Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
The Iran War’s Price Tag: Billions Lost While Americans Go Without

The Iran War’s Price Tag: Billions Lost While Americans Go Without

A child holding a basket full of colorfully painted eggs.

Congress Bill Spotlight: Easter Monday Act, Federal Holiday

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of the Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House

Trump’s Troubled Appointees Face Scandals, Backlash, and Low Support

Kristi Noem facing away with her hand up to be sworn in as she testifies.

Kristi Noem is a Criminal. They Fired Her Because She’s a Woman

People at voting booths.

Just the Facts: Voter ID, States’ Powers, and Federal Limits

Have prices increased 40 percent to 50 percent since Trump left office?

Bar graph of shopping carts
Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images
Hallie Claflin, Wisconsin Watch
By Hallie Claflin, Wisconsin WatchJul 04, 2024
Hallie Claflin, Wisconsin Watch
See More Writings by author

This fact brief was originally published by Wisconsin Watch. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Have prices increased 40 percent to 50 percent since Trump left office?

No.

Cumulative inflation since former President Donald Trump left office in January 2021 through May 2024 was 20.1 percent according to data from the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U.

Trump told a crowd on June 18 in Racine, Wis., that "real inflation" is more than twice that.

Americans have experienced significant price increases since Biden took office, but they aren’t close to the 40-50% inflation that Trump suggested. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic have been the main causes of inflation during Biden’s presidency.

Inflation is measured by a price index to examine the change in prices of many different goods and services. The CPI-U is one of the most common ways to measure inflation. This system is based on spending patterns of urban consumers and measures the monthly change in prices paid for a theoretical market basket of goods and services.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average (CPIAUCNS)

CNBC Trump attacks Biden for 'through the roof' prices—here's how much they've actually risen since 2021

CNBC Why is inflation so high? An economist explains why everyday essentials cost more

CNBC Why is inflation so high? An economist explains why everyday essentials cost more

National Bureau of Economic Research Unpacking the Causes of Pandemic-Era Inflation in the US

Federal Reserve System What is inflation and how does the Federal Reserve evaluate changes in the rate of inflation?

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Frequently Asked Questions : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics


Latest news

Just the Facts: The SAVE Act and the Future of Voter ID Rules
Elections

Just the Facts: The SAVE Act and the Future of Voter ID Rules

Posters are displayed next to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as he speaks at a news conference to unveil the Take It Down Act to protect victims against non-consensual intimate image abuse, on Capitol Hill on June 18, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Media & Technology

Deepfakes: The New Face of Cyberbullying and Why Parents, Schools, and Lawmakers Must Act

Team Trump had to start a war to learn how the global economy works
Economy

Team Trump had to start a war to learn how the global economy works

Read More

A TSA employee standing in the airport, with two travelers in the foreground.

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) worker screens passengers and airport employees at O'Hare International Airport on January 07, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. TSA employees are currently working under the threat of not receiving their next paychecks, scheduled for January 11, because of the partial government shutdown now in its third week.

Getty Images, Scott Olson

Nope. Nevermind. Some DHS agencies still shut down.

House Republicans reject clean bill to open shut-down DHS agencies (March 28 update)

House Republicans (and three Democrats) rejected the Senate's clean bill to end the shutdown late Friday night. Instead, the House passed a different bill that fully funds every agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but for only 60 days with the knowledge that this short-term continuing resolution will not pass in the Senate.

Both chambers are out until April 13 so the shutdown is expected to last until then at least. Hope that no major weather disasters occur before then because FEMA is one of the DHS agencies out of commission (though some of its employees may be working without pay). It's possible that air travel security lines won't get worse since the President signed an Executive Order authorizing DHS to pay TSA workers. New DHS Secretary Mullin says paychecks will start to go out as early as Monday. How long can this approach continue? Unknown. Leaving aside the questionable legality of repurposing funds in this way, DHS may not be willing to keep paying TSA from these other funds long-term.

Keep ReadingShow less
Protestors holding signs, including one that says "let the people vote."
Attendees hold signs advocating for voting rights and against the SAVE America Act at a rally to outside the U.S. Capitol on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Getty Images, Heather Diehl

The Senate Was Meant to Slow Us Down—Not Stop Us Cold

The Senate is once again locked in a familiar pattern: a bill with clear support on one side, firm opposition on the other—and no obvious path forward.

This time it’s the SAVE Act, framed by its supporters as a safeguard for election integrity and by its opponents as a barrier to voting access. The arguments are well-rehearsed. The positions are firm. And yet, beneath the policy debate sits a more revealing truth: in today’s Senate, the outcome of legislation is often shaped long before a final vote is ever cast.

Keep ReadingShow less
Clarity Is Power: The Three Pillars That Keep the People in Charge
man in white robe holding a book statue
Photo by Caleb Fisher on Unsplash

Clarity Is Power: The Three Pillars That Keep the People in Charge

American democracy does not weaken all at once. It falters when citizens lose clarity about how power is being used in their name. Abraham Lincoln warned that “public sentiment is everything… without it, nothing can succeed.” When people understand what their leaders are doing, they can hold them accountable.

But when confusion takes hold, power shifts quietly, and the public’s ability to act begins to erode. Clarity enables citizens to participate fully in democratic life and shape a government that responds to them. Confusion is not harmless; it erodes the safeguards, public awareness, and civic action that make self‑government possible. Clarity strengthens all three pillars at once — it protects our constitutional safeguards, sharpens public awareness, and fuels civic action.

Keep ReadingShow less
CONNECT for Health Act of 2025
person wearing lavatory gown with green stethoscope on neck using phone while standing
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

CONNECT for Health Act of 2025

How does a bill with no enemies fail to move? That question should trouble anyone who cares about Medicare, about rural health care, and about whether Congress can still do straightforward things.

In plain terms, the CONNECT Act would permanently end the outdated rule that limits Medicare telehealth to patients in rural areas who travel to an approved facility. It would make the patient's home a covered site of care. It would protect audio-only services, critical for seniors without broadband or smartphones, especially for behavioral health. It would ensure that Federally Qualified Health Centers can be reimbursed for telehealth, and it would lock in the pandemic-era flexibilities that Congress has been extending on a temporary basis since 2020. In short, it would turn five years of emergency workarounds into permanent, accountable policy.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026