Friday on MSNBC’s “Stephanie Ruhle Reports,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg claimed passing President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda was “important” in reducing the rising inflation.
According to Buttigieg, “putting more money in people’s pockets” can help Americans pay for things like childcare and schooling as oil prices are on the rise.
“[T] here’s a technical issue over whether it’s considered structural or whether it’s considered temporary, but when it’s hitting your grocery bill, that’s not temporary. That’s just your life. That’s your budget,” Buttigieg outlined. “And Americans are feeling that in a lot of different ways.”
“It’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to move this legislation through,” he added. “You’re going back to where our conversation began because if we can act to reduce the cost that Americans face, the cost of childcare, the cost of schooling, the cost of access to pre-K, just literally putting more money in people’s pockets with things like the child tax credit that represents, you know, thousands of dollars a year for most families with kids, that’s something that can help at a time when we see other issues, like what’s going on in global oil markets increasing the prices and increasing the costs people face. So, yes, you know, just because this isn’t considered what economists would call a permanent structural inflationary pressure doesn’t make it any less real, doesn’t make it any less painful, and that’s exactly why we’re focused on the price pressures that Americans are facing.”
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