During Monday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that the United States is undergoing a “historic economic boom.” Her comments come shortly after news that the U.S. economy shrunk in the first quarter of 2022 and as U.S. inflation has reached the highest level since 1981.
“We are incredibly focused on doing everything that we can to make sure that the economy is working for every — American people,” Jean-Pierre said. “But we are coming out of the strongest job market in American history, and that matters. And that — a lot of that is thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which only Democrats voted for that — Republicans did not — and it led to this economic boom — this historic economic boom that we’re seeing with jobs.”
“Didn’t it also lead to historic inflation?” a reporter asked.
“That is not how we’re seeing the American Rescue Plan,” Jean-Pierre said.
“Look, the President came in — we have to remember what the President walked into,” Jean-Pierre continued. “When he walked into this administration, the economy was at a standstill. Schools were closed. Businesses were shutting down. Twenty million people were on unemployment insurance benefits. That is what he walked into. And he took action. He got the American Rescue Plan done. Democrats — only Democrats voted for it. And it helped turn the economy around.”
It should be noted that the inflation crisis began the month after Biden’s American Rescue Plan was passed. Additionally, the United States economy added nearly 750,000 jobs less than expected that same month. Forbes reported, “The United States added 266,000 jobs in April [2021], according to data released by the Labor Department Friday—much worse than the 1 million job gains economists expected and far fewer than the 916,000 jobs added in March [2021], indicating that the long-tepid labor market recovery is slowing down again even as stocks and corporate earnings rip higher.”
