President Joe Biden insisted the US economy was on track after the Commerce Department said Thursday that gross domestic product contracted for a second straight quarter, which is typically the definition of a recession.
“That doesn’t sound like a recession to me,” Biden said Thursday afternoon in the State Dining Room, pointing to a “record job market” and “record unemployment.”
Biden noted that “Both Chairman Powell and many of the big bankers and economists are saying we’re not in a recession.”
“Corporations are investing in America at record rates,” boasted Biden.
He devoted most of his speech to the compromise of the Senate Reconciliation Act announced Wednesday by moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“My message to Congress is this is the law you can pass to bring down inflation, lower the deficit, lower health care costs, fight climate change and promote energy security – all while you while also reducing the burden on working-class and middle-class families,” Biden said.
“So pass it, pass it for the American people, pass it for America,” he added.
President Joe Biden insisted the US economy was on track after the Commerce Department said Thursday that gross domestic product had contracted for a second straight quarter — typically the definition of a recession
He called the package “a big deal” and went through some of the provisions – a mix of health-saving measures, green energy initiatives, tax law changes and a push to reduce the deficit.
“Some of you will see a lot of similarities between… the Build Back Better initiative, it’s not all, but we’ve come a long way,” Biden said, chuckling.
It was Manchin who in December snuffed out the Build Back Better bill passed by the House, which included similar health and environmental provisions but also reduced childcare costs.
But on Wednesday, after the Senate passed the CHIPS bill — which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConell threatened to hold hostage if Democrats tried again to pass a reconciliation package — Manchin and Schumer announced the deal.
“I know the compromise on the inflation bill doesn’t include everything I’ve been pushing for since I took office,” Biden said, noting the dropped child care provisions. “You see, this bill is far from perfect, it’s a compromise, but that’s how progress is often made, through compromise.”
Instead of calling it a derivative of Build Back Better, it has been renamed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“Pundits — even some pundits who have criticized my administration in the past — agree that this bill, this bill, will ease inflationary pressures on the economy,” Biden said during his remarks in the State Dining Room.
The President argued it would reduce Americans’ health care and energy bills.
“It’s a bill that will lower your cost of living and reduce inflation, and it will lower the deficit,” he said.
Initially, it appeared that any reconciliation bill would only contain provisions to cut prescription drugs and extend Obamacare subsidies, as Manchin had signaled.
These provisions were included in the compromise, as were provisions on climate change.
Biden outlined some of the bill’s green components, which he says have had support from climate activists like former Vice President Al Gore.
“It’s investing $369 billion to secure our energy future and addressing the climate crisis, and cutting hundreds of dollars on families’ energy bills by providing tax credits to working families,” Biden said.
“It gives people rebates to buy new and efficient equipment to weatherproof their homes and tax credits for heat pumps and rooftop solar panels,” he continued. “It also gives consumers a tax credit for purchasing electric or fuel cell vehicles — new or used — and a tax credit of up to $7,500 if those vehicles were made in America.”
Biden called the law “the most significant law in history” to combat climate change.
The President noted that the bill would introduce a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent.
“Now I know you’ve never heard me say this before — it’ll come as a shock to you — but 55 of the Fortune 500 companies paid no federal income tax in 2020,” Biden said sarcastically. “You’ve only heard me say that 10,000 times.”
“Well guess what, this bill ends that,” Biden continued. “You have to pay at least 15 percent.”
Biden said the bill sticks to his campaign promise not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 a year.
“Look, I know it can sometimes seem like nothing is being done in Washington – I know it hasn’t occurred to any of you. Government work can be slow and frustrating, and sometimes even annoying,” Biden said. “Then the hard work of hours and days and months of people who refused to give up pays off – history is made, our lives are changed.”
Biden then switched gears and spoke about the CHIPS semiconductor bill, which has yet to be passed by the House of Representatives.
“My plea is to put politics aside, get it done,” he encouraged House members.