Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, offered President Joe Biden some constructive criticism on Tuesday, primarily regarding core issues with the U.S. economy.
He also delivered one parting shot, when characterizing Biden's inner-circle hires at the White House.
In a lengthy writeup for The Wall Street Journal, Romney asserted that three crucial factors have contributed to the "perfect economic storm," in terms of American citizens gripping with supply-chain dysfunction and 40-year inflation highs, including tangibly higher costs for food and gas.
- Covid-19 scrambling the U.S. economy's supply lines
- The Federal Reserve pressing the accelerator on the economy longer than expected
- The Biden administration's unprecedented spending when first taking office, namely "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"
To negate this economic funk, Romney called on the Federal Reserve System to restore its "singular focus on monetary stability and leave social policies to the branches of government that are elected by the people," said Romney.
He added, "The central bank needs hard-nosed economists" running the Fed.
"In any crisis situation, the first three rules are focus, focus and focus. President Biden's domestic focus must be on inflation. At 8.5% nationally and 10.4% in Utah, inflation is truly hurting people. And it’s the people with little or no money to spare who are hardest hit by the exponential rise in prices.
"The last thing the economy needs is more near-term deficit spending, so President Biden should shelve 'Build Back Better' permanently."
Similar to most Republican leaders, Romney supports mining for rare-earth metals and critical minerals within the United States. He also called for the Biden administration to end the "excess regulations" that impeded businesses from maxing-out its potential.
"We should focus on accelerating the domestic supply of critical industrial and agricultural inputs, including minerals for batteries and integrated circuits," said Romney, formerly the co-founder of Bain Capital (1984-90) and the GOP presidential nominee in 2012.
"The administration can open federal lands and put mining and processing facilities on a fast track for permitting. Today, it can take 10 years to get permits to open a mine.
"Additionally, the U.S. must increase the domestic supply of oil and gas. Stop the blather about oil companies having more than sufficient leases for drilling — they can’t drill if they can't get government permits. Building new pipelines to transport oil and gas throughout the country also remains critical."
Regarding the supply-chain issues, which have been ongoing for months in various sectors, Romney says the Biden administration must do everything in its power to "eliminate bottlenecks at existing ports and build new inland ports."
Romney's message also addressed the many problems plaguing the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Biden should "find a way to stop the flood of illegal immigration while accelerating legal immigration. New Americans who can immediately join the workforce should get priority over those who need services that require further government spending.
"Without more immigration visas for agriculture, hospitality and other labor-constrained sectors, crops will go unharvested and goods and services will be unnecessarily curtailed. National visa quotas could be derived from requests by the states, which know their own local labor markets better than the federal government does."
Lastly, Romney chastised President Biden for surrounding himself with "woke advisers," instead of experts who know how to make the economy roar.
"As for the upcoming midterm elections, remember Bill Clinton’s 1992 (presidential) mantra: 'It's the economy.' The American people need the strong economic leadership that only a president can provide."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.