On 5/26/2022, Journalists pressed new White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on CBO inflation and baby formula.
Reporter: The CBO came out with a report earlier this week that showed inflation was going to remain above target toward the — well, going down but still above target to the end of this year and then into next year. I mean, has the White House, sort of, painted too rosy a picture on how quickly inflation is going to go down, given the projections that came out from CBO this week?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, a couple of things. So, as you mentioned, the CBO report came out yesterday. It projects stable, steady economic growth in the year — in the years ahead, as inflation eases, the deficit falls dramatically this year. On the deficit, the CBO projects that our deficit this year will fall by $1.7 trillion, after it fell by $350 billion just last year. That’s after the deficit increased every single year President Trump was in office. And it is a lower deficit for 2022 than the CBO projected before passage of the American Rescue Plan. That means that our strong economic recovery, powered by the President’s economic and vaccination policies also improved our nation’s fiscal position and reduced our deficit.
Biden ‘didn’t really do anything’ to lower the federal deficit, despite claims: Former CBO director. Joe Biden has taken credit for lowering the federal deficit, but Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eaken said that it was not surprising that the deficit was lowered. “With the recovery in the economy, it was expected that the deficit would get smaller,” he said. “We’re seeing the tax revenue and the number of people on unemployment go down, and so there was going to be improvements.” Holtz-Eaken said the expiration of the CARES act and the fact that there was not another American Rescue Plan made the deficit look much smaller. “He didn’t really do anything, he was there while it happened,” he said. “It’s not like his administration went out and said, okay, we’re going to do a big tax increase or we’re doing to do $400 billion of spending cuts. They’ve done neither.”
Reporter: There are infants, children, and adults with different metabolic disorders who are risking permanent, irreversible damage the longer they go without special formulas that are manufactured at Abbott Nutrition. I’m wondering, does the President have confidence in the FDA’s ability to deal with situations like this? And as he’s been monitoring the situation, does he still have confidence in his FDA director?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yes. Yes and yes … Unlike, you know, Republicans in Congress and the previous administration, the President believes that FDA, and particularly its food division, needs to be well resourced to do its critical work and do regular annual inspection. So we have to just take a little bit of — just give me a second here — take a step back.
Reporter: Senator Patty Murray — today, she told the FDA head that she gives the FDA an “F” on not realizing the warning signs of the crisis. And she also says that they have not given her a plan that she’s requested about how to stabilize a food safety program. So is there anything the White House can ensure that the FDA has been in response to Senator Murray and those on Capitol Hill?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, let me just first say this — this is — they’re hearing — during the hearing yesterday, Dr. Califf has said, “It’s important we get to the bottom of what happened with the — with the Sturgis facility and the root of what has caused the issues we’re facing today.” He has designated someone to lead an after-action report.
Reporters raised many possible actions Biden could take, like creating a gun czar or a firearm task force, canceling vacations or telling Congress not to leave before solving the issue. Some asked why Biden has not done more in his decades as a leader in Washington to address it. NBC News reporter Kristen Welker asked, “the president campaigned on a promise of being able to bring Democrats and Republicans together to get the hard things done. Why has he not been able to bring them together to make this a legislative priority to even get a small measure done?
“Well, I think that’s what Sen. [Chuck] Schumer is trying to do,” the press secretary replied. “But why not do that in the early days of his presidency?” Welker pressed. “… We’re doing it now. Look, we know that this is not easy. We’re not saying that this is easy. And the president is doing everything that he can to get this done,” Jean-Pierre said.
https://facebook.com/HygoNewsUSA/videos/1674365502923816
WH: CBO inflation but deficit falls dramatically this year(Biden didn’t really do anything). Still confidence FDA director on Baby formula