CNBC Fact-Checks Biden Econ Advisor on Inflation: ‘None of Those Steps’ Really Help People

CNBC smacked down a Biden government official’s attempts to explain the president’s so-called “plan” to fight inflation. 

“The economy we have right now is in a transition from this his— period of historic economic growth to a period that can be more stable, resilient growth. Uh, that requires focusing on inflation,” White House Director of the National Economic Council, Brian DeeseSquawkBox’s May 31 issue featured this statement. He summed up President Joe Biden’s “plan” for battling inflation in three steps: leave the Federal Reserve alone, support renewable energy and affordable housing and give the Internal Revenue Service more money. But CNBC host Becky Quick grilled Deese, who largely echoed Biden’s absurd May 30 op-ed headlined “Joe Biden: My Plan for Fighting Inflation.” “None of those steps, really, are going to address the skyrocketing costs that people have seen at the gas pump, or in line at uh, the food, grocery store, or what they’ve seen at their, in rent prices and things that have gone up,” Quick said. 

And she didn’t stop there. “None of those [steps]These are short-term issues that may help down the road with some of the supply chain problems. These are long-term issues that maybe will help down the road with some of the supply chain issues.” Quick also broke down how the Biden administration has repeatedly failed to lower inflation or gas prices with previous policies. “SPR release didn’t work, didn’t bring oil and gas prices down. And we’ve seen a great deal of inflation that’s come since then.” 

The Heritage Foundation reports that Biden broke the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) three different times in an effort to decrease gas prices. The Heritage Foundation research fellow Katie Tubb criticized Biden for crippling U.S. energy production instead of sending “a clear signal that the United States is open for energy production.” 

Energy Information Administration data show that gas prices averaged $4.62 for the last week of May 2022. Gas prices have risen by 135 per cent compared with the week prior to 2020, when gasoline was approximately $1.96, and that former President Donald Trump was still president.  

Deese responded, arguing that Biden’s plan will help the country, but that it will be gradual. “Well, there’s no single silver bullet,” he said, but Biden’s three-step plan to lower inflation “really [does] matter in both the immediate-term and the medium-term.” He then referenced “housing” reform but undercut himself immediately afterward: “Building more affordable housing supply: Yes, it doesn’t happen overnight, but the sooner we start that process, the more we’re going to start to relieve pressure on the market.” 

He also conceded that Biden’s move to reduce internet bills “doesn’t solve the entire problem of household balance sheet, but it does make a difference at the margin.” 

Conservatives under attackCall ABC News 818460-7477, CBS News 212-975-1247, or NBC News 212-6644-6192 and ask them to call Biden Administration officials regarding economic plans that have little effect on reducing inflation.