The House Ways and Means Committee met in West Virginia, rather than the typical Capitol Hill office building, to hear directly from workers and business owners about how the economy is hurting them and what changes they want to see in Washington.
The hearing was held on Monday at Allegheny Wood Products, a hardwood and lumber products business in Petersburg, West Virginia. New committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) has told the Washington Examiner that he wants to take committee hearings on the road to break out of the bubble of Washington. Monday’s was also the first hearing with Smith at the helm.
“Every family, business, farmer, senior citizen, and, frankly, foreign nation is impacted by our work. More importantly, our values are reflected in that work,” Smith said during opening remarks. “But over the last few years, this committee’s work, and that of Congress, has drifted from the needs of these good people. We must course-correct. We must prioritize the voices in rooms like this one and not those of the Washington political class.”
“We will hear today about the state of the American economy. And it is in danger,” he added.
STATE OF THE ECONOMY — TAKING HITS AND RUNNING UP DEFICITS
The hearing comes a day before President Joe Biden is set to address the nation during his annual State of the Union address. During his remarks, Biden is set to tout the bright spots in the country’s economy, including low unemployment and positive GDP growth.
Smith used the hearing as a bit of a prebuttal to Biden’s much-anticipated speech. He and Republicans contend that the president’s agenda has been mired by economic dysfunction, including inflation, falling real wages, rising interest rates, and supply chain chaos.
“In West Virginia, the cost of living has increased 15.1% since President Biden took the oath of office, costing families a total of $7,000 and counting,” Smith said. “President Biden will take credit for falling gas prices. Few things could be more insulting to the coal miners of West Virginia and energy producers across the country than to hear the president take credit for their hard work.”
The only Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee to show up for the field hearing was Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). Beyer, who is chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, emphasized that West Virginians and those in rural America have shouldered the brunt of some of the economic changes of the past few years.
“Communities throughout this region and in my own state of Virginia have been the first to experience the direct effects of massive economic forces that have come to dominate policy discussions in Washington and capitals around the world,” Beyer said. “The consequences of the energy transition and globalization have been felt first, and often hardest, in communities like this one.”
Beyer used his opening remarks to mention some of the achievements of the “historically productive” Congress of the past two years, which featured Democrats in the majority. He told attendees that big investments were secured for Appalachia in infrastructure, clean manufacturing, energy security, and research and development.
The lawmakers at the hearing also had the opportunity to listen to testimony from witnesses and ask questions of the business owners and workers. Tom Plaugher, vice president of operations at Allegheny Wood Products, said his company has been wracked by supply chain troubles.
“Just the ability to have the supplies on hand to run our plants has been dramatically affected by the supply chain crisis,” Plaugher responded, adding that dayslong waits for certain items his company ordered turned into monthslong waits.
Restaurant owner Ashley Bachman emphasized how hard inflation is hitting the local economy in West Virginia, especially for restaurants like hers. She said that inflation has proved to be an even more daunting obstacle for her business than the restrictions imposed during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. She also said that energy price increases have been crippling for the business.
“We have had to change our menu prices countless times just to make sure that we don’t go out of business. We still are not charging enough for our menu items because we are afraid that we will price ourselves out of business,” Bachman said. “We have taken a hit in business so far, these past two quarters, having less customers coming in.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Smith has vowed to hold more field hearings like the one on Monday. During interviews, he has expressed that his overarching theme for the committee and economic policy is embracing the notion that the Republican Party is the party of the working class.
As for the State of the Union, Biden is scheduled to speak before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) will give the Republican response to the address afterward.
