CNBC’s Joe Kernen called out Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg Friday morning on the White House’s “tone-deaf” inflation celebration following a stock market rout and a “really horrific inflation report.”
The White House hosted a celebration Tuesday for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act following August’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. The CPI rose 8.3% year-to-year and 0.1% over the past month. Food prices increased at the highest rate since 1979, coming in at 11.4%.
Kernen said the inflation report was “a little bit shocking” and asked Buttigieg whether he thought it was a mistake to be “popping champagne corks about conquering inflation on a day when the stock market at that very moment was down almost 1,300 points.”
Buttigieg said it wasn’t inappropriate since the “benefits” of the act would “serve us well for the rest of our lifetimes.” Buttigieg then touted the legislation for its massive climate change provisions before Kernen again pushed back. (RELATED: Influencer Who Met Biden Said He Smelled ‘Like The Warmest Cup Of Cocoa On The Perfect Snowstorm Night’)
“But on that day it looked really tone deaf. So what you’re telling me, so just stick to the script? The economy is great, the border is secure, our cities are safe. Wouldn’t it be better to just be honest?” Kernen asked.
“No one’s pretending all of our problems are solved-” Buttigieg responded before Kernen cut him off.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just be honest with the American people about the soup that we’re in right now and we can all try to deal with it together instead of just-”
“Nobody’s saying we don’t have any problems, but if you don’t pause and recognize the leading of one of the most significant pieces of legislation so far in the 21st century just because we also have a lot of other problems we’re contending with as a country, then I think you’re really feeding into a narrative that’s pulling America down and holding America back,” Buttigieg said, telling Kernen to stop “ignoring” the “legislative achievements” of the Biden administration.