Biden Hits Back at Critics – Says Idea That His Covid Rescue Plan ‘Caused Inflation Is Bizarre’

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President Joe Biden hit back at critics blaming his American Rescue Plan for record inflation, saying “the idea that it caused inflation is bizarre.”

In his first interview with The Associated Press since taking office, the president tried to quell fears of a recession — as their headline suggests, Biden said “from my perspective, you talked about a recession. First of all, it’s not inevitable. Secondly, we’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation.”

He also pushed back on Republicans who are blaming inflation on the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package, and addressed comments by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in which she acknowledged the possibility of a “marginal” effect on food prices from a provision of that plan.

AP: Let me ask on another hard choice you made. When you came into office, it seems as though you made the choice to prioritize job growth. Republicans right now are saying to voters that inflation started with your COVID relief package.

BIDEN: Zero evidence of that. Zero evidence of that, number one. Number two, we’ve reduced the deficit by $350 billion last year. We reduced the deficit by a trillion, 700 billion this year. We grow the economy. Today, today, we have more people employed than, in a long, long time and we gained another 8.6 million jobs. And guess what? We still have hundreds of thousands of job openings.

AP: So, so do you think that when Treasury Secretary Yellen said it might have made a marginal contribution to inflation that that was off? Did anyone apprise you (interrupted)

BIDEN: Yeah, they apprised me.

AP: of possible trade-offs?

BIDEN: Now you just said two different things. You said Republicans said I caused inflation. She said it may have a marginal impact on it. Two different things. You could argue whether it had a marginal, minor impact on inflation. I don’t think it did. And most economists do not think it did. But the idea that it caused inflation is bizarre.

Yellen has also acknowledged that she was “wrong” last March when she said “Is there a risk of inflation? I think there’s a small risk, and I think it’s manageable. I don’t anticipate that inflation is going to be a problem, but it is something that we’re watching very carefully.”