During a live CNN town hall Wednesday night, President Joe Biden claimed that his multi-trillion dollar spending packages will “reduce inflation.”
In response to the host’s question about whether pumping massive quantities of money into the economy will exacerbate price upticks, Biden replied, “No, no, here’s the deal. Moody’s today went out, Wall Street firm, not some liberal think tank, said if we pass the other two things I’m trying to get done we will in fact reduce inflation, reduce inflation, reduce inflation.”
“Because we’re going to be provided good opportunities and jobs for people, who in fact are going to be reinvesting that money back into all the things we’re talking about, driving down prices, not raising prices,” the president told the audience.
Biden attempted to explain away recent price increases as a temporary phenomenon related to the economy’s resurgence and growth.
“Prices are up now. For example, we’re in a position where you’re trying to build a house, trying to find two-by-fours lumber. Well guess what? People stopped working cutting lumber, they stopped doing it because the unemployment was so down. Now all of a sudden there’s this need because people are coming back and guess what? Instead of paying ten cents you’re paying 20,” he said.
Biden’s statement at the town hall echoes similar comments he made Monday during atspeech on the state of the economy at the White House. “My Build Back Better Plan will be a force for achieving lower prices for Americans looking ahead,” he commented.
The president suggested that investments in infrastructure will rectify the supply-demand disequilibriums driving up prices in many sectors.
“If your primary concern is about inflation, you should be even more enthusiastic about this plan,” Biden said. “We can’t afford not to make these investments.”
A bipartisan infrastructure deal, a much smaller and less expensive version of Biden’s original proposal, was negotiated down to a price tag of $600 billion. A coalition of 22 Democrats and Republicans are wrapping up finalizing the bill before it will be sent for a vote to begin debate.
To obtain funding for Biden’s other legislative priorities, namely climate-change programs, health care, and child-care services, Democrats in Congress pursued the back-door budget reconciliation avenue that only requires a simple Democratic majority without any GOP support for the bill to advance in the Senate. Senate Democratic budget negotiators recently upped the value of their budget resolution to $3.5 trillion. Biden pledged in June that he would not sign the smaller-scale infrastructure compromise unless the Democrat-backed resolution was also passed, potentially bringing the spending total spearheaded by the Biden administration to nearly $4.4 trillion.
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