Congressman French Hill on vaccines, infrastructure and the economy

U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, says he’s trying to lead on encouraging vaccinations and he believes fear will be the biggest driver of the unvaccinated to get a COVID-19 shot.

“I’m trying to lead on this because I think it’s a public health crisis,” he said. “Our hospitals are full, our younger people are now getting COVID-19 in a serious way and being put in the hospital, and 99% of the people not vaccinated are the ones at risk,” Hill said. “The way to really help reduce the public health crisis that we have is to get more people vaccinated.”

When asked if there should be mandates to force vaccines, Hill said there are other ways to improve state vaccination rates.

“I think fear is a good motivator here. When you see the hospital is full, when you see young people getting sick, when you see young people suffering the consequences. I hate to say that, but I think that’s a major motivator. But you’re also seeing some employers take some standards if you’re not vaccinated. You need to wear a mask at all times, trying to create a carrot and stick process around the workplace,” Hill said.

In a discussion on the economy, Hill said he’s worried about rising inflation. He cited two causes for the inflation growth: supply chain disruption and monetary policy.

“When you see ordinary commodities across the board – milk, our fruits, our vegetables, many components – and when you talk to businesspeople, to me, it’s that fundamental issue of too many dollars chasing too few goods. And you cannot blame, this mass inflation, the worst we’ve had in 20 years, on just supply chain,” he said. “That’s why I’ve said my yellow warning light is on, that inflation is not transitory, that there’s something bigger here. When you’re proposing to spend $6 trillion and you’re buying $120 billion a month in government securities by the Fed, those two things have produced a money supply growth that we have not seen in decades.”

Hill shared his thoughts on the debate over a bipartisan infrastructure bill and he outlined his efforts to change policy to help entrepreneurship. You can watch his full interview in the video below.