A Sunday exchange between an ABC reporter and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre indicates she shirks answers for liberal reporters, too.
President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman was asked by ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl if the Inflation Reduction Act would actually reduce inflation. He questioned her during a Sunday broadcast of the network’s morning show “This Week.”
Democrats claim the legislation, which President Biden is expected to sign this week, will lower inflation with measures designed to reduce the federal deficit, promote renewable energy and limit price increases on certain drugs for Medicare patients. Food and energy that accounted for most of the increases in recent inflation numbers are not addressed in the Inflation Reduction Act.
During his discussion with the White House press secretary, Karl noted the Congressional Budget Office said the Inflation Reduction Act would have minimal impact on inflation. So, he questioned whether the bill’s name is an accurate reflection of its contents.
“Inflation has been a number one priority for this president, lowering costs has been a number one priority for this president,” responded Jean-Pierre. “If you look…what Democrats in Congress did with this Inflation Reduction Act, the work of this president… you see that anti-inflation bill, you see that it’s going to lower costs for Americans.”
Karl asked his question in a different way, apparently hoping for a different response.
“But let me ask you,” Karl said, “it’s called the ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ but the Congressional Budget Office, which is nonpartisan, said that there would be a negligible impact on inflation this year and barely impact inflation at all next year.”
“Isn’t it almost Orwellian?” the network anchor asked. “How can you call it inflation reduction when the nonpartisan experts say it’s not gonna bring inflation down?”
Jean-Pierre answered like legendary Star Wars character Yoda.
“I appreciate the question,” the press secretary answered Karl. “We’ve actually addressed this with the CBO. It was the top line number; there’s more in there that shows it will have the money from–remember how we’re doing this, too, it’s making sure that billionaires in corporate America are paying their fair share, making sure that the tax code is a little bit more fair, and so when you do that, put it in its totality, you will see that it will bring down, lower the deficit, which will help fight inflation.”
To an apparently confused Karl, she added:
“Look, here’s the thing, we have 126 economists — both Republicans, both Democrats — who have said it’s going to fight inflation, five former secretaries of treasury–”
“So you disagree with the assessment of the CBO?” Karl interjected.
“Well, there’s more to it than that,” Jean-Pierre replied. “It was just the way that Republicans did that was so that [they] could make an argument that is false. It is going to fight inflation, it has been proven and said by economists across the board, on the Republican side and the Democrat side.”
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
