According to the consumer index, prices rose 7.5 percent in a 12 month period, the highest rise since 1982 and a local congresswomen says this increase is not transitory. 

Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Cindy Axne expects the increase in inflation to not be the new normal. Axne says the pandemic and outsourcing of jobs has been a major force in the rise of costs for Americans. 

“We couldn’t even get PPE (Personal Protective Equipment , the equipment that our doctors needed, because we don’t produce masks and gloves here. We’re reliant on other countries to do that. So when we have given so much of our economy over to other countries to produce our goods any time that we see a massive disruption like we’re seeing with the pandemic, we will see inflation.”

Axne says that the White House has made strides by lowering unemployment and creating the fastest Gross Domestic Product growth in four years. She explains that adding in new legislation like the Competes Act will cause inflation to go down.