Harris zeroes in on high food prices as inflation plays a big role in the presidential race

AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is zeroing in on high food prices as her campaign previews an economic policy speech Friday in North Carolina, promising to push for a federal ban on price gouging on groceries as she looks to address one of voters’ top concerns.

Harris is putting particular emphasis on rising meat prices, which she says account for a large part of rising bills at checkout.

Year-over-year inflation has reached its lowest level in more than three years, but food prices are 21% above where they were three years ago. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has pointed to inflation as a key failing of the Biden administration and its energy policies.

Harris, at the same time, is drawing closer to President Joe Biden’s legislative and economic record. The two celebrated their efforts to cut prescription drug prices as she made her first joint speaking appearance, at an event in Maryland, with Biden since she replaced him at the top of the Democratic ticket nearly four weeks ago.

They announced that drug price negotiations will knock hundreds of dollars — in some cases thousands — off the list prices of 10 of Medicare’s most popular and costliest drugs. The program was created through the 2022 health care- and climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act. Harris’ vote Senate vote, as vice president, helped Democrats overcome unanimous GOP opposition to make the bill law.

“The tiebreaking vote of Kamala,” Biden told the audience, “made that possible.”

He added that Harris is “gonna make one helluva president.”

Biden undertook his own efforts to contain rising food prices, including creating a “competition council” that tried to reduce costs by increasing competition within the meat industry, part of a broader effort to show his administration is trying to combat inflation.

Asked Thursday if he was concerned Harris would seek to distance herself from his economic record, Biden told reporters, “She’s not going to.”

Americans are more likely to trust Trump over Harris when it comes to handling the economy, but the difference is slight: 45% say Trump is better positioned to handle the economy, while 38% say that about Harris. About 1 in 10 trust neither Harris nor Trump to better handle the economy, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.

Consumer confidence surveys show that high prices remain a persistent source of frustration for shoppers, particularly among lower-income Americans, even as inflation has cooled. Overall prices are about 21% higher than before the pandemic. Average incomes have risen by slightly more than that, boosting spending even as Americans report a gloomy outlook on the economy.

Some meat prices have risen by even more than overall inflation: Beef prices have increased nearly 33% in the 4 1/2 years since the pandemic began, while chicken prices have jumped 31%. Pork is 21% more expensive, according to government data.

Supply disruptions during the pandemic were one reason prices rose. Many meat processing plants closed temporarily after COVID-19 outbreaks among their workers.

But the Biden administration has charged that corporate consolidation in the meat processing industry has played a larger role by enabling a small number of companies to raise their prices by more than their their costs.

Four large companies control 55% to 85% of the beef, chicken, and poultry markets, the White House said in late 2021, including Tyson Foods and JBS. Several of the biggest meat companies have collectively paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits accusing them of fixing prices for chicken, beef and pork, but they didn’t admit any wrongdoing.

Some economists have argued that large food and consumer goods companies took advantage of pandemic-era disruptions. Economist Isabella Weber at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, called it “seller’s inflation.” Others referred to it as “greedflation.”

Harris’ proposals on price gouging come as there is some evidence that “sellers’ inflation” is fading. Consumers have become more discriminating, and are passing on some higher-price purchases while seeking out cheaper alternatives.

Grocery prices, on average nationwide, have risen just 1.1% in the past 12 months, in line with pre-pandemic increases, the government said Wednesday.

The meat industry has been fending off allegations of price gouging and price fixing for years, and the major players dispute the notion that the extreme consolidation in the industry is to blame for high prices.

At a congressional hearing two years ago, the CEOs of Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill and National Beef argued that higher costs of feed and fuel along with persistent labor shortages and supply and demand forces were to blame for higher prices.

There were significant meat production disruptions during the pandemic as COVID spread through meat plants like wildfire and forced temporary closures and additional safety precautions. The bird flu outbreak has taken a toll on the poultry industry. Years of drought have limited the number of cattle being raised.

The industry’s defense is supported by their balance sheets that generally show soaring expenses squeezing profits in recent years, prompting some companies like Tyson to close some of their less-efficient plants to reduce costs.

Kansas State University agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor said “the cost of raising the animal, the cost of converting it into meat, and the cost of getting that meat to people is higher than it was.”

“Yes, consumers are seeing higher prices, but it doesn’t necessarily mean somebody is gouging them,” Tonsor said.

The head of the Meat Institute trade group, President and CEO Julie Anna Potts, said Harris’ idea would not solve the problems of inflation driving up the price of everything.

“Consumers have been impacted by high prices due to inflation on everything from services to rent to automobiles, not just at the grocery store,” Potts said. “A federal ban on price gouging does not address the real causes of inflation.”

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AP Business Writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska and Chris Rugaber in Washington, and Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Largo, Maryland contributed to this report.