On 5/16/2022, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration has been “talking about” the shortage since February and that it is a “top priority” for Biden. Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration is working “24/7” to address the formula shortage but could not name a point person in charge of the response. “This is something he is focusing on very acutely and again I said 24/7 we’ve been working on this since we have learned about this back in February.” Karine Jean-Pierre said during the daily briefing about Biden, calling the issue “one of the presidents top priorities.” “His team has been working overtime to make sure that we get formula back on the shelves, and we want to do this in a safe way,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, adding that she would get back to them on specific briefings, meetings and calls the president made regarding the issue in February.
Biden bristled when asked by reporters on Friday if he could have acted sooner to fix the crisis. “If we had been better mind readers, I guess we could’ve, but we moved as the problem became apparent to us,” Biden said. “I’ll answer the baby formula question because, all of a sudden, it’s on the front page of every newspaper,” Biden grumbled on Friday.
Jean-Pierre repeated many times, “You’ve heard us talk about this, you’ve heard colleagues talking about what we have done since February,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been working on this 24/7.” Jean-Pierre refused to offer a timeline for when supplies of baby formula would return to normal. “What I can say is there are a lot of dates floating around out there,” she said.
Jean-Pierre struggled to answer why Joe Biden is visiting Buffalo after a mass shooting, yet couldn’t visit Waukesha … a Christmas parade. Joe Biden never visited Waukesha. Last November then-White House spox Jen Psaki said Biden couldn’t visit Waukesha because it requires a lot of assets and takes the city’s resources.
Jean-Pierre appeared to get caught flat-footed by a question about how raising corporate taxes would combat inflation, asked in response to a Biden tweet. Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked, “The president’s Twitter account posted the other day, ‘If you want to bring down inflation, let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share,” he asked, after congratulating Jean-Pierre on her promotion. “How does raising taxes on corporations reduce inflation?”
“Um, so, are you talking about a specific tweet?” Jean-Pierre asked in response. She then defended higher corporate taxes as a Biden economic pledge. “Look, we have talked about, um, we have talked about this past year, about making sure that the wealthiest among us are paying their fair share, and that is important to do,” Jean-Pierre said. “That is something the president has been working on every day when we talk about inflation and lowering costs, so it’s very important that as we’re seeing costs rise, as we’re talking about how to, you know, build an America that’s equal for everyone and doesn’t leave anyone behind, that is an important part of that as well.”
“But how does raising taxes on corporations lower the cost of gas, the cost of a used car, the cost of food for everyday Americans?” Doocy followed up. “So I think we encourage those who have done very well, especially those who care about climate change, to support a fairer tax code that doesn’t charge manufacturers, workers, cops, builders a higher percentage of their earnings, that the most fortunate people in our nation, and not let that stand in the way of reducing energy costs and fighting an existential problem, if you think about it, that is an example,” Jean-Pierre shot back. “To support basic collective bargaining rights as well.”
Jean-Pierre was prepared for a question about Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos’s criticism of Biden on taxes and inflation. “Look, it’s not a huge mystery why one of the wealthiest individuals on earth, right, opposes an economic agenda that is for the middle class, that cuts some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation for the long haul, right, and that’s what we’re talking about, that’s why we’re talking about lowering inflation here, and adds to the historic deficit reduction the president is achieving by asking the richest taxpayers and corporations to pay their fair share,” Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what we’re talking about.”
It was a day of firsts. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave her first briefing as President Joe Biden’s top spokeswoman.
https://facebook.com/HygoNewsUSA/videos/386978690014484/
Jean-Pierre’s 1st brief: can’t Timeline formula shortage but 24/7 since Feb, why higher tax to lower inflation, why visit Buffalo but not other.