Romney says Biden needs to ditch ‘woke advisers’

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Wednesday hit President Biden over the country’s record-high inflation, claiming Biden’s current group of “woke advisers” are to blame for “the perfect economic storm.”

Romney, the GOP’s 2012 presidential candidate, blasted Biden for his economic and energy policies, arguing he had cut back on U.S. production while funneling money to the economy, which sparked more inflation.

“A new set of priorities requires a new set of principals: President Biden needs to ditch his woke advisers and surround himself with people who want to get the economy working again,” Romney
wrote in a new opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.

Romney argued that the COVID-19 pandemic’s affect on supply lines and actions of the Federal Reserve were exacerbated by the president’s own economic policies. He specifically criticized the coronavirus relief package approved by the Congress last March.

“The Biden administration did pretty much everything wrong, injecting $1.9 trillion into a supply-constrained economy, sending out stay-at-home checks, letting tenants live rent-free, squeezing oil and gas production, launching an avalanche of growth-killing regulations, lining up behind unions, and pushing yet another deficit-financed budget,” Romney wrote.

The $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package followed similarly large packages signed into law by former President Trump in 2020. Republicans argued that the most recent package signed by Biden, which like Trump’s initial package included stimulus checks, was too much spending for an overheated economy with inflation starting to rise.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. The Biden administration repeatedly has blamed the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine for skyrocketing prices for gas, food and other supplies.

“I know that families are still struggling with higher prices. I grew up in a family where if the price of gas went up, we felt it,” the president tweeted Wednesday. “Let’s be absolutely clear about why prices are high right now: COVID and Vladimir Putin.”

Romney, who ran for president in 2012 but lost to former President Obama, hasn’t said whether he will seek reelection to the Senate in 2024. He’s frequently been at odds with the Trump wing of the GOP.

In the op-ed, Romney offered up several policy suggestions for Biden, including putting “hard-nosed” economists on the Federal Reserve, shelving his proposed expansion of the social safety net, increasing domestic oil and gas production, eliminating bottlenecks at ports, creating incentives for labor participation and addressing illegal immigration.

“The American people need the strong economic leadership that only a president can provide,” Romney writes.