CNN host Brianna Keilar and Rep. Bryan Steil

For millions of voters, the defining issue of this week's elections across multiple states was affordability — particularly the cost of groceries. But President Donald Trump insists the economy has been strong during his second term.

In a Thursday segment on CNN, host Brianna Keilar brought up Trump's recent interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, who read the president a message from one of his supporters in North Carolina begging for him to address rising costs of living. Trump maintained that while certain prices for items like beef were too high, prices were trending downward. Keilar asked Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) if he was satisfied with Trump's economic leadership, given that food is still expensive for many Americans.

"We still have an opportunity to make life more affordable, but a lot of progress has been made from deregulation to energy policy," Steil said. "When we think about groceries, one of the biggest drivers is the cost of diesel fuel. It's a tractor in the field during the harvest. It's a truck bringing those goods to the grocery store. The energy policy that we have put in place with the Trump administration is beginning to reduce those prices. And a massive shift from where we were during the Biden administration to reduce those prices. I think you see oil prices coming down dramatically."

"How long will that take? Because groceries have been up every month month since the start of Trump's presidency," Keilar said.

"This is about reforming energy policies that the Biden administration was disastrous on for four years," Steil said. "It takes a period of time for the deregulation to get to the wellhead, to get that oil and gas online and driving prices further down. Making sure that diesel prices and gas prices are lower is one of the largest drivers to bring down grocery costs for American families."

Keilar then pointed out that Trump has said prices are already down, and reminded Steil that former President Joe Biden failed to convince Americans that he was taking rising costs of living seriously given that Americans were still paying far more for basic needs than they had been in previous years. She then compared Trump to Biden, telling Steil: "The president is now saying that the costs are down, but they're not."

"Is that a problem for Republicans to be misrepresenting the economic picture that Americans cannot escape from?" She asked. "They feel at every moment of every day."

"Life is too expensive, and we need to continue to work to put forward policies that makes it more affordable," Steil said. "Energy policy, deregulation — the administration and Republicans have done a lot in that regard. Tax reductions in the One Big Beautiful Bill. But making sure that those get all the way across the line, and we continue to find ways to reduce costs, is going to have to be front and center of our agenda."

Watch the segment below:

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