Reno, Nevada (CNN)Outside a Costco, Laura Godinez lifts meat, toothpaste, coffee, bottled water and bulk supplies of DayQuil from her cart -- just the staples in a pandemic-era weekly shopping trip that is now often missing extras that might bust the family budget, like cookies and snacks.
Beside her truck, which used to cost $100 to fill but now takes $145 to top off, the 30-year-old construction worker feels exasperated as she assesses a $300 grocery bill that shoots up to $400 when she adds vegetables.
"I don't want to say this, but when Donald Trump was here, it was nothing like this," said Godinez, who said she used to lean Republican but has supported Democrats in recent years. "I've been worried, because instead of things getting better, it is getting worse every time. ... I don't know if it's the President, or what happened, but (under Trump) it was so much better."More than 2,500 miles east, and in a different political universe, President Joe Biden's top economic aides were blitzing news shows Wednesday, arguing that the day's release of
the worst inflation figures in 39 years actually contained glimmers of progress.
Here's what Joe Biden can -- and can't -- do to fight inflation
"It's really important to get under the hood of these monthly inflation reports,"
Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein told CNN's Jim Sciutto. "And if you look at the change from November to December, inflation is up half a percent. That's considerably down from October and November, when inflation was up, .8 and .9%, respectively."
On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Democratic senators were locked in intense, emergency meetings. But they weren't working to alleviate the pressures on people like Godinez. They were trying to persuade holdout moderates to change
Senate rules to pass voting rights bills.
The talks came a day after Biden effectively put his presidency on the line, declaring that the most important challenge before the country is the effort by Republicans to sabotage democracy.
It also raises questions about the legislative priorities of their narrow Senate and House majorities. The situation is not without irony, since Biden placed improving the lives of American workers at the center of his agenda.
T
he reality Democrats may be missing is that people are hurting right now.
