'Our economy is not great': Republican congressman says inflation and prices are high

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Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland (Gage Skidmore)

In a rare break from President Donald Trump and Republican orthodoxy, one GOP congressman is acknowledging what many Americans already feel: times are tough.

“Our economy is not great,” U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who served as Secretary of the Interior during the first Trump administration, told Fox Business on Friday.

“There’s a lot of strain” on the economy, he added, while talking about the federal government shutdown, now in its 31st day.

“This injects another degree of uncertainty, distraction, in the economy, and it’s going to affect, and we’re gonna see WIC go away. We’re gonna see benefits of people that really need help. They won’t be able to get it.”

Speaking about President Trump’s highly controversial plan to allow massive amounts of beef from Argentina into the U.S., Zinke admitted that inflation and prices are high. President Trump has repeatedly claimed he has brought food prices far down, and inflation to at or near “zero.” Both claims are overall false.

“I do know what the president was doing,” on Argentinian beef, Zinke said.

“He’s looking at high inflation, high cost, high beef, and no different than what he’s doing with oil prices and commodities — bringing the cost down because the consumer price inflation’s a really big deal.”

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