Mike Pence touts plans to fight inflation, lower energy prices in northeast Iowa swing

INDEPENDENCE — Former Vice President Mike Pence walked into the backroom of Em’s Coffee Company, where Beverly Leisinger and others from the local Lutheran church gathered for their weekly Wednesday morning coffee group to socialize, build fellowship and “solve the world’s problems.”

"I guess you're all wondering why I called this meeting," Pence joked as he went around the room shaking hands.

The 2024 Republican presidential candidate stopped Wednesday in Independence as part of a three-day campaign swing through the state. He joined Ankeny firefighters for a Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony Monday and held a series of town halls and meet-and-greet events across Northeast Iowa. Pence is scheduled to be back in Iowa on Saturday for an Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition presidential town hall in Des Moines.

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He chatted with and posed for pictures with owner and operator Emilea Hillman and her mother, as well as the 20-some customers and supporters gathered at the coffee shop.

Hillman, who has a developmental disability, left a segregated workshop for disabled workers making less than minimum wage and became a business owner at 21. She will celebrate 14 years in business this winter, and employs others with and without disabilities.

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Pence touted his plans to fight inflation and lower energy prices. He blamed Democratic President Joe Biden's energy policies for crippling the energy industry and contributing to high inflation and costs for the public.

Inflation jumped last month largely because of a spike in gas prices, but other costs rose more slowly, suggesting price pressures are easing at a gradual pace, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Labor Department.

The consumer price index rose 3.7 percent in August from a year earlier, and up from July’s 3.2 percent rise. On a monthly basis, consumer prices jumped 0.6 percent in August, the biggest increase in more than a year. Gas prices spiked nearly 11 percent, though they have since leveled off. The average nationwide price at the pump was $3.85 Wednesday, unchanged from a month ago, according to AAA.

“You can turn this thing around, quicker than you can imagine,” Pence told the church coffee group. “It’s just a matter of putting the country back on a path toward a balanced budget, dealing with long-term federal debt, getting the Federal Reserve focused on just protecting the dollar, and then unleashing American energy.”

If elected, Pence said he would work to expand energy production and distribution by reversing Biden policies canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline and oil and gas leases issued by Republican former President Donald Trump’s administration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and encouraging private production as part of an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, from oil and natural gas to nuclear and renewable energy.

Pence served as Trump’s vice president.

“In our administration, we cut taxes, rolled back regulations and we appointed conservatives to our courts at every level,” Pence said, who also touted his record as governor of Indiana and in Congress. “And we achieved energy independence. … And I’m here to tell you in Independence that we can do it all again.”

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White House officials contend the president’s policies have on the whole saved Americans on gas prices, with coordinated release of oil with allies from strategic reserves pushing oil prices down. Biden has also called on oil companies to boost production, and country is on track to pump more oil than ever, produce a record amount of natural gas and expand clean energy capacity.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects U.S. crude oil production to surpass an all-time high of 12.9 million barrels a day this year and keep growing to exceed 13 million in 2024. U.S. natural gas production is forecast to rise to a record high in 2023, while demand will fall.

Pence’s plan also calls for freezing nondefense discretionary spending while government agencies undergo an audit, and ending tax credits for advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles and energy efficiency retrofits of existing homes.

Pence complimented Leisinger on a comment she made about energy policy.

"I don't want to run as your vice president, though," Leisinger said, prompting laughter.

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Leisinger, 79, said she was impressed by Pence’s sincerity and his focus on his policies, rather than attacking opponents. A self-described independent voter, she said she has not decided who she will support in 2024.

Former Independence school board member John Christensen, 86, told Pence his speech to the U.S. Senate on Jan. 6, 2021, where Pence said “let’s get back to work,” hours after a violent mob forced its way into the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the counting of the Electoral College vote, was “probably the best political speech I’ve ever heard.”

He voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. He said he has three favorites for the GOP nomination — Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

Christensen said he likes DeSantis’ experience as a governor and former congressman. But he said legislation DeSantis signed into law in Florida removing school library books deemed sexually explicit and restricting instruction on topics like race, gender and sexuality “are a little too far right for me.” He said he likes Scott’s “charisma.”

As for Trump, Christensen said he “could have been one of the top-five presidents we ever had, but his ego got in the way, especially during the Jan. 6 situation.”

“I would not vote for him now if he paid me money,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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