President Biden should stop trying to convince Americans the U.S. economy is fine and instead listen to economists, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) said Wednesday.

Hyde-Smith, of Brookhaven, said Biden and Washington Democrats should have done this before triggering historically high inflation in just one year. She chastised the Biden administration during a news conference to discuss the effect of inflation on families and businesses. Under Biden economic policies, consumer price inflation has exploded from 1.7 percent in February 2021 to a staggering 7.5 percent in January 2022 — a level not seen in 40 years.

“This time last year, we tried to tell the Biden administration not to pour trillions of dollars into this economy. The fundamentals of economics have to work,” Hyde-Smith said. “A high schooler taking an economics class could figure this out, but the White House can’t. This is unbelievable inflation of 40 years.”

Hyde-Smith and other senators blamed the inflationary scourge on passage of a roughly $2 trillion COVID relief bill last March that economists warned would trigger rampant inflation, the Biden administration’s assault on U.S. oil and gas production, and ramped up anti-growth regulations.

Citing her experiences as a grocery store cashier as a youth, Hyde-Smith said all Mississippians are now affected by rising prices for groceries and other staples. She also described how the 40 percent increase in gasoline prices since January 2021 adds steep new transport costs for hauling timber harvested in the state.

“[Inflation] is real. It is hurting families. And the President still tries to spin it as the economy is doing good. Mississippians aren’t buying that. It is not doing good in Mississippi or anywhere else in the country,” said Hyde-Smith. “I wish the President would have heeded the warnings of the economists. He needs to do that now because we are hurting. These are real stories. We can do better than this and the American people certainly deserve better than this.”

Hyde-Smith will continue her opposition to what she called Biden’s “reckless $4 trillion tax and spending spree”, which Democrats plan to resurrect as separate pieces of legislation in hopes of forcing it through Congress. The gigantic plan collapsed in December due to bipartisan opposition.