<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654122082454,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d9c-d084-a3ff-2ffce5bc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654122082454,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d9c-d084-a3ff-2ffce5bc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54113517", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1023849"} }); ","_id":"00000181-2155-d131-a589-e37785510000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe White House was on the defensive over inflation during Wednesday’s briefing but refused to concede any errors in handling the spike in consumer prices that threatens Democratic congressional majorities this year.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended President Joe Biden’s overall economic stewardship in response to a question about whether the administration had gotten inflation wrong.
“No easy questions today, huh?” the top White House spokeswoman replied with a laugh before acknowledging that “there are things that happened … that [were] not predicted at the time.”
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The inflation questions come as Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen admitted to being “wrong … about the path that inflation would take.”
“When are you guys going to admit that you were wrong about inflation?” asked Peter Doocy of Fox News, adding that the “Treasury secretary says that she was wrong.”
Jean-Pierre countered that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic were the primary drivers of inflation, claiming that nothing in Yellen’s comments contradict that line.
“There have been a huge series of shocks to the economy that we didn’t anticipate — further variants of COVID that have impacted our economy, Russia’s war on Ukraine — which have boosted energy and food prices globally. The lockdowns that have occurred in China [were another shock],” Yellen told Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s Situation Room. “I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take.”
But the White House has moved past talking about inflation as “transitory” and launched a new messaging strategy as the issue rockets to the top of voters’ concerns in public polls.
“The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down,” Biden wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Americans are anxious. I know that feeling.”
Doocy pointed out that many economists had predicted that inflation would be a persistent problem, with former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, a top economic adviser to former Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, warning that high federal spending could overheat the economy. Biden had previously called Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch” in response to an inflation-related question.
In Tuesday’s briefing, Jean-Pierre refused to say Biden’s policies contributed to inflation and described the economy as being in a “historic place.” The White House has defended Biden-backed spending as the main driver of the economic recovery following the height of the pandemic.
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“So, here’s the thing,” she said Wednesday. “We have achieved a … first of all, I explained to you what she was trying to … say.” Inflation has been running at a 40-year high.
Jean-Pierre also faced numerous questions about the Biden administration’s response to the baby formula shortage.
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