White House celebrates falling inflation while GOP points to negative real wages
Haisten Willis
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The White House celebrated falling inflation even as real wages remain in negative territory.
Inflation fell slightly to 4.9% for the month ending in April, a welcome sign that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame price growth are working. However, the figure is still far above the Fed’s 2% target.
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“With today’s report, annual inflation has come down 45% since last summer,” a statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reads. “The annual inflation rate has now come down 10 months in a row at a time when our economy and job market are strong, with the unemployment rate at its lowest level in more than 50 years.”
Inflation had been running at 5% the month before and peaked at 9.1% last June. Prices overall grew by 0.4 percentage points between March and April (as opposed to an annual basis), according to the consumer price index.
The Biden administration also pointed to gas prices, which are down by close to $1.50 a gallon, on average, since last summer, along with slight dips in grocery prices.
The Republican National Committee released its own statement pointing to 25 consecutive months of negative real wages, which means that people, on average, have seen their spending power decline over the last two years.
“Core consumer prices, excluding food and energy, rose 5.5 percent compared to last year as Bidenflation refuses to break,” reads the statement from RNC spokesman Tommy Pigott. “Real wages have been negative ever since Biden forced through his $1.9 trillion ‘stimulus.’ Now, Biden is threatening default in an attempt to double down on his destructive, inflationary agenda that sent prices surging.”
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Jean-Pierre referenced the debt ceiling battle in her statement as well.
“With all this progress, the single biggest threat to our economy would be if House Republicans fail to prevent default,” she said. “As the president said to congressional leaders yesterday, we must take default off the table — and then have a separate conversation about the budget.”