Election 2022: LaHood, Haderlein differ in approach to inflation, energy policies to combat rising costs

With inflation up more than 8% in the past year, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood said the government needs to “quit spending money” to stop rising costs, while his opponent said U.S. businesses need to be supported to help bolster supply chains, which she said in turn will help prices.

While LaHood, a Republican who has been an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump and received Trump’s endorsement over the summer, pinned a sizable portion of the blame for inflation on President Joe Biden’s administration, his opponent, Lisa Haderlein, a Democrat from Harvard, said she felt it was more of a global issue than one caused by U.S. policies.

Their approach on fixing it was different as well. LaHood held steady on his party’s approach to inflation and energy, and pointed to the trillions of dollars spent in the past couple years as the culprit and advocated to stop spending.

Haderlein, who was slated as a candidate in the 16th Congressional District after no Democrats ran in the June primary, said Congress needs to continue incentivizing U.S. businesses to help supply chains domestically, which she said in turn would help keep U.S. dollars within the country and lower costs. She pointed, as examples, to a series of bills recently passed that sought to incentivize renewable energy production and investment in technology and manufacturing in the U.S.

The 16th Congressional District is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is not seeking reelection. The 16th district, which was shifted as part of the decennial redistricting process that followed the 2020 Census, now stretches from the northern border of Illinois south past Peoria.

LaHood is currently serving as representative in the 18th District, which was eliminated as part of redistricting and moved LaHood’s home north of Peoria into the 18th. LaHood beat out three challengers in June’s primary.

Before joining the House of Representatives, LaHood was a state senator from 2011 to 2015 and served as a state’s attorney. His father, Ray LaHood, also a Republican, served as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation under former President Barack Obama.

Haderlein is an alderwoman for the city of Harvard and the executive director of the Land Conservancy of McHenry County.

LaHood said the federal government’s spending in recent years played a “fundamental” role in the rising costs of goods. To fix address inflation, LaHood said the U.S. government needs to “quit spending money.”

While he supported the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, which injected more than $2 trillion into the U.S. weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic began, LaHood pointed to further legislation like the American Rescue Plan Act, which he didn’t support.

“We pumped trillions of dollars into the economy,” LaHood said. “We didn’t need to spend the amount we did.”

The CARES Act was a direct response to COVID-19 and sought to provide relief for individuals and businesses hurt by the pandemic, as well as create systems for testing and combating the virus.

The American Rescue Plan Act was aimed at recovery and provided billions in total to individuals and local governments.

Other bills drew criticism from LaHood as well, such as the recent Inflation Reduction Act, which, among various changes to health care and energy policy, sought to reduce inflation by lowering the federal government’s deficit by growing the IRS so it can better enforce tax laws.

Haderlein said she liked some of the items in the Inflation Reduction Act, such as efforts to expand renewable energy but said some also need time to work, including the IRS’s efforts around tax enforcement.

She cited other legislation as well, such as the CHIPS Act of 2022, which is aimed at boosting manufacturing and technology sectors in the U.S. Haderlein said the bill could help lower the costs of goods by making the U.S. less reliant on other countries for goods, which could reduce shipping costs and bolster supply lines in the U.S., both of which she said could have the effect of helping lower costs.

“That just seems to consistently improve costs and dependability in the whole manufacturing [sector],” she said. “Reducing those issues that come as a result of the supply chain being vulnerable when its so spread globally.”

Haderlein doesn’t disagree that federal spending contributed to rising inflation, but she said the U.S. wasn’t alone in taking the approach it did.

“It’s not like this is a U.S. problem,” she said. “We’re seeing [inflation] happening worldwide.”

Raising interest rates is not something Haderlein thinks is a good approach because it hurts employment by driving up the costs of doing business. Overall, she thinks the best approach is to continue incentivizing business in the U.S. to both maintain jobs and bring inflation down.

“I think we’ve got to approach [inflation] from a lot of different angles,” she said. “We need to keep [our dollars] domestic, rather than continuing to rely so heavily on importing vital goods and services.”

Both candidates said rising energy costs have also played a key role in inflation. While they pinned some of the blame on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, each had different ideas of how to help the problem at home.

LaHood said Biden’s efforts to move away from fossil fuels in favor of green energy have driven costs up.

“It’s kind of the perfect storm,” he said. “They made this bet on green energy … and then you have this Russian geopolitical issue.”

Haderlein said she supports that transition, adding it needs to come sooner than later. Still, she doesn’t think it needs to completely disrupt the fossil fuel sector.

LaHood said he thinks the U.S. needs to return to being energy independent, though data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that the U.S. became a net energy exporter in 2019 for the first time since 1952.

The country continued to be a net energy exporter through mid-2022, data shows. Data from July to October is not yet available.

In response, LaHood said the U.S. has been dipping into its oil reserves, which has helped the U.S. maintain its net exporting status. From January 2021, when Biden took office, through July 2022, the U.S. saw its crude oil reserves drop by about 27%.

LaHood said the U.S. needs to be producing more energy, which can be done by issuing more permits for drilling “in an environmentally safe way,” he said.

To continue being energy independent, Haderlein said the best approach is to invest in renewable resources, which include green and nuclear energy.

“If we’re serious about wanting to be energy independent beyond two years from now but in 50 years, we have to make the investment in renewable energy,” Haderlein said.