If you have been to a grocery store, filled up your gas tank, or tried to buy a home in Manatee or Hillsborough County in the past three years, you already know the answer: prices are dramatically higher than they were a few years ago. The question most families are asking is not an economic one — it is a political one. How did we get here, and what is Congress going to do about it?
The short answer is that inflation is not an accident. It is the predictable result of specific policy decisions made in Washington — and it can be addressed by making different decisions.
How Government Spending Fuels Inflation — The Plain-English Explanation
Inflation is the general rise in prices across the economy over time. When the same dollar buys less than it did last year, that is inflation at work. Understanding why prices rise requires understanding where money comes from — and what happens when the federal government creates more of it.
The U.S. government has run a deficit every year for the past two decades, spending significantly more than it collects in tax revenue. To cover this gap, the Treasury borrows money — issuing bonds that must eventually be repaid with interest. When the Federal Reserve steps in to purchase these bonds (a process called “quantitative easing”), it effectively creates new money. More dollars in the economy, chasing the same amount of goods and services, means each dollar is worth slightly less — which shows up as higher prices.
The pandemic-era spending packages of 2020–2021 injected approximately $5 trillion in federal spending into an economy where supply chains were simultaneously constrained by shutdowns, shipping disruptions, and labor shortages. The result was the highest inflation in four decades — peaking at 9.1% annually in June 2022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While inflation has moderated from that peak, prices have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The cumulative price increase since January 2020 is over 20% for most consumer goods categories.
That 20% is not a statistic. For a family in Riverview spending $800 per month on groceries in 2020, that is now $960. For a Bradenton household that was paying $1,500 per month in rent, comparable housing now costs $1,800 or more. These are real dollars leaving real family budgets every month — and Washington’s spending decisions created this environment.
How Inflation Has Hit Florida Families Specifically
For families in Bradenton, Riverview, and Brandon, the inflation story has specific, painful chapters:
Groceries. Food-at-home prices rose approximately 25% between 2020 and 2023 nationally. Eggs, meat, dairy, and produce saw particularly sharp increases. In Florida, where much of the supply chain runs through Tampa Bay’s port infrastructure, supply chain disruptions hit especially hard. Grocery prices have stabilized but remain significantly above pre-pandemic levels.
Housing costs. Florida was ground zero for the pandemic-era housing surge. Low interest rates — driven by Federal Reserve policy — and remote work migration from high-cost states drove Florida home prices up dramatically. The median home price in Manatee County roughly doubled from 2019 to 2023. Even as the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, mortgage rates followed — meaning housing became simultaneously more expensive to buy and more expensive to finance. A family buying a median-priced Manatee County home in 2023 paid roughly twice the monthly mortgage of someone who bought the same home in 2019.
Energy and utilities. Federal energy policy decisions that constrained domestic oil and natural gas production contributed to fuel price spikes that rippled through the entire economy. Everything that gets transported, manufactured, or heated became more expensive. Duke Energy Florida and TECO both received rate increases that passed higher energy costs to customers. See the full analysis of rising utility bills in FL-16 →
Insurance. Construction cost inflation — driven by labor shortages and materials price increases — directly drove up homeowners insurance premiums, since insurers price policies based on replacement costs. On top of Florida’s existing insurance market challenges, inflation added another layer of premium pressure. Read more about Florida’s insurance crisis →
Small business cost pass-through. Rising costs of materials, labor, energy, and insurance forced small businesses in Lakewood Ranch and Bradenton to raise prices to survive. Inflation at the business level shows up as inflation at the cash register for consumers — and in tighter margins for owners who absorbed as much as they could. Read more about small business challenges in Manatee County →
What Congress Can Do — and John Peters’ Fiscal Agenda
Congress cannot repeal the laws of economics. But it created this inflation environment through specific decisions — and it can take specific decisions to reduce inflationary pressure going forward.
Stop spending more than we take in. The national debt has surpassed $36 trillion. Every year Congress runs a deficit, it adds to the inflationary pressure created by deficit financing. John Peters supports a constitutional balanced budget amendment that would require Congress to live within its means — as every family and small business in FL-16 must do. The balanced budget amendment has been debated in Congress for decades; Peters will push to get it to the states for ratification.
Cut wasteful federal spending. Not all spending is equal. Investment in infrastructure, defense, and core government functions is different from duplicative programs, improper payments, and bureaucratic overhead that delivers no value to taxpayers. Peters supports a systematic review of federal spending — similar to what DOGE has begun — with the goal of identifying and eliminating programs that cannot justify their cost.
Expand domestic energy production. Cheap energy is the single most effective anti-inflation policy available. When energy is affordable, everything that requires energy to produce, ship, or power becomes cheaper. Peters supports removing the regulatory barriers to domestic oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy production that keep American energy prices artificially high. Read the full energy plan →
Reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses. Federal regulations that impose costs on small businesses without proportional benefits show up as higher prices for consumers. Deregulation is disinflationary — it reduces the cost of doing business, which reduces the prices businesses must charge to survive. Read the small business plan →
Fix the SALT deduction. While not directly anti-inflationary, restoring the State and Local Tax deduction would provide immediate financial relief to FL-16 homeowners dealing with the combined pressure of higher property taxes and higher mortgage costs. Read the property tax plan →
Washington cannot make prices go back to 2020 levels overnight. But it can stop making things worse — and start making decisions that reduce cost pressure on FL-16 families rather than increase it.
See John Peters’ full fiscal platform →
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is everything so expensive right now?
The current high cost of living is primarily the result of inflation driven by federal spending decisions made during 2020–2021. Approximately $5 trillion in pandemic-era federal spending injected money into an economy with constrained supply chains, causing the highest inflation in four decades — peaking at 9.1% annually in June 2022. While inflation has moderated, cumulative price increases since 2020 exceed 20% for most consumer categories. Prices have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
What causes inflation?
Inflation occurs when more money chases the same amount of goods and services. The primary drivers of recent U.S. inflation were: (1) large federal deficit spending financed partly by the Federal Reserve creating new money; (2) supply chain disruptions that reduced available goods while money supply increased; and (3) energy price increases that raised the cost of producing and transporting nearly everything. Congress’s fiscal decisions — how much it spends and how it finances that spending — directly affect inflation.
How has inflation affected Florida specifically?
Florida was hit especially hard because of its rapidly growing housing market (where low interest rates and in-migration drove prices up dramatically), its dependence on imported supply chains through Tampa Bay’s port infrastructure, and its ongoing insurance crisis (where construction cost inflation drove up replacement cost calculations and therefore premiums). Grocery prices, utility bills, and housing costs have all risen significantly above the national average in parts of Manatee and Hillsborough counties.
What is a balanced budget amendment?
A balanced budget amendment is a constitutional amendment that would require the federal government to spend no more than it takes in — similar to the balanced budget requirements that most states already operate under. Congress has debated such an amendment for decades but has not passed one. John Peters supports a constitutional balanced budget amendment and will push to get it to the states for ratification, arguing that fiscal discipline is the most sustainable long-term anti-inflation measure available to Congress.
What can Congress realistically do to lower the cost of living?
Congress can reduce inflationary pressure through: cutting deficit spending (which reduces the need for inflationary financing); expanding domestic energy production (cheap energy reduces the cost of everything); reducing regulations that raise the cost of doing business for small businesses (which reduces prices for consumers); and avoiding large new spending programs that would add money to the economy without adding productive capacity.
Florida families are paying more for everything — groceries, housing, utilities, insurance. John Peters will go to Washington with a concrete plan to stop making it worse and start making it better. Join the campaign.