![Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy got a rise out of Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen on Thursday before immediately hitting her with criticism during a hearing. [Screenshot Youtube Forbes Breaking News]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-08-at-12.56.08-PM-e1707415022588.png "Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy got a rise out of Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen on Thursday before immediately hitting her with criticism during a hearing. [Screenshot Youtube Forbes Breaking News]")
Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy got a rise out of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday.
Yellen appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, where she tried to downplay concerns about the economy.
“Madam Secretary, I have watched you for years, even before I came to Washington, and when I have time, I do, I enjoy reading your speeches. I think you’re what cool looks like, “Kennedy said, drawing some laughs from the gallery. “You’re a good sport to go out every day and try to defend Bidenomics. It’s like trying to defend a fungal infection.”
“‘Bidenomics’ is really just paying more to live worse, isn’t it?” the senator asked.
“I certainly wouldn’t agree with that characterization,” Yellen responded, appearing to chuckle slightly. “‘Bidenomics,’ first, tried to address the pain that households were experiencing because of the pandemic and to help them survive it. Small businesses, households, people who had lost their jobs, to prevent the kind of scarring we saw after the financial crisis.”
“And as the economy began to recover, and we quickly — of all advanced countries that experienced the pandemic, no country has done better than the United States in quickly having a labor market recovery, resuming growth, and we have the largest real wage increases of any advanced country,” she continued. “And then, medium term, ‘Bidenomics’ is focused on helping middle class families lead better lives address the problems that they have, create jobs.”
“Good try,” Kennedy told Yellen. “These high prices, caused by Bidenomics, are here to stay, aren’t they?” (RELATED: Biden Admin’s Rosy Inflation Figures Obscure How Americans Are Getting Pummeled By Rising Prices)
Yellen argued that high prices are not a result of President Joe Biden’s policies but of the pandemic.
The secretary then agreed that she does not expect prices to go down, though she said inflation should decrease and that prices do not need to come down because wages are rising.
Watch Biden nominee freeze up when John Kennedy asks her a seemingly basic question:
Watch Kennedy explain why Republicans killed the border deal: