W.H. Council of Economic Advisers’ Bernstein: ‘Building Back Better Does Nothing to the Current Inflation’

During an interview aired on Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein stated that the Build Back Better reconciliation bill “does nothing to the current inflation, to the things that we’re talking about now, these month-to-month prints that we’re describing today.” But will lower costs in some other areas and help inflationary pressures in the longer term.

Bernstein stated, “I want to unequivocally say here, for the record, that Building Back Better ameliorates price pressures in the long run by helping to build up the economy’s capacity, through greater labor supply, on the infrastructure plan, through investments in infrastructure. And these will ease long-term inflationary pressures.”

He continued, “In the near term, Building Back Better does nothing to the current inflation, to the things that we’re talking about now, these month-to-month prints that we’re describing today. What it does do is help cut costs for middle-class and lower-income families, costs in prescription drugs, costs in child care, costs in education, costs in housing, some of the most challenging aspects of family budgets, Building Back Better helps to ameliorate those costs. It ameliorates near-term costs. It lowers inflationary pressures over the longer term.”

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