During an interview on NewsNation on Thursday, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) responded to a question of why Democrats haven’t implemented the solutions to inflation they say they will by stating that it would help to have a majority in the House of Representatives, which Democrats had from 2021 through 2023.
Host Chris Cuomo asked, “Do you think that the Democrats can convince the American people that, even though the distress at the grocery store and the gas pump is on your watch, that you can make it better?”
Krishnamoorthi answered, “I think so. But I think that’s where we have to talk about what we would do, right? I think one of the things that we keep talking about, for instance, is making sure that — we don’t want to go the way of stifling innovation or stifling entrepreneurship. As a small — former small businessperson, I like to say I signed the front of the check and the back of the check. I want more people to succeed, but we want to make sure that more small businesses can compete with the large businesses. We want to make sure the markets perform well, for instance, so, making sure we have competition.”
Cuomo then asked, “How do you deal with the counternarrative of, well, you’re going to do it now, why didn’t you do it already, you’ve been in power? Why weren’t these policies in place now so that the situation wouldn’t be what it is?”
Krishnamoorthi responded, “Well, I’d like to flip the House. I think that would help. I think that having a Democratic majority in the House would help us to — for instance, in so many industries, they are so concentrated, Chris, you know this. As a small businessperson, it was so hard to deal with the big guys, to compete with them. I think it’s time that we take another look, for instance, in the food industry and big tech and other sectors of the economy, where there’s such a concentration. I think every small businessperson who’s watching your program knows that it’s really hard to compete. If they can compete, then they can supply more goods and services and we can lower prices.”
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