Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan on Sunday asserted evidence of good U.S. job growth doesn’t change “the pain people are feeling” from inflation.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Hogan said he wants to see the Biden administration pause the federal gas tax.
“It’s really encouraging news to see the job growth and we've been experiencing the same thing in our state and have been for I think more than 11 months,” he recounted. “Record job growth. Which is terrific for the economy. However, it really doesn't change the pain people are feeling, the average person, is feeling due to inflation … with higher gas prices and higher price of groceries and everything they buy.”
Hogan noted people have jobs but are “still struggling.”
“Families are having a difficult time with the higher prices and … we have to do something about it,” he asserted, saying it is “why we were the first state in the nation to pause the gas tax to save people a little money at the pump and we just signed into law $2 billion in tax cuts to let people, especially retired people and people on fixed and lower incomes, to keep more of their own money in their own pockets to pay for the higher prices.”
“It’s a good step when the Biden administration tapped the oil reserves, which will help bring those prices down, but I think pausing the federal gas tax is a good idea,” he added.
Hogan also called out gerrymandering efforts as a “cancer on our politics.”
“It's bad no matter which party does it. Obviously, there were a number of Republican states’ judges who threw out maps. This the first time a Democratic map was thrown out,” he said referring to a New York State judge’s decision to toss the state's new Democratic-backed congressional map as unconstitutional. A Maryland judge also recently threw out a Democrat-drawn congressional map last week.
“We have the unfortunate distinction having some of the worst gerrymandering in America,” he added.
Hogan said Republicans have to have a “more hopeful, positive vision for America,”
“I think we have to have a more hopeful, positive vision for America, look to the future as opposed to re-litigating the past and talking about crazy conspiracy theories,” he said.
“Republicans, it's just a negative message against Democrats. We have to have a message about what we're going to do to try to solve problems.”
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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