U.S. President Joe Biden gives a fist bump salute to the audience during an event to have fun the anniversary of his signing of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act laws, within the East Room of the White House in Washington, August 16, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden celebrated the one yr anniversary of the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, arguing that the bill had done what it was intended to, namely, reduce inflation.
“When the Inflation Reduction Act was passed a yr ago today inflation was at 8.3%,” Biden said at a White House event. “It’s now all the way down to 3.2%, and it should go lower.”
Yet tying the drop in inflation to a bill that funded investments in green energy and healthcare subsidies is a tenuous case. Most economists agree that the only biggest consider lowering inflation over the past yr was higher rates of interest, hiked repeatedly by the Federal Reserve.
Speaking at a fundraiser last week, Biden said he regretted naming it the Inflation Reduction Act, admitting “it has less to do with reducing inflation than it does to do with coping with providing for alternatives that generate economic growth.”
In his speech Wednesday, Biden expanded on the law’s job growth focus, pledging that the U.S. will not be as reliant on other countries for materials.
“We’re constructing here and sending over there,” Biden said.” This is not in regards to the past. It’s in regards to the future. We will construct.”
Still, the anniversary offered a White House busy gearing up for a troublesome reelection fight the chance to bask within the glow of a U.S. economy that appears to be defying expectations of a recession within the second half of this yr.
