White House press secretary Jen Psaki blamed Republicans’ opposition to Biden’s Build Back Better plan when a reporter asked Friday about high inflation.
A reporter asked Psaki about President Joe Biden’s plan to pass the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan as Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin continues to push back on its passage due to high inflation rates and its cost.
The press secretary criticized House Republicans for voting against the legislation by arguing that the provisions within Build Back Better will help lower the rising costs of products.
“You saw every single Republican in the House vote against Build Back Better. What were they voting against? Yes, they were voting against the president’s agenda, they were also voting against lowering costs,” Psaki said. “They were voting against lowering costs for childcare, lowering costs for eldercare, lowering costs for healthcare.”
She said the president will make the case to Manchin that the Senate needs to pass the bill in order to “lower costs for the American people.” Manchin has raised several concerns about the large spending bill, citing inflation as a reason to delay the passing of the bill.
“The case he will make is that this is exactly the time to pass this bill and move it forward so that we can lower costs for the American people on all of those topics including insulin and areas that really force American families to pinch pennies,” Psaki continued.
The reporter pressed Psaki on the White House’s stated belief that inflation is set to go down in the near future and whether experts have made the same prediction. Psaki responded that the administration “defers” to the Federal Reserve’s predictions. (RELATED: Build Back Better Will Add $367 Billion To National Debt, CBO Says)
She also stated that the American people experience inflation through the rising costs of transportation and gas for a person’s car and home. She argued that the public is seeing the high prices of gas beginning to go down.
“Of course inflation is a term we use here, we use it at the Federal Reserve. A very important economic term. The way the American people experience this at home is costs and what things cost, whether it is the cost of gas or natural gas, heating your home or putting gas in your car. We’re seeing these prices come down.”
Manchin said Tuesday that putting more money into the economy could “flood the market.”
“The unknown we’re facing today is much greater than the need that people believe in this aspirational bill that we’re looking at, and we’ve got to make sure we get this right,” Manchin said. “We can’t just continue to flood the market, as we’ve done.
The president is expected to meet with Manchin to discuss the bill later in December, Psaki said.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.9% in November, bringing the year-over-year increase to 6.8%, the highest figure in four decades.