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Thanks, in large part, to President Joe Biden’s tax-and-spend policies, the state of the American economy is bleak. Wasteful government spending fueled the worst inflation crisis in more than forty years, small business optimism has plummeted, interest rates on everything from home mortgages to car loans continue their devastating trajectory upwards, and the cost of farm inputs remains historically high. Left unresolved, these economic challenges will spell disaster for American prosperity, productivity, and competitiveness.

Agriculture is a capital-intensive industry. From buying fertilizer, seed, feed, and pesticides to purchasing new machinery, Iowa farmers and producers must maintain a tight budget to turn a profit and feed our country and the world.

Earlier this month, I led a letter joined by seven of my colleagues to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen raising our concerns about an extraterritorial tax Germany is imposing on American companies.

American fuel retailers, corn growers, ethanol producers, and our families face unnecessary uncertainty year after year awaiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s arbitrary, last-minute waivers to allow for the summertime sale of E-15 at gas stations nationwide. This unpredictability raises gas prices for American families, prevents fuel retailers from consistently marketing low-cost, low-carbon E-15, and threatens the livelihoods of corn growers and ethanol producers not only in Iowa, but across the Midwest.

President Biden’s economic agenda – which he has coined “Bidenomics” – has failed our families, farmers, small businesses, and rural communities by every measure possible. 61% of Americans reported living paycheck to paycheck, 71% of Americans have a negative view of the state of the economy, and gas prices continue their upward trajectory. Even more concerning, credit-car and car-loan delinquency rates are rising with American families now carrying a record one trillion dollars in credit-card debt.

In rural America, our farmland is our most valuable, yet finite, asset. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States is home to over two million farms spanning nearly 894 million acres. This expansive acreage has cemented our position as the third largest agriculture-producing country in the world.

Economic hardship caused, in large part, by President Biden’s wasteful spending policies and misguided attacks on American energy production recently broke another record. For the first time in over two decades, mortgage rates rose to 7.12% as the Federal Reserve continues its rate hikes to combat the inflation crisis spurred by reckless government spending. Even worse, there is no indication that this upward trajectory will reverse course in the coming months – spelling disaster for American families who want to purchase a home and plant their roots.