As you may have heard, the Federal Reserve Board recently met and decided to act against continued high inflation. The Chairman of the Board, Jerome Powell, said he understands the hardship of high prices and is committed to bringing them down. He said the Fed is acting quickly with its tools to restore price stability for American families and businesses.
The Fed voted to raise interest rates by 75 basis points for the first time since 1994, underscoring just how serious it is about tackling the inflation crisis after a string of alarming economic reports. The move puts the key benchmark federal funds rate between 1.50% and 1.75%, the highest since the pandemic began two years ago.
The increase in rates will quickly make dollars more expensive to obtain. The result will be higher rates on everything from home loans, car loans, and credit cards. This will make it difficult for consumers and could even lead to a recession. In my view, this crisis was created by the policies of the incompetent, feckless Biden administration.
Soon after taking office, the Biden administration moved forward with unnecessary and exorbitant spending. The expenditures were chiefly in the form of a $2 trillion program called the American Rescue Plan of 2021, or ARPA. The plan was to use this money to help the country recover from the economic effects of COVID. Despite many concerns about the dangers of this major influx of cash into the economy, the Biden administration, including current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, dismissed concerns that it would influence prices. When prices did go up, they said it was temporary. Now the administration has slowly begun to admit their predictions were massively off the mark.
Inflation is up across the board, but President Biden has most directly contributed to higher gasoline prices. On his first day in office, President Biden cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline and halted drilling in millions of acres in Alaska. He has also cancelled offshore oil leases, making it more difficult to get more oil into the market. These decisions are a deliberate attempt to shift the country to renewable energy from fossil fuels with no regard to the economic impact it will have on consumers. In short, the energy policies of the President and his party have been a disaster for the American people.
On another front, it was during the 2021 legislative session that the General Assembly approved legislation to empower parents to have access to schools and educational resources that will best meet the needs of their children. This week, the Missouri State Treasurer announced the state is now taking applications for the scholarships through the newly created MOScholars program.
HB 349 and SB 86 established the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program, MOScholars. The law provides state tax credits for contributions to approved, non-profit Educational Assistance Organizations. The EAOs use the contributions to award scholarships to Missouri students with Individual Education Plans and students living in low-income households.
Applications for MOScholars scholarships are now being accepted. To begin the application process, parents or guardians should contact an EAO partnered with the school they would like their child to attend. EAOs will prescreen student applicants to determine eligibility. Once prescreening is complete, the EAO will refer the applicant to the MOScholars online application portal. It is the intention of the State Treasurer and the EAOs to have scholarships available for eligible students to use for the 2022-2023 school year.
May God bless and keep you and our great nation.
Hardy Billington represents District 152, which includes parts of Butler and Dunklin counties.