Dems, GOP set inflation, COVID mandates as election themes

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats and Republicans each want to flash election-year signals that they’re helping families struggling with rising costs and the two-year-old pandemic. But the parties differ over how to do that. And each side is beginning to make clear how it’ll use those themes to compete for voters in this fall’s voting for control of Congress. Senate Democrats are planning votes on proposals aimed at reducing inflation like curbing the price of insulin, the diabetes drug. Republicans are blaming President Joe Biden and Democrats for the worst inflation in four decades, but they’re also focusing on COVID-era social issues like mask and vaccine mandates.