As people suffer under his inflationary policies, President Joe Biden has predictably fallen back on one of his most nonsensical talking points, and he’s dragging the entire Democratic Party along with him.

This month, Reps. Becca Balint (D-VT) and Jesús “Chuy” García (D-TX) introduced a bill that would “prohibit the use of algorithmic systems to artificially inflate the price or reduce the supply of leased or rented residential dwelling units.”

It makes sense that Democrats would want to take action on housing costs. Inflation is one of the party’s biggest weak points, and housing inflation has remained stubbornly high even as it’s cooled off in other sectors of the economy. According to a recent Federal Reserve report, nearly 20% of renters have fallen behind on rent at some point in the past year.

What doesn’t make sense is Democrats’ approach. The use of algorithmic pricing systems to help inform rent prices has nothing to do with price gouging. All these algorithms do is provide landlords with suggested prices based on existing information about the housing market. If rents were too high, the algorithm would suggest reducing them.

Balint and García’s concerns about housing supply also make very little sense. Sure, an algorithm can tell you that it doesn’t make financial sense to build a new apartment complex. But that doesn’t mean it’s the algorithm’s fault when it doesn’t get built. If Democrats want more housing, they should change the incentives, not shoot the messenger.