Joe Kernen asked, “There’s a piece in the Journal today, it says, Bidenomics ‘throws free trade and free-market capitalism under the bus in favor of centralized government controls.’ You saw the budget that the President — it wasn’t going to get anywhere, but you saw it, it was almost — I mean, a lot of tax hikes. Do you have any problems with any of this, with what you’re watching? Are you allowed to say if you do as a Democrat? Do you think — why do you think the country –?”

Gottheimer then cut in to quip, “It’s always good to see you on a Monday. … You’ve gone right in. I like that.”

Kernen then cut in to ask, “Are you fully behind Bidenomics and what we’ve seen?”

Gottheimer responded, “I think if you look at where the economy is right now, in terms of, given you’re coming out of COVID, getting out of a supply chain strain, and look at the numbers that have been produced, that’s — those are positive. Listen, inflation is slowing, we still have challenges there, but it’s down eleven months in a row, two-year low. You’ve got 13 million new jobs under this administration. 200,000 new jobs in the jobs report in June. Unemployment remains around 3.6%. So, the bottom line is there’s been good progress, you’ve got the Inflation Reduction Act, and obviously, the debt deal we just did in a bipartisan way, the debt ceiling deal, which will reduce the deficit by 1.5 trillion over 10. Those are all good, positive steps.”

He continued, “As you know, Joe, I’m not for higher taxes. I think we need to make life more affordable for folks, especially here in the northeast and Jersey. It’s why I’m against this congestion tax and any new taxes on folks to make their life harder. I think we need to do everything we can to make things more affordable. And that’s part of why the infrastructure deal was so important, to make life more efficient. I think the Inflation Reduction Act took key steps to help reduce the deficit. Those are all things that I think are critically important.”

Gottheimer added, “Of course, we should have lower taxes.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett