WH Spox on Market Plunge: There Are ‘Really Encouraging’ Economic Signs Like Recent ‘Effectively Flat’ Inflation

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hallie Jackson Reports,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield responded to the stock market falling and how that squares with the White House’s upbeat economic messaging by saying “there are very encouraging signs that we’re making significant economic progress” like inflation being “effectively flat over the last couple of months,” and that Republicans want to take away voting and abortion rights.

Host Hallie Jackson asked, “Republicans, Kate, are making clear they’re going to run, as you know, partly on the inflation and the economy, as we have this split screen now, today, for example, with the markets falling, down something like 800 points on those higher interest rates. How do you square that with the optimism that the White House has projected about economic conditions ahead of the midterms?”

Bedingfield responded, “Well, look, first of all, there are very encouraging signs that we’re making significant economic progress. I mean, under the Biden presidency, we’ve created a historic number of jobs, real wages are up over the last couple of months, inflation has been flat, or effectively flat over the last couple of months, gas prices have fallen for 14 consecutive weeks in a row. So, we are seeing really encouraging signs here. And I think what’s important is — and you heard the president talk about this today, there is a real choice for people. There’s a choice between an agenda that Congressional Republicans are putting forward that is about taking us backward, that is about stripping people of their rights, stripping women of the right to choose, stripping people of the right to vote, and — or the Biden and Congressional Democratic agenda, which is about lowering costs, protecting your rights, tackling the climate crisis, pushing for an assault weapons ban. I mean, these are things that are going to make a difference in people’s lives. The choice could not be clearer here and I think you saw that laid out really clearly by both the president and by Mr. McCarthy today.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett