Jay Feely defends Donald Trump’s economic policies, blames Biden for high prices

Republican congressional candidate Jay Feely defended President Donald Trump’s economic record Monday, arguing that most of the price increases Americans face occurred under former President Joe Biden.

“If we’re in any way having an honest discussion about where prices have gone, the majority of that happened under the Biden administration,” Feely told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Monday.

His comments came as a new AP-NORC poll showed widespread frustration with Trump’s handling of the economy. Just 17% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of living costs, while his overall economic approval fell to a new low of 26%. Nearly two-thirds blame his policies more than outside forces for persistently high prices.

Republican running for CD1 blames much economy’s issues on Biden

Feely pointed to inflation figures to support his argument that Trump inherited much of the affordability problem.

“The findings right now when you look at our food inflation, it’s been 2.7% over the last year. It averages 3.4% over the last 100 years, you know, so you have to be honest about it. If you bought something in 2021 for $100, today it costs $127. So, it’s gone up $27 in inflation. But 21 of those dollars happened under the Biden administration,” Feely said.

Feely is running in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District against Democrat Amish Shah. The poll comes weeks before voters decide which party controls Congress.

Jay Feely says he doesn’t always support Trump

However, Feely said he is willing to challenge the president, pointing to his advocacy for Arizona in negotiations over Colorado River water cuts.

“There’s certain areas like water where I have said I disagree with the administration and spoken out about that,” Feely said.

He argued that Arizona faces a disproportionate share of cuts despite its conservation efforts and that Upper Basin states should share the burden with Lower Basin states.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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