Rockford Sun

Sharing a tweet from the Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) recently called President Joe Biden's economic policies disastrous as he highlighted the contraction of the economy in the first quarter of the year.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that gross domestic product declined by 1.4% in the first quarter, the worst since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to CNBC.

"The U.S. economy shrank 1.4% in the first quarter of 2022," LaHood wrote in an April 28 Twitter post. "President Biden’s disastrous economic policies are accelerating inflation and harming Illinois families, small businesses, and workers."

The news did not seem to affect the stock market, which seems to be an indicator of how the economy is chugging along.

The New York Times reported that the decline may not be as bad as it looks. Underlying indicators of demand showed solid growth and consumer spending grew by 0.7% in the first quarter despite high gas prices and lingering waves of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus.

The NYT also noted that the 1.4% decline was due in part to decreased government spending.

A report from the Commerce Department revealed that when looking at the big picture in 2021, "the economy grew 5.7%, the highest calendar-year expansion since 1984," according to NBC.