White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday defended President Biden’s economic policies despite a recent report showing a slight rise in the consumer price index (CPI) and a drop in household income.
A reporter had asked Jean-Pierre how the White House views the latest CPI numbers showing a monthly as well as an annual decline in real wages.
“[W]e believe that the president’s economic plan is indeed working and it’s giving people a little breathing room,” Jean-Pierre said.
She noted that real wages are up over the last seven months, arguing that the wider trend was more useful than “one month’s data” and “real weekly earnings are up over the last month.”
“As the president said earlier today, his unwavering focus is on continuing to lower costs for families. And that’s going to be our focus,” she said. “We’re going to continue to do that. That’s why the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is so critical, is so important. And we’re going to continue to fight for the American people and meet them where they are.”
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Tuesday’s consumer price report from the government showed that inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy remain stubborn and are likely to keep prices elevated well into this year. Rising costs will also keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate further and to keep it there through year’s end.
Consumer prices climbed 6.4% in January from a year earlier, down from 6.5% in December. It was the seventh straight year-over-year slowdown and well below a recent peak of 9.1% in June. Yet it remains far above the Federal Reserve’s 2% annual inflation target.
And on a monthly basis, consumer prices increased 0.5% from December to January, much higher than the 0.1% rise from November to December. More expensive gas, food and clothing drove up last month’s figure.
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The data show that while inflation is fading from the historic highs seen during Biden’s tenure, it is likely to do so slowly and unevenly. The government also incorporated annual revisions of its methods into January’s inflation report, which caused monthly increases in the final three months of last year to be higher than originally reported. Combined with January’s price figures, the slowdown in inflation since the fall is now more gradual than it seemed just a few weeks ago.
Overall, the average price of a gallon of gas in the US was about $2.40 on the day Biden took office. It is currently about $3.41 according to AAA.
FOX Business’ Breck Dumas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.