Today's politics recap
- The governor of Nevada announced he is immediately rescinding the state’s mask mandate, joining several other Democratic governors who have recently moved to relax coronavirus-related restrictions. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial coronavirus spread, which accounts for about 99% of all US counties right now.
- US prices rose by 7.5% in January compared to a year earlier, marking the country’s highest level of inflation in 40 years. A number of economists have said they expect inflation to subside over the coming year, but Democrats fear that the high prices at grocery stores and gas pumps could hurt their chances in the midterm elections this November.
- Joe Biden delivered a speech on the urgent need to lower US healthcare costs in Culpepper, Virginia. The president noted the US pays more than its peer nations for the same prescription drugs, and he reiterated his administration’s commitment to lowering healthcare costs for American families. “I’ve long said health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country,” Biden said.
- The Senate unanimously passed a bill that will end the use of forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases. The bill, which easily passed the House earlier this week, now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature. The White House has already indicated the president supports the bill and plans to sign it.
- The House oversight committee opened an investigation into potential violations of the Presidential Records Act by Donald Trump, after he retained and destroyed some documents relevant to the Capitol attack inquiry. The House committee investigating Capitol attack has also reportedly found gaps in critical hours on the day of the riot in White House telephone logs, according to the New York Times.
– Joan E Greve
Joe Biden urged American citizens in Ukraine to “leave now”.
In that interview with Nightly News, Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt that “things could go crazy quickly” in Ukraine.
If Putin is “foolish enough to go in, he’s smart enough not to, in fact, do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens,” Biden said. “I didn’t have to tell him that, I’ve spoken about that. He knows that.”
The US State Department has warned that it “will not be able to evacuate US citizens in the event of Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine.”
Updated
Joe Biden said he has a shortlist of supreme court nominees and expects that some Republicans will also support his pick.
In an interview with NBC Nightly News, the president said he’s already looked into “about four people”. Like the judiciary committee Democrats, Biden said he looks forward to appointing a justice with qualities similar to Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring.
President Biden on his search for a Supreme Court nominee:
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) February 10, 2022
Biden tells @LesterHoltNBC that he’s done a deep dive on “about four people,” and thinks his pick will get a vote from Republicans
Biden says he's looking for someone "with the same kind of capacity" as Justice Breyer pic.twitter.com/pNYLrLVSBR
Updated
The Senate judiciary committee Democrats have wrapped their meeting with Joe Biden.
“We don’t rule out that there will be some Republican support for this nominee,” said Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic senator of Minnesota, but noted that the president would be picking his nominee based on his and the Democrats’ values. Democrats, who hold a slim majority in the Senate, will be able to confirm Biden’s pick without Republican support.
“We didn’t come up with a list of names,” said Dick Durbin, chair of the committee, but said that members shared recommendations with the president.
Updated
Nancy Pelosi has extended proxy voting in the House for another seven weeks, citing the ongoing “public health emergency”.
About three dozen members of Congress have tested positive for Covid-19 just this year so far.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi extends proxy voting for another seven weeks.
— Kristin Wilson (@kristin__wilson) February 10, 2022
Seventy members used proxy voting just this past week, including one member who said he was sitting in his car at the Capitol during votes. pic.twitter.com/HOGJaASeXS
Havana syndrome has ‘dramatically hurt’ morale, US diplomats say
The spread of Havana syndrome has “dramatically hurt” morale in the US diplomatic corps and affected recruitment, according to the head of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA).
Eric Rubin, whose association represents nearly 17,000 current and former diplomats and foreign aid workers, said it was getting harder to find young people to work abroad, because of concerns about Havana syndrome – and about whether the government would look after them if they got sick.
“People have suffered real trauma and real injury, and it has dramatically hurt our morale, our readiness, our ability to recruit new members in the foreign service,” Rubin told the first medical symposium on the syndrome since it began affecting US diplomats and intelligence officers in 2016, organised by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
The cause of the syndrome, which involves long-term loss of balance and cognitive function, remains a mystery. A report by a US intelligence panel of experts last week found that pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound were plausible causes in at least some cases.
A CIA assessment made public last month however determined that the majority of the thousand possible cases reported were most likely not the result of a global campaign by a foreign power, while in some two dozen incidents the cause could not be explained.
Rubin did not speculate over the cause, but said that the syndrome was having a potentially serious effect on US diplomacy.
“It is getting harder when we recruit people,” the AFSA president said. “I’ve had young members of the cohort that’s coming into the foreign service ask me: ‘If I do this, what am I getting into? And is this going to get worse? Is this going to get solved? If I get attacked and if I get injured, who’s gonna be there for me?’
“We’ve got to address that,” Rubin said.
Rubin said that care was improving for US officials who have been affected, but that the AFSA was still encountering bureaucratic resistance.
Read more:
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next couple of hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The governor of Nevada announced he is immediately rescinding the state’s mask mandate, joining several other Democratic governors who have recently moved to relax coronavirus-related restrictions. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial coronavirus spread, which accounts for about 99% of all US counties right now.
- US prices rose by 7.5% in January compared to a year earlier, marking the country’s highest level of inflation in 40 years. A number of economists have said they expect inflation to subside over the coming year, but Democrats fear that the high prices at grocery stores and gas pumps could hurt their chances in the midterm elections this November.
- Joe Biden delivered a speech on the urgent need to lower US healthcare costs in Culpepper, Virginia. The president noted the US pays more than its peer nations for the same prescription drugs, and he reiterated his administration’s commitment to lowering healthcare costs for American families. “I’ve long said health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country,” Biden said.
- The Senate unanimously passed a bill that will end the use of forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases. The bill, which easily passed the House earlier this week, now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature. The White House has already indicated the president supports the bill and plans to sign it.
- The House oversight committee opened an investigation into potential violations of the Presidential Records Act by Donald Trump, after he retained and destroyed some documents relevant to the Capitol attack inquiry. The House committee investigating Capitol attack has also reportedly found gaps in critical hours on the day of the riot in White House telephone logs, according to the New York Times.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Biden meets with Senate Democrats to discuss supreme court vacancy
Joe Biden is scheduled to now meet Democratic members of the Senate judiciary committee at the White House to discuss the upcoming supreme court vacancy and the search for a nominee.
Justice Stephen Breyer announced late last month that he would step down from the court this summer, and Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to the seat. If confirmed, Biden’s nominee will become the first Black woman to serve on the supreme court.
The White House has said that the Democratic senators meeting with Biden will talk to reporters after the discussion wraps up, and they may have some new insights into the president’s search. Stay tuned.
Substitute teachers suddenly find themselves on the winning end of a supply-and-demand problem facing schools across the country: Too few full-time teachers, and not enough substitute teachers to cover for them.
As the Omicron variant hurtled across the nation, political leaders from the White House to local school boards faced intense pressure to keep open brick-and-mortar schools – and most have.
“Let’s put it in perspective: 95%, as high as 98%, of the schools in America are open, functioning and capable of doing the job,” president Joe Biden said at a press conference last month. He urged school districts to use funding to keep schools open.
But that reality has left the nation’s public schools scrambling to fill holes created by a lack of available teachers to fill vacancies. And it’s created a cascade of day-to-day disruptions within school buildings as staff chip in to cover for absent colleagues, leaving some assigned duties aside in the process.
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has expressed skepticism about Democratic-led states’ push to relax mask mandates.
“We have always said at the CDC that these policies are gonna be made at the state and local level. And so we stand by that. These are state and local decisions,” Walensky told SiriusXM Radio on Tuesday.
“We will also say that our current recommendations have not changed, that we still encourage all students in schools to wear well-fitting masks ... consistently and while indoors.”
Walensky emphasized the importance of ensuring students are able to keep attending class in person, given how much educational ground was lost when schools were forced to close their doors because of the pandemic.
“Around the country, I know people are really cautiously optimistic as they’re seeing case rates go down, but what I will say is that we still have about 290,000 cases a day and hospitalizations that are higher than they ever were in our Delta peak even,” Walensky said.
“And so, right now I don’t think is the moment to start relaxing those restrictions.”
On Wednesday, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and Rhode Island joined California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon in lifting mask mandates for some public places.
The wave of relaxations comes after months of private meetings among state leaders and political focus groups after the November elections, according to reports. “Now, it’s time to give people their lives back,” Sean Maloney, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, tweeted in support of New York suspending its indoor mask-or-vaccine mandate.
Yet the lifting of rules has not been universally applauded and is coming at a time when the vast majority of the country (99%) is still seeing high transmission of the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Public polls show consistent support for mask mandates and other precautions, and experts say the time to relax precautions is not here yet – and acting prematurely could prolong this wave.
“In my view, it’s too soon. I feel like we’re anticipating too much,” said Justin Lessler, a professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. “We’re being too confident that things are going to keep going the direction that they have been going.”
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak underscored that there will still be some places in the state where masks are required, such as airports, hospitals and long-term care facilities.
In schools, masks will no longer be required, but Sisolak emphasized that school districts should work with local health officials to develop protocols for responding to potential outbreaks.
Federally, masks are still mandated in airports, on planes & on public buses & school buses.
— Governor Sisolak (@GovSisolak) February 10, 2022
Teachers & schools will no longer be required to wear masks but school districts will need to work with their local health authorities to have plans in place to deal with outbreaks.
“Masks are a great tool that we have at our disposal. I expect going forward to still see Nevadans and visitors occasionally utilizing masks when they are out in public,” Sisolak said.
The governor also reminded his constituents to continue abiding by the mask policies implemented by individual businesses and to respect the decisions of others who may feel more comfortable wearing masks.
“I hope that in this moment, and as we move forward, we can remember and continue to lead with kindness and to treat our fellow Nevadans and visitors how we would like to be treated,” Sisolak said. “I want kindness to be just as contagious as Covid is.”
Nevada governor rescinds mask mandate effective immediately
The governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak, has become the latest Democratic governor to announce that he is relaxing coronavirus-related restrictions in his state.
Delivering an update on Nevada’s coronavirus response today, Sisolak said that the state’s mask mandate would be rescinded effective immediately.
Sisolak pointed to the state’s falling coronavirus case rate and expanded access to tests to justify ending the requirement to wear masks in public spaces, including schools.
Given all of these updates and the tools we have, now is the appropriate time for me to announce that Nevada will rescind our mask mandate, effective immediately.
— Governor Sisolak (@GovSisolak) February 10, 2022
“Given all of these updates and the tools we have, now is the appropriate time for me to announce that Nevada will rescind our mask mandate, effective immediately,” Sisolak said.
Sisolak’s announcement comes one day after the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, said she would allow the state’s indoor mask requirement to lapse. Several other Democratic governors also announced plans earlier this week to relax mask mandates in schools.
However, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky, said yesterday that the agency still recommends masking in areas of high or substantial coronavirus spread. According to CDC data, about 99% of US counties currently qualify as areas of high or substantial spread.
Before leaving Culpepper, Virginia, Joe Biden sat down with NBC News anchor Lester Holt for an interview, which is set to air during the network’s Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday.
Portions of the president’s interview are also expected to be shown on NBC Nightly News tonight and tomorrow night.
“Taking place in Virginia, this marks President Biden’s first sit-down interview of 2022 and his first since marking one year in office,” NBC said in its announcement of the interview.
Tune in to @NBCNightlyNews tonight for @LesterHoltNBC's exclusive interview with President Biden (check your local listings).
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) February 10, 2022
Watch more during NBC’s Super Bowl LVI Pregame Show on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/N7g3rcUw9h
The Federal Reserve has signaled that it intends to raise interest rates at its meeting in March in an effort to dampen spending and bring down prices, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported US inflation has hit a 40-year high.
In a note to investors, Oxford Economics argues the latest consumer price index (CPI) news was likely to mean rate rises in the months ahead.
“The Fed sees its top priority as taming inflation. These strong price data raise the prospect of the Fed starting its tightening cycle with a 50bps [basis points] rate hike at its March policy meeting, followed by consecutive rate hikes at the subsequent meetings,” it wrote.
US House to investigate whether Trump broke law in handling of documents
The House oversight committee on Thursday opened an investigation into potential violations of the Presidential Records Act by Donald Trump, after he retained and destroyed some records relevant to the Capitol attack inquiry.
The panel asked the National Archives to turn over communications with the former president about missing and destroyed records, as well as a description of materials in boxes retrieved from Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago last month.
The House committee investigating Capitol attack committee has also reportedly found gaps in critical hours on the day of the riot in White House telephone logs, according to the New York Times.
Although investigators know Trump was making calls at those times, there are only sparse records of calls in the official logs. Trump was known to regularly use cellphones to communicate, and investigators say they do not have evidence that official phone records were interfered with.
The boxes retrieved from Trump contained documents that had been requested by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack and what the Archives believed were classified materials, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Updated
Today so far
Joe Biden’s event on lowering healthcare costs has now concluded. Here’s where the day stands so far:
- US prices rose by 7.5% in January compared to a year earlier, marking the country’s highest level of inflation in 40 years. A number of economists have said they expect inflation to subside over the coming year, but Democrats fear that the high prices at grocery stores and gas pumps could hurt their chances in the midterm elections this November.
- Joe Biden delivered a speech on the urgent need to lower US healthcare costs in Culpepper, Virginia. The president noted the US pays more than its peer nations for the same prescription drugs, and he reiterated his administration’s commitment to lowering healthcare costs for American families. “I’ve long said health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country,” Biden said.
- The Senate unanimously passed a bill that will end the use of forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases. The bill, which easily passed the House earlier this week, now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature. The White House has already indicated the president supports the bill and plans to sign it.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
In his remarks on the need to lower prescription drug costs, Joe Biden also nodded to the latest report on US inflation, which showed that prices increased by 7.5% between January 2021 and January 2022.
“Inflation is up,” Biden said. “But the fact is that, if we’re able to do the things I’m talking about here, it will bring down the costs for average families.”
The president once again pointed to provisions in the Build Back Better Act, which has stalled in the Senate, that would help families deal with the costs of childcare and healthcare.
However, Biden acknowledged that the costs of gas and food have become particularly burdensome for American families in the past year, as prices continue to rise.
“I know food prices are up. We’re working to bring them down,” Biden said. “I’m going to work like the devil to bring gas prices down.”
Biden addresses high cost of prescription drugs: 'Healthcare should be a right'
Taking the stage in Culpepper, Virginia, Joe Biden emphasized the need to lower the price of prescription drugs to help American families’ struggling under the weight of healthcare costs.
“I’ve long said health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country,” the president said at Germanna Community College.
“Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer — they’re not partisan issues, they’re not Democrat or Republican. This is about whether or not you and your loved ones can afford the health care you need and the medicines you need to stay healthy.”
President Biden: "Health care should be right, not a privilege, in this country. Diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer — they're not partisan issues, they're not Democrat or Republican. This is about whether or not you and your loved ones can afford the health care you need." pic.twitter.com/VsnKoKAQoG
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 10, 2022
The president argued that his Build Back Better agenda would help to lower the cost of prescription drugs and give families more financial breathing room.
Democrats’ Build Back Better Act has stalled in the Senate because of opposition from Joe Manchin, but the president expressed optimism that his party will be able to enact some version of the legislation.
“Now we just have to get it through the United States Senate,” Biden said. “And we’re close.”
Joe Biden was introduced by two Americans who have been deeply impacted by the high cost of prescription drugs, Shannon Davis and her 12-year-old son Joshua.
Shannon explained that, even though her family has health insurance, they spend between $6,000 and $7,000 a year on insulin for Joshua and his father, who both suffer from Type 1 diabetes.
Shannon said they often stretch their supply of insulin by draining every last drop of a vial or using expired medication, even though that is not recommended.
She noted that capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month, as many Democrats have called for, would be “life-changing not only for our family but for the millions of families impacted by diabetes”.
Joshua then took the stage to explain how he has relied on insulin since he was 11 months old, when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“I’m thankful that insulin was invented because because it is my life support,” Joshua said. “I don’t have a choice whether or not to use it.”
Health and human services secretary Xavier Becerra spoke at Germanna Community College in Culpeper, Virginia, before Joe Biden took the stage for the event.
Becerra lamented the unreasonable costs of healthcare in the US, noting that each American spends an average of about $1,500 on prescription drugs each year.
The cabinet secretary said the rising prices of prescription drugs have forced families to choose between their health and other vital necessities like housing or food.
“We pay more than any comparable nation for life-saving medications,” Becerra said. “Price-gouging means Americans face impossible choices: refill your gas tank or refill your prescription medication.”
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has arrived at Germanna Community College in Culpeper, Virginia, where he will soon deliver remarks on his administration’s efforts to lower Americans’ healthcare costs.
In his remarks, Biden may touch on the latest inflation report, which showed that US prices increased by 7.5% between January 2021 and January 2022.
The president and his team have previously said Democrats’ Build Back Better Act will help families deal with rising prices by lowering healthcare and childcare costs, but that legislation has stalled in the Senate.
Biden’s remarks are scheduled to begin at any moment, so stay tuned.
Senators held a celebratory press conference after the upper chamber unanimously passed a bill to end forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases.
One of the guests of honor at the press conference was Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News journalist who sued the network’s former chairman, Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment.
Carlson’s lawsuit was one of several high-profile cases that kickstarted the #MeToo movement, which brought renewed attention to the prevalence of sexual violence.
‘Marching in the streets can inspire us … hashtags can galvanize, but legislation is the only thing that lasts’ — Gretchen Carlson, who 5 years ago filed a harassment lawsuit against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, talks about coming forward with her story & inspiring change pic.twitter.com/rh1Pxexhkj
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 10, 2022
Carlson thanked the senators for working to ensure a safer workplace for millions of Americans, saying she is “incredibly bullish” about the road ahead for the movement against sexual violence.
“Marching in the streets can inspire us. Editorials can open our minds. Hashtags can galvanize, but legislation is the only thing that lasts,” Carlson said. “On behalf of all American workers, thank you so much.”
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer also expressed gratitude to Carlson for being a voice for change on this issue. “We wouldn’t be here without you,” Schumer said. “You started it, you had courage.”
Joe Biden is expected to swiftly sign the bill ending forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases once it reaches his desk, as the White House has already indicated he supports the proposal.
“This bipartisan, bicameral legislation empowers survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment by giving them a choice to go to court instead of being forced into arbitration,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy last week.
“This legislation advances efforts to prevent and address sexual harassment and sexual assault, strengthen rights, protect victims, and promote access to justice. The Administration is committed to eliminating sexual harassment and assault, and looks forward to working with the Congress on the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act as it proceeds through the legislative process.”
Senate passes bill to end forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases
The Senate has passed a bill aimed at reforming how private companies handle accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault by ending the use of forced arbitration.
The bill passed the Senate by voice vote, meaning no member objected to the proposal, and it will now go to the desk of Joe Biden for his signature.
PASSED: H.R.4445, Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act
— U.S. Senate Majority Floor Updates (@DSenFloor) February 10, 2022
By voice vote.
The bill has been crafted through four year of bipartisan negotiations, and it represents Congress’ most concrete response yet to the #MeToo movement against sexual violence.
Politico reports:
The legislation’s four-year-long path to likely enactment highlights the winding road many bills take before being signed into law, despite the sense of urgency that both parties often use to jolt bills toward passage. While the Senate last year pulled together a bipartisan infrastructure package in a matter of months and in 2020 crafted a coronavirus relief package in the span of days, the chamber’s norm is closer to the grinding path that the #MeToo legislation has traveled over the past several years.
The Gillibrand-Graham bill would give sexual harassment and assault victims the option to take their claims to court, as opposed to going through forced arbitration, a mediation between alleged victims and perpetrators that takes place outside of the traditional judicial system.
The House easily passed the bill earlier this week, and Biden is expected to quickly sign the legislation once it reaches his desk.
Meanwhile, congressional Republicans are blaming the sharp increase in US prices over the past year on Joe Biden’s economic policies.
“Yet again, the data confirm what working families already know painfully well: rampant inflation and soaring prices are crushing the American people.,” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech this morning.
“This is not about financial inconvenience for wealthy people who can afford to stomach it. This is about massive price increases for essential goods that make up a huge share of working families’ budgets.”
Biden and other Democrats have noted that inflation has increased around the world as economies have started to recover from the pandemic, but McConnell pointed to a Pew Research Center study showing US prices have gone up at a disproportionately high rate.
“The severity of this inflation was directly fueled by the reckless, far-left spending spree that every single Democrat in this chamber voted to ram through at President Biden’s behest last year,” McConnell said, referring to the coronavirus relief package enacted last year.
“And we see the results all around us. Families are living with the results every day.”
Brian Deese, the director of the White House National Economic Council, argued that provisions in Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda would help to lower families’ bills.
For example, policies to cut the cost of childcare and enact clean energy tax credits would help average Americans’ budgets, Deese told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle.
“These are practical ways to provide people relief. We could do so without increasing the deficit and then as a result not adding to inflationary pressures,” Deese said.
Acknowledging the severe impact of rising prices, Deese added, “This inflation challenge is real. We need to address it. We need to provide people relief, and we need Congress to work on that right now.”
“This inflation challenge is real, we need to address it, we need to provide people relief and we need Congress to work on that right now,” says @BrianDeeseNEC. @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/Q5acnKgD1W
— Stephanie Ruhle Reports (@RuhleOnMSNBC) February 10, 2022
'Americans’ budgets are being stretched,' Biden says amid record-high inflation
Joe Biden acknowledged that rising prices in the US are having a significant impact on families’ budgets, even as the American economy more broadly continues to recover from the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
“On higher prices, we have been using every tool at our disposal, and while today is a reminder that Americans’ budgets are being stretched in ways that create real stress at the kitchen table, there are also signs that we will make it through this challenge,” Biden said in a new statement.
The president noted that many economists believe inflation will ease substantially by the end of 2022, as some pandemic-related bottlenecks ease and the Federal Reserve enacts interest rate hikes.
Biden also pointed to the data on wage growth and declining unemployment claims to argue that Americans are still benefitting from the economic recovery.
“That’s a sign of the real progress we’ve made in getting Americans back to work over the last year,” Biden said. “My administration will continue to be all hands on deck to win this fight.”
Joe Biden will visit Culpeper, Virginia, today to discuss his administration’s “work to lower health care costs, including prescription drug costs, for American families,” according to his schedule.
The president may stop to take questions from reporters as he leaves the White House, giving him an opportunity to address the latest report on inflation.
Biden has previously acknowledged how rising prices are hurting American families’ budgets and tempering the impact of recent wage increases.
“Average people are getting clobbered by the cost of everything today,” Biden said last Friday. “Gas prices at the pump are up. We’re working to bring them down, but they’re up. Food prices are up. We’re working to bring them down as well.”
The president argued his Build Back Better Act, which has stalled in the Senate, would help give families more financial breathing room by lowering the cost of childcare and healthcare.
But given Joe Manchin’s alarm over the latest inflation report, it’s unclear what version of the Build Back Better Act, if any, can make it through the Senate.
Manchin denounces irresponsible government spending in response to record-high inflation
Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who killed the Build Back Better Act because of his opposition to the cost of the spending package, argued the latest inflation report sent an ominous message to lawmakers.
“Inflation taxes are draining the hard-earned wages of every American, and it’s causing real and severe economic pain that can no longer be ignored,” Manchin said in a new statement.
“As inflation and our $30 trillion in national debt continue a historic climb, only in Washington, DC do people seem to think that spending trillions more of taxpayers’ money will cure our problems, let alone inflation.”
Although Manchin does not mention the Build Back Better Act specifically in the statement, he has previously linked his opposition to the $1.75tn bill to concerns over the growing federal debt and its impact on rising prices.
“Now, more than ever, we must remember it is not our money, it’s the American people’s money. It is not our economy, it’s their economy,” Manchin said.
“We all have a responsibly to do all that is possible to roll back inflation and manage our debts because the longer we or the Federal Reserve waits to act, the more economic pain will be caused.”
The statement will likely cause some concern among Democratic leaders, who are trying to bring Manchin back to the negotiating table to pass a new version of the Build Back Better Act.
Rising prices have battered Joe Biden’s approval ratings even as the jobs market has roared back from its pandemic slump. The US economy grew at 5.5% last year, the strongest growth rate since 1984, and more than 1.6m new jobs have been added in the last three months.
But with gas prices, food and housing prices still rising, just 37% of Americans approve of how he is handling the economy, according to a poll conducted by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
On Wednesday ahead of the latest CPI release, the White House warned the latest consumer prices snapshot could be high. “We expect a high yearly inflation reading in tomorrow’s data,” said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary. “Above 7%, as I think some are predicting, would not be a surprise.”
“What we’re looking at is recent trends … the inflationary increases are decreasing month to month,” Psaki said.
Inflation hits 40-year high, as Democrats fear potential impact on midterm prospects
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that US prices increased by 7.5% in January from a year ago, marking the country’s highest level of inflation in 40 years.
The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe reports:
The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) survey – which measures the costs of a wide variety of goods – was the largest since February 1982. CPI rose 0.6% from December, higher than expected.
Inflation in America has been driven higher by soaring demand and a lack of supply caused by Covid-19’s global impact on trade.
Price rises for food, electricity, and shelter were the largest contributors to the increase. The food index rose 0.9% in January following a 0.5% increase in December. The energy index also increased 0.9% over the month.
Democrats fear that Americans’ frustration with higher prices could weaken their chances in the midterm elections this November, potentially giving Republicans the opportunity to take control of the House and the Senate.
Joe Biden has acknowledged families’ concerns about inflation, and he has promised that Democrats’ Build Back Better Act will help Americans deal with the cost of childcare and healthcare.
But as of now, the Build Back Better Act is stalled in the Senate, and it’s unclear when Democrats may reach a deal on the spending package.
Biden will hold an event later today on lowering healthcare costs, and he may be asked about the latest inflation report, so stay tuned.
