Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said Thursday it is easy to be an armchair quarterback, but it was “pretty obvious” there was a mismatch between supply and demand in early 2021 so the Federal Reserve should have acted earlier to corral inflation.
Mr. Portman, a Republican, told CNBC that President Biden and Democrats overstimulated the economy with its $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief package last year while failing to provide regulatory relief to suppliers or generate enough energy.
“A lot of us said, ‘Look, the economy is already performing well coming out of the pandemic,’” Mr. Portman said. “I think it was pretty obvious what was going on.