Politics

FLASHBACK: Biden Administration Downplayed Inflation Concerns As Temporary

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
Font Size:

White House officials repeatedly claimed that inflation would be “temporary” throughout parts of 2021, pushing back on concerns that it could be a longer-term problem.

The reminder comes as Americans continue to struggle with inflation in 2022 – the Department of Labor (DOL) announced Tuesday that March consumer prices soared 8.5%, marking the fastest increase in 40 years.

President Joe Biden and his administration have most recently blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for cost increases, dubbing it – particularly prices seen at the pump – “Putin’s Price Hike.” Prior to this, however, the administration sought to downplay inflation, casting it as a temporary issue for many months. (RELATED: ‘Putin’s Gas Price Hike’: Psaki Pins Russia And U.S. Oil Companies For Rising Gas Prices)

In July 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued that the spike in inflation would not be a permanent adjustment, telling reporters “that these impacts are temporary.”

“Our message is that we understand the threat that inflation poses. We will be vigilant about any responses needed. It’s important for Americans to know and understand that these impacts are temporary, and some of these price increases are a result of the economy turning back on,” Psaki said at the time, as inflation spiked 5.4% over the 12-month period ending in June.

Biden also parroted this talking point repeatedly throughout parts of 2021. At one point, the president declared that the administration was “confident” it was not seeing “unchecked inflation in the long term.”

“As our economy comes roaring back, we’ve seen some price increases,” Biden said during remarks on July 19, 2021. “Some folks have raised worries that this could be a sign of persistent inflation. But that’s not our view. Our experts believe, and the data shows, that most of the price increases we’ve seen are – were expected and are expected to be temporary.”

“I want to be clear: my administration understands that were we ever to experience unchecked inflation in the long term, that would pose a real challenge for our economy,” he added. “While we’re confident that isn’t what we’re seeing today, we’re going to remain vigilant about any response that is needed.”

Another example came during a CNN town hall days later on July 21, 2021. At the time, Biden was pressed on what the administration was doing “to help prevent the economy from overheating … in the long run.”

“The vast majority of the experts, including Wall Street, are suggesting that it’s highly unlikely that it’s going to be long-term inflation that’s going to get out of hand,” Biden said, reiterating the administration’s talking point at the time. “There will be near-term inflation, because everything is now trying to be picked back up.”

US President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he participates in a CNN Town Hall hosted by Don Lemon (R) at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 21, 2021. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he participates in a CNN Town Hall hosted by Don Lemon (R) at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 21, 2021. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The administration’s push for “temporary” inflation continued over the next few months, with officials such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arguing Americans should not be seriously concerned about high prices, Bloomberg noted in April 2021. (RELATED: CNBC Anchor Slams Biden Administration For List Of Excuses About Inflation)

“Inflation at these levels is, of course, a cause for concern. But that concern is tempered by a number of factors that suggest that these elevated readings are likely to prove temporary,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said during remarks at the annual Jackson Hole conference on Aug 27, 2021. “This assessment is a critical and ongoing one, and we are careful monitoring incoming data.”

Eventually, as inflation persisted, the Biden administration began to change its tune. Yellen, though still downplaying concerns, suggested in October 2021 that Americans would see “improvement … by the middle to end of next year, second half of next year [2022].”

A few months later in December 2021, Yellen further changed her tune, this time admitting that it was time “to retire the word transitory.” Days earlier, Powell had also said inflation was more than a short-term problem, according to The New York Times.

Similarly, as 2021 came to a close, Biden skirted away from his past claims of the problem being temporary. (RELATED: Biden Scraps Green Fuel Rules In Bid To Slow Skyrocketing Gas Prices)

“Inflation hurts (Americans’) pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me,” Biden said in a statement issued November 11, 2021 after prices skyrockets 6.2% over 12 months, CNN reported at the time.

Notably, the president’s statement this time around did not suggest inflation was “transitory,” the network added.

While Tuesday’s report does show a rise in gas prices – Psaki focused on this as what would be driving the most recent inflation rating during Monday’s press briefing – prices have also skyrocketed for rent, airline fares, medical care and more, according to the data.

Tuesday’s data also showed that core inflation increased 6.5%, marking the highest increase since August 1982.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel