As we look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving, there is so much to be thankful for: our family, friends, faith, health and so much more. I for one, am grateful for the opportunity to serve the folks of the Piedmont in Raleigh. Their hard work, tenacity and North Carolina pride doesn’t go unnoticed and neither do the hardships they are facing this holiday season.
Right now, Americans are predicted to experience the most expensive Thanksgiving in history. Our usual Thanksgiving turkey could cost up to 25% more than it did last year. In fact, nearly every traditional Thanksgiving dish will be more expensive this November.
That is, if we even get a turkey at all. Biden’s ongoing supply-chain crisis threatens the availability of goods across the board. As of Oct. 31, food supplies were “4% to 11% lower than normal,” which means many North Carolinians will be hard-pressed to find Thanksgiving dinner ingredients at their local grocery store.
Unfortunately, Thanksgiving won’t be the only place we’re feeling Biden’s failures. Christmas is tracking to be just as painful. Gifts to loved ones might not make it under the Christmas tree this year as cargo ships loaded with goods stall at our ports, unable to unload, and as truckers nationwide threaten to resign. It’s possible they could possibly quit in droves, thanks to Biden’s unconstitutional forced vaccine mandate. In just 10 short months, Joe Biden has managed to break the systems that make our economy work.
All of these holiday woes are compounded by a winter where we will be forced to pay more to keep the heat on in our homes due to Joe Biden’s war on energy. During last year’s holiday season, Democrats became the Grinch who stole Christmas, with overreaching lockdowns and fear-mongering that kept families apart. Now, they’re up to no good again by making holiday food and gifts more expensive.
The Biden administration and the Democrats have no idea what it’s like for everyday North Carolinians. Maybe that’s why they’re twiddling their thumbs instead of fixing the many crises they’ve created.
Rather than leading an economic recovery, Biden’s right-hand man, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, has called skyrocketing prices for food and gas a “high-class problem.”
I don’t know what Klain is thinking, but when a hardworking North Carolinian can’t afford to put gas in their car to go to work or buy food to feed their family, I call it an “everybody problem.”
Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm burst into laughter and called a question about the administration’s lowering gas prices “hilarious.” Unlike Granholm, exorbitant gas prices are no laughing matter to me or my constituents.
The Biden administration is actively trying to make things worse. Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate would leave businesses scrambling, worsen labor shortages and push inflation even higher.
Something’s got to give when it comes to these economic crises we’re facing, and it’s clear that Biden and his elitist cabinet members won’t be the ones to do it.
While this holiday season may look different due to Biden’s skyrocketing inflation and supply-chain crises, we must remember that we have an opportunity to make a change next November by electing pro-growth conservatives who know what it takes to create a booming economy. This Thanksgiving, I’m going to give thanks for the common-sense of North Carolinians, which will lead us to a Republican rescue in next year’s midterm elections.
Sarah Stevens is NCGA House speaker pro tempore.
