DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney: Democrats Must Focus on Rising Gas Prices but Not for ‘Political Reasons’

Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chair Sean Patrick Maloney (D-PA) said Thursday Democrats have to address rising gas prices but “not for political reasons,” even as Democrats could lose their House majority during the 2022 midterms.

It’s a real problem. We have to focus on it not for political reasons, but because it affects the working middle class families like the ones so many of us grew up in,” Maloney said during the Democrats’ retreat in Philadephia, Pennsylvania.

Maloney’s remarks follow vulnerable swing-district Democrats bracing for Republican attacks on rising inflation as Americans continue to feel the brunt of rising inflation and gas prices.

Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) has flip-flopped on the topic of inflation serving as a real issue that Iowans are facing. She has also claimed that inflation is not linked to the trillions in Democrat spending that has occurred under President Joe Biden’s one year in office. Breitbart News reporter Jacob Bliss found this claim to be “mostly false.”

Breitbart News’s economics editor, John Carney, wrote that consumer prices have jumped 7.9 percent, which is the highest in four decades.

This serves as a substantial issue for Democrats as they hope to retain their House majority after taking it from Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections.

Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel released a statement on the inflation numbers, saying, “Prices continue to skyrocket under Biden and Democrats’ reckless policies. Biden’s attempt to deflect blame is an insult to every American and small business owner struggling to afford the cost of everyday goods.”

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said in a statement Thursday:

House Democrats have stopped far short of what is needed to address rising gas prices. If they truly cared about easing prices at the pump, House Democrats would have voted for the dozens of common-sense policies Republicans offered to achieve American energy dominance.

He added, “Instead, every Democrat voted three times in the past two weeks against tougher trade sanctions on Russia and against unleashing American energy.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.