On Monday, Fox News White House Journalist Peter Doocy questioned White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre about the admin’s handling of inflation.
Doocy questioned the press secretary about why inflation continues to rise despite President Joe Biden’s repeated promises to address the issue. Jean-Pierre highlighted the administration’s awareness of the American people’s anger and warned Republicans that removing the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act would worsen inflation.
“The president recognizes, and we’ve discussed it many times, that inflation is a problem.” High expenses are an issue for the American people, and he’s been quite explicit about making that his top economic priority,” Jean-Pierre remarked. “And he has done the job, and he has done the work with congressional Democrats when it comes to the Inflation Reduction Act, which will cut the cost for our seniors, millions and millions of seniors around the country. When you consider the $2,000 limit for their own Medicare prescriptions, the thousands of dollars that many seniors pay every month, that’s now about to just be $2,000 a year.”
“That is the effort done by congressional Dems and the president. Republicans didn’t vote for this at all, and what Republicans intend to do is overturn that very historic piece of legislation which would cut energy expenses and assist combat climate change. They’d like to get rid of it. So we’re going to draw a distinction between how Republicans intend to make things worse and how Democrats intend to do the opposite and end up making things a little easier,” she added.
“But, who actually thinks the president is doing a good job on inflation?” Doocy asked. “A recent survey finds him receiving his lowest performance ratings on inflation at -38 percent.”
The president’s press secretary reaffirmed that he is working to reduce the costs of gasoline, Medicare, and healthcare. She then charged Republicans for refusing to collaborate with the president to reduce the burden of high prices on Americans.
“Congressional Republicans refused to be partners with us in this,” she responded. “They refuse to assist us. They refuse to assist with the American Rescue Plan, which has helped to develop an economy that is actually robust and has produced jobs.”
According to the Fox News correspondent, most experts agree that the American Rescue Plan “has contributed” to inflation. She linked Doocy to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s anticipated statement on these stories, then claimed that the Biden admin’s legislation is “liked by the American people.”
“They’re well-liked. They’re popular with Americans,” she continued. “They understand, the American people understand, how these pieces of legislation that we worked so hard to pass and that are now law are going to affect people’s lives.” Is there still work to be done? There is always more work to be done, but we are taking the necessary measures. Again, Republicans in Congress have done nothing, utterly nothing. They want to repeal and reverse the progress we’ve accomplished.”
In September, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that inflation was up 8.2% year on year. The topic has remained a top priority for the vast majority of potential midterm voters.
