A reporter pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday on the president taking vacations while ordinary Americans struggle with inflation.
The reporter cited a Gallup poll finding that 24% of Americans have changed their spending habits and 17% travel less or have canceled their vacations due to inflation. The poll surveyed 1,570 adults between Aug. 1-22 with a 3% margin of error.
The poll prompted the reporter to ask if President Joe Biden is considering any spending cuts for the administration or himself. “17% of Americans have, according to this Gallup poll, have canceled vacations or traveled less,” the reporter said. “The president’s been to his beach house six times this year. He’s been to North and South Carolina on vacation. Has the president himself considered personally reducing his spending because of inflation or have the administration reduced spending?”
Jean-Pierre argued that the president’s vacation in South Carolina is “not unusual” since he has a right to spend time with his family.
“The times that the president has gone to Delaware, not including and we were very clear when he went to South Carolina in August and Rehoboth he was going to go spend time with his family which every president does. That is not unusual, that is not uncommon to do and the president has a right to spend time with his family just like every other American across the country,” the press secretary said. “So that was that piece of what occurred in August.”
The press secretary said Biden can serve his role in any location and touted his role in bringing the country a “step forward” by combating inflation and lowering gas prices. (RELATED: Doocy Hammers Jean-Pierre On The Admin’s Plan To Prevent Gun Violence)
“When it comes to inflation, the president has been very clear on this. When it comes to his economic plan and dealing with inflation, he’s doing everything that he can to make sure that we lower costs,” she continued. “That’s why the gas prices going down the last 86 days is a step forward, bringing it down under $4, an average of $3.75 is a step forward because the decline that we have seen is indeed historic. We haven’t seen that decline in over a decade.”
She further said the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act will significantly lower prescription drug costs for the American people. She then pinned Republicans for opposing the $740 billion reconciliation spending package.
“Guess what? Republicans didn’t vote for that and Republicans didn’t support that,” she said. “Matter of fact, Republicans, what they have put forward is putting Medicare and Social Security on the chopping blocks and so the president is going to continue to be zero focused on lowering costs for the American people and that’s what you’ve seen.”