Republican breaks from Trump to say families are 'struggling' — but points finger at Biden

A prominent House Republican is breaking with President Donald Trump on the state of the U.S. economy — which the president in recent months has called the “hottest” in the world and suggested that the inflation and affordability crises have been resolved. But she’s also placing the blame on former President Joe Biden, well over a year after he left office.

House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain “offered a rare acknowledgment from a GOP leader Tuesday that the U.S. economy might not be in tip-top condition,” Politico reported.

“Now, I know that even with bigger refunds, many families are struggling right now. And I get it,” McClain told reporters.

“But we also owe it to the American people to be honest about how we got here, to make sure we don’t ever go back again. So let me be candid, and let me refresh everybody’s memories,” she said, declaring that the Biden administration “killed” the Keystone Pipeline on “day one.”

The pipeline was never completed — Biden revoked a permit for it.

“Then,” she continued, “the Biden administration made it harder to ‘drill baby drill.'”

By the time President Biden left office, the U.S. was the world’s largest producer of oil and a net exporter of petroleum products and natural gas.

After praising the Trump administration for opening up more drilling permits, McClain scolded the press: “We need to tell the truth on truly what’s going on.”

“I’m not passing the buck, I’m giving you the facts,” she said.

“It’s crazy that Democrats closed the Keystone pipeline,” she reiterated. “It’s crazy to rely on our enemies for our oil and our natural gas. And it is crazy to sacrifice our national economic security for woke Green New Deal talking points.”

“So, no. Energy prices aren’t where any of us want them to be,” she acknowledged before praising Trump’s energy policies.