George Stephanopoulos Presses Treasury Secretary on Whether Recession is ‘Inevitable’: Are You and Biden ‘Too Optimistic?’

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos quizzed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen over the possibility that inflation and high prices will lead the United States into a recession.

Stephanopoulos interviewed Yellen on Sunday for This Week, and began asking her about the growing number of economists who say the likelihood of recession in the next 12 months continues to climb. Yellen answered by admitting, “I expect the economy to slow,” but she tried to offer some optimism about the labor market by predicting employment will eventually translate into stable economic growth.

“I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable,” Yellen said. “Clearly, inflation is unacceptably high. It’s President [Joe] Biden’s top priority to bring it down, and [Federal Reserve Chair Jerome] Powell has said that his goal is to bring inflation down while maintaining a strong labor market. That’s going to take skill and luck, but I believe it’s possible.”

Stephanopoulos once again pointed out the probability of recession, and how consumers are already starting to alter their spending habits in response to the current financial crunch. Yellen attributed that to “month-to-month volatility” while insisting “consumer spending remains very strong.” But Stephanopoulos continued to press her on whether she and the Biden administration underestimated the severity of inflation — a subject on which Yellen previously admitted to being wrong.

“It turns out that you and the president maybe even the Fed were too optimistic about inflation last year,” he said. “Concern that might be happening again with your suggestion that a recession is not inevitable?”

Yellen once again acknowledged inflation is “unacceptably high” — shifting the blame again by saying Russia’s war on Ukraine was “part of the reason” because of the impact on energy and food prices worldwide.

The Biden administration faced increasing public pressure over high prices in recent months, the president and his officials have come under scrutiny as they have tried to place the blame on the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and other forces influencing the economy.

“It’s important to recognize that the United States is certainly not the only advanced economy suffering from high inflation and we see it in the U.K, we see it in France, Germany, Italy, and the causes of it are global, not local. Supply chain snarls, partly resulting from lockdowns in China are also boosting inflation. And so, these factors are unlikely to diminish immediately, but over time I certainly expect inflation to come down, and I think it’s possible to have that happen in the context of a strong labor market.”

Stephanopoulos went on to question Yellen about whether prices are likely to keep going up before they come down. He also pressed the Treasury secretary on Biden’s current spat with oil companies, and considerations of a possible gas tax holiday.

Watch above, via ABC.