Tuesday’s gathering of people celebrating the signing of Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was clumsily trying to get excited about Nancy Pelosi.
The House Speaker was given a cool greeting by the crowd after praising Biden and promoting the president’s reconciliation measure as a way to combat rising inflation.
Mr. President, thank you for unifying and inspiring a vision of a stronger, fairer, safer future for all our children. Your extraordinary leadership has made this glorious day possible,’ Pelosi said, followed by a moment of silence from the crowd.
‘That’s an applause line,’ she followed up, signaling the crowd to cheer.
Nancy Pelosi awkwardly asked an audience to clap for her praises of Joe Biden and his Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday. Pictured: Pelosi (left) with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
It comes as Democrats try to sell Biden’s work in bringing down inflation, which saw a decrease in August after reaching an all time high of 9.1 percent in June
The moment was evocative of Jeb Bush’s infamous ‘please clap’ moment, where the GOP presidential hopeful begged a crowd of unenthusiastic supporters to cheer for him during his failed 2016 campaign.
While Pelosi experienced her own flop on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was by her side to play off the awkward moment.
After she asked the crowd to cheer, Pelosi said: ‘And let us salute Leader Schumer [and] his colleagues in the Senate for their extraordinary leadership and the success in bringing this bill to the floor.’
Schumer replied with: ‘That’s an applause line!’
The moment was part of Democrat’s victory lap over the Inflation Reduction Act, designed to bolster Democrats‘ ahead of the November election and remind voters of the work Biden has done to ease cost of living for Americans.
President Joe Biden ‘s victory lap for his climate change and prescription drug prices law took a stumble on Tuesday as he celebrated its passage at the White House while the stock market had its biggest tumble in two years
Wall Street’s major stock indexes dropped sharply at the opening bell on Tuesday, as the latest inflation data sparked fears that the Fed with continue its aggressive path of rate hikes
More than a thousand people were crammed on the South Lawn on the hot sunny day. Democratic members of Congress, union officials and Biden supporters were there to cheer on the president.
But the markets’ downward spiral and the inflation rate for August cast clouds on the event, and Biden had a bit of a stumble of his own.
He had taken off his suit jacket on the 80 degree day, tossing to the stage floor, but then he stepped on it.
He was speaking of his legislative victory when it happened: ‘This extraordinary story being written today in America by this administration as I step all over my coat.’
He stopped to pick it up. ‘Good thing my mom’s not around,’ he quipped as the audience laughed.
President Joe Biden (2-R), US Vice President Kamala Harris (R), First Lady Jill Biden (2-L) and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff (L) participate in a celebration of the Inflation Reduction Act
Biden, in his remarks, did bash Republicans for not voting for the bill.
‘I believe Republicans could have and should have joined us on this bill as well,’ Biden said. ‘After all, this bill cut costs for families to help reduce inflation at the kitchen table.’
He also criticized Donald Trump’s tax cut although he didn’t mention the former president’s name: ‘Under my predecessor, there was a $2 trillion tax cut, not a penny of which was paid for and it mainly benefited the wealthiest 1% of the American people and the biggest corporations,’ he said.
Ahead of the big event came the news that prices climbed in August by 0.1 percent compared to the month before, despite the falling costs of gas. Prices of food soared, however, as did monthly rental rates.
It was unwelcome news for the Biden administration and a sign the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates, which will drive up mortgage rates, car loans and credit card rates.
August inflation came in at 8.3 percent, which is down from 8.5 percent in July and 9.1 percent in June. Still, economists had hoped for a steeper drop. The stock market tanked at the news: the Dow dropped over 500 points with the S&P and Nasdaq down 2 percent.
August’s inflation rate of 8.3% represented a drop from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June and 8.5% in July — but showed that inflation is still running hot and well above the Fed’s target rate of 2%
The Biden administration repeatedly has touted the fact gas prices have dropped the past few months – after hitting over $5 a gallon in some parts of the country.
But, driving the August inflation numbers, was the cost of food, which rose at a blistering rate. The price of groceries was up 13.5 percent from last year, the biggest annual increase seen since February 1979.
Republicans went on the attack with Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel arguing Americans ‘can’t afford’ Biden as president.
‘Families simply can’t afford Biden and the Democrats. Voters know that Democrats’ reckless spending put us in this mess and the only way to clean it up is to vote those politicians out. While Biden and Democrats take an out-of-touch victory lap today, Americans struggle to fill their grocery carts,’ she said in a statement.
The costs of services – such as eating out or having child care – are also up.
Additionally, American are also paying more per month for rent as more people shy away from buying homes due to high mortgage rates, which in turn has the number of rental properties available decreasing.