During an interview with ABC on Friday, Principal Deputy White House Communications Director Kate Berner responded to a question on what the Biden administration can do to lower energy and food costs by pointing to declining gas prices and measures on energy and saying they’ll “continue to implement these important bills that are giving families more breathing room, lowering costs across the board.”
Host Alexis Christoforous asked, “You talk about falling gas prices. Despite that, inflation’s still near a 40-year high. Fed Chair Powell said recently there’s no painless way to bring down inflation. What more can the administration do in terms of bringing down energy costs, especially now as the country heads into the winter? And is there anything at all the administration can do to help folks when it comes to high food costs?”
Berner answered, “Yeah, so it’s a good question. As I said, gas prices have fallen this summer for 14 straight weeks. That’s important breathing room for families across the country. The administration is making clean energy more affordable, more available around the country. The president was at the Detroit Auto Show talking about electric vehicles, which are booming around the country, the charging stations that we’re building across the country thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law. There’s funding to help people with weatherization to make their homes hold heat and air, lowering their energy bills. And of course, the Inflation Reduction Act is going to help lower families’ energy bills by about $500 a year as well. So, these are all important progress in reducing families’ energy costs, but we’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep pushing. The Fed is independent. They’ll continue to do — take whatever action that they determine to take. But we’re going to continue to implement these important bills that are giving families more breathing room, lowering costs across the board.”
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