Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) on January 30, 2025 (Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock.com)
President Donald Trump's latest attempts to assuage Americans' concerns about the economy are being panned by Republican senators, according to The Hill.
"Capitol Hill Republicans are becoming more sensitive to how Trump is responding to higher prices as they face relentless attacks from Democrats, who plan to make 'affordability' their top issue in the 2026 midterm elections," they write.
As Trump's claims that prices were down have been repeatedly refuted by data, Republicans, The Hill writes, worry that his pointing to the all-time highs in the stock market doesn't translate to ordinary Americans.
"Consumer confidence is slumping and American households are reporting record-high debts," The Hill says, adding that "the annual inflation rate of 3 percent in September, as measured by the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), is also equivalent to its level when Trump took office in January."
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says, "I get the feeling that there’s concern about there."
"I still worry that there’s a giddiness of the stock market," Paul continued. "A lot of the money that was given to people, government printed up money … the inflation that came, an enormous amount of that money went into the stock market.”
Paul also blames a key Trump administration policy for the bleak economic outlook.
"I am concerned there’s a possibility of a severe correction. I think the tariffs could be part of causing that correction as well,” he says, adding that the midterms aren't looking too promising for Republicans because of them.
“I think the midterms are going to be difficult, and I think we’re right to be concerned and to work hard,” he says. “One of the things I’m talking a lot about and am hoping to go to the White House to talk about is we need to have a very good answer for how we help people with health insurance.”
The Hill also says that Trump's 50-year-mortgage proposal is wildly unpopular and Republicans are concerned "about the president’s plan to distribute $2,000 tariff 'dividend' checks to millions of Americans, something that GOP lawmakers fear would fuel inflation."
"It's not a good idea," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) says about the 50-year-mortgage proposal.
Paul agrees, saying, “I don’t know how you create it,” he said. “The people that I have talked with say that 50 years is longer than most people are in a house — a lot longer."
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) says he'd rather see tariff revenues go to something other than Americans' checking accounts.
“I don’t know the details, but I’d rather pay down the debt. I worry about inflation every day," Scott says. "In the next year, the deficit is going to be like almost 8 percent [of gross domestic product]. I don’t think we can get inflation under control if we don’t balance the budget."
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) says "Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are starting to push back on some of Trump’s ideas — more so than earlier this year — because they’re getting more feedback from constituents at home," The Hill reports.
“I think what’s happening is you’re getting further into an administration, and you spend more time in the state and every member in the House is in cycle and a third of our [Senate] members are up [for re-election.] You’re listening to people and at the end of the day, their opinion matters,” Tillis says.
"We really are a mouthpiece for our constituents. I don’t view it as much as a defection or a disagreement with the president but saying, ‘Look, these are serious issues that we need to address in a way that best positions us for re-election next year,’” he says.
And while Tillis says this push back doesn't amount to an outright revolt among Republicans, he says it's important that Trump listens.
"That’s just upward feedback that people should become more comfortable with. We got unique insight here, and I think that we owe it to the president to provide our respectful feedback," he says.